Categories > Celebrities > 30 Seconds to Mars > Hurricane
HURRICANE
CHAPTER FOUR
“Ugh I can't believe I fell in!” Skyla said disgustedly. She watched and waited as Jared got a cloth beach bag out of the trunk for her to sit on. She sneezed as she was waiting. “Dammit!”
Jared walked over and wrapped her in a blanket. He hugged her and escorted her back to his car. “I'm so sorry. Let's get back so you can change.”
Skyla gave Jared a big hug and leaned against the passenger side of the car. She watched as Jared stretched his arms out and looked at her; his shirt was soaking wet. She gave him a sly smile and wrapped her arms around his waist. He put his hands on her hips and nuzzled her neck; Skyla patted his chest and pushed him away.
“Hold on, there, cowboy. I think you need to hold off for a few weeks,” Skyla said. Jared pouted.
“Oh, come on now! Why?” Jared asked her. She gave him a peck on the cheek.
“I have my reasons. Maybe you'll figure out why with your own reasons.” She climbed into his car and waited on him to get in too.
Jared shook his head and climbed in after her. His mind was running a hundred miles a minute; he knew he'd have to explain to Shannon why Skyla was outside the house. But he figured it was worth it for her. He revved the engine and pulled out of the river park. As he drove, he looked over at Skyla and noticed she was gazing out the window. He reached over and covered her hand with his; Skyla tore her gaze away from the window and looked at their intertwined hands, and her lips curled up into a little smile before she turned back to the window.
“Still miss Chattanooga?” he asked her as they pulled into the garage. Skyla broke her gaze and looked at him.
“Yeah. But not as much, now.” She unfastened her seat belt and looked in Jared's eyes for the first time since he left her room to talk to Tomo on his phone. She got out and stood beside the passenger side of the car. Jared walked over to her and wrapped her in a hug, and as she hugged him back she felt him grip her waist tightly. She leaned in and smelled his aftershave; it gave her a sense of calmness that she hadn't had in awhile.
Jared stood in the driveway and stared at her. “Why'd you sniff me?” he asked her curiously. Skyla looked at him and shrugged. Her face broke out into a grin. “I dunno. You just smell... clean.”
Jared gave her a grin and put his arm around her waist. “Come on, let's go back inside,” he told her. As they were walking, Skyla looked over at Jared and noticed he had a big grin on his face. She smiled to herself and linked her arm through his. He let her go as they got closer to their rooms.
“I'm going to go take a nap, meanwhile maybe you can figure out a different way to get close to me?” Jared told her. He kissed her on the top of her head and left.
Skyla walked back to her room and flopped on her bed. Her stomach was full of butterflies now. Had Jared done that just to see how she would react? He did seem to be totally relaxed when they had went to the river park, and now that they are back he seems to be completely calm about everything. The air conditioning kicked on and she began shivering, forgetting that she was soaking wet. She walked briskly to her dresser and grabbed a pair of sweatpants and a tee shirt. She quickly changed into dry clothes and instantly felt better. She turned around and noticed Jared was laying on her bed, reading something on his BlackBerry. Her breath caught in her throat.
“I'm going to kill you!” she hissed at him. Jared just grinned.
“No you aren't. You love me too much and I know it,” he told her. She walked over to her bed and laid down, propping herself up on her elbow. She gave him a shy smile and stretched out.
“Watch what you say,” she whispered. Jared laughed and put his BlackBerry down. He rolled over on his side and held his hands out to her. She shook her head and rolled off the bed. Before running into the bathroom, she leaned down and whispered in his ear, “No. I gotta go do something.” She went into the bathroom and gave her teeth a once-over with her toothbrush, brushing hard enough and long enough to draw blood. She then spit out the toothpaste foam and rinsed, checking to make sure there were no traces of toothpaste around her mouth. She wiped her mouth dry and walked back into her bedroom, pulling the door shut behind her. She walked over to Jared and laid down on the bed beside him. He wrapped his arms around her and began kissing her neck, refusing to let her go when nightfall came and she got up to change into her pajamas.
