Whispers In The Dark

Anna

Anna

"Give me a kiss," I murmured.

Jessiah pressed a small kiss to my lips, smirking.

"Not that kind of kiss," I pouted. "A real one."

He laughed; the sound was rich and happy. "Like this?"

He attached his lips to mine, and I eagerly kissed him back.

I pulled away for breath. "That's better."

"We've got you now, suckers!" Victoria jumped out from between the trees, two snowballs in each hand. Reximus was behind her, juggling a myriad of snowballs that she had most likely forced him to carry for her. Robin was laughing at him, hands in his pockets and hood up to block oncoming snowflakes.

Victoria began to throw snowballs like a machine, hands emptying only to grab four more, throwing those as well. When she ran out, she picked up chunks of snow and threw those, too. She even recruited Reximus to start throwing them when he had nothing left to hold. Robin was too busy laughing to pick up snow.

Jessiah and I took cover behind a tree, screaming with laughter. The snowballs were still hitting the tree trunk, but for the moment, we weren't being pummeled. It wasn't until something hit my head that I realized we had forgotten about someone.

"Take that, losers!"

Riley was sitting on a tree branch, scooping snow from the leaves and dropping it onto our heads. I heard Victoria scream as Riley targeted her, as well.

It went on for nearly half an hour. Jessiah, Robin, Reximus, and I had long since surrendered, but Victoria was way too stubborn. She tried to hit Riley, but she couldn't throw far enough, especially when she was being attacked. She tried to run, but Riley proved to have a great arm and aim, hitting her nearly every time. She couldn't go far, anyway. It was either venture farther into the woods or climb the fence, both of which didn't seem too appealing.

It ended when Victoria fell face first into the eight inches of snow and screamed defeat.

We all looked up, expecting to see Riley waving her fist victoriously or laughing, but what we saw surprised us.

She looked distraught, eyes in the distance. Following her gaze, it was obvious why.

Jeremiah was walking toward us. He had his eyes to the ground, but he knew that we were there. He wouldn't have been there, otherwise. As he came closer, we saw daisies in his hand. Victoria's mouth gaped.

Jeremiah walked past us, not even sparing us a glance. Once Riley got over her shock, she climbed down from the tree and watched him silently, her face hard but her eyes sad.

"What do you want?" she asked.

He looked up at her. His eyes were glassy. "You didn't answer any of my calls." When she didn't say anything, he held out the flowers. "I brought you more."

"I don't want them," her voice shook.

"Please," he pleaded, "just take them?"

"No,"

she enunciated.

"You can't keep doing this forever, Rye," he said stiffly. "You love me, I know you do."

Her head jerked up and something in her seemed to snap. Her eyes were still sad, but there was a fire burning in them. "What the hell do you want me to do?!" she screamed. "You cheated on me, Jeremiah; twice. And you expect me to just forgive you for that?"

"I'm trying, Riley. I'm working my ass off trying to get you back. Can't you see that?"

I jumped as she screamed wordlessly, frustration spilling from her mouth and piercing the air.

"Get out of here!" she yelled. He didn't move. "Go!"

Jessiah let go of my hand and walked over. He shoved Jeremiah's shoulder. "She said get out of here."

Jeremiah glared at all of us and took a slow step toward Riley. "It's your fault. She would be with me if she wasn't spending so much time with you dicks."

Victoria jumped up from where she was seated in the snow and screamed at him. She ran towards him, and with a shrug to Reximus, Robin followed. Together, they chased Jeremiah from the woods, screaming like banshees.

Riley wiped her eyes with her sleeves, sniffling softly and staring at them with wide eyes.

"There you go." I smiled at her reassuringly. "You're okay. We're all okay."

Riley nodded her head, trying her best to return a smile. "Yeah, we are."