The Days Of Hellfire

Chapter Ten.

Ten minutes later, dressed smartly in a warm fluffy sweater and a simple pair of leggings, Winter sat in the passenger seat of Kristophers car, a wide grin plastered on her face.

"So where are we going?" she asked. She didn't really care where they went, so long as they were together. And as long as she was out of her home.

Kristopher turned to look at her with a smile on his face too. She watched the way the sun lit up his golden skin and reflect off of his warm blue eyes. The same feeling from last night tugged on her insides, begging to be acknowledged.

"I was thinking we could walk around town for awhile. Pretend to be a couple of tourists for a few hours or something."

She turned away and rolled down her window, letting the cool fall air brush against her hot skin and wash over the interior of the car. That was their favorite thing to do together: pretend to be tourists in their small rainy town and capture the scenery. That and share a whole box of pizza on her living room couch as they watched Disney movies.

"Sounds like a plan. Where will our first stop be?" she asked.

"Let's leave this bad boy at the park and walk wherever after that."

"Whatever you say, Captain!"

Five minutes later they were exiting his truck and making their way towards the nearest sidewalk to begin their adventure. They walked together in silence, their arms occasionally brushing together.

She met Kristopher a few years ago, right when she moved to this town from Georgia. He had stood out from the crowd to her, and she had to him. When her eyes met his in the hallway at school, she felt like an instant friendship had formed. But she was too shy and not so bold as to just walk up to him and introduce herself, so she cautiously turned her back and headed to class.

She thought about him for two whole class periods after that before she saw him again. It was like he was expecting her. He sat in the back of one of her classrooms, arms crossed over his chest, looking patient. The seat next to him stood empty.

When he saw her enter the classroom, a smile lit up on his face. She couldn't help but smile back. Her anxiety flared to life as she took the seat beside him.

He was the first to speak.

"Hi. I'm Kristopher."

And just like that, her life had changed.

Now, as she stood walking with him, their arms casually brushing, she smiled to herself. Where she was now was so much better than where she had been.

For the next half hour, they walked and talked. They talked about anything they could, and everything they wanted to. They stopped past a small hometown burger joint and shared a batch of French fries. They saw the sights of the town and pretended to be the tourists well. He never pushed her to talk about herself, which she was grateful for.

They eventually came across her favorite spot in all of Maine: The Memorial bridge. She didn't know why she loved it so much, like a huge hunk of metal wielded into a means of transportation was anything special. She just liked being there. She liked to stand on the sidewalk of the bridge, looking over the horizon at the seemingly never ending river that lay beneath it.

Her face lit up as they approached the walkway. Cars whizzed past them and paid them no mind. She preferred to come here during the night, when barely anyone was out and about driving. It was much more relaxing to listen to the ripples of the waves when there wasn't a vehicle to obscure the noise.

Kristopher looked down at the river with something along the lines of distaste.

"This place gives me the creeps," he mumbled. "Imagine just... falling over into it. Or it collapsing. You never know when something will happen."

Winter snickered. "I highly doubt that either of us will fall off of this bridge."

"I'm just saying it could happen," he said, lips pressed together firmly.

Winter propped her elbows against the railing and leaned over slightly. She didn't care what Kristopher said, she loved being here. It was like her heart was drawn to it. She loved architecture and anything to do with it. She loved studying buildings and other structural arrangements. Architecture was what she wanted to go to school for.

The wind picked up and blew her hair back. She could sense the turning of seasons in the air. Right now, they were in the not quite summer and not quite fall stage of the year. It was slowly transitioning into place. The wind was cooler, the air temperature was dropping, and the leaves were changing from the beautiful pops of green to the sultry orange, red, and yellow. Fall was hands down her favorite time of year.

Kristopher smiled down at her, his cheeks beginning to turn a soft shade of pink as the wind blew across his face. He reached over and lightly pulled a blue lock of hair from her face and tucked it nearly behind her ear. Her cheeks reddened at the feeling of his hand making contact with her skin.

She watched him swallow. His cheeks burned brighter.

Her heart stuttered.

"W-we should get ready to visit our next stop," she hastly said. Her mouth had suddenly become extremely dry. She didn't know what was going on, but she didn't want to focus on it. She had an exhausting night, and a lonely morning up until he came to pick her up. Her feelings right now we're just of gratitude.

For a moment, his face fell. But as quick as it did, a smile formed on his lips. He threw his arm around her shoulders and started to steer her away from the bridge and onto proper land again.

"I was thinking next we visit the florist," he said. "There's something I want to do there."

Winter didn't ponder over what that meant. For some reason, she felt her heart pick up speed, but it wasn't at the words of best friend. What she felt was... Angry.

.....

Watching the whole show unfold from the comfort of his parked car across from the bridge, The Brother of Darkness' pinky finger twitched.

He took a deep breath. He counted to ten. Then he counted to ten again. His eyes glowed orange as he watched Winters retreating figure. Emotions swirled inside of him like a hurricane, refusing to die down.

He pulled out his cell phone and hit his speed dial on two. It rang once before the other line picked up.

"I changed my mind. We're doing this sooner rather than later. Circumstances have changed."

Kaos did not wait for a reply. He hit the end button and threw his phone into the passenger seat, a thought formulating in his brain.

In due time, he thought to himself. All in due time...

Hello all, and happy national book lovers day! Thank you for reading the latest chapter! I'm sorry this is so short, I'll have to go back and edit it later. But I just wanted to make sure I had something out today in honor of being a book lover! I hope everyone has a good day/night!

-Essence ❤