Eight Hours Later

A dark figure shrouded in darkness seems to float towards his unsuspecting victim, a girl no more than nineteen years of age. A menacing smile overtakes his face, mostly hidden by his black hoodie and the darkness of the early morning. His gloved hand strokes the young girl's cheek almost lovingly, miming the caress of a lover. He hovers over her ear, whispering in a rough garbled voice...

"No one can save you, my love. I'm coming for you. Your time is almost up."

Beep! Beep! Beep! My eyes fly open, blood-chilling terror racing through my veins as I realize I'm not alone in my bed. Panic claws at my throat like some desperate wild thing until I recognize the hard muscular chest I'm laying on. Zion, my mind supplies as the sleepy fog in my mind starts to evaporate. Exhaling, my body sags in relief. My eyes flutter shut in exhaustion as I slowly begin to fall asleep again until...
Beep! Beep! Beep!
My alarm decides to start up again with renewed vigor, bleary-eyed and glaring, I reach out to shut it off when Zion groans sleepily into my hair. Tightening his hold on my waist, he uses his other arm to yank out the cord running from the alarm to the outlet beside my bed. After the alarm stops screaming at us, we sigh contently in sync. As we both start to let sleep take us back into darkness, there are two loud authoritative knocks on my bedroom door. 

"Lea! Get up! We're going to be late for my eye doctor's appointment!" 

My mother's irritated southern accent penetrates the room like a lightning strike; sudden and altogether terrifying. Trying to keep my voice steady, I call back sleepily.

"Coming! Just gimme a sec!" 

I practically launch myself out of bed after hearing my mother's voice. I yank open my pink curtains and unlock the window, shoving the stubborn window all the way open. I rush around my room gathering Zion's clothes and shoes since he opted to sleep in his navy boxers and black socks last night. The man who occupies my bed lazily watches me with his dreamy, ocean-blue eyes and smiles at me. Like he didn't just sleep with me like my mother isn't seconds away from beating the door down like everything is right in the world. I can't decide if I want to strangle him to death or kiss his stupidly gorgeous mouth.

"Morning honey, where's my good morning kiss?" 

Zion asks with a smug grin on his gorgeous face. I narrow my eyes at him, yep, definitely going to strangle him. 

"You need to leave like, now. My mom is so going to kill us if she finds out! Up an' at them! Go out the window and be careful." 

When Zion doesn't move, I put my hands on my hips, glaring down at him in exasperation as he continues to lay there in my bed. 

"So... No morning kiss then?" 

Rolling my brown eyes with a sigh, I smack him upside the head before I order him to kindly get the heck out. Zion stares at me wide-eyed for a second. 

"Sheesh woman! Why are you so mean to me?" 

The idiot easily slides out the window and climbs down to his beautiful vintage Corvette. As soon as his car sped down the street I rushed to get out of my pajamas and into some decent clothes consisting of faded blue bell-bottoms, a yellow t-shirt, and chunky yellow heels. Dashing to the bathroom, I quickly put on some pink lipstick, black mascara, deodorant, and a spritz of my favorite Avon perfume. After running a brush through my shoulder-length, brown hair and pulling it into a high ponytail, I rush to the kitchen for a quick breakfast before I have to brush my teeth, grab my purse and a light jacket and leave the house. 

"Alea! Time to go!" 

My mom shouted as I walked into the living room to find her digging through her purse, trying to find her phone. Finnick, my fourteen-year-old little brother, walks up to my mom with an amused smile on his face while holding her cell phone. 

"Oh! Thanks Finn! Now put the dogs up, so we can go..." 

My mom pauses briefly to check the time on her phone. 

"... Because we're five minutes late." 

Nodding, Finnick rushes off to do her bidding while I check my phone for any messages.

After responding to Keira, I check my phone for any messages from Zion.

Smiling to myself, I turn my phone off and slip it back into my black purse. I look up just in time to see my mom open the front door for Finnick and me. After dropping out of the house, my brother and I rush to the car and slide into the tan leather of Mom's Lexus while Mom locks the door. After making sure the door is closed, Mom runs to the car, hops in the driver's seat, and quickly buckles up before speeding out of the driveway towards the eye doctor's office in Port Orange.