Shadows Of Red

CHAPTER 2: Woods

CHAPTER 2: Woods

Sighing, I stood up straight from leaning against the wall.

What has been, has been. I can no longer change that. Even when I try to do everything to change it. Which is really impossible in the first place.

I sighed once again and decided to go on to walk to my first class of the day.

But just as I was about to turn around, I caught those eyes staring at me again. And I found myself staring right back at him.

I once thought that Calum's eyes were made of magnets. He reels everyone in. And we all are just metals, no chance to fight the compulsion of his magnetic prowess. Which I can't deny, being embraced by that magnetic pull right now.

Too caught up and entranced by those dark abyss, I stood still on my stance. Even with a distance this far, it is really true that Calum Price's eyes can trap any prey he lays his eyes on.

With that thought, I snapped out of my daze. What am I even doing? Prey? I am not a willing prey. If there's even any.

"Look, Calum's looking at me."

I heard a girl on my side whispered. I shook my head as I finally turned around, breaking that imaginary rope he was slowly coiling around me.

While admitting to that undeniable attraction I have towards Calum's appearance, I at least am not indulged with the idea of having him for myself. I don't think I even have the time to think of that at this point of my life.

I heard the girls giggle beside me. I shook my head again.

I guess I was wrong. Apparently, there really are willing preys.

I started walking towards my next class. Still hearing whispers here and there about Stacey's disappearance and over Calum and Amanda being together.

I thought that when college starts, everything will be different. But turns out, it was just a part two of high school, with just added weight of adult responsibilities.

Despite my anticipation of its changes, I kind of saw it coming though. West Vanders University is a prestigious university. It is prestigious and academically excellent. Enough for all these rich kids to stay and not go their ways to the big city. But if I had the money like they do, I would probably get out of this place, once and for all.

Not that I don't love this town, but I would like to venture out. Embrace every possibility I can which I knew I would have if I weren't trapped in here because of my lack of financial ability.

But I guess, living like this was better. Better than being in that huge house. A house I never felt at home to begin with.

"Hey, Nat!"

The moment I stepped inside the class, Jordan, my best friend's voice boomed inside the room, making me blush in embarrassment. I walked fast towards him as I avoided every eye that went to me at his calling.

"Can you tone it down? People are watching," I mumbled forcibly as I took a seat beside him, still feeling embarrassed. But the obnoxious guy that he was, he just gave me a grin.

"Why? The professor isn't here yet," he said, crossing his arms on his chest as if he didn't do anything wrong.

"But still. We're not in high school anymore," I countered as I sighed and took my notebook out of my bag, readying for the start of the class. I glanced at my wrist watch and saw that we only have a few more minutes before the period starts.

"Nah. It still kind of feels like it." Jordan sat and smirked just to annoy me, which he knew I would most of the time. But I just shook my head in exasperation. It's way too early for his antics for me.

My shift ended at 12 last night and I didn't sleep well. Or I might really never have slept, once I've woken up in the middle of the night earlier. I don't know. I don't remember. I just know that I was closing my eyes. Partially awake or asleep.

As if sensing my sleep deprivation, Jordan suddenly leaned on my arm chair. "You haven't been sleeping well again, haven't you?"

I just shrugged. He knows I have been having a hard time sleeping for the last couple of months. I've been having these weird dreams that wakes me up in the middle of the night. It's been giving me headaches, but I can't help it. I can't stop them from coming so I could sleep...

And I didn't want it to stop.

Weird sensations of pleasure and security settles in me every time I have those dreams at night. Whenever I wake up, I feel like I just had the most euphoric experience of my life. My fingers still tingled with sensations I couldn't even remember where came from whenever I woke up from it.

I wanted to stay in that bubble. I wanted to keep it coming. I wanted to know where those inviting sensations came from. I wanted to know what happened inside those dreams that seemed to always vanish the moment I opened my eyes. Leaving me wanting for more.

And it's frustrating how I couldn't remember anything the moment I wake up. Making me feel more stressed than the thought of having the lacking amount of hours I needed to sleep.

"Nat, you really need to take a rest. Have a day for yourself, you know." Jordan suggested, his voice now worried. I turned to him, and I smiled a little at the worry I saw in his bright brown eyes as he watched me. He is wearing his favourite jacket and that same blue sweater I saw him wearing the first time I saw him again this year.

He went out of town for the summer break after we graduated high school. I even thought he was leaving permanently as he told me that he also applied for colleges in the nearby city. I remember feeling sad for a while hearing that from him. But turns out, he just travelled through the state with his aunt's family for the summer.

He's the only close friend I have in here. Well, not that I have someone else outside town. But we were friends since middle school. And with the same people in our high school, I don't think I could survive a year by myself with all the stress added of the work I needed to do to sustain myself.

