by J. D. Moon
Her friends thought she was crazy running in the National Park at all due to the wildlife, as bears, wolves and cougars weren’t exactly renowned for their friendly natures. Their reputation was based more on their sharp claws and big teeth than their friendly dispositions. Jessica knew they wouldn’t attack her unless they felt threatened so she just kept herself to herself and didn’t wander too deeply into the dense forest.
Jessica felt good today. It was early in the morning during the summer, before the heat of the day hit. This was her favorite time of the day. The birds were singing in the trees and she felt so alive. She was wearing black ¾ length jogging pants with a crop top and a hoodie thrown over the top for the early morning chill, and she had black and orange sneakers on.
Her thoughts drifted back to the night before and Ethan, she was going to call him and suggest they ran together this morning but felt it might be too pushy so soon after their first meeting. Therefore, she’d opted to run alone.
As she went along the trail, she sensed someone behind her, she glanced back over her shoulder and noticed a guy of around 6’1” of stocky build, and he was jogging along the same route as Jessica. She slowed down her stride expecting him to overtake, but when he didn’t she looked behind again and noticed that he’d also slowed down his pace considerably.
Jessica was now unnerved, it wasn’t unusual to meet other people out running but it was unusual for a guy to slow his pace to stay behind you. ‘Can’t be getting an eyeful of my ass because of my hoodie,’ Jessica thought to herself.
She started running at her normal pace once again and he did the same, she scanned the pathway to see if anyone else was around but it was quiet. Now she became alarmed, she had no escape unless she veered off the route and into the forest more. To the side of her she heard a noise in the undergrowth and wondered if it was another guy out to get her with the one following her.
As she turned the next corner, she ran straight into another runner.
“Jessica? Hey Jessica, it’s me Ethan,” he breathed heavily.
She all but collapsed into Ethan’s arms, as she was so relieved to see him.
“Ther…ther…there’s a guy following me,” she panted as she turned around to look at the runner following her, but the route was empty.
“There’s nobody there Jessica, you must have imagined it,” he said keeping a strong arm around her shoulder.
She knew what she’d seen. Ethan was right though, there was nobody there now.
“There was a guy following me,” she said but then decided to let it drop. “Hey you, I was going to call you earlier and suggest a run.”
“I had the same thought but didn’t like to appear pushy,” he smiled down at her.
“Have you done this route before?”She asked him as he let his arm fall from her slender shoulder.
“No, never it was suggested to me by a mate,” he said.
“It was a patient of mine who suggested it to me,” she giggled up at him, relaxing in his company and her follower quickly becoming a distant memory.
“Do you want to run on together? I’ll keep you safe,” he giggled in her ear, his breath was hot on her flushed skin.
“That’d be great, but you were going the other way,” she said.
“Well believe it or not I can turnaround and go the other way, and if means I get the chance to run with a pretty lady then I’ll do it,” Ethan laughed.
She giggled at him and they started jogging gently side by side along the route she was following when they’d bumped into one another. Jessica had to admit it felt good running alongside him, and she could see he was purposely holding back on his pace so they could stay together.
“My grandma really likes you,” he puffed as they ran.
“She’s a lovely lady Ethan,” Jessica panted back, she’d always found chatting and jogging difficult.
They ran the rest of the track in a comfortable silence. The atmosphere was relaxed between them, so relaxed that Jessica didn’t even realize they’d run all the way back to the Pebble Creek apartments.
“Now I’m here I’ll pop and see my grandma,” Ethan said smiling at Jessica. “That was fun let’s do it again soon.”
“How about tomorrow?” she said without thinking.
“Great, I’ll run by here and meet you at the entrance,” he said as he walked toward his grandma’s apartment.
“Cool, see you then,” she said, as she floated on cloud nine up to her apartment.
The day passed by quickly for Jessica. Her unexpected run with Ethan had put her in a great mood for the day ahead. There was one part of her day, that not even the memory of her run could lift though and that was dealing with a young female jogger brought in with horrific injuries.
Jessica was her after surgery nurse. The girl was in her late twenties and about the same petite build as Jessica, she was wearing almost identical running clothes to her and had short hair. Coincidence perhaps but her uncanny appearance unnerved Jessica.
The girl had deep lacerations to her throat and her forearms as though she were trying to protect her face. The doctor treating her said she was lucky to be alive due to blood loss. He put it down to an animal attack and said how unusual it was being the middle of the day. The jogger must have disturbed a wolf or cougar.
Jessica would be very careful about running in the National Park now; even with Ethan at her side, they’d not stand much chance against a wolf if it were serious about attacking them.
Unfortunately, the jogger was too drugged up with painkillers to talk to Jessica, as she would have liked to gather some details from her.
‘God what if the noise I heard in the undergrowth was a wolf,’ thought Jessica, as she completed her paperwork at the end of the day.
“Jess someone to see you in reception,” Pippa, another young nurse said.
“Really, ok thanks Pip,” Jessica said as she made her way to reception.
As she walked up the long corridor, she saw a familiar silhouette standing near the vending machine.
“Ethan what are you doing here?” as she spoke, he turned around and walked toward her with his arms outstretched.
