I sent Ducky to check on Georgie to make sure she's safe and not needing anything. I've been keeping my eye on her house as I work on my car in the garage. We have some club members stationed around her house but even still...

Needing some water, I head into the house and fill a glass then chug it down. My phone starts going off like crazy in the garage. Rushing back out, I pick it up and my suspicions are answered when Duck's name splashed across my screen. Immediately leaving, I rush over to Georgie's, while answering.

"What's going on?"

"Get over here. Get over here now, dude."

I end the call and break out in a sprint, reaching her house quickly. I throw open the door and Ducky comes plowing toward me and walks with me as I head to the kitchen where he pointed.

"I don't know what's going on. I come in and she's tearing the wallpaper off like a mad man. I called TreeTrunk and he's on his way, but..."

The second I step into the kitchen my eyes take in the shredded wallpaper and the strips lying all over the ground. Georgie sits on the floor leaning against the cabinets looking like a crinkled paper ball that missed the trash can.

Something's wrong.

Very wrong.

All the usual spark in Georgie's eyes is gone.

"She had a minor concussion. Do you think it did something to her?" Ducky quietly asks.

I have no idea.

"I'll go get the broom and dustpan from the garage and start cleaning up," he says as he walks out the garage door.

When I crouch down in front of her she doesn't even look at me. "I couldn't get to her. No matter how much I tear off she's not there. I can't find her"

Find her.

"Who, Tater Tot?"

The door swings open and Ducky comes stumbling in with wide freaked out eyes. "Holy hell, TreeTrunk's house is haunted. It's haunted isn't, Georgie?"

"I am," she answers, her eyes blank.

Reaching up I grab a jar of peanut butter from the counter and chuck it at Ducky hitting him right in the balls. "What was that for?" He tries breathing out in painful gasps.

"Does this look like a time to joke around?"

"But, man, have you seen—"

I snap. "Yes, I watched her paint it. Just clean up and let me deal with it."

He holds up his hands. "Sorry."

That's the thing about Ducky and how he got his nickname. He's always cracking jokes and laughing like a duck. It gets even worse when he's in serious situations. The guy needs to learn that lightening the mood isn't always the right thing to do.

I wrap my arms around Georgie and lift her up, taking her to her bedroom to give her privacy. She's too vulnerable for prying eyes. I lay her on the bed and she turns away from me holding her heavy cast close to her chest. "You tried to warn me away from you."

"Yeah."

"You had it backwards. I'm the one you need to stay away from."

There's a heaviness surrounding her and she's gone far away in her head. "Do I get a say?"

She turns around and sits up, glaring at me. "You want to know why you're attracted to me? Let me explain it to you. You have this undying need to help people and fix things. I'm exactly the itch you need to scratch. I constantly get into trouble and you are always there to fix the mess I made."

"It's more than that."

"No, it's not!" she almost yells. "There is no way a man," she waves her cast around me, "like you is actually interested in me like that. All of this is because I remind you of someone."

My hairs stand at the back of my neck. "And who do you think that is?"

She blinks without any emotion. "Your sister."

Every muscle tightens and constricts at that.

"That's what all this is about. You're right you don't suffer from PTSD because of serving like everyone else in the club. It's from what happened to your sister. You couldn't save her and just like her, you'll never be able to save me."

My knuckles turn white and I shove them in my pockets and bend down until we're eye level. "Stop it."

Her face falls and her eyes are dull with exhaustion. "Go away. Stop helping me, stop trying to fix everything. There are some things you can't fix, Adonis, just like your past."

When I don't move she screams. "Go!"

I stride away but stop when I open her door. "I won't let you go. I don't know what's going on or where you are in your head but I'm coming for you."

I slam the door behind me and pass by a confused Duck. "Stay here and make sure she doesn't do anything stupid until TreeTrunk gets back."

He only nods.

My skin is on fire as I walk back to my house. I need a shower to cool me off. I storm inside and head straight for my bathroom, ripping off my shirt and the rest of my clothes. I step in the shower and let the cold water beat away the sweat and grime off my skin. I prefer my showers ice cold, even in the dead of winter.

My palms on the chilled tiled wall takes me back to a place of misery. I slam my fists and try forcing the memory back, but it's strong like an anaconda slinking its muscular body around my brain, not allowing me to escape.

Cracks from the thin layer of ice break away from the river's water and float around me. The frost bitterly bites my body, my mind numb, with only a few thoughts circling through it. My breath is shaky, but my body pushes forward unaffected. It's so dark and all I can see is small flickers of the moon light against the ripples my body is creating in the water.

I need to find her.

The weak ice continues to give as the ominous, fragile silence is interrupted by the ice's shrieks. Cold diffuses across my face numbing the tip of my nose as puffs of vapor escapes my lips.

Bitter cold water penetrates the fibers of my clothes, but nothing hurts more than the vicious weight falling on me with every struggle and heavy footstep in the river's depths.

People are screaming out my name, begging for me to come out, but I push forward. My hands are searching the waters, touching and pushing God knows what out of the way, but I don't care. I have to find her. No one helps, no flashlights to break the darkness in assistance of my search and no other soul trying to plow through the river.

Find her.

My eyes start adjusting to the darkness, but there's only shadows. Shadows of trees growing ice crystals, but no sign of her. I try blinking as if I'll be able to see more clearly. I continue forward in the murky frosty river.

I still after I hit something.

The ice splinters and water hisses under the pressure of an unknown weight.

A log. Please be a log.

It's a hand. A hand so cold and stiff I know it's death's blue.

No.

No...

"No!" I turn the handle with such force the whole shower shakes from the impact. It goes from ice cold to burning hot as I encase myself in the heat with my chest rising and falling in rage. It doesn't help so I turn the shower off and rip the curtain out of my way causing the magnet at the bottom to strike the wall.

My fist hits glass.

I stare hard at my distorted reflection in the mirror. It resembles a spider web now. Fissures jutting out here and there as if a spider delicately crafted the cracks in the mirror.

Shards begin to fall and now pieces of my face are missing. My eyes shut and I take deep long breaths through my nose. The faucet begins to run and wash away the blood on my hand. I grab a bandage out of the cabinet and sloppily wrap up my shredded knuckles and aching hand. Blood tries to seep through and a slur of curses escape my mouth at the throbbing. Throwing on my clothes, I stalk out of the bathroom letting the steam flow into the hallway.

Soon I'm in my garage pacing back and forth trying to shake the memory of finding my sister's dead body. Unable to, I stride down the road and find myself going to the exact spot where I had found her. It's not far from my house and takes me minutes to get there. Stopping at the river's edge, I scream until the memory vanishes.

Until my hearing becomes a buzzing sound.

Until my throat is raw and hoarse.

I scream until all there is.... is nothing.