The Leaves are Silent

Chapter 18

Chapter 18

"Parker, I really don't think this is a good idea." I whispered as we both crouched behind the wall, the back of a guard facing us.

"Shush!" she hissed at me, placing a hand over my mouth.

"He can't hear us." I grumbled, my words unintelligible against the palm of her hand. The guard stood a few paces in front of us, out of earshot. Parker ignored me, her focus solely on the guard. She then moved her hand from my mouth and turned to me.

"Ok, this is what we're going to do," she breathed out quietly, "I'm going to go around over there so I'm stood behind that other guard and you're going to stay here. Then we're both going to pick up a rock and throw it in the other direction so that both guards get distracted and take their eyes off the doors. Then we're going to run inside the building, you're going to go into this Professor's office while I keep watch. You got it?"

I stared at her with a blank expression until my mouth caught up with my brain and I spluttered out,

"What! No! That's an awful plan! Like, a terrible, disastrous, doom impending plan."

"Could you be any louder?" she hissed at me once again.

I looked at her with wide eyes, horrified about the plan I was about to take part in. She didn't give me another chance to protest as she scrambled away to the other side of the doors, behind the other guard. The thing with the guards was their eyeline was very shortsighted. They continuously looked in one direction, meaning it was easy to sneak in behind them. The only reason this wasn't taken advantage of was because everyone was too terrified at what would happen if they were caught.

They were also easily distracted by loud noises. The source of Parker's plan.

I waited patiently as Parker situated herself behind the guard, in a tense stance which she could easily pounce from. She nodded at me showing the small rock she had sitting in her hand. I followed her lead and picked up one of the coarse rocks, its hard surface resting easily among the lines of my palm.

My heart was throbbing in my chest, its pace picking up with every second. I waited for the signal from Parker and in the next second she waved at me indicating me to throw the rock. I threw mine to the left while Parker threw hers to the right, mine hit the side of the warehouse which lay a few metres away. A loud thud resounded through the air and the guard abruptly turned his head in search of the source of sound. Parker and I both jumped over the wall separating us from the entryway of the building.

I landed with a stumble but I quickly righted myself before the guards could see us. We both rushed inside the building, closing the doors behind us silently. We both drew in heavy breaths as we stood stock still with our backs against the black doors. We both waited with tense stances to see if the guards would hurry in behind us.

Except they didn't. The only thing to be heard was our strained breathing in the empty hallway. Parker turned to me with a relieved smile, surprised that her plan had actually worked.

"This way," I whispered, "we have to hurry. Anyone could come out at any second."

We began jogging along the hallway, our runners squeaking against the linoleum floor. I took a sharp right, Parker following behind me closely. We were greeted with the sight of black doors on either side of us. I scanned the numbers on each door, trying to find number 52 as quickly as possible.

Eventually we were both stood outside Professor Quinton's office. Parker was glancing around wildly while I stood on my tiptoes to try and see in the peephole. To my relief he wasn't there. I pushed down on the handle, clambering into the office as quickly as I could with Parker on my heels.

She closed the door quickly behind her and turned the lock. She then collapsed against the door with a slightly breathy laugh.

"Oh my God, we did it. That is definitely the most badass thing I've ever done." she chuckled, wiping the slight trickle of sweat off her forehead. I stood with my hands on my stomach, trying to catch my breath and calm my nerves.

"Okay, we have to be quick. You look out the peephole while I search the office for this thing whatever it is."

She nodded at me, bouncing to her feet. I then turned towards his office only for dread to kick in. There were probably hundreds of books in the shelves of his office. If the information we wanted lay in one of these books I would never find it.

So I quickly moved towards his desk pulling out drawers. Papers among papers were situated in the drawers but none had the information we wanted. Parker bounced idly on the balls of her feet while I scrambled through the papers.

"Lily, you really need to hurry up, I think I hear voices." she hissed at me, tangling her hands together nervously.

I began opening drawers more quickly, but to no avail. I was about to tell her we should abandon it and get out of there when a sentence caught my eye.

"The Risters are going out of control and a cure is becoming less and less likely, although the youth seem to have some resistance."

I frowned, the Risters? What on earth was that? Or who seemed to be the more viable question. I picked up the document about to read more when Parker's panicked voice reached my ears,

"Lily they're coming, I see them we have to go!"

I quickly stuffed the page in my pocket and took a step towards the door but my heart dropped when someone on the outside pushed down on the handle. I saw Parker's face pale and I'm sure my heart stopped beating.

"Hmmm I was sure I had left it open." I heard a voice mutter outside the door.

I quickly scanned the area in search of an escape and my eyes fell upon the windows. I quickly waved at Parker, showing her my escape route and she nodded and walked quietly towards the window alongside me. I tried to push down the rising feel of panic as I heard the jingle of keys from outside the door.

I opened the window and climbed out as quickly as I could and Parker followed my lead. We didn't have time to close the window or move away. We simply sat under the open window, with our backs against the white brick wall, holding our breaths. Trying our hardest not to make a sound.

I heard fumbling inside the room and brisk steps that moved towards the window. I prayed that the Professor wouldn't look down. The window closed with a quiet thud and that was it.

Parker and I glanced at each other, both of us bearing unbelieving expressions. When it was certain the Professor wouldn't come back to the window Parker and I both let out the breath we were holding. Parker laughed shakily and spoke to me, relief evident in the tone of her voice.

"We did it."

I nodded a small smile placed among my lips. It was then I remembered the stuffed piece of paper in my pocket. I pulled it out straightening out the wrinkles.

"I found this." I spoke, handing it to Parker.

A frown spread across her features as her eyes flickered over the paper. She looked back up at me with a confused look,

"What the hell is going on?"

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hey I just want to thank everyone who voted and commented thank you all so much and i hope you like this chapter :) by the way thats Parker on the side :)