Echo resurgence
Tuesday
Part two

I wake up to the feel of a gentle breeze. It feels nice the way it goes through my fur. I smell sagebrush and dirt. It’s kinda nice. I open my eyes to see the stars! The night sky is beautiful! In Pueblo I could never see this many stars! Maybe not in Payton either! I guess that’s one little good thing about Echo. I hear the sound of many little feet pattering around me, I don’t see who they are though. I also hear chanting in a language I don’t think I’ve heard before. Then I hear an insane cackling that rises and falls! It fades and chokes off with a sob…

I feel confusion! I’m cold and stiff and laying on something hard! I open my eyes, but there are no stars this time, only darkness! Fear rises inside me, and my breathing becomes quick and painful! I manage to push myself up into a sitting position. I notice a gentle glow about thirty feet from me. Where am I? The last thing I remember is the lake and… Oh no! The monster! My fear becomes panic! No wait, I was back at Carl’s house! But where am I now? I feel the floor with my paws, it’s wood and creaks as I shift around. “Leo?” I call out, my voice is horse and my lips are dry. I have to lick them a few times to stop them from sticking together. “Leo? Carl?” I call out again. Nothing. My head throbs, did someone hit me? I put my paws on my head and then feel around my body. No injuries, so what happened? I remember being in Carl’s crawl space with the others, we were looking for Carl and I crawled into a hole in the wall. I guess I fell in? Surly Leo wouldn’t just leave me down here right? I look up into the darkness and shout, “Leo! I’m here!” Still nothing! I start crawling towards the dim light. I feel that the floor is dirty and I think I went through some cobwebs. Wait are they spider webs?! I panic and rush forward! I reach the light and oddly its coming from the floor. I’m on it now and—falling! Light assaults my eyes and I see a ladder, I try grabbing it but miss! I fall into large muscular arms! Someone caught me! I’m afraid and start to struggle, but I see its Leo and relax. “That was close Chase! You’re lucky I was tracking you! You could have broken your neck!” He says. “Sp—spiders!” I gasp out. “No, just cobwebs.” Leo says as he brushes them off me. He’s holding me with one arm now! I feel a bit intimidated by how strong he’s gotten. He sets me down, I’m a bit wobbly so he helps me stand. I look around, we’re in the middle of an old-fashioned ornate hallway. I see the ladder and hatch in the ceiling I fell from. There are doors on both sides. I see a crystal chandelier too! “Leo, where the hell are we?” “I don’t know! I just woke up on the floor over there a minute ago. I started looking and sniffing for you. I could smell you faintly, but then I heard you shouting! I was checking to see if that ladder could hold me when the hatch sprang open and you fell out! Shit Chase! If I wasn’t here, I don’t want to think how bad you’d be hurt!” “Thanks for catching me. So where are the others?” Leo looks around, “I haven’t seen them. Maybe they’re in one of the rooms?” We walk to a door; Leo reaches for the doorknob when a door farther down opens. TJ and Jenna step out. “Leo! Chase!” TJ shouts. He runs over to us and tries to hug us both at once, but he’s too small. Jenna walks over to us and says, “what’s happening, where are we?” “No idea! I just woke up here and them Chase fell from I guess the attic! I caught him though.” Leo says. I hear the clomping of footsteps coming from around the corner. Jenna and TJ turn around. Carl comes around the corner and see us. He smiles and runs over to us. “Dudes, it great to see you! What happened, where are we?” He says “No clue! But where’s Flynn?” Jenna says. “Haven’t seen him.” Carl says. We all look around, maybe we should start trying the doors? Leo stars opened doors and looking inside, he finds a bedroom and bathrooms. All very old fashioned and ornate. “So, Carl is this just another part of your house?” I ask. “Dude! No way, I’ve never seen this place before! I was looking for a window, but can’t…” I was going to ask Carl if he is sure, honestly his house is huge! But I see TJ Is fidgeting, glancing around and his ears are down. I step closer to him, “TJ are you ok?” “No!” He says, his voice is sharp. “I’m scared! I’m… this feels like last time! Chase, I—I…” I put my paw on his shoulder. “Hey, you’re not alone this time! Just stay with us.” “We—we lost Flynn!” He says. “We’ll find him! He has to just be in one of these rooms!” Jenna puts her paws on his hips, and says, “why don’t we just call him?” Fuck, I’m stupid! I take my phone out, but it won’t turn on! For just a second the screen looks like something is covering it, but then I see it just isn’t turning on! “My phone isn’t working! You try TJ.” His phone doesn’t work either. Carl