As we drive along a road encaged by dense forest on either side, I try to mute my thoughts that are bouncing off the walls of my mind in a nagging rhythm.
The feeling of a weight being lifted off of my chest embraces me as we come to the end of the tree-guarded road. Enrique no longer had any place in my thoughts, which makes me frown in confusion and desolation.
But that is soon replaced with a tingling sensation that envelops my skin when my gaze lands on Adam in keen observation.
His chin square enough to exhibit every clench of his perfectly straight teeth. With pools of melted chocolate for eyes and a mop of silky smooth dirty blond hair, its length long enough to cover a part of his forehead.
He's the definition of 'The boy next door'. His white shirt tucked neatly inside his ink blue trousers, with not a single crease insight or button undone.
He's the kind of guy you would want to introduce to your parents, the kind that would take you on romantic candlelight dinners and remember to surprise you on your anniversaries.
I shyly look away immediately when he locks eyes with me briefly. Offering me a radiant smile he is quick to shift his gaze back to the road.
My mind on its own accord starts comparing him to Enrique, this causes a frown to crease my forehead once again.
Placing his large palm on my comparatively skinny knee, electrifying sparks make a reappearance.
My mind explodes with thoughts and scenarios that cause my cheeks to tint themselves red again while successfully pulling me away from thoughts haunted by a certain pair of cobalt blue eyes.
In attempts to eliminate these unholy visions from my mind, I give it the opportunity to wander off into fashes of memory that captured all the qualities these men exhibited that are most certainly not human.
So far turning eighteen has been nothing but a nightmare! I think to myself, caught in the middle of yet another crossroad.
"I never got your name," he says in a smooth yet deep voice shifting his eyes towards me for a brief moment.
"I know because I never gave it to you" I whisper under my breath without thinking.
But I think my whisper wasn't exactly a whisper because silence engulfs us. The stagnant air starts to feel awkward as the seconds pass by.
"Sorry I didn't mean to sound rude, I'm Faith," I say.
Over the years excluding my late name whenever I introduce myself to someone new has become more of a defense mechanism that has embedded itself in my nature.
"Faith," he repeats softly in plaudits. "It's a nice name. Suits you," he compliments, but I sense a double meaning in his words.
I'm quick to dismiss my observation and focus my attention on the road to make sure he's genuinely taking me back to my car.
As we enter the town, the tension in my body decreases comparatively. The exuberant wave of blood that gushes through my veins, is a feeling I've never experienced while gazing at the dusty old town roads.
But then again, neither have I ever been kidnapped by a handsome stranger for reasons that are still unknown to me. And then released into the care of yet another handsome stranger to drop me back to my car the very next day!
Driving through the park's parking, my eyes instantaneously find my car. Politely instructing him to stop when we reach close enough, I get out of the car-making sure I have my keys with me as I do.
"I'll follow you back to your place to make sure you reach safely," he demands sounding it out as an offer.
"No thank you. I'm perfectly fine from here," I decline with politeness coating my firm tone-not wanting to sound too rude.
He nods in acceptance of my decision, his reluctance evident in his posture. And the way his palms are clenched around the steering wheel, tells me that he isn't happy with my decision either-not that I care.
Wishing him a 'good night and a safe trip home' I get into my car. A familiar intoxicating scent immediately invades my nostrils as I enter my car.
Spotting my book and some other things I was carrying with me earlier at the park dumped on my passenger seat, my doubt of Enrique being in the car is confirmed.
I need to steer clear of both these men!
Driving home with a certain urgency harbored within me, I feel this sudden urge to just crawl under my sheets and never come out again.
Now that I had some physical distance from both those charismatic creatures, I'm finally able to see things clearly. Or so I thought.
Parking hastily within the limited space near my building, I grab my phone and dash towards my apartment.
Fumbling with the keys for a second, I push open the already age-weakened door and smash it shut within a window of mere seconds.
All the emotions that had magically disappeared when I was in the presence of those two come flooding back trapping me within an enraged hurricane of heterogenous emotions.
Their touch that once sent pleasurable sparks throughout my body, now makes me want to claw that very touch off my flesh.
Rushing to the bathroom-grabbing the bag of toiletries on the way from my suitcase-I turn on the shower and get under it peeling my clothes off simultaneously.
Water freezing as the depths of Antarctica, kisses my skin in the form of tiny droplets. Momentarily the shower opens its channels and lets the water descend freely with a single powerful thrust.
Ignoring the alarmingly low temperature and the fact that I had been coughing my life out a few hours ago, I grab my loaf and scrub my skin mercilessly.
All I want is to eliminate the feel of their additive touch!
Desperate to extinguish the source of the ignition of the compulsive sparks my body and mind now crave; I continue scrubbing, marring my skin. The urge to cry overrides my other emotions setting open the damn.
Why am I feeling this way?!
It feels like my body is castigating me for leaving their side!
Sinking to my knees overwhelmed by the sudden outburst of emotions mainly dominate by desolation and dejection, my body shakes in controllable sobs.
Crying for a while helps lighten the weight, allowing me to breathe freely. As my mind ventures back into the lake of thoughts influenced by them and imbued with their distinctive calibers.
These two could not be more unlike yet seem to have a similar effect on me.
From their mannerism to their wardrobe everything is the complete opposite to the other. Yet, I find them both equally alluring.
While Adam is the 'Golden, boy next door type' with the charming smiles and warm approach. Enrique on the other hand has the more 'Mysterious bad boy' vibe going on for him. It is in his discreet little actions only, that one can find his true emotions hidden.
Enrique is like the knight on the dark horse and Adam the knight on the light one...and I? As of the moment I feel like the damsel that will be the cause of their distress if I'm still caught in the middle of this war field.
Gradually I feel myself calming down as the stinging session of my raw skin is the only feeling calling my attention.
Sitting under the cold shower for a few more minutes to reduce the burn on my arms, I wrap a towel firmly around myself exit the bathroom.
Once I've changed into comfortable clothes, I return to the bathroom to collect the ones I had discarded there earlier. Grabbing them off the tiled floor, my eyes narrow in suspicion when a certain detail catches my eye.
Inspecting the top of my shirt meticulously, my eyes widen in confirmation of my previous doubt. This top has been washed! I conclude, horror permeating the air around me.
If my clothes had been washed without my knowledge then who changed me in and out of them?
I feel violated, but I also know that I cannot base an allegation on the flimsy claim that I know that my clothes had been washed without my knowledge!
This change was supposed to be the beginning of my new start. But with all that has happened up until now, it just feels like it's a continuation of my haunting childhood.
Brushing the dry tears from my cheek-ridding my skin of their presence-I refuse to let this experience affect what my future has in store for me!
Tomorrow is my first day of college. With a firm resolution in mind, I promise myself that I will let the past two days remain in the past.
Omitting them from my memory is the only way I will be able to move forward!
But little did I know, that the past never let's go. And here I wanted to leave two brooding men in my past.
Men who possess inhuman powers way beyond my understanding.
Author's Note:
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~Kia