C H A P T E R S E V E N -
A N S W E R S

Alicia drives into the direction of Michael's home at lightning speed. Her eyes burns with intense fiery as she thinks over what could possibly be going on. What could all of this mean? Why was all of this happening? Who were these people to her? Things just weren't adding up. She won't be able to go on with life until she gets some answers. She desperately wants to complete the unfinished puzzle that was her memories. She knows that Michael and his family will have the answers that she so desperately needs.

As much as she wants to know all these answers, her body fills with nervousness and anxiety as she thinks of Daniel. He had tried to harm her. Would her try to harm her again? She hopes that when she gets to the home, Michael will be the one to open the door.

As she drives up the road, her car slowly begins to slow down and with confused eyes, she stares at the gas tank. The very full gas tank. As soon as her car comes to a complete stop in the middle of the deserted street, her passenger side car door is flung open and a loud scream emits for her lips.

Michael climbs into the passenger seat and quickly shuts the door. With heavy breathing, Alicia holds onto her chest and stares at him wide eyed. He keeps his eyes on the road for a moment before slowly turning his head to face her. With zero expression, he speaks.

"Jesus Michael."

"Drive."

With her eyes still burning a hole into the side of his head, Alicia's eyebrows furrows as her erratic breathing soon calms down. Her trembling fingers stills and the twitching of her knees subsides.

"You want answers. I'm here to give them to you. But first I need to show you something." He turns to face her once more. "So drive."

Alicia stares at him for a moment. Contemplating on whether or not to follow through with his instruction. As weary as she is, she'd be a complete fool not to go along with what he wants. All she wants to know is what is going on in this crazy town. She puts her fear aside and drives off.

"You didn't tell me where we're going."

She peers over at him only to find him staring back at her. A familiar look creeping onto his face. His eyes travels from her light hazel eyes down to her exposed freckle covered neck.

"Michael." She calls.

He swallows the lump in his throat and looks back to the road. "Turn here."

She eyes the dark forest worryingly but doesn't hesitate to turn and drive through it. The hollow pathway surrounded by nothing but trees and shrubs looks as though it is everlasting. She grips tightly onto the steering wheel and begins to nibble onto her bottom lip as her nerves intensifies.
She turns to look at Michael and once again, his eyes are planted onto hers.

"Where are you taking me Michael?"

Michael sighs and eyes the road. He snakes his thin fingers through his dirty blonde tresses and thinks intently over what he is about to do. He wasn't able to keep this secret in any longer. He knew from the moment he laid eyes on her that he'd surely be doomed.

Dammit. He internally curses. Why did she have to come back? Why did she have to once again completely turn his entire world upside down? As angry as he was at himself for once again falling into her perfectly designed trap, deep down his heart sang with joy that she had found her way back to him.

"Michael." Alicia frustratedly calls.

Michael is snaps back into reality and he quickly snaps his neck into her direction. Alicia eyes him as her eyebrows raise. His eyes trail over into the direction of her hands and he raises a brow. Her hand in buried deep within her large purse.

He swiftly climbs out of the vehicle and walks behind it and over towards her side of it. He opens the door and that's when she pulls the item she had been holding onto with a death grip, out. She screams as she brings the tiny pink object up into his face and squeezes down on the button.

Michael snatches the item out of her hand and tosses to the ground. She stares up at him in complete bewilderment as he wipes the liquid from his face and steps to the side to allow her to step out of the car. Her mouth is agar and her eyes are wide. When she doesn't move, he sighs.

"Get out of the car Alicia."

Alicia still doesn't move. She begins to slightly cough as remnants of the pepper spray begins to fill her lungs. She moves back slightly and quickly turns to crawl into the passenger side seat of the vehicle. She reaches her hand out for the door handle but squeals when Michael's large arms wrap around her small waist.

"No." Alicia cries.

She holds onto the steering wheel for dear life as tears stream down her face. Michael frowns when he hears her soft sniffles and sighs tiredly to himself. He wants to tell her to stop being so dramatic, but he knows that she is afraid and confused. If only she knew that he'd never ever hurt her. No harm would ever come to her as long as he was around.

"Alicia." He breaths as he gently kisses the back of her head and smooths his rough hands up and down the sides of her waist. "Please trust me." He sings. "I'm not going to hurt you baby."

Alicia's breathing calms down and her tears slowly stop spewing from her eyelids. Michael's feels her once tense body relax and he takes a step back. He watches intently as she turns and slowly exits the vehicle. She looks up at him with a tear stained face and bites her bottom lip nervously. Michael brings his thumbs up to her cheeks and wipes away her tears.

There's a feeling deep within the pit of Alicia's stomach. A feeling so familiar that it nearly knocks the wind from her lungs. Her brows furrow as her hazel irises slowly trail over every inch of Michael's flawless skin. She slowly brings her hand up to his chin. She's hesitant yet when she sees no reaction from Michael, she runs her index finger gently over the stubble of his blonde beard. Her finger feels as though it belongs there. As if she'd done this a million times before.

