The Acadia Killer

Chapter 27

The sheer magnitude of what Blake said had my head spinning for the rest of the night. I hadn't known how to respond. What do you say to that? I knew I was falling for him too, but for some insane reason, a part of me wasn't ready to admit it yet. Maybe I was afraid that if I admitted it, things would be that much harder to deal with when I had to leave Maine. I wasn't ready to have that conversation with Blake, no matter how badly my heart wanted to shout from the mountain tops that I was falling in love with him.

It wasn't long after his admission that Blake and I decided to call it a night. I knew he had to get up early, so I couldn't take the time to explain my weird feelings to him. Besides that, I didn't want to somehow disappoint him by not returning the verbiage any more than I already had.

"Thank you for telling me," was probably the stupidest thing I could've replied with, but it had come out of my mouth faster than I'd thought it through and I couldn't take it back. Thankfully, Blake hadn't seemed bothered by my reaction, and instead, he simply kissed me again and a silence fell over the room while we separated to go clean up.

Climbing into bed beside the man who had just told me he was falling for me had my stomach in all kinds of knots. It felt like both of us knew we each had more to say, but neither of us was ready to have the talk.

"Goodnight, Kenz," Blake whispered, wrapping an arm around my waist, and tugging me close against his chest.

"Goodnight, Blake," I whispered back, staring a hole into the wall.

It was a calm night with crystal clear skies that shown the stars brightly. I was glad it wasn't storming for a change. It didn't take long for Blake to fall asleep, and I was comforted by the soft snores coming from the handsome man behind me. I must have spent an hour staring out the window at the stars before I finally fell asleep myself, but then I was plagued by nightmares of the Acadia Killer once again.

He was chasing me through the woods again. I was trying desperately to get back to the beach house to barricade myself inside. I needed a locked door between me and my assailant as soon as possible, and I could see the beach house in the distance, but no matter how fast I ran or how hard I tried to get there, the further away it seemed to get, and the closer to me the killer became.

"Help!" I screamed out. "Somebody! Anyone! Help!"

There was no response. Nobody was coming to save me. I was going to be the next victim of the Acadia Killer. I just knew it.

That's when I felt hands on my body. Strong hands shaking me gently. Blake was saving me – waking me up from this God-awful nightmare.

"Kenz, wake up," he said softly, knowing I was having a nightmare. "It's okay. You're safe. I'm here."

I awakened, gasping and sweating bullets, still able to see the figure in black chasing me as I blinked several times, trying to get my eyes to focus.

"Kenz, it's okay," he said, trying to calm me down. "You're safe. I'm here. It's alright."

"Blake," I gasped, shaking uncontrollably. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you up. I had a nightmare."

He looked at me with somber eyes, obviously worried about me. "The killer after you again?"

I breathed out a heavy breath I hadn't realized I was holding in. "Yeah. He was chasing me again."

Blake pursed his lips and glanced down momentarily. "What can I do? How can I help?"

I shook my head. "I have no idea. I don't think the nightmares are going to stop until this guy is behind bars."

He nodded slowly, his eyes darkening with sadness in the dim lighting. "I'm sorry, love."