and Jenna try there’s and it’s the same thing. We look to Leo. “Oh, I forgot to charge mine…” He says. “Ok… So, what’s wrong with our phones then?” Jenna says. Nobody says anything. We start walking again and around the corner the hallway is identical. Leo stops abruptly. He sniffs the air and says, “I smell smoke!” He walks sniffing the air more. I can smell it now. “It’s coming from here.” He says, going to the door on the left. He try’s opening it, but it seems to be locked. He knocks on it. We hear a muffled voice, “Who’s there?” Leo puts his mouth by the keyhole, “it’s me Leo! Flynn is that you? Is something burning?” Flynn replies, “yeah I’m here, the stove is burning! I can’t get out so I am trying to put it out!” “Is there water in there? Flynn be careful!” Leo says. Flynn gasps, “oh shit, oh fuck no!” “Flynn what’s wrong?” Leo says. “Somethings in here, the fire is worse! I can’t breathe! I’m gonna burn! Fuck, I’m gonna burn!” Flynn sounds frantic! He pounds on the door making Leo jump! Flynn keeps pounding! “Please! I don’t want to become… help me!” The smoke smell is pretty strong now as Leo stands up and says, “everyone give me space, Flynn move back!” Then with a roar of effort Leo kicks with all his might! His foot smashes through the door with a huge crunch! He pulls his foot out and I can’t help but think he could kick my head off! I really need to stop thinking those things, he promised he’s never hurt me! “Chase! Hey Chase!” Leo’s yelling at me! I realize I’ve just been staring at the hole, why isn’t there smoke billowing out? “What?” I say. “You ok? You were just standing still! Can you take a look inside? Your head should fit through.” He says. Why do I have to do it? Can’t Jenna or TJ? I shrug and step to the broken door. I put my head through and see an ornate dinner table. It seems to be a large old fashioned dining room. There is no smoke or fire at all! I see Flynn laying sprawled out on the floor! “Flynn! Flynn wake up!” I shout. I hear a click near me. Did the door just unlock? I pull my head out, my fur gets caught in the jagged wood and it scratches me. “It unlocked, and Flynn is unconscious!” I say. I open it and Leo rushes inside; we follow him. “Shit!” He yells when he gets to Flynn. Everyone moves around him. “Flynn, can you hear me?” Leo says. Flynn slowly opens his eyes. “Am I dead?” He says. “No.” Leo replies, “but this does feel like a dream.” Now that he mentions it, I feel like I’m in a dream too! Leo helps Flynn get up. “The fires gone! How long was I out?” Flynn asks. “There was no fire or smoke when we got in here! We smelled it though.” Jenna says. Flynn puts his hands over his face. “I thought I was gonna burn! Become the monster… But I saw a different monster in the smoke, it had weird long arms!” I hadn’t thought of that! Flynn somehow absorbed the monster, so now there’s a new one? Where is it now? If Flynn doesn’t become the monster, will someone else? I realize they’ve been talking and I have no idea what about. “Well, the same thing happened to us so…” Leo trails off. I look around, there is another crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling, and an old-fashioned kitchen attached to the dining room. I walk over to the large table, pull out one of the chairs and sit down with my face in my paws. Flynn walks past me and says, “take care of your muskfuck guys! He doesn’t look to good.” He hasn’t talked like that in a while! Is that a good sign or bad? I feel Leo’s big paw on my shoulder, “You ok” He asks. “No! I’m not ok, I’m—I don’t know! Stuck in another dimension? Where the fuck are we?” My voice gets strained and higher pitched. I hear Leo sigh; he pulls out another chair and sits next to me. Flynn is opening and slamming the cabinets and drawers in the kitchen. “What are you looking for?” Jenna asks. “Anything useful! These are all empty!” Flynn replies, slamming another drawer. TJ and Carl sit down near us now. “Well, maybe you should take a knife?” Jenna says. “Why the fuck would I need a knife when I have a gun?” Flynn yells. “Hey! Where’s my gun?” “Oh, I’ve got it. You dropped it at the lake.” Leo says. Flynn stomps over to us and grabs it from Leo! I guess Flynn is going back to normal? I should be relieved, but now is not the time for one of his tantrums! Leo is rubbing my back as Flynn finishes searching the kitchen for whatever! Flynn comes back to the dining room and says, “nothing there! So, we just gonna sit here or we gonna find the way out?” “Yeah, we should go.” Jenna says. Flynn walks out the busted door, Leo glares at him. TJ, Carl and Jenna follow Flynn out. “Leo, please don’t fight with Flynn.” I say. “As long as he doesn’t do something!” Leo replies. “Leo! We don’t need a shootout here! Please just don’t argue!” He sighs, “I’ll do it for you Chula.” We get up and walk out into the hallway.

