Trust the Killer

Chapter One

       "Ava." His voice was not kind, it was deep and rough.
He lifted his arm and reached out to grab my bicep, I winced at the soft touch and pulled away from the reach.
His jaw clenched, "Ava." He spoke again in a low commanding voice and grabbed my arm roughly that time. He yanked me to face forward and slightly closer to him though there was still a fair amount of distance between us.
His harshness scared me, but it suited him better now. He was his true self.
"Why are you crying?" His voice lightened and I knew he was attempting to put on a performance again.
I ignored him until he slid his grip past my shoulder to grab one of the hands I used to cover my face and jerked it down; the aggressive way he touched me contrasted his previous soft touch. I tried to pull against him but he didn't relent, instead he moved my hand to his lap and held it against his leg.
"Tell me what's wrong." He commanded again.
My free hand moved to cover both eyes, "Get off me." I tried to sound strong but my voice cracked under a cry.
Reluctantly, Wyck tossed my hand out of his. He breathed in exasperation and rubbed his face while looking down, "You never had a problem with me touching you before." He spoke before dropping his hands back into his lap and looking at me.
My hands wiped my eyes too and I looked toward the steering wheel. I was to afraid to speak.

~

     I heard it again over the airport intercom, 'American Airlines gate C last call before departure.' My legs shuffled quickly through the crowd as I approached my flights gate searching frantically for the group of students from my school. I lost them while I was throwing up in the airport bathroom. I never knew I was scared of planes since I had never been on one. Now, I was more than aware . I recognized the back of the head of a girl named Sarah who was walking to board the flight and I rushed to catch up with her only stopping for a moment to have my boarding pass scanned. "Sarah!" I tried to yell quietly a few times before she turned around and stopped, allowing me to catch up with her.
"Ava? I was looking for you. Everyone's already on the plane!" Sarah seemed frustrated, she was the leader of my group. There were about ten students in each group on the trip to Washington state, and maybe fifteen groups. I was not sure why I chose to spend all my savings on a trip to Seattle with a bunch of college students I barely knew for a week but that's what I was doing. My Mother had mentioned I could use the opportunity to make some friends since I failed miserably at that through my first year of college, but I had a feeling this is going to be a lonely week since I already embarrassed myself by losing the group and nearly missing the flight.
"Sorry." My voice was meek as I didn't want to explain how I vomited up the orange juice and stale blueberry muffin I had for breakfast.
The moment I stepped on the plane nausea hit my gut once again, I touched every seat as I walked behind Sarah down the isle. The majority of the plane was taken up by other students from my college, but I only knew a few by name. Most of the students were freshman like me who chatted amongst each other, a few others watched while Sarah and I found our seats. The plane was long and sat three people in each row. I could have cried when I realized my designated seat was at the window and I had to ask the other person who had already sat down to stand for me to slip past them; He was a middle aged man. Possibly a professor on the trip I had never met or a random passenger. I was glad to see that the middle chair between us was empty.
The moment I took my seat I pulled out a pair of earbuds to hopefully drown out the sound of the plane plummeting back to earth once we get into the air. The wire was tied in knots from sitting in my small pink backpack. I sighed as I tried to untangle the mess. "Excuse me, sorry." I heard the familiar voice of a boy speak to the stranger in my row, my head snapped up to see him shuffle past the older man in the aisle seat. "Sorry I was in the bathroom." He apologized to once again while settling beside me. I recognized this boy as Oliver, he was a sophomore who I shared a class with and was one of the few people I was familiar. He was always extremely kind to me and was adorable with bright red hair and a tall stature. My stomach fluttered, I'm not sure if it was bile or because my stupid crush was sitting beside me, probably both.
"Hey, Ava." He smiled to which I nervously smiled back with my fingers looped in the cords of my earbuds. "I didn't know we were in the same group." He continued the conversation.
