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Robert feels his phone vibrating in his pocket, taking it out he cocks an eyebrow seeing it’s you when it’s nearing 1am. It’s not unusual for you to be awake this late but you’re normally with him if you are or on a LHPIRGT marathon……..again. Or maybe you’d done that cute thing where you had fallen asleep with his contact open on your phone and accidentally called him in a moment of sleepiness like that one time.
With a shrug he answers, ‘Babe?’.
‘Robert, help, I need you - I need you to come to the lookout,’ you’re whispering, a little breathless and you sound scared, Robert immediately feels his gut twist and his shoulders tense, he’s up in an instant looking for his truck’s keys.
‘What’s wrong?’
‘Something is- fuck,’ a sound of fabric brushing on the phone with faint laboured breathing then you come back ‘something is here, it knows I’m here, Robert, please, I don’t know wha- it’s so big, I’m scared.’
Robert finally spots his keys on the counter behind a take-away bag, snatching them up, he jogs to his front door feeling like a clamp is closing around his chest.
‘Talk to me, babe, what is it? I’m coming, where are you exactly? I’m in my truck now,’ slamming the door shut, Robert quickly puts his phone on loudspeaker and places it on the passenger seat, trying to shove his keys in the ignition, he notices his hands are shaking a little.
‘Shh shh…Robert..,’ he can hardly hear you over the thrum of the truck, he reaches over and blindly feels for the phone’s volume button to turn it to max, ‘-big, tall and fuckin’ hairy, I don’t- you’ve never said Sasquatches are around here but- shit shh,’ he hears something like heavy footsteps and a growl, then footsteps fading, ‘Robert, please, please baby, please.’
A Sasquatch? Robert feels his throat tighten and presses down on the accelerator, the speedometer reading 5, then 10 miles over the speed limit.
Since you two had started dating, plenty of late night lengthy conversations on cryptids had occurred along with a Robert-Approved documentary here and there, so Robert was sure you’d be able able to tell the difference between a Sasquatch and a possible bear wandering through the woods - not that he wouldn’t be rushing to your aid in either case, but a Sasquatch trying to catch you frightened him a lot more than a bear trying to.
‘I’m nearly there, I’m passing the gas station,’ the station passes in a blur of fluorescent lights, ‘just stay hidden, where are you from the clearing?’
‘I’m not sure, I ran- I fell and got turned around but I think..North..North-East. shh,’ white knuckled and clammy hands gripping the wheel, Robert strains to listen to every sound coming through the phone shifting with every bump in the seat beside him, whispering ‘North-East’ to himself like a mantra while pressing his foot down harder to maintain his speed as the road finally begins to lead him up the small mountain-
A loud roar makes him swerve for a moment, the sound slightly distorted through the phone, ‘ROBERT, FUCK SHIT PLEASE ROB-’ another roars swallows your cries.
‘BABE?!’ Robert glances frantically between the road and the phone, his foot pressing down further as a cold flush prickles and runs through him.
‘ROBERT, IT’S TOO FAST, ROBSHitshitshitshitshitSHIT!’ another inaudible curse comes through before there is a thunk and the cries and roars seem to fade some.
‘Babe-FUCK!’ Robert feels a pinch of relief as the clearing finally comes into view, slamming on the brakes, the tires squeal as the truck fishtails a little before stopping just a few yards from your car. Robert reaches into the back to grab his maglite and larger knife, flinging open the truck’s door, he’s sprinting into the woods as soon as his feet touch the ground. Caution be damned, the only objective here is to get to you.
‘BABE? BABE, WHERE ARE YOU?’, running through the layers of leaves and brush, Robert looks around wildly as he heads North-East, the beam from his maglite scanning across the trees rapidly.
After around 200 yards, he stops, panting and feeling a stitch in his side from his irregular panicked breathing. Small puffs of breath fog up in front of him, only now does he feel the cold stinging his cheeks and tips of his fingers gripping the maglite and knife.