“I'm scared,” he told her. She looked at him like he was crazy.
“Of what? Bedsheets, a quilt, and a person sleeping next to you? Just stay in here with me tonight,” she told him. She grabbed her pajamas and began changing, her shyness of changing in front of other people gone. She took her clothes back to her bathroom and tossed them in her hamper and came back out to see Jared gone but his BlackBerry still by her bed. She walked over and laid back down on her side of the bed, and curiously eyeballed his BlackBerry before deciding against reading his text messages. As she settled in for the night, Jared came back in and laid down beside her. He had on a white tee shirt and a pair of plaid pajama pants and he was barefoot, like Skyla. He got his BlackBerry and checked to see if he had any new emails, and plugged up his charger to charge his phone before crawling in beside Skyla.
“So? Still scared?” she asked him quietly. She felt Jared pull her closer as he slipped his arm around her waist. She felt the tension between them dissipate as their breathing began to sync together. She looked at the clock on her bedside table and noticed that around three in the morning Jared began sweating profusely. She turned and faced him and fell into a deep sleep.
At about five in the morning were when Jared's nightmares usually began. They first began with normal dreams, of past concerts and such, and then transitioned into the time he spent kidnapped by Jessey Vargas. He couldn't get her snarling face out of his mind, and he was terrified she was going to hunt him down, find him somehow, or maybe find Skyla, Shannon, Tomo, Emma, or Vicki, and hurt them. His nightmares changed every night, and tonight was no different; he dreamed he was running away from them again, except she had stopped him and dragged him back bruised and bloodied to where he was being held captive. His eyes popped open and he struggled to catch his breath as he forced himself to realize that it was just a dream. He felt someone lay their hand on his chest and he jumped slightly; then he realized it was Skyla.
“Jared! Jared, wake up!” she whispered to him. She sat up beside him in bed and tried to pull him up beside her.
“I'm up, I'm up,” Jared said groggily. He looked over at the illuminated clock on Skyla's bedside table and saw that it was six-thirty in the morning. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and yawned. Skyla grabbed his wrist as he set it back down.
“What happened?” she asked him. “Was it a nightmare? How long have you been having them? From the looks of it, a few months. Why didn't you tell me-”
“I would tell you if you'd stop talking for one minute,” Jared hissed. Skyla shut up. “I've been having the nightmares since I got kidnapped; that's all my nightmares have been about since. There's always a transition from my normal dreams into the nightmares,” he explained. Skyla reached over and held his hand. “They're always different but also the same thing: my kidnapper's snarling face is stuck in my mind, and I'm forever terrified she's going to hunt me down and find me, or find you, Shannon, Tomo, Emma, or Vicki.”
“She?” Skyla asked him. She gave him a surprised look.
“Yeah. I think her name was something like Jessey Vargas?” Jared told her. Skyla felt her stomach drop. She put on a brave face as her mind was saying, “No, no, no....”
“I knew a Jessey Vargas when I was younger, but we stopped talking to each other when we were thirteen,” she lied.
“That's weird,” Jared laughed. “I'm going to try and get some more sleep. I suggest you do the same, okay, babe?” he told her. Skyla just nodded in the dark and slid back under the covers. It wasn't five minutes later until she heard a loud crash coming from the direction of the living room.
“Did you hear that?” Jared asked her quietly.
“Yes I did,” she whispered. She curled into a ball and felt the bed shift when Jared got up.
“I'm never going to get any sleep,” he complained to himself. He looked over and noticed that Skyla was following him in getting out of bed. “No, you stay here,” he told her.
“No! I'm coming!” Skyla protested. Jared shook his head furiously and sat her back down. He walked briskly over to the closet and disappeared inside for a brief moment before coming back out with a baseball bat. He gave it to Skyla.
