RUN!

15. Thunder

Song: Thunder by Sia and Labrinth

I wake up before Lee and Damien but it feels like the whole house woke up before us. It's loud outside. Pushing the covers away, I stumble my way outside and make it to the hallway.

"What's going on?" I ask to a random person passing by.

"Early morning jog. You guys should come join us," he says. I shake my head and go back inside. Yeah no, I'll pass.

"What's happening?" Damien groans when I close the door, stirring up slowly.

"They're jogging."

"It's sounds like they're marching," Lee groans even louder.

I open my mouth to speak but Jessica's face pops into our room.

"What are you guys still doing here!? Come on let's go jog!"

"Ever heard of knocking on the fucking door!?" Lee throws a pillow at her. He's not a morning person.

Jessica rolls her eyes at him. "Come on Damien, Landon's outside. I wanted you two to meet."
This has my roommate springing up. She takes this as a yes and excuses us.

"He's short, if that makes you feel any better," I tell Damien lazily. He's already brushing his teeth.

"Shorter than her?"

"Same height."

"No that doesn't make me feel any better," he grunts. Lee finally gets up and grabs his brush too.

"Get your ass up. There's no way I'm going to let you sleep while I'm downstairs jogging," he seethes at me.

"Hey, I didn't pull you up!" I raise my hands in defence. The two boys give me murderous looks that make me drop the hands.

"Okay fine. Jogging it is."

||

They're on their 4th lap when we get downstairs. Obviously, we're not planning on jogging so we follow Jessica to the palm tree where Landon and Declan are seating, waiting for her I guess.

"Why aren't you jogging?" I ask Declan the moment I'm in ear shot.

"I'm already fit bro, it's for people like you," he shoots immediately. Well someone's in a good mood.

"That's quite inaccurate, Adonis actually has a great physique-"

"And you're gay. Suspicions confirmed," Declan cuts. Lee clasps his mouth shut, probably asking himself why he agreed to come downstairs.

"Can you play it cool?" Jessica glares at her brother. When she's satisfied by his response she turns to Landon. "Landon, this is Damien. Damien, Landon."

Landon and Damien size each other up as they shake. This is ridiculous, why is Jessica specifically introducing Landon to Damien?

"What are we going to do today?" I ask Declan.

"It's breakfast after the jog then a quick scavenger hunt. Winning team gets a chance to pick the playlist for tonight's party."

"That's dangerous," Landon whistles. Jessica is on his lap now and Damien has returned to stand next to me, he's doing great, pretending not to care.

"Alright, I guess we better go prepare for the scavenger hunt," I say to Declan who nods at us silently.

"Scavenger hunt? Is this some survival game?" Lee hisses. Thankfully they're almost wrapping up their jog. Yara spots us on the way down and waves at us.

"Where are you guys going?" She asks once she's in ear shot.

"To shower," I reply the same time Lee says: "to sleep."

"Okay," she laughs. "You missed out on the jog though. We were this close to crossing the boundaries between the Jones' house and their neighbors."

"Is that such a dangerous thing?" Damien quizes.

"Yeah, when the said neighbor walks around with a gun. I'll see you guys later!" She abruptly turns and goes towards her room.

We silently do the same.

||

The scavenger hunt is simple. We're looking for 5 items, all belonging to people here. Apparently they snuck in and took them while they went out for a jog. According to Declan we're looking for a bra, handcuffs, a pair of sneakers and a lipstick. The search covers the entire land, including the building. I'm hoping it won't take long but the tension around my teammates makes me feel like it will.

My teammates. Damien, Jessica and... yes, you guessed it. Landon!! How exciting.

"We should start in the living room, go through the entire house," Damien is saying.

"Can we divide ourselves? Concentrating all our attention on the house could waste our time," Landon suggests. He's nice about it, realizing that this isn't his school.

"Good point." I open my mouth to divide us but then shut up. There's no way I can do that without looking evil.

"Landon and I will check the field. You've got your phones right?" Jessica asks. When we nod she leaves and Damien immediately loses it.

"This is fucking annoying." He runs a hand through his hair. I appreciate the fact that he's still searching even in his state.

"I think you have a plus. You're her friend and so whenever Landon messes up you'll be there to comfort her." I don't know if that'll help but what else am I supposed to say?

"Oh I'm pretty sure he'll mess up. Probably land her with a baby at this rate," he snorts. We leave the living room and go to the kitchen. Yara's group is here too. Yara, Lee, Betty May and Jordan.

"Who's having a baby?" Yara asks the moment we step in. Jordan waves at us slightly before focusing on the racks again. She's a pretty intense competitor.

"No one. See anything here?" Damien asks her. She opens her mouth to say no when Jordan flips her head and frowns at us.

"Why would she tell you?"

Typical. I chuckle inwardly and go to the next rack. Guess this will take some time.

||

It's 4:34 and we've got one item left. I lead my team into the "forest" which is actually just the area most surrounded by trees here. It's a stupid place to keep lip gloss not just because it's dark but because the lip gloss could actually go missing. Either way, we unceremoniously dip our hands into the leaves, searching and searching.

"Oww!" Jessica winces at some point. Landon immediately grabs her injured hand and starts massaging it. Near me Damien rolls his eyes. He's such a master at rolling his eyes, it's like 360 degrees. But then they stop rolling and focus on something in the leaves.

I follow his line of sight but can't see anything other than a silver gleam from a- a phone?

Before anyone can stop me, I lean forward and dip my hands inside the thorns, not minding the long scratch forming.

"Careful," Damien whispers. I reel my hand back in and stare at the phone.

"How..." The words die in my throat. It's impossible that Avery's phone would here. But it is, in my hands. Broken screen and all but it's here.

"Found it!" Jessica squeals, jolting me back to life. Damien is watching me quizzically, no doubt wondering what the phone is to me.

Wordlessly, I shove the phone inside the pocket of my hoodie.

"Let's go back and take our prize!" She squeals again and it's suddenly so annoying. I want her to shut up. I want to think.

Avery's phone was here. Doesn't that mean Avery is here?