All That Matters: A Duskwood Fanfic

Welcome to Duskwood

Hours of waiting without a word had me pacing my room, checking my phone over and over again. With every minute that passed the dread clinging to my spine curled tighter, threatening to strangle me. Between the feds showing up at the mine, and the fire that had wreaked havoc on the already crumbling sixty mile stretch of tunnels, things were not looking good for Jake.

If I could have just stopped him...

No. I wouldn't do this. Nothing I said or did would have made a difference. Jake was stubborn, especially when he thought he was protecting me. Deep down I knew that. That I shouldn't feel guilty about this, Jake had known exactly what he was doing when he'd gone to those mines to find Hannah. But I did. Feel guilty that is. Part of him, and a large part had gone into that mine for me. The other part, the part that cared about his half-sister hadn't helped matters.

It was a very real possibility that he had gotten caught, or that he was...I couldn't even think the word. I would know, wouldn't I? Like there had to be some sign for the universe if the person you loved died, right? I clung to the hope, and I'd continue to hope until I had no other choice.

I went over and over Alan's words over and over in my head. Him asking me who else I'd told about the mines. His warning. That were the feds were there, and they were looking for Jake. His words haunted me now. Someone had told the feds about Jake's whereabouts, and there was a real possibility that it was one of the people who I'd called my friends. I just didn't know who, or why.

But why had Alan warned me?

He had no reason to. Heck, he didn't even trust me. Possibly even still thought that I was the culprit. The person who had kidnapped Hannah and threatened everyone else. No one could blame him, too many things had given him reason to suspect me. I knew too much.

In the end though, it had been Richy all along. Sweet Richy, who always tried to make a joke out of everything. One of the people who had comforted me after finding out about the threatening phone calls. He was an excellent actor, that much I could admit. He'd fooled everyone. He'd fooled me.

It all made sense now though. He'd have easily seen Cleo run past his shop, slipping out of the garage he ran, hidden in the trees and used her to threaten me. How in the beginning when we'd gotten our first real clue, had tried to steer us off the idea away from the legend of the Man Without A Face. The legend he had become.

If I'd only seen all the signs earlier, all of this could have ended differently. And the worst thing was, there was a point where I had been a little suspicious of him but with everything going on I'd managed to write it off.

Now I felt as though I had no one to trust. The only person that I'd trusted was now missing.

And our last conversation had basically been a goodbye. I had wanted to wait, to let him tell me he loved me in person, but with the insurmountable threats looming above us we'd had to say it. Just in case. Now I was worried I'd never say the words again. That I'd never hear him say them.

With a shake of my head, I grabbed the bag I had packed when Richy, who back then we'd thought was Michael, had made me the offer. Hannah for me. It was somehow the easiest and hardest decision I'd ever had to make. Easy because for some reason I'd felt like I owed her something, someone I had never met. Hard because I knew that in doing so, I would be breaking my promise to Jake, and that if something bad happened to me he would be hurt.

I'd told myself that I had to save Hannah. Her fate was in my hands, how could I sit back and do nothing when I was offered a way to help her. I didn't know what Richy had planned to do with me if I had shown up in the mines. I still don't think he would have killed me, even with every horrible thing he had done; deep down he wasn't a killer.

I might be crazy, falling in love with a man I'd never met. Someone whose face I'd never seen, whose voice I'd never heard. I'd heard plenty of stories growing up about the horrible fates people had met going to meet a stranger. It was dangerous.

I wouldn't have been able to resist falling for Jake even if I had tried. Which I didn't. Something had drawn us together, yanking us back to one another over and over ago. I wasn't sure I believed in fate, but if fate was real there was no doubt that it had toyed with us. I loved him, and he loved me.

Love was funny like that, I'd learned. One of the many lessons I had learned over the past few weeks, at least it was a lesson I didn't hate, even if it destroyed me all the same.

I was going to Duskwood. If he was truly gone, I needed to know. Needed to see for myself. I sent a quick test to my friend Addy, letting her know that I wouldn't be making the lunch plans we'd made but I didn't explain further. I didn't need to.

Addy wasn't the type of pry; it was one of the things that had drawn me to her two years ago when we'd met at a work function. She was fun, free, and even if you didn't take her for two weeks straight, she didn't care. She was your friend no matter what.

I also sent my boss a message, I was going to be unavailable for the next several days. It was short enough notice that they could easily fire me, but it didn't matter. I wasn't a big fan of the job anyway. I was good at it, sure but it wasn't important work. What I was about to do was.

I glanced around my scarcely decorated apartment, beside the furniture the only thing that was really in it were my books, and those I didn't have time to take with me. I wasn't sure when I'd be back, or if I'd be back at all. When I closed the door, I wasn't just shutting the door to my apartment, I was shutting the door to my previous life.

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Here is the edited and updated version of the first chapter of All That Matters. 

Not only is it over twice the length, but I think it's way, way better.

Enjoy.