Irrevocably HERS

Chapter Three

Amber

"I spy with my brown eyes, something....hmmmm....you know, I am actually not that sure I can think of anything else sugarplum. Honey, can you think of anything that we haven't thought of?" My dad says sweetly to my mother while taking her hand in his and squeezing. My mother looks to him with such love and adoration that I mentally store the memory away because when I am older, that is how I want someone to look at me. I want someone to look at me like I have hung the moon, stars, planets, everything in the galaxy. My father dotes on my mother like the queen she is. She never wants for nothing and neither do I. I am no way spoiled but I am spoiled when it comes to being loved unconditionally.

"I think we are at a loss babe. All this fog, I can't even see in front of us. I have no idea how you are driving through this. I think we should have pulled over back there at the gas station. Something isn't sitting right in my stomach and you know how I get when it comes to intuition." My mom says with a hint of worry laced in her voice. I myself just shrug her comment off as I continue to stare out the window and for the life of me, I can't see the usual sightings whenever we come up to our cabin. I usually see cows feeding in the pasture or ducks swimming in the pond. Now? Not a sight to be seen. Just fog like my mom said.

"You obviously do not remember my impeccable driving skills my love. Trust me, I will get my girls to our cabin safe and sound. Have some faith in me." Daddy says before bright lights ahead of us blind us, mom screaming and daddy holding on tight to the steering wheel only to wind up crashing into whatever it was. Everything goes in slow motion at this point. Glass shatters everywhere, flying all over the place, while I am holding my arms up to my face, daddy's arm extends to my mothers chest to keep the force of the impact hurting her any more than it already has, and mommy's screams piercing through it all, everything all becoming silent. I eventually wake up to glass crunching beside me. There is a throbbing pain in my head, feeling the liquid running down the side of my face with my hand.

"Sugarplum, do you hear me? Please, Amber, baby girl. Please tell me you hear me. I can't lose you. Not you. Not you too, so please. Please move, talk, anything baby girl." I hear my dad say beside me. I slowly open my eyes, wincing because now, everything hurts.

"Daddy?" I say softly and I can hear the breath he was holding finally release from his mouth.

"Yes baby. It's me. I will get you out. Hold on." He says before I can feel his arms delicately trying to take me out of the car by unwrapping the seat belt from my skin. I feel his arms wrap around me, not letting go for a second. I can feel the wetness falling down his face. Something is wrong. Daddy never cries.

"Daddy, what happened? Where's mommy?" I say against his chest and I can immediately feel his chest tighten as his whole body starts to tremble. As confused as I am, I myself am starting to shiver uncontrollably since it is still so foggy, misty, and chilly.

"It's okay. We will be okay. Mommy is resting sweetheart. She is resting till help arrives. You do the same baby girl. Help is on the way. We will be okay." He says into my hair and I believe him. Why wouldn't I? Daddy never lies. Unfortunately, that's the last thing I hear before I feel hands gripping me, taking me out of my daddy's hold.

"Be careful with her. She might have internal injuries as well." Someone says.

"What about the male, sir?" The person answers.

"You know what to do. He unfortunately had severe internal bleeding. His last heroic act was getting that little girl out and protecting her in his arms till his last breath. I know this is a difficult case for you, it being your first day, but this is the least of what you will see when on shift. Continue with protocol." Another voice states and when I open my eyes, I do not recognize the person lying me down. I begin to freak out. I kick and scream, shaking my head back and forth, remembering to never talk to strangers, let alone have them take me anywhere without my parents, not at all knowing what is going on. Instantly, I have more people running towards me.

"Calm down sweetheart. You are safe now. You will be okay." A woman says to me, stroking my hair and grabbing my hand to hold and squeeze. I can see the remorse she has in her eyes. I can see the hidden anguish she is bearing but what does she see in my eyes? I try to calm myself down knowing someone is there to try and soothe me through this moment, yet, it isn't the right people I want to hold my hand. I want my mommy to comb her fingers through my hair. I want my daddy's hugs again, letting me know everything will be okay. I clear my hoarse, dry throat and try my hardest to usher out words.

"I want my mommy. I want my daddy. Where are they? Where are they!" I remember screaming out the last few words, looking around me and then having my eyes coming back to the woman who is still standing there by my side, watching the torment in her eyes. I can see the unshed tears. I know the answer but I refuse to believe it. Daddy held me in his arms not too long ago. He said everything will be okay. He said help was on the way. Where is he then? Where is my mommy? Why aren't these people helping them too?

I toss and turn, screaming out internally, most likely in my dream, before awakening and feeling myself covered in sweat yet feel strong arms cradling me. Why are there arms cradling me? I jolt out of whoever's hold I am in and look around the room. It is dark in here I think to myself. Where the hell am I? I look beside me and see Hunter with his eyes closed, seemingly sound asleep. I curse myself for having yet another nightmare but thankfully he hasn't witnessed my inner turmoil. I don't need him holding that over my head as leverage. I never want anyone to know the pain I am in night and day. I can't even sleep without my heart collapsing within my chest.

