Chapter 1: Chapter 1
"gary, where are you?"
The soft, mellow beat of the song playing in the background faded as the words became more urgent. I blinked, but I couldn't keep my eyes shut. Images of our nightmarish walk through the moonlight burned my retinas, and I squinted until the stars stopped twinkling and the moon became a star itself.My chest heaved, and I took a deep breath before opening my eyes again. I blinked, but the world was still blurry. What happened? Why am I on the ground?
"gary, I need you. Please, come back to me."
A hand reached out to caress my face, and I jerked away. It was him.My boyfriend, the man I loved, the man I was supposed to be with. My mind spun as thoughts tumbled around half-formed. What happened? Did he get hurt? Is he dead? What should I do? Run off into the woods and never look back? Pretend everything is okay and go back to sleep?I didn't know what to do. Everything was hazy, and I couldn't make out anything clearly. I felt sick, and I didn t know why. Maybe it was the blood rushing to my head, or the fact that I was covered in mud, but something was wrong.Something bad had happened, and whatever it was, it wasn't right for us to be together.I didn't want to see him like this; it was painful to watch him struggle, and I did everything in my power to make him stop. Tears streamed down my face as I pleaded with him to stop, but he was having none of it.