Unattainable

Chapter Thirteen- The Journal

        Eventually, Jennifer broke free from the hand and found it to be Colin. His breath was heavy from fighting her and he placed his hand beside her on the wall.

        "What are you doing here by yourself?"

        "I couldn't sleep..." She said shyly, not making eye contact with him.

       "You can not run off like that. Especially when we have enemies here...and a stalker..."

        "You have a stalker and I can handle myself..."

        Not commenting, he tore her from the corridor and to the streets where she saw his eyes were red and puffy with what looked like tears. She placed her hand upon his cheek.

        "I thought you were....gone..." He said, the word stinging his lips as he spoke it. "I thought something might have happened to you..."

        "I'm sorry." She said, kissing his lips sweetly. But as she pulled away she saw a tear fall from his eye. "What is it?"

        "This is incredibly dangerous...all of it. I want you to stay back or at least take me with you. No more midnight adventures-alone. Do you understand?"

        She nodded. "Why are you so upset?"

        "I can't lose you Jennifer. We have been through so much...and I want..."

        "What?"

        Pulling her to the fountain, he set her on the edge. "I want to be able to protect you...to hold your hand through the dark and be the one to face the dragons first. I want to be the one you cry to when you can not take the stress and I'll kiss away the tears and replace them with smiles. I want to be the one you come to in the late hours of the night when you can't sleep, or the one you want to kiss just because." He paused and sat beside her. "You have made me question everything. I thought I wanted a life of sexual encounters and continuous questions of who will be next, but...you have changed me. I now want you. Just you." He looked closer to her once more. Peering through the darkness, he connected her lips with his until he was unable to contain the moment any longer. Taking her, he kissed her neck but she stopped him.

        "Not here..."

        As they walked back toward the room, she quickly threw her bag onto the counter but the journal fell to the floor. She quickly stopped him kissing her body and informed him on the journal. They were both anxious to open it.

        "Are you alright?" She asked him, seeing how his complexion was red and he was slightly trembling.

        "Just thought something else would happen...But this is more important."

        Pulling him to her, she kissed him with great passion. "I will make it up to you. I promise."

        Looking down at the journal, she untied the leather strings and watched as they fell on her lap.

        "We could find out everything." She said taking a deep breath. "or nothing..." She said with sadness.

        As she tore rapidly through the pages, she found revelation after revelation. Apparently, a satanic cult roamed these parts and claimed victims once a week. Mostly covering their crimes as "suicides" or "missing", they would then take an object from their victims and keep it as a sacrifice to a greater being, they knew as "Artifice". There was also a rival religious group known as the "crowns". They attempted to track these people down. Before she could read any further, she found the sun filled their room. Now laying in bed, she found Colin beside her-fast asleep. She fell intrigued by his peace. She desperately wanted to know what he was dreaming, but instead continued to read. Eventually, she too fell asleep.