She was running out of breath, but that didn't matter, all that mattered was getting away from him and proving him wrong. Branches scraped her face and her arms, her body burning hot; but cold from her sweat as the wind blew over her skin. Her pants were soaked from running through the streams, her shirt ripped to shreds around her stomach from very low-hanging branches. Her hair was a tumbling fiery mess of tangles, and waves slipping through the ponytail she had quickly fastened trying to tame her wild hair. She wanted to prove that she could beat him, just because she's a girl doesn't mean she's slow. Running and crawling on the ground through the forest floor trying to get ahead of him, trying to get back to the campgrounds so she can wait for him to come gasping for breath and admit it in front of all his friends that she is a faster runner than him. She could see it now, him begging not to admit it, to at least let him keep part of his pride in being beaten by a girl.

Whhooossshhhh! All of a sudden a giant gust of wind flew past her nearly lifting her off the ground and throwing her into a tree. Where in the world did that wind come from? She thought, but she kept running as if it had never happened. She just had to be there and waiting when he came crawling back on his hands and knees trying to catch his breath.

She came around a tree and knew she was almost back to the campsite where her brother and his girlfriend were. She jumped over a fallen log, ignoring the fact that she almost fell in the process. She zoomed past all the trees and sprinted over the roots coming out of the ground. She rounded another tree coming to a sudden halt at seeing him standing there with a drink in his hand laughing and joking with her brother, Adam. She stood there wondering how in the world he could have beaten her here; she hadn't realized her brother had invited some other people, till someone called to him saying she was staring at him like she was ticked off.

He looked at her then; he didn't even look as if he had been running at all. He looked, well, handsome, his face was clean-shaven and his button-up shirt was all unbuttoned minus the three at the bottom. She could still visibly see his bronze chest and the top of his ripped-hard abs. He walked over to her and smiled, showing all of his teeth, the smile reaching his eyes. His eyes were dark and stormy; their color was usually a nice honey brown but now his eyes looked mid-night black. They looked like they could kill a man at eighty paces, but could sweep a woman off her feet at the same time.

"There you are; I was starting to get worried about you. I thought maybe you had gotten lost and couldn't find your way back but your brother kept assuring me you were fine." His concern for her seemed real but his eyes looked like he only half meant it. He began looking her up and down then making her feel a little uncomfortable, since she was all sweaty and stinky from running and he didn't even look so much as she did, not even one sweat mark was on him.

She just stared at him in wonder and she was asking herself how in the world he had beaten her back here when she passed him up as soon as they took off. She hadn't realized she had asked the question out loud until he answered her. "I passed you about halfway here, Jay, did you not see me?"

"No, I guess I didn't, sorry Derek. I guess you're actually faster than I am," she said softly, not wanting to admit at all to the fact that someone was faster than her. He had called her by the nickname he had given her years ago when he first met her, even though he and Adam had been friends for a year before she had officially met him. He had told her that her name, Jasey, had been too girly for her so ever since then he has called her Jay, her family and even some of her guy friends call her that now also.

He hugged her and as he did so, he whispered in her ear "No offense, but you really smell. You may want to go take a shower someplace before anyone makes fun of you. So get some clothes out of your side of our tent and meet me at my truck I'll drive you, I have to pick up some more water anyway."

Even though she was offended, she did as she was told and walked back to their tent that she, unfortunately, had to share with him. At the time she hadn't minded it, but now, she was kind of starting to rethink that decision. Although she was glad that it had a built-in wall to separate the sides of the tent, even though it was a thin piece of fabric, she was glad to have at least some privacy. When she unzipped the tent she heard the sound of a couple making out only to find Adam and his girlfriend kissing each other while leaning up against a fallen tree. She felt kind of bad watching them fall to the ground laughing at their clumsiness then going back to making out again. Quickly getting over that feeling, she rolled her eyes and went to her bag in which she had her shampoo, body wash, razor, shaving cream, and facial wash. She grabbed a towel from her pack and a change of clothes; she took care in what she wanted to wear today for some reason. She grabbed her favorite purple small V-neck shirt and her camouflage cargo pants. She quickly snatched a sports bra, a pair of underwear, a clean pair of socks, and shoes, since the ones she wore were all muddy from running through the forest. She had to semi-jog to where the truck was parked and where Derek was waiting.

Derek. Ugh, how in the world did he beat me? Yea he's fit and everything but he never works out. She thought; she was re-running the whole race this morning through her head when she saw him, her mind when blank except for when the wind nearly threw her into the tree. She still didn't know where that wind came from. She kept re-running that one part in her mind over and over again. All that she could get from it was that the wind came up behind her out of nowhere and then just as quickly it was gone. She remembered looking around and she had absentmindedly seen the trees, and vegetation shake, and then die down real quick as if it never happened.

She was about to tell Derek about it, when out of now where her head felt as if it was going to explode. She was maybe three feet from him and her head just started pounding. She felt as if her brain was being squished together, felt as if her eyes were going to pop out of her head. Then her heart started beating so fast she thought her chest would burst open. Her knees buckled and she doubled over, she saw his eyes go wide with fear and heard him shout something.

Slowly the edges of her vision were going black, she tried to reach out and grab his shoulder to regain her balance. Instead, she hit the ground hard and she knew she had to tell him something she just couldn't remember what it was. He was bending over her frantically telling her something, even though she couldn't hear him, she could see his eyes getting glassy. Her breathing started to slow down a little bit and that was when her eyes started letting blackness in and she heard him yelling some words. What where those words? What did he say? She quickly tried to replay what she had heard. This time she heard them loud and clear, but she didn't know what terrified her more the words or the fact he had said them.

I love you!

Then everything went pitch black and darkness won.