Chapter Four

It didn’t click what she had said until a few minutes had passed. I suddenly whipped my head to her and opened my mouth, “Wait, you saw it too?” My eyes examined her. She was ever so quiet, which was unusual for her, and she was still slightly shaking.

She gave a soft nod and glanced over to me too. “Yeah…I saw it too.” She fell quiet again directly after. I decided to not press further right now.

“Okay…okay let’s just…go get breakfast. Okay?” I softened my voice, and looked back to the road. My mind started to swarm with thoughts.

How did Freya see it too? It was supposed to be my hallucination. No one else should be able to see him. Would she lie to me to make me feel less crazy? No. She wouldn’t do that. Mass hysteria effect? Probably not. Why now of all times? No one has ever heard or seen what I had before.

Suddenly, a terrifying thought crossed my mind. If Freya saw it too, then that means it was [real.] A very real danger. I felt the blood drain from my face. How many times was I close to death?

I shook off the thought as quickly as it came. Now was not time for a panic attack. I looked to the road, the sun blinding me, and just kept driving to the nearest town.

*~*~*~*

I picked the Ihop menu up to start looking it over. I don't know why I did that, honestly. I always got the same thing every time I came. Regardless, I pretended to read over it. Freya, on the other hand, never got the same thing twice in a row. Her green eyes looked over the menu slowly. Once again, she hummed softly to herself as she tried to decide what she was getting today. The only thing that dragged her attention away from such an important decision was the waitress walking up with a sweet smile. "Good morning. What can I get you two ladies to start with to drink today?" She looked between the two of us.

"Ah, just a coffee, please," I requested with a sheepish smile and set the menu down.

The waitress then looked to Freya, who politely said, "A coffee for me too, please...and a chocolate milk?" she added, her sweet voice rising in pitch a little and sounding similar to a child.

The waitress only nodded and chuckled softly as she scribbled down the drink order. "Alright, do we know what we want to order or would you like a couple of more minutes?" She looked between the two of us again. I looked at Freya, who had a slightly panicked look on her face. She hadn't decided yet.

I quickly chimed in, "Give us a couple of more minutes, please."

The woman then nodded and smiled, "Okay, I'll come back in a little while then." She then took her leave for us to have more time to decide.

Freya immediately picked the menu back up and started looking it over again. She chewed on her bottom lip a little, and I couldn't help but laugh. "Indecisive as always," I teased, not bothering to pick up my menu again.

"At least I try new things! Unlike some people I know that gets the same thing every time!" She gave a playful glare in my direction and I raised my hands with an innocent look plastered on my face.

"Hey! I like what I like, okay? Leave me alone." I smiled once more. Rey gave a huff and pouted the rest of the time that she decided on what she was going to get.

I knew she was trying hard not to panic. Her playfulness was most likely to keep her sanity in place. I could tell she was nervous by the way she chewed on her bottom lip (even if she was trying to play it off as she was thinking).

Finally, she set the menu down and looked at me. A small pout was still on her lips. "I want the two, two, two," she said and put her arms up on the table to lean towards me a little. She had her curly hair up in a bun again with her baby hairs framing her face. Her soft face hardened a little as she got a serious look on her face.

"We need to talk about it...It's driving me crazy, Mel," She rubbed her upper arm a little and looked down to the table.

I nodded, my suspicions having been correct, "Yeah, let's order first and then we'll talk about it...okay?" I reached forward to take her hand and squeezed.

At that moment, the waitress came back with her bright smile. "Alrighty, have we decided what we want today?"

"Oh, yeah. I want the breakfast sampler. Scrambled eggs," I said, now looking at Freya who quickly answered as if she was afraid that she would change her mind if she didn't get it out of her mouth.

"I want the two, two, and two please." She then added, "Over easy eggs." Freya then collected our menus to hand to the waitress and then smiled. The waitress scribbled it down and nodded.

"Alright! Your orders will be out here momentarily," the waitress said, then took the menus from Freya's hand before disappearing again.

Once the waitress was out of earshot, Freya quickly turned to me. Just as stubborn as ever she said, "Now, we ordered. Let's talk about it." She crossed her arms over her chest and stared at me.