We find that the place we’re isn’t very big. It’s just four identical hallways in a square. Every hallway has three doors on the right, one on the left, and a hatch in the ceiling to the attic. We also find that every door on the left goes to the kitchen and dining room, but from the dining room there is only one door out! Every time we open the door to the dining room, we realize the angle we enter is the same! The first time this happens we’re confused and think we backtracked somehow. The second time it happens we notice that the door isn’t broken! The third time Jenna and Flynn decide to move the chairs into specific spots and see there are multiple kitchen/dining rooms. On the fourth time, we find the chairs in the places we left them! Tj slumps into one of the chairs holding his head. “Hey, what’s wrong?” I ask him as I walk up near him. “Everything, Chase! This reminds me of last time. When I was hallucinating and running, I didn’t see the town, I saw CCU but with monsters everywhere!” He says. “Oh, sorry.” “I’m sorry too Chase, I shouldn’t have snapped at you. It’s just you have Leo to help you, and…” “TJ, We’re here. If you feel scared just remember we’re your friends!” I say, putting my paw on his shoulder. “Yeah, I won’t push you guys away again.” Leo says. He pats TJ on the head. “Dude, if you want, you can stay by me.” Carl says. He clomps over and puts his paw in Tj’s other shoulder. Flynn walks back in and says, “So everyone gropes TJ now?” We all take our paws off TJ. “We were just trying to comfort him Flynn! You make it really awkward!” I say. TJ laughs. “It is weird that we were all touching you and Flynn walked in, and then you guys were touching me and he walked in!” He says. “Ok, everybody when TJ’s rested, we should check the other doors.” Leo says. “Hey, Leo!” I say. He turns to look at me. “I never got to swim and I’m thirsty now. Is there water here?” “Let’s see if that sink works.” He says. We go into the kitchen and find that the sink works! Leo takes a glass cup out of a cabinet and fills it up for me. I’m drinking my water when Flynn walks over looking confused. “Leo, were did you get that? All those cabinets are empty!” He says. “I think you missed this one, there’s a bunch in it!” Leo replies, opening the cabinet to show half a dozen glass cups. “No, I checked them all! This is getting really weird now!” Flynn said. “Maybe this is a hallucination, no that can’t be. We’re all seeing the same thing, right?” Jenna says. Carl describes what he sees to Jenna. “But it doesn’t make sense!” Jenna says. Leo looks at me with concern. “Hey TJ.” He says. “How long can Chase go without swimming? And what happens if he doesn’t get to?” I don’t actually know this, it is kinda concerning now that I think of it. Tj replies, “uh, well he doesn’t really need to swim! It’s a psychologic holdover from when otters needed to hunt in the water. He m—might get depressed or something after a few days, sorry Chase.” “It’s alright TJ, Leo just be here for me.” “I’m be here Chula.” Leo says. He looks nervous, does he think I’m gonna fall apart? Flynn looks impatient at our little discussion. “Come on, we should check the other doors, there might be a way out!” he says. We all get up and go out to the hallway again.

