Duskwood: If It's Not Fine, Then It's Not The End.

Chapter Six

The rest of the evening passed by in an alcohol induced fuzz, full of bright lights, dancing and laughter. At some point Dan had pulled me into a bear hug in the middle of the dancefloor, rescuing me from the wandering hands of Phil, and muttering awkward apologies about his comments that I quickly brushed off.
Not thinking about Jake for a while was doing me good. The alcohol was good. Life felt good.

At some point Phil had rung a bell from the bar and called last orders, and after I had swiftly downed yet another Long Island Iced Tea I tumbled into a taxi outside the bar that Cleo had organized.
“Are you sure you don't wanna just stay at mine?” Jessy pined, slurring her words slightly and stumbling. Dan grabbed her arms to steady her and she giggled.
“I'll be fine” I smiled, secretly looking forward to my own space and some peace and quiet; I was enjoying having friends, but I was used to being quite a solitary person and time to myself was important to me.

I waved my friends a drunken goodbye and let out a happy sigh as I closed my eyes and leaned back into the leather taxi seat. The drive to the motel didn't take long, Duskwood really was tiny, and before long I was stumbling to my door and fumbling around for my key.
I unlocked my door and immediately made my way to the bed, face planting onto it and breathing in the fresh linen scent of the sheets. I turned onto my back, kicking off my shoes in the process, shut my eyes and let out a contented sigh. I was exhausted and ready to sleep.

Shit. No.

I bolted upright as the room began to spin. “Shit” I hissed to myself. I wasn't used to drinking alcohol in this quantity and had clearly forgotten there were some downsides to it. I groaned as I forced myself up and into my bathroom. I splashed some water onto my face and drank some from the tap for good measure. I slipped myself out of my dress and tied my hair into a loose messy bun before heading back into my room to hunt for my pyjamas.

As I stumbled around in the dark, I heard a slight noise behind me. I whipped my head around to the window and froze. The window was half open, and a masked figure all in black was in the process of climbing through it. My heart pounded in my chest and I could do nothing but stare for a minute, before my brain kicked in and I took in a deep breath prior to screaming.

Before I could, however, the figure was next to me in a flash with a gloved hand pressed over my mouth.
“Quiet” he hissed, his eyes glinting slightly in the small amount of moonlight coming in from the window. I squirmed beneath him. I was not going out like this, no bloody way, I thought to myself, now also acutely aware I was in nothing but my underwear. “It's me, MC” the evidently male intruder hissed urgently at me “Jake”. I froze, and for a moment it felt like time stood still completely. I blinked up into the eyes of…was it really Jake? There's no way he could actually be here, with me, in Duskwood.

Could he?

I made a motion to speak and the man dropped his hands from my mouth and stood back. “I'm sorry” he said quietly, looking down “I know this is unexpected.”
I took a moment to take in his appearance.

He was tall, taller than I had imagined for some reason, and unsurprisingly dressed in all black. A zip up hoodie and jeans clothed his lean physique, with faded black Vans trainers to finish off the look. His hands, that were currently clasped together in front of him nervously, were covered in black leather gloves, and his dark hair appeared tousselled, as if he hadn't brushed it in some time. And on his face, was the mask. That mask, that I had dreamt of for so many nights, the mask that covered his face, the face I so longed to see, to touch, to…

My mind snapped back to reality. “Prove it” I said, defiantly, crossing my arms over my chest and straightening my stance. “If there's one thing I've learned from Jake, it's to be wary” I thought to myself. For all I knew, this could be one of his many pursuers, masquerading as Jake to get to me in order to make him reveal himself from hiding.