Just an Echo in the Darkness

~Chapter Fourteen~

The name sounded like an echo. We all looked towards Hudson, standing in the middle of the circle we had just made. He looked as surprised as everyone else.

One other name was called but Ambria couldn't remember who it belonged to. The seconds passed by before the man in the wheelchair rode off towards the end of the stage. Before he got to the curtain, he turned around smoothly.

"Remember eight o' clock. Sharp. If you don't appear, the consequences will be painful." As though the man had just given a kid a lollipop, he smiled, turned back around and through the curtain.

The crowd started to disperse, but Bryce had to pull Ambria along to get to where they were going. Back to work. The stations were set up the same as normal, one station was in a different location due to the stage.

The guards were acting differently today, their posture was better, they had smiles on their faces, and they were more on top of things. This made Ambria more suspicious then she already was.

They set each group to a station. Each three cells that were next to each other were a group, so that meant everyone was part of their group.

Ambria caught up with Bryce and she leaned on his shoulder. Brielle turned around and gave her a weird smile. She elbowed Julia and pointed towards Ambria and Bryce. She gave a small smile too, finally getting over Bryce. She had realized that Ambria and Bryce were meant for each other. She didn't want to ruin that.

"Sooo, what was up with the wheelchair dude?" He asked, as Ambria glared at her friends, who were now whispering to Sky and Harper. They both had smiles on their faces, though Harper's eyes kept darting towards her twin.

"Who knows? I hope nothing bad happens," Ambria said, straightening.

"Always optimistic. Come on, you should hope for an adventure!"

"I would rather not have Hudson die, or anything above."

They were sent to the station around the corner, and it took Ambria a minute to realize that Hudson wasn't following. Ambria rushed over and reached for his hand. He came out of his daze and his head seemed to clear.

His eyes turned to the green they were before Ambria had disappeared. He forced a smile and looked up into Ambria's sky blue eyes. He took a deep breath and let Ambria pull him towards the rest of the group.

.- -- -... .-. .. .-

After multiple hours of working, Ambria felt like she would collapse again. Her arms ached from carrying rocks, shoveling dirt, and so many odd jobs. She was about to sit down in the dirt for a minute when Hudson came over.

"Hey, can I speak to you for a little bit?" Hudson whispered to her. He seemed slightly nervous, Ambria heard the quiver in his voice.

She looked towards her friends, "Yeah. Sure."

Hudson grabbed her hand and walked towards a little corner, He took a deep breath, he seemed like he was going to tell her something super important but instead, "Do you know what is going to happen?"

Ambria shook her head, "No."

"Umm, okay. That's fine. I mean, you have been here longer than me, so I wanted to ask you." He still seemed nervous, but Ambria couldn't blame him due to the fact that no one knew what was happening.

"I could probably ask Jax. He's been here for way longer than both of us."

The distance between Jax and Ambria was painful, they used to be so close but since their fight Jax had been avoiding them all.

"Umm, Thanks," Hudson said, breaking the awkward silence. Ambrai started to walk away.

"Wait! Ambria," he took a deep breath as Ambria turned back around. "There's more."

"Okay," Ambria replied, trying to urge the conversation forwards.

He stared into Ambria's eyes and that allowed him to have the courage to take a deep breath and say it all.

"Ambria, I have had a huge crush on you since before I ever really knew you. In sixth grade-"

"Hudson-"

"Let me finish. In sixth grade I used to watch you play with Brielle, trying to do multiple cartwheels in a row. You always had the biggest fit when Brielle did more cartwheels than you," He smiled at the memory, when Ambria was about to say something, he continued. "Ambria, before whatever happens to me tonight I wanted to tell you this. I love you."

"Hudson, I don't know what to say." Ambria looked uncomfortable. This has been one of her closest friends, and she didn't want to ruin their friendship. She knew, always had known she never felt the same way. Ambria remembered when Jax used to tease her about having a crush on Hudson.

And maybe she did have a crush on Hudson, but before Bryce had become her friend. But now, she really doesn't know what to say.

"I guess you don't have to say anything."

He leaned and Ambria knew what he was going to do. She took the tiniest step back, unsure of what to do, but Hudson made the decision for her, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her into a kiss.

Ambria tried to pull away, but Hudson held tight, and seventeen seconds later he let go. Yes, she counted.

"Huds-" Ambria tried to explain, though out of nowhere she saw a flash of brown hair and eyes. Ambria blinked to make sure she saw them correctly. The face had a shocked expression, and Ambria had one too.

The face that had seen them had belonged to Bryce.