Besides the bedroom and the bathrooms Leo found, there is a really frilly bedroom Carl said he woke up in, and a plainer bedroom TJ and Jenna were in. Flynn opens a door to a blank wall! It’s just an extension of the beige color of the wall on either side. I feel really uneasy looking at it, if Leo wasn’t holding my paw, I be terrified… TJ is biting his lip looking at the wall until Flynn slams the door. “Not that one!” Flynn says. The next door is another bathroom. Pretty old fashioned with a pull chain and high tank toilet. The next door reveals a room full of tools and chains hanging from the ceiling. The walls are made from wood planks. Flynn peers closely at the spaces between them. “There’s concrete behind here.” He says. “Dudes, this is so weird!” Carl says. Jenna shakes her head, and TJ is just looking down. The next room seems to be an office, the one after that is just empty. Then we find a room with sofas and a big chandelier. We start towards one of the doors in the last hall, but Leo motions us all to stop. “I smell death!” He says. Then I smell it too, that sickly sweet smell that makes me want to throw up! I see the door is splintered in the middle, and bulging out like something hit it hard from the other side. The smell is really getting to me! I can’t imagine how much worse it must be for Leo, TJ and Jenna, I don’t know about Flynn’s sense of smell…! “Ugh, guys m—maybe we should skip this one… for now?” “Chase, it could be the way out!” Carl says. He moves to the door, Flynn tris to block him. “Hey!” Carl says. “No, I’ll look!” Flynn says. Flynn puts his hand on the doorknob, he hesitates. I feel Leo tugging me away from the door, then he gets in front of me, I peek around him. Tj runs behind me and Leo as Jenna walks away, Carl stands there looking annoyed. Flynn turns the doorknob, and I grimace. He opens the door and it’s dark inside! We have to use the light from the hallway to see inside. I see concrete walls and floor. It’s all cracked and cratered. I can’t see the ceiling, but I see something hanging from it. An old frayed noose! Flynn looks at it and swallows. He sticks his head in, looks back and forth then closes the door. Everyone is silent. Oddly the horrible rotting smell is completely gone now! “What’s in there?” Tj asks. “Nothing! Uh empty room!” Leo says. Honestly, TJ really shouldn’t see that… “There’s one door left.” Flynn says, pointing. The last door is different, its big and made from logs. And its dark brown color stands out with the others. Flynn try’s opening it, but it’s locked. Carl try’s peering through the logs, but see nothing. “Ok, that was the last door! So now what?” Leo asks. “Well, I’m kinda hungry.” Carl says. “Carl! There’s no food here!” Jenna says. “But Leo got a cup for Chase out of thin air!” TJ says. “This could be the way out.” Leo says. He walks to the log door and points his gun at the lock! Me, Jenna and Flynn all shout, “No!” At the same time. I put my paw on his arm, “Leo I don’t know—just don’t! Let’s uh all go take a rest in the lounge room for a while ok?” He looks down at me and holsters his gun. “Yeah, ok.” He says. His voice sounds odd, I hope something isn’t wrong with him now. I take hold of his paw and lead him down the hallway. “Um which door was it?” I ask him. Before Leo can speak, Flynn does, “it’s this one here.” We follow him inside and all find seats. Me and Leo are on a sofa, I lean on him. “I know what you’re doing Chase, trying to keep me calm.” He says. I sigh and say, “listen Leo, you don’t need to be blowing holes in the place! What if it ricocheted?” “Your right, sorry if I scared you guys.” Leo sounds dejected. “Just… try not to you know…” I don’t know what to say. Leo gets his big arm around me and holds me close. “I know, I’ll try keeping my temper under control.” I gently stroke his arm as everyone tries to relax for a while. I close my eyes as I lean on Leo. Tj speaks, “so Carl are you sure this isn’t just an extension of your house? Something on the other side of the crawlspace maybe?” Carl sighs, “pretty sure it isn’t dude! Unless my parents have secretly been building this under the yard for years!” “Even if this is your house, that wouldn’t explain how all the left doors lead to the same place!” Jenna says. I hear Leo sniffing. “Huh, I smell…raccoon!” He says. “Is it Kudzu?” I ask. “I think so! He’s close, it’s like he’s right here!” Leo is looking around the room and sniffing. I call out for Kudzu… there’s no response. Then for a split second I feel a paw on my shoulder, it’s not Leo! I gasp, “something touched me!” Leo grabs me with both arms and holds me tightly! He doesn’t talk, but I think he mouthed the word, “mine”. “Leo, let go for second!” I say. “Why?” He holds me tighter! “I want to try something, just let me go!” He reluctantly let go of me. Is he really that afraid of losing me? When I get up, I notice that everyone has been staring at us. Jenna shakes her head at us and Flynn says, “damn Leo, you really should get help! I’ve said it before, this is not healthy! Chase, you sure it’s a good idea to move in with him?” Leo sucks in his breath and clenches a fist. I grab his fist and shake my head. I look him in the eyes and slowly let go. He just slumps into the couch. I turn away from him and say, “Kud if you’re here can you uh, we can’t hear or see you! We um we’re all hallucinating or something, we don’t see Carl’s house it looks like someplace else! We can’t get out, and if you’re really here Kud, I hope you don’t get pulled into this and, yeah, we must look crazy. Hey if this really is Carl’s house and you’re here Kud, can you get my camera and film us? It’s in Carl’s bedroom on the computer desk!” I think I feel someone pat me on the shoulder again, but I’m not sure. I stare intently in front of me, I think for just a split second I saw Kudzu standing there with my camera! Did he get it that fast or has he had all this time? Maybe I just imagined it? I sit back down with Leo. He gets a hold of me again. “So now what?” He asks. I hear Carl behind us, “Well, I’m really hungry now! Can we just go check the kitchen again?”

