Stay with me, always.

Chapter 37. Chase

As someone who's just recovered from a concussion, I was not expecting that.

I swear I lost my vision for a moment, once I recovered, Soarynn was running out the doors. Oh no you don't, I thought as I chased after her. She made it down the stairs quickly, with me hot on her tail. Soarynn can run fast, she's always been the fastest runner on the girl's team whenever we'd do sports at school, but I'm much faster.

And while I'd usually let her win, this wasn't a game.

I thought she'd go for the front door, but she took a right, sprinting down the great hall leading to the main dining room where we hosted all our extravagant dinner parties. She flew past an Avox who was so surprised that they dropped their dustpan, head whipping as I ran past them. I was getting closer and she knew that. The doors were wide open to the dining room and she sailed right through them, headed for the ballroom.

I was already starting to lose my breath, so I had no idea how she was still going, adrenaline I guess. She ran into the ballroom, sliding across the freshly mopped floors towards the doors that led out to the veranda. Soarynn was barefoot, but I was still in my dress shoes and suit from my interview, I almost fell on my ass, but I managed to stay upright as I pursued her across the slick floors.

She ripped the doors open, stumbling onto the veranda and coming to an abrupt halt when she reached the steps. I wasn't planning on her stopping so suddenly, and I ran right into her, sending us both down the stairs. I grabbed her in the middle of us falling, trying to slow down our descent as best I could. We came to a stop one step before we would have rolled onto the grass.

Figures.

Soarynn was gasping for air and she rolled out of my arms and onto the grass, looking up at the sky as she regained her bearings. I rolled over next to her, doing the same. "Didn't...didn't think...you...had it in...you," I gasped, looking over at her as my vision started to return to normal. She looked at me, looking up at my hair and her eyes widened. "Tell me there's no blood," I groaned, her eyes flitted back to mine before looking back at my head, she looked scared.

She sat up, probably to run again, but I was tired of these games, my hand shot out, grabbing her wrist and pulling her back down. I rolled on top of her, my legs on either side of her waist, and my hands on either side of her head, "I'm not...mad," I said looking down at her, I reached up and touched my head, there was definitely blood. "A bit stunned, but not mad," I told her. She didn't say anything, her breathing had returned to somewhat normal. "I don't want to tie you up again," I whispered, brushing her hair away from her face, "but if you ever do that again, I'll make sure you never leave your room again," I promised her. I would do it, I had no problem doing it.

She glared at me, I scoffed, sitting up and looking around, no one had come running out of the house, so I guess our little chase had gone unnoticed by the majority of the household. Good, I thought, we didn't need an audience. I looked back down to see her squirming as if she could get out from under me. I laughed at her attempts. I had always been bigger than her, but since the Games, I had sixty pounds on her easily. "You know I hate to see you struggle," I said in a condescending tone, she let out a huff before grabbing my arm and sinking her nails into it.

I yelped, falling off her and shaking her grip off of me, she slowly pushed herself off the ground, until she was standing up. She looked up at the steps before looking down at me, reaching out her hand for me to take, I hesitated, I didn't need another plate to the head, but I also needed a doctor. I took her hand, pushing myself up and brushing off my pants. We both said nothing as we trudged up the stairs and into the ballroom where Mother was questioning the Avox we had run by earlier.

"Well, where did they...oh! Children! What happened?!" She cried as she ran over to us, almost slipping on the floor, I scratched the back of my neck as I took in our appearance. I had a bloody head, grass stains on my suit, sweat dripping down my forehead, and nail marks on my arm. Soarynn looked as ragged as I did, her white nightdress stained green and brown, with some scratches on her arms from the fall down the stairs we took, and her face shining with sweat as well. "We umm...we took off the restraints," I said sheepishly, dusting off my suit.