Forgotten Self (Forgotten Self #1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

more than a few times, but I don't stop. When I first started running, I'd he ard Lucas calling behind me but it is quiet now. Other than the rocks sliding underneath me and my loud breathing. “Guess I need to get on that treadmill,” I try and joke to myself, but it's really not that funny.
    It's a while before I stop to take a brea k. I sit on a big, flat rock and take large gulps of air. What have I gotten myself into? I check my cell phone. No bars. While my breathing quiets down, I lay back and look up at the stars, keeping an ear out for any creepy boy footsteps. Out here, a bit beyond the light pollution, they are gorgeous. I want to touch them.
    The stars' beauty is distracting, but after a few minutes I sit up to review my options. I can stay here until morning comes and continue down the mountain, but I can't keep going now. M y reason has somewhat returned and I know it's way too dangerous. The other option is to make my way across the slope back to the road and hope that someone passes by. Or I'd really be walking ten miles. I decide that the latter is the best option and star t trekking my way back to the road.
    After twenty minutes – and more than one branch hitting me in the face – I can see the outline of the road. I quicken my step and reach it in no time. But as I look up and down the road I see no cars, no airports, and de finitely no teleportation devices. “Of course,” I tell no one. This line is quickly becoming my catch-phrase.
    I start to make my way down the side of the road. Now that I'm not scrambling across rocks, my mind is reeling over what I'd just seen. How could Lucas have had the same glow? Does that mean I really hadn't been hallucinating the whole time with Kelly? Or does it mean – I stop walking. The shine of headlights is coming up the road. A thought occurs to me that this might be Lucas so I step back behin d a bush, hoping it's not. The car slows down as it nears my location; my heartbeat speeds up. When it stops in front of me I nearly pass out.
    The window rolls down. “Abigail, are you out here?”
    My mouth drops open. It's Jonathan. I rush up to his car and quickly get in. “How did you...?”
    Jonathan pulls his car around in order to head back down the mountain.“Lucas showed up at your house. He told me you freaked out and ran away. That I should go find you.”
    “ But how did you know right where I was?”
    He shifts to a higher gear. “I thought I saw someone standing on the road when I turned the bend.”
    I want to say something but I don't know what to say. I finally come out with, “Thanks.”
    He's upset. “Why would you do something like that, Abby? That was so stupid. You could've hurt yourself, or gotten picked up by someone dangerous on the road.” His voice raises to a volume I've never heard.
    I'm tongue-tied. “Well, I – I don't know. I just...” A feeling of guilt washes over me. I probably had acted rashly. So a new guy knows a couple random things about me, so what? And the glow was just some moon reflection or something. I'm disbelieving it as I think it, but I still feel bad. “I'm sorry,” I say.
    Jonathan looks over at me. “Don't apologize, just be careful.”
    It take s a few minutes of me mentally arguing with myself before I make a decision. “Jonny.” I use a nickname I haven't used with him since eighth grade.
    “ What, Abigail?” His voice is softer now.
    “ I have to tell you something.”
     
     

 
    6
     
    J onathan is completely expressionless as I explain to him all the strange events I've experienced, starting with the glow that surrounded Kelly. I finish my monologue with what happened with Lucas earlier tonight. I intentionally leave out the part about th e graveside visits – and Lucas watching me.
    “ I don't know, Jonathan. I mean, when I met him I got a weird vibe but I never expected that .”
    We are inside the city limits now and he slows the car way down. “Yes, that is unexpected,” he replies.
    I