Into Darkness

            Caroline leaned back into Shane's chest and sighed. She felt the soft fur of the lynx underneath the sweater he wore; it was warm and inviting like laying against a furry pillow. In no time, her breathing was in sync with his as they lay in the warm glow of the candles surrounding them. Caroline shifted her head to better listen to his heartbeat. From where they lay, Caroline could see the moon through the open window.

            “This is a very nice date," Shane said.

Caroline couldn't help but laugh. Their “date" consisted of a late night picnic inside of a room within a rundown hospital that was abandoned years ago. The walls were encrusted with holes, filth, and peeling paint, it was impossible to tell what the original color of the floor was, and she didn't dare look up, knowing that if she saw what was hanging overhead she would lose her nerve and want to leave. Every time the wind blew, her nose was filled with a stench she didn't even want to describe. Yet, beneath the horrible stench was the pleasant aroma of scented candles. The warmth of Shane's body was enough for her, and they had blankets to last them through the night.

             “You have a funny idea of romantic," Caroline said. “And I used to laugh at my friends because their dates took them cheap, fast food restaurants."

            “It's not about where you are—it's about the company you keep."

            Caroline snuggled closer and nodded. The hospital they were in now was the same one she and Shane were born in. It was also where they first met although they were very young at the time and had only the vaguest memory of the encounter. Even though they were a year apart, Shane always said it was destiny especially since their families hated each other and couldn't even be allowed in the same room together.

            The hospital closing wasn't when the feud with their families started, but the fighting really exploded when it did. People claimed it was because the Haders were lynxes and the Bachman's were humans. Caroline hated it because it wasn't true. Her family got along well with anthros. She tried on several occasions to find the truth behind their families' fighting, but it always led nowhere. Some people just didn't mix, and their families were a perfect example of that. Almost perfect anyway.

Despite their families' best efforts to stay away from one another, their children wound up going to school together. They became friends, and of course their families did everything they could to tear them apart. But ironically it brought them closer together. No matter what her family told her, she couldn't think of any reason to hate Shane simply because his last name was Hader..

Caroline repositioned herself so that her head lay in Shane's lap. “Well, I guess that would explain why I'm sitting in an abandoned building, but having the time of my life."

Shane began stroking her hair. Every now and again he would hesitate and sigh. Caroline knew something was bothering him. She could tell in the hesitation of his strokes. Every time he reached the edge of her hair, he hesitated before lifting his hand and starting at the top again.

Caroline wasn't much of a romantic; that was Shane's department. Sure, it got a little annoying at times, but the lynx could come up with the best date ideas. None of her old boyfriends could make coming to an abandoned building such a memorable moment. And even she couldn't deny that dating someone—especially in secret—for eight years was an accomplishment.

She felt Shane shift slightly beneath her and squeeze her tighter. “Carol…I…My dad wants us to move."

“I guess that means the time has come then."

“Yeah, it has."

Caroline reached up and took Shane's hand. This was the conversation they were dreading for long time now. It had been eight years since their first official date which hadn't taken place until they left high school. They knew it was only a matter of time before the question of their families would come up. They had a choice to make: either stay with their family and end their relationship, or leave their family to be with the one they love. Caroline couldn't decide what she wanted to do. Could she really turn her back on the very people who raised her and were responsible for the person she was now? Worse, even if she was okay with it, could she ask Shane to do the same?

Asking their families to put aside their differences was out of the question. She remembered asking her father what he would do if she dated someone from the Hader family. He told her if one of them so much as breathed on her, he would kill them.

The two lay in silence, unmoving. Caroline ran through their options. Once her family found out who she was dating, there was good chance they would disown her. It was unlikely Shane's fate would be any different. They could try to have a long-distance relationship and sneak away to be together every few months. But how often they could see each other depended on how far away they would be, and she wasn't sure how she felt having the bulk of their dates through a computer screen or over the phone.

There was a clanging noise in the distance that made both of them bolt upright. Shane immediately started blowing out the candles, plunging them into darkness. Caroline sat in a half-crouched, half-kneeling position making ready to charge if anyone came through the door. The light from the moon outside was the only thing they had to see by.

“Were you followed?" Caroline whispered.

“No, I walked in several circles to make sure," Shane whispered back. “Might just be a homeless guy trying to find some shelter."

Either way, it was time to go. They packed up their things and made ready to leave. Since they were on the first floor, Shane suggested they leave through the window to avoid running into anyone in the halls.