"Yeah, me neither." I lied, I was well aware. Finally I got the wires straightened out though I didn't stick them in my ears.
"Are you excited to see the space needle?" He asked.
"I was looking forward to the big bean." I fidgeted with my backpack, zipping it closed.
"The big.... what? Oh, cloud gate? Ava, that's Chicago." He laughed, I tried to admire the smoothness of his laugh but I was to busy being humiliated.
"Oh." I smiled awkwardly. "Sorry, I'm not versed on tourist traps."
     He gave me an odd look, "Its art, actually."
    I felt like an asshole then, he wasn't picking up on the irony in my tone. I was about to correct my failed joke, but the planes intercom sounded and the flight attendant began the standard safety monologue with a smile on her lips and a rouge seatbelt in her grip. I swallowed.
"Are you scared of flying?" Oliver's tone became kind.
"I think... a bit." My voice was small.
"Don't worry, I've been on a lot of planes, it's really safe." He patted my knee twice and my stomach jumped. I smiled to myself, my anxiety still reeling.
After twenty or so minutes the plane had taken off and I was playing loud music into my ears to cover the sound of the engines. Oliver and I made conversation here and there over the five hour flight, he was a lot more talkative than me and would find someone else to chat with once I quieted down. I was excited that he insinuated plans to spend time with me over the week and I couldn't wait to tell my mom all about the attention he'd given me. The flight went by pretty fast because of him and my fears settled along the way. Before I knew it, we touched ground in Seattle. The bus ride to the ten story historic Mayflower hotel was incredibly loud as the other students yelled in excitement while pointing out things through the windows. My earbuds were still in my ears and I was slightly disappointed that Oliver chose to not sit with me on the bus. The hotel was incredible once we arrived, with clean marble floors and high ceilings. No wonder this trip was so expensive. We were assigned two students per room and I was bunked up with a girl named Reilly who seemed disappointed that she wasn't able to stay with her best friend, I was disappointed to be roomed with her as well as I knew she had history with Oliver. We were on the fifth floor in room 503. Inside wasn't as grand as the lobby but was still beautiful with fluffy beds and elegant decorations. It was later in the afternoon once we arrived so we were advised to change clothes and to meet at a near by restaurant for dinner, we had the choice to visit the Seattle aquarium afterwards as well which I was feeling excited about.
After I showered off the smell of the airplane and changed into a sort of casual skirt and spent a bit of time in the mirror. My roommate blared music through her phone speaker while using the other half of the bathroom mirror to apply makeup as well. We had small conversation but unfortunately, I can never not embarrass myself, so it was mostly uncomfortable. It was about 7 P.M. when we arrived at the restaurant, the only students there were Sarah and the other nine students in my group.
"Ava, I like your skirt." I heard Oliver's voice behind me and my stomach tightened at the compliment. I turned around to smile at him with a thank you. We stood outside the restaurant waiting for a table spilt off into small groups to talk the time away. "Maybe we can see the big bean tomorrow!" Oliver joked at me causing my face to flush red and I pushed on his shoulder.
"Are you going to the aquarium after dinner?" I asked him.
Oliver turned to face the streets and city behind us, "Yeah I am..." He responded absently to my question before continuing, "Look how cool the buildings look. I mean they look a exactly like our buildings in Louisiana but still." He joked again and I laughed. He had a wide smile on his face before grabbing my phone that was resting in my hand. "Let's get a picture." He opened the camera and held it out in-front of us, the Buildings and streets made a perfect background as he wrapped an arm around my shoulder and smiled into the camera, my smile was unprepared and my eyes wide with shock but the gesture was kind. "Send it to me." He handed me back my phone as we began to walk inside the restaurant. Our table was ready and I was happy to see Oliver sat next to me at the long table of people in our group. I allowed him to type his phone number into my phone so I could send him the photo of us together. My anxiety from the flight today had dissipated and filled with a different sort of nervousness. At this point I couldn't wait to call my mom and send her the photo we took too.