"I'm fine. I can handle it," I said to appease him. A curl from his brown hair made its way to his brow, but he didn't mind it. I noticed how his hair grew over the course of a few months, which is kind of new. He never had his hair long.

Jordan just stared at me with those eyes becoming serious. He observed me with those usually unproblematic bright brown eyes. I smiled and raised my brows at him in question.

It's a rare occasion seeing him like this. He is quite the goofy and jolly type of a guy. But whenever we talk about my sleeping habits, which just started a few weeks back, he gets all serious and... pushy. Which is kind of weird.

"Tell me. Have you been having... things that's bothering you at night?" I continued staring at him. I know he was going to ask that, like how he almost always does when we talk about this. And I've asked him this a million times already: "Why do you want to know?"

I just feel like those moments I have in the middle of the night were only meant for me to know. To experience. And even when he is the closest thing I have for a family, I still feel like it's a private matter. That it was something intimate and I needed to preserve it only for myself.

Just like what usually happens during this conversation, he looked away and kept his silence. He then diverted my attention away from the topic, which he started in the first place.

"Miss Booker is here," he muttered and opened his laptop to change the subject. I heard the clicking of those heels on the floor indicating the entrance of the said professor inside the room.

I sighed, settling my eyes at him for a couple more seconds before focusing on the green eyed professor in front. I just sometimes don't know what goes inside my best friend's head.

Seeing the professor in front, I couldn't help sitting straight and adjusting my shirt.

Miss Victoria Booker. With those piercing green eyes and dark blonde hair, she's probably the woman I imagined I wanted to become when I was a kid. Strong, firm and yet smart and gorgeous at the same time. I like her, but I can't help feeling the intimidation towards her. She just has this aura...

The classes started with Miss Booker's introduction to the new topic. Everyone was so silent and clicks and clacks from the students' keyboards filled the air along with the professor's voice as she spoke in front.

The entire hour and a half became a race of writing for me while I listened to her discussions in front. Not like most of them in here, I couldn't afford a laptop of my own. I needed to work extra if I wanted to buy it immediately. I am currently saving for it, but for now, I have to deal with learning how to simultaneously write fast and listen carefully to each of the professors' discussions.

"I'll lend you this later." Jordan whispered beside me as he saw me struggling with the unfamiliar words Miss Booker has been saying. I thanked him in a whisper and sighed. I might as well read more when I get home later after work, if I want to catch up on the jargons I needed to learn for this subject, I need to double my efforts.

My head ached at the thought. Do I have the time? Do I even have the money to buy the book? Gawd. I'm so broke.

As if my life was hanging on the line, Miss Booker's last statement, "Class dismiss," gave me back my energy and oxygen for me to breathe and live again. I inhaled a huge breath and put my pen down on the table. Caressing my straining right hand as I might have gripped on the pen for too long.

I really need money.

"Here." I looked up as I stayed still on my seat and looked at Jordan standing beside me. He handed me his laptop. "Thanks."

He just smiled and put my notebook back on my bag for me. I sighed and stood up. It's really a good thing taking some classes with him. I don't think I could survive without his help.

"See you lunch?" He said as I swung my bag to my back and held unto his laptop, hugging it in front of my chest. I nodded and smiled at him.

"Yeah, I'll return this to you, then." I pointed at the laptop in hand. He just nodded and gave me a cheeky grin, that mood and facial expression that I was used to seeing back to his face.

"Bye, Nat!" He shouted amidst the people and I almost cursed. He laughed at my reaction and grinned before running to god knows where. I just shook my head at his antics.

I know he doesn't have a class after this. That's why he usually lends me his laptop for me to use for my next one. But I never really know where he goes at this hour. He often tells me he has some errands to run to. But it's not as if he is someone's errand boy.

Jordan is not as rich as most people in here are, but he is not as poor as I am. I don't know where his immediate family is, all I know is he's living with his aunt. Like me, he works at certain jobs part time. He sustains himself and he left his aunt's house for a while now, saying he doesn't want to be a nuisance in their home. But still, he can afford things with that same job we have. Which, just to point out, pays just enough for rent and every day needs. So, where does he get the extra money?

I shook my head. Maybe he really does something extra to sustain for himself. Which I totally get. I need it too.

My next classes went on, and I was able to listen more intently and comfortably as I used Jordan's laptop. The next hour became a blur of moments and before I knew it, the professor was dismissing the class already.

I closed the laptop and stood up, walking away and leaving the room with the rest of the people in the same class.

I started walking out towards the hallway. I glanced at my watch and saw it was almost Jordan and I's lunch hour. He will be having a class after this while I would still need to wait for a couple more hours for my next and last class.

Just like what I do almost every day, I went to the back of the building as I waited for Jordan to come back and have lunch with me. He knows I'll be staying here to do my homework or to study. Because honestly, these vacant hours are literally the only times I could do school work. And I'm making the most out of this.