I gave a soft sigh and nodded. I didn't even know where to begin. It was all so weird to me and I had never in a million years expected someone else to see what I was seeing. "Okay. Okay..." I started. My teeth softly chewed on my poor bottom lip. A bad habit of mine when I was stressed and overwhelmed or had a lot on my mind. "I honestly don't even know how to start this off..." I muttered beneath my breath. "Well, I guess a good spot would be...what exactly you saw?"

The woman nodded and looked down to the table for a moment as she recollected her thoughts. "Well, it was hard to see at first. It was just kind of a black shadow that was at the far end of the field. I know you were driving, so it was probably even harder for you to see. But, I was looking out the window the entire time," she began, "but, each time we would pass through a patch of trees, it would be closer the next time. It was so...surreal...it was like time slowed down around me or something,"

I completely understood this. That's what it felt like for me too. Freya continued her side of the story, "Finally, I could make out that it was a huge black wolf. Weird like...golden eyes. Like...a brownish-green hazel or something. They...glowed." She glanced up to me, her eyes filled with fear. “Then you went and started to walk towards it… it was like you were in a trance! What was that about?”

I met eyes with her for only a brief moment before I looked away. I shrugged my shoulders. I really didn’t know. “I… I don’t know what came over me. The chanting was just so loud-” I was stopped by Freya interrupting me.

“Chanting? What are you talking about?” Her face was contorted into a frown. Did she really not hear it?

“The…chanting? So, you’re telling me you only saw the wolf?” I asked her.

She nodded. I let out a frustrated sigh. “Dammit… I was hearing things the entire time we were outside of the car. It started off as multiple conversations around me. Like I was in the middle of a crowd. Then, it turned to screaming…” I glanced at her for a moment only to see a horrified look on her face. I continued on before she could insert herself, “then it turned into chanting. It was in another language but I could understand what they were saying…”

She paused, relaxing her face. Probably to keep from worrying me. “What…were they saying?”

“Return. They said it over and over and over…” I sighed and rubbed my temples. “Okay, so the wolf is real, but the voices are still only in my head? Perfect,”

Freya looked worried but squeezed my hand, reaching across the table to do so. “We’ll get it figured out… but I don’t think it’s schizophrenia,” she said, her face serious.

The conversation had to stop because the waitress was back with our food.

*~*~*~*

Freya and I got back on the road once we had our fill of breakfast. I drove for several more hours. I drove until the sun was beginning to start its descent into the horizon, its reds and oranges painting the sky and dying the clouds. I glanced over to Rey, sighing. "We're almost at our halfway point. Let's call it a day and start again in the morning," the woman nodded and sat up properly, turning to face me a little bit.

"Yeah, that sounds good. I can drive tomorrow if you want me to," she offered, her sweet green eyes giving me no choice in the matter.

"Thank God...I don't think I can do two days in a fucking row of this," I stated, "but we still have an hour or so until we're at the hotel we reserved. So.." I trailed off. I didn't plan on there being words after that.

After the hour passed, I pulled into the parking lot of the Super 8 and got out. I opened up the trunk of my car and got our bags before heading inside to check-in. The hotel was in serious need of an update. It felt like I walked into a seventy's movie set with all of the Harvest Yellow paint on the wall and the aged, stained tiles that were yellow as well. I walked to the reception desk and smiled politely, "Hi, I have a reservation for Baxton?" I readjusted the shoulder strap to the bag full of clothes and necessities to where it sat more comfortably on my arm.

The woman typed on the computer, looking at the screen for a moment before she looked at me. "I just need to see your ID and the card you're wanting to pay with please," she said, a polite smile on her face. Of course, I knew it was her customer service personality. Everyone working in retail had one of those. I dug in my purse for a moment to drag my wallet out and pulled out the things she asked for and handed them to her. She propped them up on the computer and typed a few things up. She swiped the card and then handed the items back to me.

"Okay. So, we do place a hold on the card..." she gave her routine spiel that she gave to every customer that walked in those doors. She directed me to the elevator and told me where the ice machines were before telling me to have a good stay. I took the hotel keys and walked with Freya to the elevator, pressing the button and taking a step back.

