seven

CHAPTER - 7

sure how else to start the conversation.

Prerna passed him and crawled onto the tall bed. She patted the area next to her. "Come here."

Before joining her, he wanted to remember her like this. A mental image of this moment before everything would change. While he couldn't know for sure what was about to happen, he knew what he wanted. And

what he was sure she wanted, too. He swallowed his

fear of the future and stowed it away in his stomach

as he walked over and sat on the bed beside her. Now

was the time.

Prerna smiled, but it faltered. Fear flickered in her eyes like sparks. She bit her lip and brushed hair behind her ear. Joseph had the urge to reach out and touch her; to take some of her pain. But Prerna would never let him.

She held far too many secrets for one person.

Many moments passed in silence as they stole glances, then averted their eyes. The words he'd mulled

around in his head for weeks, if not months, were

there and he wanted to speak to them, but with every second that slipped away, she felt further from him.

"How are you?" Prerna asked, placing a hand over his on

the bed. "How's work been?"

Joseph's new job at the factory was far from glamorous but the pay was nothing to scoff at. It provided him enough to buy a small two-bedroom house in a blink-and-you'd-miss-it town on the outskirts for this place. He'd started at the insistence of a friend

who'd made a great refer-a-friend bonus from Joseph's new employment there. With this major change to his income, he'd also been able to help out his family back in Kutztown, Pennsylvania. They didn't have much, mostly thanks to their happy-hippy-lifestyles, but he made sure his fifteen-year-old little sister was taken care of at the very least.

"I'm good. Work's been rough but good."

"A lot of hours?" Prerna asked, pulling her hands to her lap and resting her back against the headboard.

Joseph chuckled. "You could say that." He'd been

Working anywhere from fifty to eighty hours a week, depending on the mandatory overtime. Thankfully he was on the four day off period of his five-on-four-off cycle. "What about you? How have you been?"

She looked at her hands. "Alive. Barely," she said,

letting out a faint laugh.

His heart stung at her words. Something was off. Prerna didn't say things like that. Especially out of nowhere.

Her normally lively spirit seemed weakened.

He scooted closer to her and placed a warm hand on one of her cold feet. "I am always here for you, you know that, right?"

She nodded and met his eyes. "I know."

"Prerna, why did you ask me to come here?" Joseph asked again. Their eyes still locked; his heartbeat thudded throughout his body. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

Her hands fidgeted in her lap as she glanced at them.

They stopped and she spoke, "Well, what I have to tell you might be hard to believe." She glanced at him, then back down. "You're going to think I'm crazy, but

I'm not. Tears glossed over her eyes instantly. Her voice broke as she said, "I'm really not."

"Okay, okay," Joseph said as he scooted beside her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. It was clear that whatever was going on went well beyond their relationship.

"God." She rubbed her forehead and pulled her knees to her chest. "I don't know where to begin.."

"Just talk to me, Prerna. Please, if something's wrong, or if

you need help-"

"I don't," she cut him off. She reached over and held

his other hand. "I mean, I don't know how anyone can help me." She took a moment and her eyes fell back to her hands. "Weird things have always happened to me. My whole life has been this big mess full of

accidents and close calls. It seemed random until

recently... and now I... I don't know exactly what's going on, but I know something is after me. Or some things. But I don't know why, or what they are. All

I know that I keep almost-" she stopped herself and

Joseph squeezed her hand.

"You keep what? What's after you?" he asked.

Shaking her head, she said, "I don't know. But it's bad and I don't know what to do anymore. That thing found me and I.. I don't know how, or why they want me in the first damn place, or what to do to stop

them."

"I don't understand, Prerna. When did this start? Who are

they?"

She stared at him; her eyes burned with tears from the sparks of fear.

"I don't know." She shook her head and Joseph

helplessly held her close as tears fell like streams

down her cheeks. She wiped them away with the back

of her hand as she buried her face into his shoulder

and continued. "All my life I've barely escaped death and it just seemed random before, but now I know it wasn't. Last night, on my way home from work I was attacked. This thing wanted me dead, and I have no idea why. And I don't know what in the hell he was. He was so cold. So inhuman. He said there was a bounty

on my head."

No way. This wasn't real. It couldn't be. Inhuman? Has she gone crazy? Lost her mind? But how? She'd never seemed unstable before. She'd never said anything like this. Could this happen out of nowhere?

She sniffled into her pajama sleeve as she quietly sniffled and wept. She wasn't crazy. He knew her. He could feel her. Something was wrong. He saw it in her eyes, the pain she'd been through. And he trusted every word she spoke.

Not sure what else to do, Joseph held her tighter against

his chest as she cried.

In between breaths, Prerna choked out, "I don't know

Why are these things after me?" She wiped her face once more and leaned her head into his chest again.

"Last night... it almost killed me." Her watery eyes stared at him, terrified. "I... I don't know what to do."