Robert shouts your name, slowly turning in place before a dim light on the ground about 30 feet away catches his eye. Jogging towards it, your phone becomes clear, the screen lit up with the contact picture you had set for Robert; a selfie of you both pulling faces during a raiding of the costume accessories at The Dollar Tree a few months ago. Frowning further as he slides his knife into his belt, he grabs and hangs up the phone after seeing it was still on call with his phone back in the truck. Shoving it in his back pocket, he looks into the darkness.
‘BABE?’, Robert has never felt so helpless.
It’s the middle of the night in the cold, dark woods and he cannot hear anything besides the normal soft quiet and shuffling of nighttime critters. It would not make sense to run in any direction further, he ran North-East like you said and there was no sign of you besides your phone.
Switching to scanning the ground, Robert wanders forward slowly, zigzagging the light back and forth searching for any show of footsteps or worse. A little further he sees a skid in some exposed mud dipping into a shallow puddle, a good sign being that is shows you went this way, but also a bad sign considering you were being chased.
‘BABE? Where are you? Please..I’m not a praying man but God, if you’re listening, I’ll give you my Sundays, just let them be o-.’
‘Robert?!’
‘Babe?! I’m here, where-’, Robert doesn’t even bother to finish his question, he heard your call clearly enough to know from which direction it came. Running through the trees, the maglite lights up a small sliver of blue fabric through the branches ahead, hardly slowing down, he barrels into you sitting on a fallen tree, free hand clutching your shoulder to regain his balance.
‘Are you okay? What happened? Where is it? Are you hurt? You’re wet.’ his questions tumble out without pause, hand and light searching all over you for any wounds or damage.
‘Yes- Robert, Yes I’m alright, I’m fine, wow, I’m fine.’ you give a light chuckle as you rest a hand on his chest to calm him.
‘You’re fine? You were being chased by- by something.’ his frown deepens at your sheepish smile.
‘By this?’ you pull out an old audio recorder, pressing the play button, heavy footsteps followed by a loud growl play through the speaker, ‘I found it while going through some old stored Halloween decorations, ‘Manda and I used it for our front yard set-up for trick-or-treaters a few years ago,’ you look back up at Robert after stopping the recorder, a frown still covered his face as he stared down at the recorder.
‘You tricked me.’
‘Well, yes, but I thought you’d be more excited- I guess worried, yes, but I thought-’
‘You thought I’d be excited. Over the idea of my partner being chased by something presumably large and angry - cryptid or not. In the middle of the night, in the middle of the woods, in the middle of winter.’
‘When..you say it like that-’ you see his eyes are clouded over and dark as he glares out into the darkness, you grab one of his hands between yours, running your thumbs over his scarred knuckles ‘Robert, I’m sorry, I thought it would be funny and didn’t properly think over how much it may make you worry about my safety.’
With a flare of his nostrils, he exhales, shoulders slumping before looking down at you. With the hand you’d been playing with, he grabs one of your own hands and pulls you up to standing before enclosing you in a hug.
‘I’m mad but more relieved than anything, I haven’t felt so fuckin’ scared in so long-’ you feel him lean backwards, ‘scratch what I said earlier, Big Man, my partner was just being an ass.’
You can’t help but give a small laugh, ‘Striking deals with God now, are we?’
Looking back down at you, Robert cocks an eyebrow ‘Desperate times call for desperate measures…still can’t believe you pranked me in the middle of the night.’
You reach up to cup his face with both hands, ‘I’m really sorry, if it’s any consolation, I am freezing and wet from slipping in a puddle- oh, did you see my phone?’
‘Yeah, in myback pocket and I suppose karma getting you in whatever small way makes up for it some. Lets go, though, you’re going to get sick. But first, take yours off and put this on,’ Robert takes off his jacket, offering it to you ‘it’s about a 15 minute walk back to the clearing, I’ll be fine but you need to get warm again.’
With a nod you do as he says, once you had zipped up his jacket you can’t help but inhale the smell; Robert’s aftershave, a hint of smoke, the leather of the jacket an undertone and another scent which is just him.
Sliding an arm around your shoulders with a squeeze, Robert begins to lead you back towards the clearing. Wrapped up in his smell, jacket and hold, with a soft smile you are reminded of how safe, comfortable and loved he makes you feel.