Unpredictable

Chapter 12

"It's safe," I said, catching his attention. He nodded and walked forward, wincing with each step.

I held the door open for the man, watching closely as he sat down with a gratified sigh on a crate near the doorway.

I let the door close and then reached around for something heavy to block the door. I didn't want anything getting in that didn't need to. I thought that Ian and I had had our fair share of prehistoric creatures for the day.

Ian was watching me in silence, eyes flicking over my dirty form.

"What?" I asked, blush creeping up my cheeks.

"Uh, nothing," Ian replied, his familiar smirk back in place now that our situation was much less perilous.

I smiled to myself and moved to the back of the small room, climbing over Ian's sore leg in the process.

I reached the hay bales and pulled one toward me. I ripped the thin straps that confined the hay and spread the contents thoroughly, making sure there was a generous amount on the floor. I then ripped open another bale and did the same so that there was a thick layer of hay.

"What, uh, are you doing?" Ian asked, raising his hand to scratch at his cheek.

"Creating a bed..." I muttered quietly, hands on my hips. I saw a flash of Ian's perfectly white teeth in my peripheral vision.

"There's only one, uh, one bed."

I raised a brow at his grin.

"Sorry, I could find another place to sleep if it bothers you so much," I said, looking around the room for another place I could sleep.

"It's fine, more than fine actually," he laughed. "But just so you know..." he trailed off, grinning wider than I'd ever seen him do before. "I'm a cuddler."

I began to laugh. Softly at first but then it got louder, almost to the point where I thought I'd finally given over to hysteria. This thought only made me laugh harder. Ian at some point had began laughing too. Only it was that strange almost animal like laugh that he had made on the plane over to this horrid island.

We laughed for another minute or two before it eventually died down. My back slid down against the wall until I was sitting down with my head leaning back against the cold wall.

For some reason I began to cry. Tears rolling down over my cheeks. Maybe I truly had given myself over to madness. Ian looked over at me once he heard my breath hitch.

Immediately he tried to get up but I shook my head. He didn't listen and continued his quest to stand anyway.

I stood up as well to try to push him back in his seat, tears still leaking out of my eyes. However, he caught my arms and instead wrapped me in his, holding me tight against his chest.

He lifted one of his arms to hold my head and he kissed my forehead.

"Hey now, it's, uh, it's alright. Everything's going to be, uh, uh, fine."

I didn't say anything. Instead, I wrapped my arms around his waist. I squeezed him as though he was the weight keeping me here.

I was scared. I was scared for Alan, for Lex, for Tim and for everyone else on this godforsaken island. What I didn't understand though, was how this was allowed to happen. The fences were on, weren't they? John had taken so many precautions. What had happened?

The last of my tears fell and I listened to the steady beat of his heart and the soothing sound of his voice as he comforted me quietly.

I sniffed one last time and moved away from him, blush painting my face and ears a deep shade of pink.