floating | ✓

09| golden

“Why?” Oliver asks.

“Why what?” I ask back.

“Why do you come here everyday?” Oliver asks.

I smirk. “To murder people I don't like.”

Oliver gives me a look.

“The whole area is quiet and empty. If you scream, no one is going to hear you. You came here of your own free will, and now I am going to kill you.” I gaze at him, giving him what I will call a ‘dangerous stare’.

Oliver stares right back. “I expect nothing less from you.”

I smirk. “Of course, you don't.”

I stop my bike and drop it on the ground as I reach the lake. Like a good boy, he adjusts his bike on the side stand and then follows me. The wooden ramp squeaks under our feet. I feel the same sense of emptiness inside me that I have been feeling since the morning.

I turn around and spot Oliver. He looks troubled. This may be fun, after all.

“I am going to cut your head off and dump you in the water,” I say.

Oliver drops the ‘troubled boy’ look and says, “What weapons do you have?”

“A knife,” I reply.

Oliver takes a step towards me, shortening the distance between us.

“Yeah?” he asks.

“And then, I am going to escape this town,” I say.

Oliver takes another step towards me. I step back. There is something in his eyes, something new, something I haven’t seen before. A spark, a glint of amusement.

I roam my eyes around his face. His eye lashes, his nose, his lips, pink and curled into a smirk.

Oliver takes another step forward and I step back. 

“Take a swim with me,” I whisper.

My blood pumps in my heart. I feel this rush of adrenaline. Something I haven’t felt in a while. My heart beats loudly. It is this lakeside, empty and quiet. It is us. We are alone. Oliver and me.

Maybe I can finally be awake.

People change when they get in the water, or so I have heard. Oliver may change his mind too, who knows.

“Really?” Oliver asks, knocking me off with a look. He is stalking towards me with a look of a predator. For once, I am scared a little.

I step backwards. My heart is pounding in my ear.

“I thought you wanted to kill me,” Oliver says.

“In the water,” I reply, stepping back again.

The air around us sparks with energy. It is in him. It is in me. It is between us. I don’t know if he can feel it, but I can.

If I can touch that energy, get it inside of me, maybe I will be awake again.

“Are you sure?” Oliver asks, his gaze boring into mine. His eyes roam around my face. His eyes, dark and dilated. I gulp.

I step backwards. The wood squeaks. My feet slide and my eyes widen. I feel the gravity pulling me.

Oliver’s hands shoot out, grab me by my wrists, and pull me against him. I am flushed against his body.

“Don’t slip, Gwen,” Oliver whispers, staring right into my eyes.

We have never been this close before. For the first time, I see the tiny gold freckles in his dark eyes. 

“I was not going to,” I say.