Slowly, she inches her finger closer to his pink bottom lip. She looks up into his eyes and when she sees no sign of doubt, she runs her finger over the pink pillowy flesh. Michael inches his hand up her stomach slowly and places his palm flat on her chest. As soon as he does so, Michael abruptly steps back and sighs as he runs the palm of his hand down his face. For a moment they stand in complete silence. As they stare intently at one another, all that is heard are their erratic breathing and the sound of the wind gushing through the leafs of the tall trees that surrounded them.

"Come."

Michael reaches out his hand and Alicia doesn't hesitate to place hers into it. Michael leads the way to the very front of the vehicle and stands still with Alicia beside him. She stares up at him in confusion as she watches him close his eyes and extend his opened hand.

Michael and Alicia are stood in front of a large oak tree that blocked the entire pathway. It's the reason why Alicia freaked out the way she did. She had surely thought that Michael had brought her out to this dead end road so that he could kill her. It's why she pepper sprayed him. She still couldn't understand why it had no visible affect on him. It was if the strong liquid didn't faze him at all.

Alicia gasps and takes a step back. Bumping into the hood of the car as she does so. She watches in complete horror as the large tree slowly begins to disappear in front of her very eyes. When the tree is completely gone, Michael turns back to look at her and once again reaches out his hand. Still in complete shock, she is a bit hesitant to take his hand this time around. The look in his eye is the only thing that reassures her that his intentions are nothing but pure. She sees nothing but...love.

She slowly slides her fingers into his palm and wraps her smaller hand tightly around his. He leads Alicia through the dark forest and down the long and narrow pathway.

"Michael?" She calls out breathlessly.

Michael doesn't speak. He continues to move through the clear pathway until he is met with tightly knit bushes. He weaves his way through the branches and leafs and tightens his grip on Alicia's hand as he guides her through it. He extends his hand and easily breaks off  a thick branch and protectively wraps his arm around her waist to shield her from the sharp harmful branches. They soon exit through the rear end of the shrubs and a view of a gigantic oak cabin is visible. He begins to guide her to it but she stops. She loosens her grip from his and shakes her head.

"I need some answers. You can't just bring me here, d-do what you just did and not give me any type of explanation on what's going on." She frustratedly fingers her thin fingers through her curly black strands and sighs in utter exhaustion.

"What are you?"

The question remains unanswered as he stands with his back towards her. He thinks over what he is about to do. The consequences that will surely follow. He wonders on whether she'd be able to forgive him. If she'd hate him for what he did. He couldn't imagine living in a world knowing that she hated him. He'd much rather live a thousand times over in a world where she was completely oblivious of his existence. As he had been doing for the last couple of years.

He knew that the voice in his head would talk him out of doing what his dreamt of doing ever since she returned. It's why he brought her out here. He knew that if she were standing here in front of him, in this exact location, it'd be too hard to go back. He turns to face her with a look of anguish.

"This was..." he sighs. "Is our home."

Alicia frowns in confusion as her eyes peer up at the large home stationed behind him.

"What?"

"It's why I brought you here." He continues. " You're looking for answers and I'm here to give it to you. This was our escape. When we needed to get away from it all."

"Away from what exactly?"

Alicia tries as best as she can to remain calm. She doesn't want to believe anything that his telling her. He sounds completely insane, but the image of the disappearing tree floods her mind. Anything at this point was possible, she thought.

"My brother." Michael speaks.

Alicia shakes her head and places her hand over her forehead and she scrunches her nose. She feels a headache coming on. This is too much information for her to process.

"This isn't making any sense Michael." She whines.

"It will." Michael's moves closer towards her and brings her hands into his. He kisses the back of her hands and holds them up to his chest.

"Just promise me that you won't hate me." Alicia looks up at him shocked. His eyes are watered over and his cheeks completely flushed. "W-why would I hate you?" Her voice trembles as she speaks. Michael looks down at her as if his moments away from bursting into tears. Alicia feels her stomach drop as her heart begins to rapidly beat against her ribcage. "Michael...you're scaring me." She laughs nervously.

"Just know.." He shakes his head as he tries to unsuccessfully conceal his emotions. "I-I never meant to hurt you. Everything I did was to protect her and if I could I'd take it all back." He stammers. "I would. I'd take it all back."

"I-I don't know what you're talking about." Alicia shakes her head as she tries to understand what's being said to her.

"I'm sorry." Michael quickly places his hand over her chest onto her exposed skin. "I love you."

"Please tell me w-"

Alicia is cut off when an ear shattering scream emits from her lips. She tries to place her hands onto Michael's chest to push him back, but he cuffs his arm around her waist and places it firmly onto her upper back. He holds her in place and Alicia stares up at him wide eyed with her mouth ajar. She feels not an ounce of physical pain but the unexplainable eerie sensation of past memories crashing into her mind all at once. Fighting for a space within her already fractured subconscious. It all happens so quickly.

Michael takes his hand from her chest and her legs go limp, but her eyes remain wide. She pushes onto his chest weakly but he holds onto her tightly. He watches the confusion and fear leave her eyes and anger immediately replace it before her eyes shut and she falls completely limp into his arms.

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Apologies for the long wait. I've been so occupied with life that I didn't get the chance to jot anything down. I'm back at it though so I'll make sure to be way more consistent!

Thoughts?

Thanks for the support :)