Unable to think rationally, I sit up more, turning to face him, and punch him in his arm which definitely wakes him up with a grunt. He grabs the sore spot I left and grunts more.

"What the hell do you think you are doing sleeping next to me Hunter?" I say with such anger which makes his eyes widen to acknowledge the predicament he landed himself into.

"Answer me Hunter. What the hell am I doing in here and what the hell are you doing so close to me?" I seethe which makes him jump out of the bed so fast and head towards his. I watch as he rubs the sleep out of his eyes and rakes his fingers through his hair, not at all looking at me. I don't understand for the life of me why he would bring me in here of all places. He has made it abundantly clear that he wanted nothing to do with me yet has the audacity to bring me to his room? I know he made it so that he was to be alone. He doesn't share with anyone. Hardly speaks to anyone. Damn, he just grunts out his responses nearly 99.9% of the time, so what makes me the exception?

Something is wrong. I shouldn't be here but from the way I just remain on this bed, on the other side of his room, I don't move an inch. I should be fleeing like I was in some kind of horror film and he were the villain. He should be the Freddy to my Nancy. The Jason to the numerous camp counselors at Camp Crystal Lake. The Pinhead to all the unsuspecting souls he claims and slowly tortures. Yet here I am still waiting for him to give me an answer, or at least a grunt.

From what I have heard within the weeks being here, he is the last person that I should be anywhere near. People say he is psycho. Others say he lacks empathy and would slice someone open without the bat of an eye. Don't even get me started with the ultimate screw off attitude that he exudes every day. Even at school, he is a mere dark ghost roaming the halls. The guy is unnerving to say the least so why am I still here, knowing the necessary precautions I need to take with him being around, waiting for an answer I know I will never get?

I decide to try a different approach because for the life of me, I do not know why. I move off the bed and come to stand in front of him, then, carefully sit down next to him.

"Hunter?" I say softly to which he actually raises his head to turn and look me in the eyes. His look is void of all emotion. He is like a human wall of nothingness. I don't move away or even move my eyes away from his. I know he doesn't communicate unless when he wants to, like he had outside in the backyard, saying the most heinous things to me. I know he is shutting down just like I feel like I need to, but for some strange reason, I don't, or won't. Not when it comes to this mysterious person before me.

Instead of saying anything to me, he just shoves my duffel bag of stuff I came here with, which happened to be on his bed, grunts, stands and walks out. He doesn't even look back at me before the door closes. He is just a walking enigma. I remain sitting here on his bed for a few more minutes before composing myself and walking out of the room to head downstairs. I'm hungry and by the looks of it, it is nearing dinner time. I follow the smell of food to the dining room and see pretty much everyone is there except for Hunter. The seat he always takes is empty and I just stare at it. I head towards my seat amongst the bunch of people I now have to share a house with, who don't even acknowledge my existence, and watch as three heads turn to look away from me and see them gulp down hard at the sight of me.

These three must be the ones who tore apart everything I had left to my name. I don't care about the clothes they spilled to the floor in the room I should really head back to. I don't even care about the few toiletries that I called my own. What I do very much care about were the papers that were torn to shreds. The last drawings I ever drew of my mom and dad. They were childish sketches, yes, but they were the last reminders of happier times. Of course they wouldn't or couldn't understand the meaning of what my possessions meant to me. How could they when they don't even know me, but it didn't give them the right to destroy everything I had. I continue to glare at them and it makes them clearly feel uneasy.

Dinner goes smoothly, uneventful even. Somehow Sophie knows that something happened because she looks at me with pity. I hate the pity look. It is a look that I can deal without being given. It is the same look I received at the hospital from all the nurses and doctors and family agents that came to escort me to my first family home. I had no surviving grandparents or aunts or uncles that could take me in so the state claimed me. This is the fourth house I have been to since I was handed to the government and put into the system.

No family had the time for another child to raise so I kept being handed off to another and another and here I am with Sophie and a dozen other children who also were abandoned by the people that should have loved them till the end of time. Luckily, I will age out soon enough and won't have to be anybody's burden ever again. I can quietly walk on out of here and somewhere, anywhere else and start a lonesome new life by myself without needing any kind of remorse or pity. I don't need anybody concerned about me. I don't need anyone's sympathetic smiles towards me. I especially don't need anybody's pity towards me.

Me, myself and I.

That's all I need to get through life, so why does it feel like someone named Hunter is trying to snake his way past all my barricades that I have built around my mind heart and soul?

I scurry out of the dining room and take two steps at a time to Hunter's room in order to get my duffel and head back to my room. What I didn't expect was for him to be sitting in the dark looking creepier than ever. He can honestly blend in with the walls.

"Where do you think you're going?" He says as he watches me slowly reach out for the duffel I left on the bed. His voice shouldn't invoke goosebumps all throughout my body. His voice shouldn't devour my insides. It's a weird feeling that I need to desperately escape. I grab my bag and make my way to the door only for him to pounce off the bed, and land in front of me to block the door, resting his whole body against it. One word slips out of his mouth. One word that grounds me. One word that makes me overthink everything that is going on. One word that has the capability of tearing apart everything I have fought so hard to keep at bay.

"No."