“Jessica I was so, so worried, I thought you may have gone for a dinnertime run and been the girl attacked, it’s all over the news,” he said holding her close.
“Ethan, I can’t breathe you’re squeezing me,” she giggled.
“Shit, sorry Jessica,” he said letting her go.
“Thank you for being worried. That’s so nice, you came all the way down here to see me,” she said.
“Sure did, I was scared and grandma called as she was worried,” he said.
“Luckily it wasn’t me but the girl has some horrible injuries Ethan, she’s lucky to be alive,” she whispered.
“As long as you don’t run in that area again,” he said quietly to her.
“Where did it happen?” she asked.
“Where we were earlier, exactly where we were earlier,” he said staring at her.
“Shit that’s scary,” she whispered and felt herself growing dizzy.
He caught her arm as she was about to topple to the ground. Jessica looked up into his dark blue eyes feeling safe wrapped in his strong grip.
“Nurse Jessica, I think you’d better take the rest of the day off. Young man, can you see her home?” her ward sister said.
“Of course,” Ethan said softly as he helped Jessica to the locker room to gather up her belongings.
“Are you going to be okay my dear?” Mrs Davies asked Jessica as she and Ethan helped her into her apartment.
“Yes, thank you both so much. I feel foolish now,” Jessica smiled at them.
“Nonsense we were very worried about you, we saw the news and thought the worse. How is the poor girl?” Mrs Davies asked as she went and put the kettle on.
“She’ll be okay, but it’ll take her a long time to cope with what’s happened to her. I don’t know if she’ll feel safe running alone again,” Jessica sighe
d, wondering how safe she really was when she ran alone.
As if reading her thoughts Ethan said, “I don’t think you should be running alone at the moment Jessica, it’s not safe.”
Mrs Davies agreed with her grandson and Jessica admitted that she didn’t really feel like running at the moment anyway. The attack on her patient had really shaken Jessica, and the fact that they looked so alike. Nobody else had mentioned this point and the girl’s picture had been shown on the news report. The only real difference was their hair color, Jessica was a blonde and the girl was a redhead.
Jessica’s cell phone broke the silence that had fallen in her apartment while Mrs Davies and Ryan fussed about in her kitchen, and she rested on the couch. She reached for her phone and saw it was Libby calling.
“Hey Lib,” she said.
Her ‘Foster Sister’ spoke in a worried tone, “You okay? I was so worried did you see the news?” Libby asked.
“More than saw the news Lib, the girl’s in our hospital and I’m looking after her,” she said as Ethan came back into the room with a steaming mug of coffee.
“Shit Jessica, she looks just like you!” Libby said.
“I know right, you’re the first person to notice that,” Jessica said as she thanked Ethan for her drink.
“You’ve got someone there with you?” Libby asked.
“Yes Lib Mrs Davies is here and her grandson Ethan,” Libby had met Mrs Davies on a number of occasions.
“She has a grandson, I never knew that what’s he like?” Libby asked. Jessica could hardly talk about him when he was standing right beside her.
“Nice Libby, very nice,” Jessica giggled into the phone.
“Do you want me to come over or are you okay?”
“I’m cool Libby, but thank you. Look I’ll call you tomorrow,” Jessica said and hung up. She was fine a little shaken by the girl’s injuries and the fact that it could’ve easily been her lying there but other than that, she was okay.
Mrs Davies offered to make her some dinner, but Jessica refused her offer feeling way too guilty about an elderly lady cooking her dinner for her.
“Okay my dear, but Ethan will stay with you for now,” Mrs Davies said on her way out.
Once she’d left Jessica turned to Ethan and said, “You can go, I’m absolutely fine now.”
He smiled down at her on the couch, “If you’re sure. Don’t do too much and please don’t go running in the morning.”
She was flattered by his genuine concern. Nobody had worried about her this much before, well apart from Libby, certainly no guy.
She promised she wouldn’t run tomorrow, and she meant it nothing could be further from her mind at the moment than running alone and especially through the National Park again. Jessica cooked a quick pasta dish for dinner and had an early night.
Visions of the guy that followed her haunted her dreams mixed with Ethan and wild animals, all brought on because of the supposed animal attack on the jogger.
When she arrived at the hospital the next day, the jogger was awake. Her name was Mary. Her arms and throat were heavily bandaged but she managed to smile when she saw Jessica.
“Are you the nurse who’s been looking after me?” Mary asked as Jessica approached her bed.
“Yes, that’s right. Hey there, I’m Jessica do you remember what happened at all?” she was curious but didn’t want to push Mary to remember.
Mary shuddered and Jessica pulled a blanket around her slight shoulders.
“Thanks. The memory makes me shudder, not the cold but thank you. I don’t remember much as it all happened so quickly,” Jessica could see it was a struggle for her to remember.
“Don’t worry Mary, save your energy. The police will be here later for a statement so get some rest,” Jessica smiled at her.
“I’m okay to talk for now. I know I was running on a new track in the National Park,” she whispered.
“Did the track pass by a waterfall and run along the edge of the forest?” Jessica asked feeling certain Mary had been running on the same track as her.