The walk back to the kitchen and dining room is short, since every left door opens to them. Carl starts opening the drawers and cabinets as Flynn impatiently watches. Carl looks very determined; I don’t remember seeing him like this before. Jenna is staring off into space, and TJ is fiddling with his dead phone. Is Kudzu really here and filming us? What does it look like we’re doing to him? Maybe I just imagined the whole thing, but Leo could smell him! I look up at my maned wolf, he’s just standing next to me with his eyes unfocused! “Leo!” I say. His attention snaps to me! At least I know he’ll respond to me if I need him. “Yeah, what?” He says. “I’m just, I don’t… I’m trying not to freak out! Leo, this is really messing with me!” “Me too, it feels like a dream. Chase if this goes on for long, I’m blowing that door open! We can’t stay like this!” I take hold of his paw, “let’s try something else first.” I look over at Jenna, she glances back. I look at Carl, he actually found some ceramic plates! “Hey, Jenna!” I say. “Yes Chase?” She replies. “If we’re having a mass hallucination, is there a way to wake up from it? Did you ever study—” She cuts me off, “I don’t know! It shouldn’t be possible for us to be hallucinating the same thing! I’m thinking maybe this is part of Echo’s mass hysteria! And I hate to say it, but its diffidently caused by an outside force! And even if this was a normal hallucination, it would just stop on its own…” “Hey, dudes look I found food!” I turn at Carl’s voice to see him setting out bread, cheese and butter on the kitchen counter! Flynn looks astonished, but that’s understandable… The rest of us walk over to look at the food. “Um, are you sure this is… safe?” Jenna says. “What do you mean?” Carl asks. “It just appeared out of thin air!” Jenna replies. I see TJ looking sad and rubbing his stomach. “Guys, let’s just try it.” He says. “Yeah, we could have grilled cheese sandwiches!” Carl says. He moves the loaf of bread onto the cutting bord, and it blurs! But then it looks normal again. Leo moves forward, “I’ll cook it.” He says. Leo cuts up the bread loaf into slices, commenting that it seems really hard. Pretty soon I hear the sizzling of melting butter and smell the cooking food! Leo makes a sandwich for everyone and sets the plates on the table. We all sit down at the table. I pick up my sandwich, but before I take a bite it’s knocked out of my hands by an unseen force! “Chase! Be more careful!” Leo says. He goes to bite into his sandwich and the same thing happens! “What the hell!” He shouts. Carl takes a bite out of his sandwich and grimaces. “Ugh, that doesn’t taste right! Leo what did you do?” “What! I didn’t do anything; it must just be bad!” Leo replies. TJ puts his sandwich down before taking a bite. Jenna never touched hers. I guess Flynn wasn’t going to eat again. “Well, it’s not too bad, and I’m hungry!” Carl says, He tries to take another bite and his sandwich fly’s out of his hand! This is too much. I jump up knocking over my char! “Nope! Can’t deal with this!” My voice is truly strained. I turn and run for the door, Leo yells, “Chase stop! Shit!” I hear another chair fall then I’m in the hall. I run down the hall. I hear something big running behind me! I try to run faster but get grabbed and lifted off the floor! It’s Leo! “Chase don’t struggle!” He says. I force myself to relax, I’m not really successful. Leo looks very concerned and is holding me tightly. I hear Jenna’s voice from behind him, “he’s having a panic attack Leo! Don’t let him go, he might hurt himself!” “I figured that out!” Leo says. “Leo can we just go sit somewhere?” I say. “Yeah, let’s go!” Leo says as he walks down the hall carrying me.

