Fixing Me ∞ Hood

Chapter 61 - Set Up

Water splashes up at both my ankles and shins as the sound of my feet hitting the water covered ground is louder than usual. My breaths are louder than usual. My heartbeat throbs in my ears. My chest aches. My legs burn. But I keep going.

We're so far away now. We're no where close to where we were, but we continue to run. We ran all the way. We haven't stopped running since we started.

Smith is behind me, followed by Joey and Troye. So far, we're the only ones who I know made it out of there. I don't even know if Alex made it out. He told us to run, so we did.

The streets start to become familiar, but everything still hurts. My muscles, my bones, my chest, my heart, my feet, my cuts, my bruises. It all hurts. But I know if I stop running it'll only hurt me more, or even worse, I won't be able to start running again.

I'm only in the lead right now because I'm the only one who knows my way home. The only reason I'm going home, back to the Hood's, is because I know no one is following me.

I'm so scared. I'm scared that no one else made it out. I'm scared because people are getting hurt because of me.

Smith, Joey, Troye and I haven't stopped running since we managed to fight our way out of Castigo's 'new place'. It was all just a set up. A set up that worked terribly, terribly well.

Relief floods my body as I turn into our street. After all this time I'm almost home. I'm almost in Calum's arms, and that's all I want right now. I need to know that at least someone in my life is okay.

My legs burn, but I push myself to run faster. I count down house after house until I finally reach mine, the Hood's house, my home. Without slowing down, I twist the door handle and shove the door open, collapsing just inside the warmth of the house. The boys run in after me and close the door behind them, preventing the rain from coming in, and - theoretically - shutting out anything that was 'chasing' us.

I curl up into a ball on my hands and knees as my muscles can no longer hold me up. My whole body shakes as my tears mix with raindrops on my cheeks. I know I probably look horrible right now, with blood and dirt scattered across my body and face, but I just want to see Calum and the boys. I need to know that they're okay.

I peek out from under my arm slightly to see Smith and Joey leaning against the wall, crouched over with their hands on their knees, and Troye stands up with his hands on his hips and his chin tilted towards the ceiling. We're all trying to catch our breaths as all of our chests heave up and down.

"Jordan?" Calum's rushed voice comes from upstairs.

I sigh at the sound of his voice and listen to the sound of his feet pound the against the wooden steps, followed by the boys. They all stopped at the bottom of the stairs, looking in confusion at the other three battered boys, but I only started crying harder when I saw them, Calum especially.

Without any further hesitation Calum runs over to me, falls onto the floor in front of me and wraps his arms around my shaking body tightly.

"You scared the hell out of me," he breathes against my numb ear. "Are you okay? What happened?"

I reach up and wrap my arms around his neck, allowing him to pull my body closer to his. That then enables me to wrap my legs around his hips, making it so that I'm clinging onto him like a koala.

"Calum," I whisper shakily against his neck, the sound of his name making me feel safer. "Don't leave me."

"I'm not going anywhere." He kisses my forehead and wraps his arms around me tighter, making me grimace slightly because of my injuries but I still hold onto him.