the hunt.

"jeremy? can you hear me?"

jeremy didn't register the question. his chest ached from the building tension, his body shook with each thunderous beat of his heart. the screams echoing from down the hall seemed to be coming from all around them now. a deafening shriek--louder than the others--ripped through their small apartment. the couple three doors down had a 4 year old.

he instinctively tightened his grip on the body in his arms, shutting his eyes in an effort to block out the noise. this had to be a dream. soon he would wake up and they would be lying peacefully in their bed... a mess of limbs and sheets. how had it come to this? why hadn't the police arrived yet? it felt like the screaming had been going on for hours. cora's cool hands quickly found his face.

"jeremy... listen to me."

her voice was stern and her body still in his arms. too still. more screams. jeremy's eyes wandered to the door, expecting it to burst open at any moment. cora's round face suddenly filled his blurring vision.

"listen to my voice, okay? we have to get out of here. if we don't leave now, those... people... are going to kill us. do you understand?"

more screams as another apartment door banged open. they were getting closer. jeremy shook his head again. what was going on? what was she talking about?

"babe, i don't..."

in one graceful movement, cora was on her feet and darting around the bedroom. jeremy watched as she stuffed her slender legs into a pair of jeans from the floor. he remembered watching her shimmy out of the same pair the night before. she had kicked them into the corner before crawling into bed beside him.

"JEREMY," cora hissed, more forcefully, "turn off the tv in the living room. hurry."

jeremy nodded numbly and somehow found his way down the short hall. it felt like someone had replaced his legs with blocks of cement. some Evangelist was framed on their small tv set, preaching about the second coming. jeremy managed to grip the remote in his shaking hands and return to the bedroom. he was confused by what he saw. half an hour earlier, cora had made the bed. now, she had pulled the sheets off and tossed the pillows about. she was now rifling through the dirty clothes hamper.

he watched as cora forced the window open and arbitrarily tossed several of their clothes out. she turned around suddenly, and jeremy caught a glimpse of her face. the same round face, perfect mouth. the scar that ran across the top of her brow, dipping past her temple. the same almond shaped eyes and stubby nose. the same cora... but not. there was something wrong. jeremy took a deep breath and stepped closer.

"this isn't making any sense! we need to be getting out here. we gotta find some help--"

there was suddenly a sharp rapping at the door. cora was by his side in an instant with a hand over his mouth, the other gripping his arm. they both stopped breathing. a soft, panicked voice floated through the door. cora immediately recognized it as Mrs. Jenkins, their neighbor across the hall.

"hello? you kids in there?"

jeremy tried to move towards the door but cora tightened her grip. their eyes locked as cora shook her head no.

"jeremy? cora? hello? i think something's very wrong. i can't use my phone or anything. and all the scream... Oh God. Oh, my God... who are you? what do you want?"

there was a brief silence in which the low, rumbling voices of several men could be heard. jeremy felt his heart drop to his stomach as the old woman screamed. there was a thud against the wall that knocked several of their paintings off the wall. cora was pulling at his arm, but the only thing he could think about was the screaming. the next thing he knew, they were both huddled beneath their bed. cora was pressed against him, small as ever in his arms with one hand still over his mouth. the other hand slowly ran through his hair while she cooed at him, begging him to calm down. jeremy couldn't help but struggle against her... this all wasn't right.

they both were immediately still when the front door burst open.

and then, a spark.

i'm having trouble understanding exactly what you meant when you said, "i won't leave you" and reached for my hand.

why'd you do that? or, more importantly, why did i grab it?

you can't just do things like that and not expect to leave a person tossing and turning, squirming all over the place.

what are we doing here? my best friend says i'll either get over or under you eventually. maybe we can find a happy balance. we're good at figuring things out, right? :)

< going to sleep. can't keep my eyes open.
> what about me?
< key's under the mat. lock the door behind you.
> :)

sweaty, mean man.

you're making a fool of me.

you wrapped your sweaty arms around me twice in the one night. for everyone in the crowded room to see. i was sure the first time was just to gross me out. i shot my arms into the air and let out a wail that would put wet cats to shame. the second time around was completely sincere, as if to apologize for grossing me out in the first place. however, the sincerity was overshadowed by the fact that

a.) you were still shirtless
b.) you were still sweaty, and
c.) i was still grossed out.

i didn't want to laugh, but it happened anyway, as it always does when you're making me miserable. handing me your sweaty shirt to dry off with put me over the edge.

i'm sure you got a wonderful laugh out of it, but i'd like to see you try explaining to your friends why a tall, sweaty dude is all over you while you're laughing like an idiot. got the mental image? pretty fucking ridiculous, right?

every time i want to bash your face in or crash my body hips into yours, i remind myself that you are someone's child.

you are someone's sugar, baby, poopoo, sweetie, snookums, sweet heart. on holidays and family get togethers there is a room full of people who love you wholeheartedly, endlessly.

somewhere someone thinks the world of you. i remember all of this and i grit my teeth, relax a little, and shake off those shameful aforementioned feelings because at some point in time, i thought the world of you, too.

"You should destroy the world with some kind of mechanized horror. That’ll learn ‘em. Try and spare yourself and me, though. We can live in the ruins"

I actually have friends who say things like that to me. Crazy.

it felt like running full speed down a dark tunnel.. but only for a split second. before you know it, you're stumbling headfirst into the light again. you're surrounded by all these noises and it's too bright to make sense of anything. only, it's not really all that loud and the light isn't all that bright. in fact, what you're waking up to is probably ten times better than whatever you were dreaming about.

"say you promise"

down the tunnel, into the light. reality. jeremy growled in response and buried his head into the warm body in his arms, closing his eyes tight. the sun was coming up. he didn't have to open his eyes to know that much. he could feel it shedding through the blinds, creeping across the hardwood floor, slowly edging towards the bed in the center of the room. what day was it? sunday? sunday. no reason to be up this early. no class or work until tomorrow. good night out with friends the night before. music, alcohol, noise... what time had they finally gotten to bed? today was a day to sleep until noon and wake in time for lunch. maybe cora was talking her sleep again...

she moved again in his arms, nudging him awake. he rubbed his head against her back and breathed deeply. the familiar scent filled his nose, lulling him back to sleep. too early to be awake, but waking up to that voice was priceless.

"say it," she whispered firmly.

"what am i promising? why are you even awake..."

"promise you'll never be... afraid of me"

even in his sleepy state, the thought made him giggle. what brought this on? how could he ever be afraid of cora, of all people? the girl who yelled out, "SUGAR HONEY ICED TEA" when she stubbed her toe on the couch every other day. the girl who fed and nursed the stray cats who wandered through the alley. he could remember her throwing a fit once when a bird flew into the windshield as they drove down the interstate. she cried the whole way home.

he laughed sleepily as she turned in his arms, bringing her heart shaped face down to his. delicate fingers traced the outline of his face. across his closed eye lids, down the bridge of his nose, across his lips. jeremy wrinkled his face.

"that's easy. i promise. unless you're cramping. you can be pretty lethal at that time--"

"i love you"

her voice was shaky. jeremy opened his eyes but she was already burrowing her head beneath his chin, entwining her long limps around him in a familiar pattern. soft skin pressed against him and he wondered if there was anything in the world that could possibly compare to this feeling. he could feel her heart thumping against him. maybe a nightmare had prompted the strange conversation.

"i love you, too"

his fingers made the familiar trek up and down her soft, slender shoulder until her breathing was slow and steady again.