“You hear any sign of a disturbance, call 911 and then come as fast as you can into the living room,” he told her. Skyla nodded and looked at the baseball bat in her hands.
Jared silently walked to Shannon's room and opened his bedroom door just wide enough to slide inside. He put his arms up just in time to stop Shannon from beating his brains out.
“What the hell, man?!” he hissed to Shannon. Shannon gave Jared a hug.
“Sorry, I thought you were breaking into my room!” Shannon told him. He handed Jared a knife, while he himself had a handgun and some spare bullets. He nudged Jared in the back with the gun, telling him to go on.
“Why me first?” he asked Shannon quietly. Shannon shook his head. Together they headed down the hall, inspecting every room with a flashlight and their weapons. When they got to the living room, something furry jumped on Jared's shoulders and made him drop his knife. Shannon dodged it by a foot and a half and ran to the other side of the room. The furry thing jumped off of Jared's shoulder and crashed over to land on a seat.
“Wait... is that... Rippley?” Shannon asked. He flipped the light switch on and Rippley looked over at him from his immediate right. Shannon held out his arm and Rippley clamored onto it. “Yep. Well, that was a waste of ten minutes. Goodnight.”
Jared held his hands up in surrender and collapsed in exhaustion on the closest couch. He had another nightmare only this time Jessey Vargas was standing above him with a knife to his throat, telling him that he had to choose who lives and who dies, Skyla or Shannon.
“Shannon.... Shannon lives...” he mumbled repeatedly. He jerked up and looked around wildly. He noticed Tomo sitting on the floor across from him. The minute Jared woke up Tomo came over and asked, “Are you okay?”
“I'll be okay...” Jared walked to the nearest bathroom and washed the sleep out of his eyes. He looked at himself in the mirror and noticed that the lack of sleep from the night before made him look gaunt.
“Hey, be glad I got here when I did. You almost fell off of the couch; were you having a nightmare or something?” he asked Jared.
Jared just looked at him in the mirror. He sighed and told him, “You have no idea.”
CHAPTER FOUR
“Ugh I can't believe I fell in!” Skyla said disgustedly. She watched and waited as Jared got a cloth beach bag out of the trunk for her to sit on. She sneezed as she was waiting. “Dammit!”
Jared walked over and wrapped her in a blanket. He hugged her and escorted her back to his car. “I'm so sorry. Let's get back so you can change.”
Skyla gave Jared a big hug and leaned against the passenger side of the car. She watched as Jared stretched his arms out and looked at her; his shirt was soaking wet. She gave him a sly smile and wrapped her arms around his waist. He put his hands on her hips and nuzzled her neck; Skyla patted his chest and pushed him away.
“Hold on, there, cowboy. I think you need to hold off for a few weeks,” Skyla said. Jared pouted.
“Oh, come on now! Why?” Jared asked her. She gave him a peck on the cheek.
“I have my reasons. Maybe you'll figure out why with your own reasons.” She climbed into his car and waited on him to get in too.
Jared shook his head and climbed in after her. His mind was running a hundred miles a minute; he knew he'd have to explain to Shannon why Skyla was outside the house. But he figured it was worth it for her. He revved the engine and pulled out of the river park. As he drove, he looked over at Skyla and noticed she was gazing out the window. He reached over and covered her hand with his; Skyla tore her gaze away from the window and looked at their intertwined hands, and her lips curled up into a little smile before she turned back to the window.
“Still miss Chattanooga?” he asked her as they pulled into the garage. Skyla broke her gaze and looked at him.
“Yeah. But not as much, now.” She unfastened her seat belt and looked in Jared's eyes for the first time since he left her room to talk to Tomo on his phone. She got out and stood beside the passenger side of the car. Jared walked over to her and wrapped her in a hug, and as she hugged him back she felt him grip her waist tightly. She leaned in and smelled his aftershave; it gave her a sense of calmness that she hadn't had in awhile.