I sat on the gazebo and put my things beside me. I breathed in the fresh air and watched the nearby woods at the back. I watched the tall trees and the serene swaying of their leaves for a while. Just savouring the peace and calm of this area before I started jumbling topics in my mind again. I sighed. I really like this place.

A few more seconds, I decided to start. I would still have a couple more minutes or maybe even an hour before Jordan comes back. I'd be having just enough time to do everything I needed to pass for our subject requirements for the next few days.

Just as I was about to open Jordan's laptop again, I suddenly heard something on my back. A shuffling.

My brows creased and I looked over, behind the gazebo where the forest was, but all I saw were the humungous trees around the wooded area of the university. I looked further around, making sure I wasn't just hearing anything.

This area of the university is by far the most silent area where I could sit and really study. Students don't often come here for some reason. One, being the biggest reason: afraid of being left alone with all the case of disappearances still on going.

It's not that I'm not afraid of it, but I know I am being careful too. I know this place, and it has become my sanctuary for the past couple of months since I attended college here. And for the couple of months I've been here, I don't see anyone being in here besides me and Jordan. Jordan doesn't even stay in here as we immediately go to the diner where we eat our lunch the moment he sees me.

Besides, I think I know who does those things that makes people disappear.

I settled back on my seat again as I saw no one that may have made that sound earlier. I shrugged the thought away. Maybe there was a rabbit or something in the wooded area that may have created that sound. Because for sure, I am the only one in here like all the other weeks and days.

....right?

I shook my head and finally opened the laptop. Then I started typing, shrugging the thought away again. But another noise made my fingers freeze on the top of the keyboard. I took a deep breath and observed for another quiet minute, unmoving. A few more seconds passed, and there it was again. Shuffles of something moving fast.

I snapped my head towards my right. And my brows creased again in curiosity. I think I just saw someone going inside the woods. I frowned. What was that person doing inside the woods?

I didn't exactly saw if that person was a guy or a girl. It was pretty fast that I just saw a vague image of it running towards somewhere deeper in that forest.

I stood up, getting eaten by my curiosity. Was there a passage way in this forest to get in and out of the university premise?

I left my bag and Jordan's laptop on the gazebo and started walking towards that area where I saw the figure get in. I set aside some branches that got in my way as I started walking on the trail I was seeing inside the woods.

Being inside the small forest where I found calmness every morning, the cold sensation wrapping around me almost shocked me to the core. It made me clutch on my jacket, unconsciously making a protective stance to protect myself.

I bit my lip as curiosity got the best of me. I knew this was a very stupid move, but I just felt magnetized in here. Something about what I saw and heard made me want to know about it. Something about it draws me in. And now that I’ve taken a step inside, I might as well just figure out what's inside these woods I have long since been just looking at. Besides, these woods are still under the university's security. So, I must still be safe in here.

I hope.

Walking and following on the small trail besides the undergrowth, I made my way further deeper into the forest. And my heart accelerated on my chest when I heard voices not far from where I was standing. And that's when I saw two figures standing behind a thick branch with thick leaves hanging on it.

My feet immediately moved faster as I followed the voices in front. I'm hearing a woman and a man's hushed voices. That made me take slow steps and hide behind a nearby tree. What are they doing here?

I clutched at both of my hands as cold wind swiped through me. I wet my lips. I don't even know exactly why I'm doing this.

Pursuing in the name of my curiosity, I slowly took a peek at the people behind the tree. But the moment my eyes went to that spot where I was sure those two people were standing, my brows arched.

They're not there anymore. No one was there already.

I bit my lip made a step away from the tree to look further, leaves crunching on the weight of my feet. I looked around and no one was literally there. My frown deepened.

I pursed my lips in confusion. But I just saw figures behind a branch as I was walking towards this spot. I'm pretty sure they were there. How can they not be when I just saw them a couple of seconds ago?

I sighed at myself and the situation. Why am I doing this again?

I spun around to go back and chose to mind my own business, but I almost shrieked in shock at the grey eyes that suddenly met mine. I gripped on my jacket as his tall figure loomed over me.

Calum Price was standing in front of me. Staring at me just as intensely as I often saw him do. My throat immediately felt dry at the sight of his dark eyes pinning me on my spot.

With his deep voice spreading throughout the woods, he asked, "What are you doing here?" I swallowed at the sensation I got from the cold wind that swept through me again right after he spoke.

Gawd. Why does it have to happen after hearing how deep and cold his voice was?

"Natalie?"

Just as I was about to speak, my head snapped towards that feminine voice that rang in the woods.

My eyes slightly widened as I saw Amanda's shocked expression turn to that jealous expression.

"Why the hell are you in here with Calum?"

I could almost taste the venom in my sister's jealous-filled voice as those hazel browns glared at me.