Caroline agreed and hopped through the window first, using the thick blanket they had lain on to avoid cutting herself on the broken glass on the window sill. She checked the immediate area around her to make sure no one was around. The area was quiet and the overgrown weeds surrounding the hospital provided more than enough cover for them if they stayed low.

“C'mon, Shane, it's clear."

There was no response. Caroline looked back at the window and noticed there was no sign of Shane.

“Shane?"

She used the light of her phone to peer through the broken window. The room looked just as desolate and abandoned as it did when she first entered. Shane's backpack sat in the middle of the floor.

Caroline chuckled and climbed through the window. Now wasn't the time for games, but it wouldn't hurt to play along for just a little bit longer.

It was a game she knew well. At this point pair of arms would wrap around her body, and Shane would nuzzle and kiss her neck. She would pretend to struggle for a bit, knowing he would squeeze her tighter, and then she would give in.

But Shane's touch never came. There was no sound of anyone anywhere. Caroline's heart began to jog.

“Shane, c'mon, this isn't funny. We have to go now."

Save for her echo in the empty room, there was no response. Caroline pulled her pistol from her bag, slung Shane's bag over her shoulder and delved deeper into the hospital. She hated that her father had forced gun training on her. He claimed she needed to know how to protect herself in case someone (namely the Haders) tried to harm her. Now that she was alone, searching this creepy place for her missing boyfriend, she was glad he taught her how to fire a gun.

Using the cell's light to guide her, she searched every room. With each empty room, her palms became sweatier and her heart beat that much faster. The whole thing reminded her of those slasher horror movies she loved to watch so much. At some point some psycho with a knife or a machete would come after her. She pulled back the hammer on her pistol and raised it to eye level. Let some psycho come after her. They'll find they picked the wrong victim tonight.

“I swear I'm never watching another horror movie again," she said under her breath. “And you better be trouble, Shane because I'm so going to kill you for this."

            A loud clanging sound behind Caroline caused her to shriek and spin around, holding both the pistol and the cell phone out in front of her. After sweeping the beam across the hallway several times, she found a large rat scurrying across the floor.

            Caroline sighed and lowered her arms. Suddenly she felt very childish; of course there was nothing to be afraid of. She and Shane had visited this hospital how many times over the last few months? If there was really a serial killer hiding out here, they would've gotten wind of it by now.

            Suddenly a hand fell on her shoulder. Caroline cried out, spun around, and fired her pistol. The whole hall lit up briefly as if lightning flashed. The air was filled with the burning smell of singed fur and gunpowder. Caroline's ears rang and it felt as if her heart had stopped. She stood there frozen at the horrible sight before her.

Shane stood before her, thin streams of blood trickling from the corners of his muzzle, his eyes wide with shock. He tried to speak, but Caroline's ears still rang from the gunshot and she couldn't hear his last words before his body crumbled to the floor.

As if time had started moving again, Caroline dropped her phone and her gun, the sound thundering throughout the empty hall. The cell phone cracked and its light went out plunging them into darkness. Even without the light, Caroline found Shane and held him in her arms. She checked him to see if he was breathing—he wasn't. She searched for a pulse, but couldn't find one.

            Her mind began racing with thoughts: What happened? Where did he go? Why didn't he say anything? Why did he attack her? Did he know that her shooting him was an accident?

            She had no answers to any of these questions, and it was too late to ask the one person who did. She cradled the lifeless corpse of her lover and cried, but strangely she heard nothing, she felt nothing. She knew the tears streamed down her cheeks, but she didn't feel them, the cold hardness of the floor she knelt on, the warmth leaving the body she cradled, or the blood she knew was seeping into her clothes and skin.

            “What the hell was that?" a male voice said. Caroline peered into the darkness. She recognized the owner of the voice as Kyle, her cousin.

            “That was a gunshot," a female voice, this one belonging Kyle's sister, Mary, answered.

            Caroline fumbled about in the darkness until she found her pistol. She couldn't risk them finding her. They would make up a story, say that Shane attacked her. Her father's warning about how she would need it one day to protect herself from the Haders rung in her ears. She was never a believer in fate, but now she wondered: Was their families destined to be mortal enemies?

            She found that answer didn't matter. All that mattered was that she had made her decision. Even if it meant leaving her family behind, even if they hated her for it—she decided she didn't want to live without Shane.

                        Caroline pointed the pistol at her face and squeezed the trigger. There was a brilliant flash of light and her world was plunged into darkness.