Jared stood in the driveway and stared at her. “Why'd you sniff me?” he asked her curiously. Skyla looked at him and shrugged. Her face broke out into a grin. “I dunno. You just smell... clean.”
Jared gave her a grin and put his arm around her waist. “Come on, let's go back inside,” he told her. As they were walking, Skyla looked over at Jared and noticed he had a big grin on his face. She smiled to herself and linked her arm through his. He let her go as they got closer to their rooms.
“I'm going to go take a nap, meanwhile maybe you can figure out a different way to get close to me?” Jared told her. He kissed her on the top of her head and left.
Skyla walked back to her room and flopped on her bed. Her stomach was full of butterflies now. Had Jared done that just to see how she would react? He did seem to be totally relaxed when they had went to the river park, and now that they are back he seems to be completely calm about everything. The air conditioning kicked on and she began shivering, forgetting that she was soaking wet. She walked briskly to her dresser and grabbed a pair of sweatpants and a tee shirt. She quickly changed into dry clothes and instantly felt better. She turned around and noticed Jared was laying on her bed, reading something on his BlackBerry. Her breath caught in her throat.
“I'm going to kill you!” she hissed at him. Jared just grinned.
“No you aren't. You love me too much and I know it,” he told her. She walked over to her bed and laid down, propping herself up on her elbow. She gave him a shy smile and stretched out.
“Watch what you say,” she whispered. Jared laughed and put his BlackBerry down. He rolled over on his side and held his hands out to her. She shook her head and rolled off the bed. Before running into the bathroom, she leaned down and whispered in his ear, “No. I gotta go do something.” She went into the bathroom and gave her teeth a once-over with her toothbrush, brushing hard enough and long enough to draw blood. She then spit out the toothpaste foam and rinsed, checking to make sure there were no traces of toothpaste around her mouth. She wiped her mouth dry and walked back into her bedroom, pulling the door shut behind her. She walked over to Jared and laid down on the bed beside him. He wrapped his arms around her and began kissing her neck, refusing to let her go when nightfall came and she got up to change into her pajamas.
“I'm scared,” he told her. She looked at him like he was crazy.
“Of what? Bedsheets, a quilt, and a person sleeping next to you? Just stay in here with me tonight,” she told him. She grabbed her pajamas and began changing, her shyness of changing in front of other people gone. She took her clothes back to her bathroom and tossed them in her hamper and came back out to see Jared gone but his BlackBerry still by her bed. She walked over and laid back down on her side of the bed, and curiously eyeballed his BlackBerry before deciding against reading his text messages. As she settled in for the night, Jared came back in and laid down beside her. He had on a white tee shirt and a pair of plaid pajama pants and he was barefoot, like Skyla. He got his BlackBerry and checked to see if he had any new emails, and plugged up his charger to charge his phone before crawling in beside Skyla.
“So? Still scared?” she asked him quietly. She felt Jared pull her closer as he slipped his arm around her waist. She felt the tension between them dissipate as their breathing began to sync together. She looked at the clock on her bedside table and noticed that around three in the morning Jared began sweating profusely. She turned and faced him and fell into a deep sleep.
At about five in the morning were when Jared's nightmares usually began. They first began with normal dreams, of past concerts and such, and then transitioned into the time he spent kidnapped by Jessey Vargas. He couldn't get her snarling face out of his mind, and he was terrified she was going to hunt him down, find him somehow, or maybe find Skyla, Shannon, Tomo, Emma, or Vicki, and hurt them. His nightmares changed every night, and tonight was no different; he dreamed he was running away from them again, except she had stopped him and dragged him back bruised and bloodied to where he was being held captive. His eyes popped open and he struggled to catch his breath as he forced himself to realize that it was just a dream. He felt someone lay their hand on his chest and he jumped slightly; then he realized it was Skyla.
“Jared! Jared, wake up!” she whispered to him. She sat up beside him in bed and tried to pull him up beside her.