After a little bit of time, we settled in for the night. I plopped myself into the bed and gave an exaggerated sigh. I relaxed into the bed and closed my eyes. Freya then let out a soft laugh as she dug in her bag. "I'm going to take a shower. Do you need the bathroom first?" she asked, stopping at the entrance of the small bathroom and looking over to me to wait for my response. I slowly opened my eyes and hummed. My eyes met hers and for a moment I felt speechless.

"Mmm, no. Go ahead," I said, feeling my heart in my throat. Thank God my words didn't get stuck behind my heart.

With that, the woman smiled, dimples out, and nodded. "Alright. I won't be long then," she promised, walking into the bathroom and closing the door. I let out a sigh of slight relief as I covered my face with my hands. I could feel the heat radiating off of my face and I just knew that it was beet red. Dammit. I didn't think about this long road trip through at all. With this much contact, I didn't think I would be able to hide my little crush for very long. With the limited contact at work, school, and the occasional hang out between, I had been hiding it pretty well I thought. Now, I didn't feel so confident in that ability.

After about fifteen minutes or so, Freya came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her body. She walked over to her bag and gave a hefty sigh. "Shit, sorry, I forgot to grab clothes to bring in there with me," she explained, digging in her bag for some night clothes to wear.

I could feel my face heating up again, and I quickly tried to settle down. "Oh, no it's okay," I said, doing my best to not let my eyes linger. Her cleavage was tantalizing. A few droplets were traveling down her body, making me slightly jealous of the damn things. My brown eyes looked for a few seconds before I ripped them away and looked down to my phone to distract myself. She finally found some clothes and vanished into the bathroom again.

When she left I let out a sigh of relief. Oh, thank God she didn't get dressed in here. There would have been no way I could have not looked then. I sat up, rubbing my neck to calm myself down some. I then called out, loud enough for her to hear me in the bathroom, "I'm going to order some food. Anything you’re craving?" I asked as I pulled up Doordash on my phone.

"No, choose wherever and I can pick something!" she shouted from the bathroom. I thought for a moment as I chose a sushi place close by. I ordered a California Roll and a Tempura Shrimp Roll for myself. Right about the time I finished deciding what I wanted to eat, Freya came out of the bathroom in a pair of sleep shorts that hugged her thighs, and a loose-fitting t-shirt. I once again tried not to stare as I handed her the phone.

"I decided sushi would be a nice treat for us," I said, smiling up at her.

She got the brightest smile as she sat on my bed, curling her legs up as she took my phone. She gave a soft hum as she scrolled through the options. She giggled a little, "I see you got a Cali roll for us to share as usual," she said, still scrolling a little before deciding on a Rainbow Roll. "I'm assuming it's our usual deal?"

I laughed and gave a nod. I couldn't deny her. "Of course, how can I say no?" I said, relaxing into the pillow as I switched the TV on. "Go ahead and get it going once you're done. Then we can watch some scary movies?" I turned my head to her a little, looking up at her from beneath my lashes.

She gave a nod, sending in the order once she was finished and set my phone back down on the nightstand as she also snuggled in. She rested her head on my shoulder, her face to the TV as she said, "Yeah! Some spooky stuff sounds really good. Our food will be here in about thirty minutes so that gives us time to decide what we want to watch,"

*~*~*~*

Our food came around the time we decided on a movie to watch. I got up, grabbing the food and distributing it between us. The usual deal, as I'm sure you were wondering, was that we halved the rolls other than the California roll so that we had a little bit of everything each. I sat down, handing her a pair of chopsticks as I hit play on the movie. The only light that was on was a lamp in the corner of the room so we could see what we were eating. Freya stayed close to my side, our legs brushing against each other a little bit as we ate.

I could feel my heart racing, as usual, from being this close to her. I was barely able to concentrate on the movie. When we both finished eating I got up and threw away our trash before I came back to the bed. She snuggled into me once I was settled and wrapped a leg around me as she put her head on my chest and continued to watch the movie. I wrapped an arm around her shoulders, my thumb softly rubbing over it. Thankfully, I wasn't shaking.

When the movie was over, she nuzzled in further as she closed her eyes, "Mmm...goodnight, Mel." she said in a whisper and fully wrapped her arms around my waist.

I nodded and whispered back, "Night, Rey." I closed my own eyes. It took a while for me to fall asleep. My mind was racing with too many thoughts and feelings. But eventually, sleep did take me into its cold embrace.