Hunted

Chapter two- Found

Chapter two: Found 

Oh Shi...! I thought as I heard footsteps approach the escalator to the second floor of the abandoned Belk, where I was hiding. This was bad, this was really bad. Footsteps were never a good thing.

"Annabel? Hello? Annabel!" A guys voice called.

I froze, having not even heard that name for years, nevertheless come across anyone who knew me by it. I silently moved to hide behind a one-time jewelry counter where I still had a partial view of my 'visitor', but still could not be seen myself. 

"Annabel? Annabel ? Heeeelllloooowww? Annabel?!" the voice called again.

He sounded almost...human. But it couldn't be. As far as the human world was concerned, I was just as dead as my parents and little sister, who were six foot below the ground. Demons were great illusionists. The human-looking creature in front of could be anything of a wide variety of monsters, ones I didn't necessarily care to name.

Then a flashlight switched on.

"Gabriel!" I gasped.

As soon as I realized my mistake, I clamped my hand over my mouth and slid deeper into the shadows, holding my self in control with every ounce of will I had left. Gabriel whirled around just a second too late to see me and shown a flashlight right at the spot I'd been sitting in.  

I wished desperately that there was some way I could prove that the figure in front of me, was, indeed, my boyfriend from back before all of this, when my life was normal. He had always been a constant thought in the back of my head for the last for years. Whether he was ok, if he moved on, or if he even believed I was dead like the rest of my family was, had never accepted that I'd disappeared and that he would probably never see me again; if he was out there somewhere, trying to find me.  

The desire to see him after all this time, to hold him in my arms again...things like that were pretty much the only things keeping me going, giving me even the slightest will to live.

 "...makes me feel like,

I'm nothing,

you,

show me just how wrong they were,

You, you make me feel,

like I'm everything...."Gabriel sang softly, and I knew it was him. Those were lines to our song, and nobody else knew then because we'd written the song ourselves.  

I sprang up from behind the counter and ran to him, meeting his embrace eagerly.

"Annabel...oh Annabel..." He whispered, hand stroking my long, red hair as if trying to make sure I was real.

 This was the first time in over four years I'd ever felt even remotely close to how I felt now. I was elated beyond words at seeing Gabriel, holding him again...This was my version of heaven...right smack in the middle of hell.  

"Oh my god, your really he..." I began before Gabriel's lips crushed mine.

The kiss stayed sweet for a bit, but not very long before the passion took hold. In some ways, this kiss seriously scared me. Not in the kind of way the demons did, but more like he was afraid we didn't have long, which was probably true.

Then the realization hit. How had I been living for the last four years? In constant fear, never staying in one place for more than a week. I couldn't let Gabriel go through that...but still my less noble side longed to keep him here forever. It reminded the selfless side how strong Gabe really was. How he could handle it. But no matter which angle I looked at the situation in; the love of my life would be in danger if he stayed...but at the same time; I couldn't let go. 

"So how did you end up here anyways?" He asked me.

I froze.

 "You know you can tell me anything...right?"

"This is going to sound insane...and you're going to think I'm crazy...but I've been being hunted down by demons..." I whispered.

Gabe gave me a stiff nod.

"You think I'm nuts, don't you?"Gabe shook his head.  

"Actually...it doesn't sound that far-fetched." He said.

I nodded.  

"So how did you even know I was alive?"

 He paused. "I didn't. But at the same time, I couldn't just let it go, let you go. I couldn't give up on you. Somehow, I just had this nagging feeling that you were out there, and that you needed me.

 "I told my mom about it, but she just gave me a sympathetic look and said that there was no way you could've survived, that the only reason they hadn't found the...the body yet is 'cause it was probably dumped elsewhere. So I packed my bags and left at midnight. I remember thinking 'Fine. If they won't help me find Annabel...than I do it myself.' .  

"So for that past four years, I searched for some sign as to where you might be, and last year I finally saw the jacket I'd given you on our first Christmas together. After that, I started recognizing things. Like this pile of leaves looks kinda like a bed, or the hole in this window looks just big enough for Annabel to have busted in and have gotten through. But seriously Bel, did you have to be so d*** good at this, too?"

 Wow, very few things could surprise me anymore, but this did.

 "Wow. I expected everyone to just move on and accept me as dead. I didn't expect..."

 Gabe put a finger to my lips. "That anyone would come searching for you? You honestly thought that I would just write you off as dead? Not a chance in hell." He said, smiling warmly.