“I'm up, I'm up,” Jared said groggily. He looked over at the illuminated clock on Skyla's bedside table and saw that it was six-thirty in the morning. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and yawned. Skyla grabbed his wrist as he set it back down.
“What happened?” she asked him. “Was it a nightmare? How long have you been having them? From the looks of it, a few months. Why didn't you tell me-”
“I would tell you if you'd stop talking for one minute,” Jared hissed. Skyla shut up. “I've been having the nightmares since I got kidnapped; that's all my nightmares have been about since. There's always a transition from my normal dreams into the nightmares,” he explained. Skyla reached over and held his hand. “They're always different but also the same thing: my kidnapper's snarling face is stuck in my mind, and I'm forever terrified she's going to hunt me down and find me, or find you, Shannon, Tomo, Emma, or Vicki.”
“She?” Skyla asked him. She gave him a surprised look.
“Yeah. I think her name was something like Jessey Vargas?” Jared told her. Skyla felt her stomach drop. She put on a brave face as her mind was saying, “No, no, no....”
“I knew a Jessey Vargas when I was younger, but we stopped talking to each other when we were thirteen,” she lied.
“That's weird,” Jared laughed. “I'm going to try and get some more sleep. I suggest you do the same, okay, babe?” he told her. Skyla just nodded in the dark and slid back under the covers. It wasn't five minutes later until she heard a loud crash coming from the direction of the living room.
“Did you hear that?” Jared asked her quietly.
“Yes I did,” she whispered. She curled into a ball and felt the bed shift when Jared got up.
“I'm never going to get any sleep,” he complained to himself. He looked over and noticed that Skyla was following him in getting out of bed. “No, you stay here,” he told her.
“No! I'm coming!” Skyla protested. Jared shook his head furiously and sat her back down. He walked briskly over to the closet and disappeared inside for a brief moment before coming back out with a baseball bat. He gave it to Skyla.
“You hear any sign of a disturbance, call 911 and then come as fast as you can into the living room,” he told her. Skyla nodded and looked at the baseball bat in her hands.
Jared silently walked to Shannon's room and opened his bedroom door just wide enough to slide inside. He put his arms up just in time to stop Shannon from beating his brains out.
“What the hell, man?!” he hissed to Shannon. Shannon gave Jared a hug.
“Sorry, I thought you were breaking into my room!” Shannon told him. He handed Jared a knife, while he himself had a handgun and some spare bullets. He nudged Jared in the back with the gun, telling him to go on.
“Why me first?” he asked Shannon quietly. Shannon shook his head. Together they headed down the hall, inspecting every room with a flashlight and their weapons. When they got to the living room, something furry jumped on Jared's shoulders and made him drop his knife. Shannon dodged it by a foot and a half and ran to the other side of the room. The furry thing jumped off of Jared's shoulder and crashed over to land on a seat.
“Wait... is that... Rippley?” Shannon asked. He flipped the light switch on and Rippley looked over at him from his immediate right. Shannon held out his arm and Rippley clamored onto it. “Yep. Well, that was a waste of ten minutes. Goodnight.”
Jared held his hands up in surrender and collapsed in exhaustion on the closest couch. He had another nightmare only this time Jessey Vargas was standing above him with a knife to his throat, telling him that he had to choose who lives and who dies, Skyla or Shannon.
“Shannon.... Shannon lives...” he mumbled repeatedly. He jerked up and looked around wildly. He noticed Tomo sitting on the floor across from him. The minute Jared woke up Tomo came over and asked, “Are you okay?”
“I'll be okay...” Jared walked to the nearest bathroom and washed the sleep out of his eyes. He looked at himself in the mirror and noticed that the lack of sleep from the night before made him look gaunt.
“Hey, be glad I got here when I did. You almost fell off of the couch; were you having a nightmare or something?” he asked Jared.
Jared just looked at him in the mirror. He sighed and told him, “You have no idea.”
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