FOLLOW YOU INTO THE DARK

[attr="class","WIL1BG"]

after his early morning shift ended, sawyer made his way silently back to the hotel room to finish off sleeping. he did not even make it to the final stage of the sleep cycle due to being too much of a light sleeper accompanied with the tossing and turning, sometimes whimpering, red head that invaded his space. sawyer was never entirely sure why he always got a hotel room with two beds since one was rarely used. he was not surprised to come back to the empty hotel room but was half glad to get a small bit of peace before he would have to go pick up willow before the sunset. in his eagerness to sleep, sawyer had forgotten to put the alarm that was always preset on the clock. all he had to was slide the button over until it hit the end of the panel and instead, he undressed and crawled into his side. he found it strange at first, having the entire bed to himself but sawyer was a creature of habit and instead of spreading out, he stayed on his side of the bed and found sleep came quickly. it was the first real sleep that he had gotten in quite some time and found himself unable to pull himself out of the dreamless slumber even when his own internal clock went off. he usually got himself up before the alarm, beating it by about ten minutes but today was different. it was unsettling and his dreamless slumber soon turned into a nightmare that had sawyer’s muscles involuntary twitching and his legs kicking out to the space beside him. he usually refrained from such movements when willow was beside him and that was the indicator that he needed to quickly pop his eyes open and pull himself into reality. with a film of sweat now covering his body like a second skin, sawyer eyed the dark room with uncertainty. he could sometimes forget where he was but it was hard to forget about his company. he felt the space beside him, expecting to feel the warmed flesh of willow’s hip or some strands of her red hair tickling his hand but he felt air. his hand slamming down on the mattress in frustration of himself and quickly, sawyer got himself dressed and out the door. he did not even care if he had remembered to lock the door as he took off at a jog.

the flower shop was not that long of a walk but there were several ways of getting there. sawyer opted for the usual way that they took on their way there when he was able to accompany her. they usually grabbed some kind of snack for her to eat on her break, a fruit or a muffin and he would usually get himself a coffee or something to keep him awake. a nap was a rare option for sawyer when he was in the hotel room alone and that small blissful moment of sleep could cost him everything. he just hoped, prayed, that she stayed at the flower shop. but when he got there, the lights were off and even with profuse knocking, no one came to the door, he could have hit that too but chose against it. willow would have taken the direct route home, the same way that they took when the sun went down as it was the main street but there was that turn off to get back to the hotel that he sometimes led her through. he hated having them out after hours and right now, he feared her being alone in the city by herself. panic began to set in which did not help that sawyer was out of breath. he kept up a smooth jogging pace, looking to faces when they passed by him. no one appeared threatening, no one looked deadly or as though they had just committed a crime but the duo were also deceiving. he wanted to ask for help, ask if anyone had seen her and every time a person passed by, he opened his mouth to inquire if they had spotted a red head with blue eyes—something that could not be missed. but that would draw attention to them, her appearance was not all that subtle, she stood out quite easily and sawyer would be damned if he let that kind of attention be called to them. so, he got all the way back to the hotel and pushed the door with his shoulder, creating more force than needed, ”willow!”, calling out but getting no response from the dark room. he had to find her. she was in trouble. he had that sixth sense about him when it came to her. he got the power when he was forced into this role of her protector. sprinting out of the hotel room and back down into the streets, it was not until he passed an alleyway, one that was on the direct route from the shop to the hotel, and he heard a muffled cry. he had heard that cry before, it rang in his ears like a siren’s call, he had heard that cry when they had been put into the first deadly situation. she had pleaded with their kidnappers and he had stayed mute. it was the same situation as she called out for help and sawyer remained quiet, but it was for a different reason now. he slunk into the shadows and cringed as he waited for the right moment, having to listen to her pleas. his foot knocked into a small piece of plywood and sawyer chose that as his weapon, giving a moment to get his bearings before he bashed the guy in the shoulder with the wood. but it did not make much of an impact but it achieved the goal of making the male release willow. grabbing her hand and holding the weapon up, sawyer pushed her behind him as the assailant rose, ”run.”, he growled out his command to her but he had been distracted by her impaired safety once again and got a handful of splinters as the weapon was torn out of his grip, letting out a grunt as a result.