Save ourselves- One Direction

Avery

It had been easy to disappear after the guards spotted Hempton on the forest ground. All that mattered at that moment was to help Hempton. The fact that the teenager who had first asked for help was suddenly no longer there didn't interest anyone.

I wish I could say that my heart was beating so fast because I had finally kissed Harry and now the butterflies were going crazy in my stomach. Yes, I would really love to tell you that.

But unfortunately it wasn't like that.

My heart was hammering in my chest because I was running as fast as I could through the forest to have enough time to hide. But it wasn't just the adrenaline that made my heart beat so fast, it was also the pure fear of being discovered.

What I was about to do was so much riskier than anything we had done before, but if I was smart about it, I was actually safest here. For now.

In the meantime, I had reached the part of the island where we usually had our sports lessons. Only a few trees grew on the shore. Big mighty pines. I had two options and only a very short time to decide. Either I hid in the reeds that grew lushly on the shore, or I climbed the nearest tree. I briefly weighed up the pros and cons. In the reeds I was temporarily protected and still had the possibility to scurry from one hideout to the next. However, it offered me only limited cover and I could not stay in one spot for long and probably ran the risk of being discovered as soon as several guardians were looking for me in the same spot. If I climbed the tree, the climb would be more than difficult due to my injuries, plus I would have to climb very high to avoid detection. But if I climbed high enough, I would probably be safer for a longer time and, by the way, I might also be able to see where they were looking for me and where they were not.

I took a deep breath, looked around again to make sure no one was watching me, and grabbed the first thick branch I could get my hands on while planting both feet against the tree trunk. I pushed myself upwards and pulled my left leg while I loosened one hand to reach for the next branch. The pain was already setting in. It was as if I felt Hempton's kicks and blows against my body again. I suppressed a cry of pain with great effort and climbed further up. Keep going, keep going. By the time I had passed the first three rows of branches, the pain was so intense that I could barely move, but I continued to ignore the pain and pulled myself up the next branch. The pain made me slow down significantly, but I gritted my teeth and kept climbing. Finally I reached the part of the tree where the branches were so close together that their needles blocked the view down. The branches were quite thin by now, but still strong enough to hold me. Exhausted, I settled down on a branch that was just wide enough to rest both legs side by side on.

I leaned my back and head against the trunk and took several deep breaths to bring my pulse back down. My whole body ached and I felt as if I had been used as a boxing bag. Tomorrow I would probably have a lot of sore muscles.

For a moment I closed my eyes and tried to relax as best I could, with the hard tree trunk in my back.

As I recovered from the strenuous climb, I slowly tried to comprehend what had actually happened in the past half hour.

We had had a reasonably good escape plan, Roxanne had flipped everything at the last minute to get her personal revenge, I had saved her, knocking out one person in the process and sacrificing myself to save the remaining three people in my group.

I had kissed Harry, missed the chance to see my parents again and saved three people's lives. Well, "saving lives" is perhaps too much to say, since all I had really done was to make sure that none of us continued to be physically or sexually abused.

Now I needed a way to get away from here. A way to communicate with Ed somehow. I opened my eyes again and searched my pockets. Sure enough, I still had a pen in my jeans, a small flash light and a crumpled piece of paper in my pocket with the address of my parents' hotel written on it.