“Yes, yes that’s right, how did you know that?” Mary replied.
“I was followed the other day on the same track Mary. Luckily I ran into a mate and my follower vanished, but it was scary,” Jessica said remembering back to the fear she’d felt that morning.
“I don’t remember much about my attacker, I know he was strong, his arms were really strong. He seemed tall and he felt muscular when he grabbed me,” now there were tears rolling down Mary’s face.
“That’ll do Mary, don’t upset yourself anymore,” Jessica said feeling certain that Mary’s attacker was indeed the same guy who’d followed her.
She knew she’d have to report her incident to the police too; obviously, the guy was dangerous and after female joggers with a petite build.
She texted Ethan, ‘The jogger’s awake; I think the guy who attacked her is the same guy that followed me’
‘She’s awake, does she remember anything? Did she see her attacker?’
‘She said he was strong & seemed tall but that’s about it’
‘Hey Jessica we don’t even know if anyone followed u, I didn’t see them’
‘There was a guy there Ethan, I swear there was’
‘Ok, u need 2 tell the police that then’
‘Yes I will. Do u wanna come over 2nite?’ maybe she was being pushy but she trusted Ethan and enjoyed his company.
She was thrilled when her cell phone beeped and she read his response, ‘I’d luv 2 see you later’
With all the shit she was going through now, Ethan felt like her support blanket, with his strong arms wrapped around her slender body Jessica felt safe and protected.
Jessica sat in with Mary as she relived her attack. She’d been grabbed from behind and taken down to the ground; she remembered trying to protect her face with her arms. Her arms were ripped to shreds and she remembered her throat being torn by something sharp, which she assumed to be a knife. The attacker had tried to pull her jogging pants off but had given up after being disturbed by something in the undergrowth.
Her statement made Jessica gasp, loud enough for Mary and the police officer taking the statement to glance at her.
“You okay Miss?” the officer asked.
“The noise that Mary’s describing is exactly the same as I heard when I was followed,” she whispered as she walked toward Mary holding her hand as she finished giving her statement.
Both Jessica and Mary told the officer everything that’d happened to them and his advice was to stay well away from the area for now until they caught the guy. He’d no idea why they’d both heard a rustling sound in the undergrowth, he thought it was probably just an animal, but Jessica wasn’t convinced.
Jessica was glad to get back to her apartment after work; she was looking forward to Ethan’s arrival later that evening.
She showered and dressed in a matching set of pale green lingerie consisting of a saucy lace thong and a sexy push up bra, which accentuated her pert breasts beautifully. She wore a pair of black high-waisted Capri pants, so her tiny waist was highlighted and coupled these with a tight-fitting orange shirt. Jessica was barefoot displaying her immaculately red painted toenails off.
She knew she looked incredibly hot and sexy, and it was exactly the look she was aiming for. She wanted a piece of Ethan, he was so sexy and the poor guy didn’t stand a chance against Jessica and her female charms tonight.
The doorbell rang and when she opened the door Ethan was standing casually holding a bouquet of flowers.
“Beautiful flowers for a beautiful girl,” he grinned. “Wow you look fantastic, are we going out?”
She giggled, “Thank you they’re beautiful and no I just wanted to make an effort for you. I didn’t intend to go out, this is for you.”
He smiled as she invited him in.
She watched as he walked toward the couch with his tight buttocks showing through his tight jeans. Ethan was a fine example
of a young man. Jessica guessed some people might say he had a stocky build but to her he was perfect, she thought her initial guess at his height was right and put him around 6’- 6’1” but rather than stocky she’d describe him as muscular.
He sat down on the couch and turned to look at her, she realized she was staring and dropped her gaze.
“So how are you feeling?” he asked as he watched her displaying the flowers in a pretty vase.
“I’m good and better now you’re here,” she was being a terrible flirt tonight, and put it down to all her pent up energy about Mary’s attack and not being able to run in the National Park at the moment. She needed to release some energy, and what better way than sexually with Ethan. She blushed at her thought.
Ethan grinned at her, “I was so pleased when your text arrived, I wanted to see you so badly Jessica.”
“Good, then that makes two of us Ethan, I’ve been thinking about you all day,” she whispered as she put the vase of flowers on the table and walked toward him.
As she stood next to the couch, he pulled her down onto it beside him and leant toward her, she lifted her head up and his soft lips found hers instantly in a hungry passionate kiss. Ethan’s moist tongue sliding between her parted lips quickly and with lustful urgency. Jessica gasped and let her tongue discover his wet mouth as it thrusted deep inside it.
Ethan moaned loudly and kissed her harder. Jessica could feel the dampness between her silky smooth thighs as his hands reached for her breasts. She knew her aroused rose-tipped nipples were protruding through her tight t-shirt as the craved for his soft mouth to suck them.
She reached down to unbutton her shirt but his fingers had beaten her to it, but he was fumbling too much for her liking.
“Rip it open Ethan,” she panted in his ear. She’d never been this sexually attracted to a guy before. She and Ethan had only met recently but there was an instant attraction between them.
“Are you sure?” he gasped as he took her shirt in his strong hands.
