Hide and Seek in the Dark (Being Rewritten)

Chapter 12

12

After nearly an hour and a half of speeding down slippery asphalt and weaving between honking cars on the highway, Gabriel finally slowed the bike to a stop in front of a Denny's and, after forcing me to release my death grip on him, climbed off. I followed suit as carefully as I could, slipping the helmet off my head with trembling hands and hanging it on one of the handlebars. "That was the most horrifying experience of my life," I managed to mumble once I found my voice again.

        “Don’t be such a baby,” Gabriel said as he ran his hands through his wet, wind frazzled hair, pushing it out of his face. “It wasn’t so bad.”

        “Wasn’t so bad?” I scoffed. “That was horrible! We could’ve died had you made one too sharp of a turn, or zipped in front of a car too soon or-“ My rant was cut off as his hand covered my mouth.

        Gabriel narrowed his eyes, glowering down at me intently. “Quiet,” he growled and then proceeded to look over both shoulders, sniffing at the air like some type of wild animal.

        “Why?” I whispered after I had pried his hand away. “Do you smell someone coming? Is it Len and his goons?” I shuddered at the memory of them trying to stuff me into that peto-van and then grimaced at the phantom pain I still felt in my chest from the bruise that had already faded away.

        “No. You just talk too much.” He ran his hands through his dark hair once more, stiffing at the air, and then moved to walk around the restaurant, into the dark alley to its side. I reluctantly followed.

        The floor was wet; with every puddle I stepped into cold, murky water seeped in through my shoes and squelched between my toes. A high pitched screech had me jumping nearly out of my skin as a fat little rat with beady red eyes and half a tail skittered across my path. I shuddered, wrapping my arms around myself and up ahead I could hear Gabriel’s deep chuckle as he laughed, yet again, at my girly squeamish-ness. First the bike, now this? He was having too much fun, that was for sure.

No need to worry, Christie, there’s nothing to be afraid of, I firmly assured myself. It’s just a normal alley next to a normal Denny’s filled with normal people eating a really late yet normal dinner. I had no reason to worry. Wherever we were going we’d get there okay. I was a young lady who could take care of herself, and Gabriel was surely a plus in the muscle department if I needed back up. Anything that jumped out as us wouldn’t have a chance, be it a mugger, a killer, or even Len.

“Where are we even going?” I asked as I glanced around the dark alley. To my left was the pale brick wall of Denny’s, to my right a tall fence, dripping rain off its chain links, behind me I could still make out the dim street lights and a few of the cars parked around the edges of the parking lot, and in front of me was wet cement, a couple of large dumpsters and-

No Gabriel.

I stopped walking completely. He had just been there a moment ago. Where could he have disappeared to? I squinted my eyes, trying to peer farther into the darkness but the wind had picked up, causing the rain to lash at my face and blind me. Raising a hand up, I shielded my eyes and jogged down the wet alley, searching for Gabriel’s familiar form.

        “Gabriel?” I called out, but there was no answer. There was no sound aside from the drumming of the rain against the dumpsters and the slapping of my feet against the wet ground.

Finally, after a few moments of running, I saw him, standing underneath one of the street lamps at the end of the alley, leaned against the cool metal as if he were waiting for me. Had been waiting for a bit. His head was hung, his dark hair spilled over his face to keep the rain from it. Maybe it was because of the light shining on it but I could’ve sworn his trench coat was back. Now it was a very deep shade of red.