In the lounge room, Leo sets me down on a sofa and sits down with me. “Sorry Leo, I’m just…” “Chase, it’s ok. You don’t need to say anything, I’ll be here for you.” Leo starts rubbing my back. I really do need to say something, to tell him things! I used to talk to him a lot when we were growing up! Why did it become so hard to talk to him? I can’t forget all the things we both did wrong, but I’ve been doing good saying what I need to, why can’t I now? I guess it’s just this place. No… It’s that I don’t completely trust him! And that truly makes me sad since once there was a time I totally trusted him… “Leo, thanks for taking care of me again. That was one of the worst ones I’ve had.” “You’re welcome Chula. Now just try to relax for a while.” I lay my head in his lap, and he begins stroking and rubbing me. It really does feel nice. “Sorry Leo.” “Hmm, for what?” “Because you might have to always be comforting me when I have an episode like that!” “I don’t mind at all! I need someone to car for, why not you Chase?” I sigh, “I just don’t want to be using you or mooching off you! I’m going to try to get better.” “I really don’t mind Chase. I’ll be happy to provide for you like we’ve said before! You can just hang out at home and work on your panic attacks or something!” “Leo, that’s really nice of you! But I don’t want to be stuck inside all the time! And I want to tell you some things, but not right now.” “Chase, I don’t think you should be going out alone. On my days off I’ll take you places; we could even go to the lake! I just worry about you; I can’t lose you again.” I reach up and rub under his chin, his fur is shorter there but still soft. That’s when I hear the door open. I look and see Jenna. “Chase, are you ok now?” She asks. “I guess, I don’t know sort of. You guys are fine, and I’m falling apart!” I reply. “I wouldn’t say we’re fine! I’m pretty uneasy about whatever this is. TJ is putting on a brave face, but he’s terrified! Carl is uh acting oddly. And Flynn, is well… covering his fear with anger.” She says. “How about me?” Leo says. “You’re still obsessing over Chase! I don’t know how you convinced him to move in with you!” I sit up. “Jenna after what happened here last time, I haven’t been the same! My nightmares are worse then ever! I just need someone to help me! And Leo didn’t convince me of anything! I just want to get out of my parents’ house, and since Leo is leaving Echo, I’ll go with him, he’ll take care of me!” Jenna looks annoyed and I realize I had started to shout. “Sorry.” I add. “So, you really do feel that strongly about him? Even after what he did?” Jenna looks to Leo, whose been silent this far.  He looks sad. “I know what I did was wrong! How many times do I have to apologize? It’s just there’s not going to be another for me… But Chase you haven’t treated me right either! If you had actually said for sure you were braking up with me or not, I wouldn’t have been so fucked up about it!” He went from sad to angry! But I still don’t believe he would hurt me. I put my paw on his knee. “Leo not now, please. I want to talk to you about that alone later! Jenna what’s everyone else doing?” She glances back at the door, “well they’re worrying about you! At least TJ and Carl are, Flynn is stomping around the kitchen trying to get things to appear in the cabinets!” Come to think of it I have heard some muffled banging sounds. Then I see TJ peeking around the doorway. He notices I see him and walks in followed by Carl. “Hey Chase.” TJ says as he walks over to me. “Hi TJ” I reply. He really does look worried. He puts his paw on my arm, “Chase it’s ok to be scared, I’ve been scared this whole time!” He says. Carl speaks up, “Dudes let’s just all look out for each other! None of us should be alone, we shouldn’t have left Flynn back there. But Chase if you’re really that scared let us help you, don’t run away!” I look at each of them. “You’re all-in danger, and its—it’s my fault! We should never have some back here! I should have just gone right to Leo’s house and help him finished packing! We would have stopped to say hi, Carl. But this was a mistake, Echo’s after us!” “Dude, this might have happened anyway! Only then I’d be alone here! I don’t think I’d be keeping cool then!” Carl says. Jenna looks from Carl to me, “he’s right, we should face this together! I don’t want to believe it, even after seeing the monsters… But there really is something paranormal here, and we need to watch out for each other! Chase, I guess you really should stay with Leo after all.” I stand up, “thanks guys.” Leo gets up and hugs me. Carl and TJ hug me too! Jenna shrugs and joins the group hug. Once again that’s when Flynn walks in. He crosses his arms over his chest and says, “so is this what you guys do when I’m not around? I’m feeling left out!” Carl brakes off the hug first. He walks over to Flynn and hugs him. The rest of us walk over to them. Carl and Flynn brake off their hug. TJ gives Flynn a quick hug. He looks up at the towering lizard and says, “sorry if you feel neglected, we just need to make sure Chase knows we all care about him.” “Thanks, Teej.” Flynn replies. The Gila looks up at me and Leo, and says, “so what are we doing now? I have no idea what this place is, and if what I saw in the smoke was real or not! Also, it’s getting late, I think. We should all try to get some rest, but I don’t think anyone should be alone. We found three bedrooms, so two of us in each one then.” “Well, Chase is staying with me!” I look up at Leo, he’s still being possessive of me! I really hope he doesn’t lose control if we get into a tough situation… “I’ll stay with Fynn.” Carl says. TJ looks awkwardly at Jenna, “um, I can sleep in here. The sofas are fine!” He says. Jenna looks uncomfortable. “I uh understand TJ, but I agree nobody should be alone! And it’s not going to be a romantic thing, its just for protection so…” She says. “Well, I guess your right.” TJ replies. With that decided, we all shuffle into the hallway and head to whichever bedroom.

