The Lost

21- The Lost Boy

Lucius

A grey suggestion of rain droned overhead whilst I made my escape. Lightning flashed once or twice, but it was soundless and dim, far away. Honestly, I wished the clouds would just burst and let out some rain already, then at least the cold drops would cool me down a bit. I felt like I was on fire. A burning mix of nerves and running, running, running running running— it was heating me up like an oven.

I'm not really sure how I managed to run back to the park. Maybe it was because it had begun to feel strangely familiar. Down the streets I had blitzed, feet pounding against the concrete in time with my hammering heart, not daring to look back for a second. Every shadow was somebody right behind me, every sound was a yell demanding for me to stop. If that guy was chasing me- but no, no I couldn't imagine that or I would trip over my own feet in my panic. Just run, I thought instead, just run. And that's what I did. I could hear the various cries of shock and displeasure all around me as I shoved forwards, knocking people to the side in my frantic sprint. A hundred pairs of eyes shot blazing looks in my direction. The roads had grown busier by now and I was making a real ruckus, attracting a lot of bad attention. I couldn't blame people for staring at me really; I would have been staring if I saw a boy charging down the bustling streets with a cage clutched in his hands. But I was running way too fast to give anyone a moment to attempt to stop me, at least. If only all the onlookers knew what crazy things were going on.
Despite the unwanted attention, I had made it back to the great white gate that was the entrance to the park in a matter of minutes. I almost ran straight past the entrance— how in the hell I had miraculously navigated back here was a mystery to me. But hey, I was here, better not waste time. So I stumbled around in a half-circle and changed direction. Better to hide somewhere I knew then to keep running mindlessly. There was no sign of pursuers when I spun around to face the entrance, not anywhere I looked. Were we safe— did I dare believe that? For now, maybe we were.

Exploding through the white gateway, stumbling down the gravely path and practically throwing myself through that big hedge led me right back to our little safe place. What had become our temporary safe-place. My backpack was still leant against the tree right where I had left it. Stupid really. There was no way of knowing whether or not we would come back here and yet I hadn't even thought to take it with me.

I simply collapsed to my knees once we were in that familiar clearing. My panting breath came out raspy and jumping, throat dry like sandpaper and hair damp. Not with rain, there was still no rain, but with sweat. I could barely breathe after the run! I wasn't sure how far away that white-brick house was now, or how long I had been running for, but the aching in my legs was telling me I had run a marathon... that is, before I remembered I had thrown myself out of a window. Window-jumping generally tended to make your legs hurt. But still, I had been running for a while, right? Probably half the city now separated me and Sam. No need for panic. But even now, as I sunk down into a sitting position, my body wasn't at rest. My ears were buzzing, listening for the sound of a pursuer, or perhaps for sirens in the distance. Because yeah I had run and hopefully got away from him, but things were different now. You broke into someone's house! I seemed to only become more breathless at the realisation. It was... almost exiting to think about. I had really smashed the glass and broken in! Oh, and the satisfaction of protecting Azure— of smacking that damn cage into his face. It made me want to grin with a crazed accomplishment. But all that, every single thing I had just thought about, was completely illegal— and that made me want to cringe. My criminalities list was growing. I wasn't just some kid that had run away from school anymore. If that guy called the police...

But you had to do it! I regained a little breath when I thought of that. You had to. Azure needed you to-
My heart lurched sideways all of a sudden, front pocket of my hoodie feeling heavy. Jesus Christ! How the hell had I forgotten?! Diving my hand into the pocket, my fingers frantically felt about for the three people. I had just sprinted for at least a solid ten minutes without any consideration that I had people in my pocket! What if they had fallen out? What if I had hurt them? My eyes were widening as I felt about, a dread culminating in my stomach. The feeling only went away when my fingers close around something solid. Thank- but then a muffled shriek sounded from within the fabric.