My Escape from a Lie

Chapter 7

"Who is it? Show yourself!" I screamed

And out of the dark corner emerged James Salan with a sinister smirk plastered on his face. He continued coming closer to me and I tried my best to mask the fear I had inside me. I didn't know what he planned to do to me and Matthew but I knew whatever it was going to harm us. I let myself cry making myself vulnerable which I never let anyone see but seeing him again with something evil made me lose it. His voice angry and starving for pain asked me why I ran away from such a perfect place but I knew what kind of tricks that he was trying to play so I didn't answer his question. He became more agitated and this time punching me in the face.
I tried to stay strong but it was powerless in trying. He knew my strength was diminishing and he had the opportunity but then hesitated and pulled back towards the corner and gave me an dilemma help me find Robert or he would torture me more to the point where I would be on my knees begging for him to kill me and end my suffering. In the moment I agreed to help them find Robert as long as they released me and Matthew from these constraints. He agreed to do it but I had some suspicions that he wasn't totally telling the truth. I decided against telling anyone about this because I felt if I did I would be risking our lives. I whispered to Matthew to keep as quiet as possible as to not to have to go through more agony.

" How do you know his true intentions?" Matthew asked completely confused by what I was telling him.
" Well when he came into my room he gave me a mysterious smirk which to me implies that he has something up his sleeve. We just have to play dumb and make sure that it looks like we aren't planning anything. Okay got it?"

" Yeah I hear you."

We continued behind James Salan not making a peep. Sweat was dripping dripping down my forehead and hands making it so slippery to grab onto things. I mean it's not every day that your being held captive by a dictator well known for executing people who disagreed with his rule. Thinking about this brought back horrible memories of my friends parents being dragged away and shoved into a cart where they awaited trial that usually sided with Salan and my friends has to watch in horror as their parents died in front of their eyes. It took me a while to snap back into reality but once I did the realization hit me  that we were a dining room where there was tons of food. I hesitantly took a bite of some of the food hoping that the plan in my head would come to fruition.

(Change of POV to Robert)

The police told me to go back to living a normal life and hang out with my friends. But the truth is Matthew and Miranda were my only friends and I didn't go to school here. I felt like a complete stranger nobody knew who I was. I glanced over to see a cute girl who looked my age and had Amber hair and blue eyes, I walked over to introduce myself but someone shoved me to the ground and told me not to talk to his sister.

" I had no intention of making a move on your sister whoever you are. I just wanted to make a friend because I'm new to this town."

" Oh I'm so sorry I didn't mean to hurt you, my name is Johnathan but you can call me John and this is my sister Lily she 14.Hey out of curiosity how old are you?"

" I'm 14 years old so me and Lily are the same age I guess."

Amber tilted her head up to look at me and she started to blush but then lets her head fall forward so that her brother cannot see it. She could not hide it from me and I laughed at it because of how funny it was to see her somewhat embarrassed. The day moved on after that as me as me, Lily and John chatted more as we went out to go get lunch. I asked them where the best place to eat was. They both looked at each other with excited expressions and I didn't know whether to be scared or be excited. I was afraid of telling them anything about where I was from. Lily seemed to be happy to hang out with me which I reciprocated those feelings back to her as we spent most of the days after she finished school hanging out in the park or going by the lake and would talk for hours on end about anything that came into our minds. But whenever she asked if I had any friends outside of the little friend group I had made that consisted of; Lily, Me, and James but I usually tried to dodge the question because I found it a little disturbing and painful to relieve and describe what had happened to Matthew and Miranda to them. I also had doubts that they would even believe the story. I left our usual spot because Lily had not shown up and neither did James which was confusing because we always met up at this specific place and school was over for them at this time. I had memorized that. I thought nothing of it and made my way back to where I would sleep and enjoy talking to the locals. I crashed into someone who then beat me multiple times before someone intervened and I ran without questioning where I was going because it was my natural response and I had gone through enough for one week and didn't want anymore trouble to a-brew because the news of my friends disappearance had spread around and everyone pointed their fingers at me.

Miranda POV:
As soon as dinner was finished I was told by the guards to follow Salan which I did without much hesitation because the reason was for a conversation? He asked me if I have ever dyed  my hair and he immediately knew the answer. Salan told me the only way to gain Roberts trust was to die my hair Black because it would make me look absolutely unrecognizable. I already was going to object when he raised my voice and told me I had no choice in this matter and that I was forced to do as he said before. I walked away defeated knowing soon I would have to betray someone whom had comforted me through the hard times. Salan offered me to wear jewelry as well to make me even harder to recognize.

Lily's POV:
I decided not to show up today because I wanted to dye my hair black. I wanted to try something exciting! I asked my brother to stay back with me to rate how my hair looked. I hope that Robert wasn't waiting for us by the river. I wish I had told him about it but today I didn't feel like going outside. My phone as usual was very low on battery which infuriated me. Once I had finished putting the dye in my hair all I had to do was wait for it to dry. That did not take very long and I was happy to see it he results that I had wanted yet something didn't feel quite right like one detail was missing. I looked around finding jewelry on my desktop and reached for it applying it on my hair to make myself look even more stunning. I leapt to my feet enjoying the moment ignoring the calls my parents were making that it was dinner time. Had it been that long? It had only felt like minutes ago that I had done everything to make my hair a different color. Then I heard them yell again this time sounding impatient and ready to come upstairs and ground me for not listening to them. I did my best to hide my anger for my parents foolish decision. They said it was for the best that I would stay inside and spend more time doing things that they liked and hung out with my brother more. Seriously these are my parents who want the best for me, they are telling me what the best is for me!? Do they not understand what I love to do. Exploring the outside world is my favorite thing to do and I hate staying inside. After dinner is done I head up to my room and change into my Pajamas then brush my teeth and reminisce about today questioning how Robert was considering that we had given him any update about our plans . He must be concerned out of his mind and thinking about this made my stomach turn into knots that would not allow me to sleep.

Miranda POV:
My stomach churned from uncertainty and fear. My mind was telling me to not go through with because of the reprocussion but my body did otherwise. I shook in fear masking my emotions with a fake smile that worked to fool James Salan.
" My dear, the time has come you must follow the instructions that you were given otherwise there will be harsh consequences for you actions as he pointed towards Matthew and our eyes met and I let myself become vulnerable and let hot tears roll down my face. I felt everyone's faces looking down at me as if I were a peasant to them. I started hysterically crying before Salan ordered his guards to carry me out of the room so that I could calm down. My emotions took over, I would not stop crying because of horrifying events in the past that I had to watch. The crying subdued and I was put back in my "room" to wait for further details on the mission.

What was I doing betraying someone who cared about me so much to the extent that they would look for me until the world ended. I felt like a horrible friend because I was going to break his heart once he was captured. But I had to remember that this was for me and Matthew's safety and Robert would mind being tortured for his crimes that he had committed.

The next morning...

I woke up with two guards standing over me with their weapons drawn and loaded. I jumped back out of fear. Once they realized that having their guns drawn out terrified me they put the gun on safety and explained to me that I was expected to be at breakfast in 10 minutes. I quickly pulled on clothing that was close by put on shoes and hurried down the spiral stairs to the bottom. There I was escorted like I was a celebrity down to the Grand kitchen where I saw James Salan. Immediately he told me today was the day, and I knew what those words meant in that moment. I used the map that was given to me so that I could navigate my way around the city and find Robert quickly.

( ANOTHER CLIFFHANGER HAHA!?!?!!).