Me and Leo take the plain bedroom. I just fall into the bed. Leo locks the door. He takes off his gun holster and puts it under the bed. He turns off the light and crawls into bed with me. He crawls over me, but is carful not to squish me. We get into the spooning position, and Leo pulls up the blanket over us. He wraps his arms around me. I shiver and my breathing shudders. “Cold Chase?” Leo Asks. “N—no I’m scared! Scared of this place, scared of going to sleep and having more n—nightmares.” I reply. “That’s why I want you to stay with me Chula, I really am happy to take care of you.” He hugs me tightly. “Ahh, don’t squeeze me! Leo, I wanted to tell you earlier… You… you scare me.” “What! Why?” He takes his arm off me and holds his hand over me like he’s afraid to touch me! I’m laying on his other arm, but he moved like he was going to pull it out from under me. “Because you’re a huge wolf and I’m a small otter! And your aggression really is scary! Like when you kicked a hole in that door, I imagined you kicking my head off!” “Oh fuck! Chase why do you think that? Even in our worst argument I never even thought of hitting you!” He wraps his arms around me again, kinda tightly. “Leo, you hug me too tight! I keep thinking your going to crush me!” He relaxes his arms. “Oh, come on Chase! I can’t believe you’re afraid of me! I’ve never hurt you and never will! Have you had nightmares about me hurting you? Is that it?” I turn over to face him, my muzzle is at his neck. “Leo, I’m just—just a mess! Echo brings out anger in you and fear in me! But even at Pueblo I was scared to sleep! I just… you’ve seen how weak I really am now. Are you sure you don’t want a better otter?” “What the fuck does that mean? I only want you! You’re my Chula! I’m not going to just throw you away because you’re scared or weak! I waited three years for you to come back! I tried to get over you, but I couldn’t! I don’t want you to fear me, I need you to trust me Chase.” I take a deep breath and smell his wolf musk. “Leo, I want to trust you! But I have to tell you something. Three years ago, I was planning to leave Echo and you for months. You were going to stay here and be a mechanic and I wanted to get out of this place and do different things! I didn’t know how to brake up with you. Especially because I loved you! Then in collage I only talked to you when I was feeling really down. I’m so sorry for leading you on and never telling you for sure! When I was here for spring break, I still couldn’t tell you. If you had left Echo and came with me, it would have been different, but I know you don’t like change and wanted to stay! I’m proud of you for moving to Payton! But I saw your dark side! I saw the worst of you and it scared me! But Echo hurt me, and I haven’t recovered! I can’t make it on my own, I need someone! So, I came back to you! If this works out, I’m yours forever!” Leo is just breathing on me for a moment. “Chase, I don’t know what to say! I want to tell you some things too, but I can’t right now… But this time I see my problems! I might not be able to solve them, but I know what I do wrong now! I—I don’t know, I just want you! I want to love you and I want your love! Please Chase.” “I know Leo, and I do love you! Just promise you won’t do anything crazy and if—ah when we get out of this, I’ll still move in with you!” “Thanks Chase, I need to hear you say it. And—and I’ll get us all out of here! I’ll blow that door to bits if I have to! I won’t let Echo hurt you or any of our friends anymore! Try to get some sleep, if you have a nightmare I’ll be right here.” “Goodnight Leo.” I press myself against him and he holds me close. “Goodnight Chula.” I don’t want to fear him, he might be intimidating but I’m sure he won’t really hurt me. We drift off to sleep cuddled together like old times.