Ravenwolf's Rose

A Warm Embrace

"That's not funny!"

"So why were you following me? Or perhaps I should say... stalking me?" he leaned in towards me and I gulped.

"I wasn't stalking you!"

"You've been following me for a few hours now..." he was playing with the mask now coyly.

"You... did you lead me on a wild goose chase?" he smiled and I balled my fists together.

"I didn't think you'd hop the fence" he was laughing now, "you did a pretty good job. Professional escape artist?"

This guy... I lunged forward to punch him and he grabbed my wrist and he led me forward.

"Well, since you worked hard all afternoon, I'll show you something interesting...."

I was led forward, much to my protest. He was taking me towards the lights shining in the distance. The brightness that caught my eye earlier. When we got there there was a still carousel. He let go of my wrist and skipped forward. I stared at him, confused.

He opened his arms widely and said, "welcome to Harrison and Company's one and only carousel that will take you on an endless adventure... for a limited time only, you can ride solo..." he then turned and walked towards the generator and turned it on. Suddenly, the ride started moving.

Little beams of little started bouncing off of the porcelain horses and carriages in front of me. I couldn't help but smile at how pretty it looked. The rainbow studded lights on the base of the carousel were glittering in the distance. Jackson walked back to stand beside me. He was grinning. I didn't get a chance to see him genuinely smile like this at the mansion.

I suddenly realized how much trouble we would get in if we were found by the cops so I grabbed his arm and said, "thanks for showing this to me. It's really beautiful, but we should go before--"

His expression hadn't changed and instead he took hold of my hand and brought me towards the ride. He got on while whisking me up with him. I looked up at him stunned by what he did. He smiled at me and for the first time I couldn't help but feel a starstruck by Jackson Ravenwolf. He looked like he didn't want to move away from this moment.

"Why...?" I asked, and he brought me over to one of the 'carriages' on the ride and we sat beside one another. I looked at him underneath the warm lights. It seemed like we were the only two people in the universe. Floating around and around...

"This was one of the only places that our parents took us when we were younger. Even though it's a small, rundown amusement park, it was some of the only times we could be together... freely..." I looked up at him staring out at the centre of the carousel.

So this place held such meaning to him... before I could reply back to him, I could hear someone screaming in the distance.

"Oops, we better jet..." Jackson took my hand and brought me forward. We both jumped off the ride and I could see a bouncy flashlight in the distance. It must be a security guard. 

"Run!" Jackson yelled triumphantly towards me, alerting the guard. I smacked his arm and he led me forward. I could hear the guard in the background telling us to stop. He called us hooligans while screaming profanities. Jackson laughed as he ran. I couldn't believe his attitude given the circumstances...

Jackson brought us to a mini golf course with a winter wonderland theme. He crouched into the snow globe and I followed after. When the security guard passed by Jackson brought me closer to his chest. We were already tightly packed inside this plastic dome. When the coast was clear Jackson still held me close to him...

"I think we can go..."

"Wait..." before I left Jackson held onto me again. The security guard passed by the area again. Jackson hid my head into his chest and tried moving further into the snow globe. 

Another minute passed and Jackson slowly pushed me away. I stared up at him. He had similar features to James even though they were fraternal twins. Jackson had seemingly perfect features. I could see the beautiful curves his lips had... I suddenly thought it was warm. It felt like we were sharing a kind of warmth between us... I shook my head... what was I thinking?

"Let's go..." he led me outside the snow globe and we were quietly making our way out.

Jackson led me to an open-themed gazebo and told me that the exit was nearby and that we just had to be careful. When I thought we were in the clear to move again the security guard appeared again this time with another person. Jackson pulled me down and we hid behind the side of the gazebo.

The security passed by again and we got up slowly.

We managed to get out of the gazebo but one of the security guard's came back and Jackson twirled me around towards the gazebo again. We sunk behind one of the pillars. While I sat down Jackson planted his hand on one of the gazebos arches and I looked up at him.

Despite this crazy situation I was neither scared or nervous. For some reason I trusted he would get us out of here... but this closeness...

"I think he's gone..." Jackson turned to me again and our noses touched. He leaned back, almost falling, but I grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him forward. Since neither of us was expecting this sudden change in movement, Jackson couldn't control his balance. His body collided into mine. My hands were now wrapped around him and suddenly we were hugging...