Run Away

Chapter 21

I sat down in the couch nearest with Zack. I got comfy, and was ready to listen carefully to his story.
"Shortly after I had ran away," Zack started. "I lived with B-Dad. At that time the Secret Room hadn't been completely cleaned out. I would sleep in the living room on the couch, and during the day I'd help clean out the other rooms.
"Anyways. One day Mr. Felton had come over. He talked to B-Dad about how much space he had in his place, and if I'd like to, I could go live with him until there was more space, and I could come back once the police stopped looking for me.
"Obviously I agreed, and B-Dad thought it would be best for me. So I lived with him, and after a few weeks he started changing. In a bad way. Mr. Felton wanted me to basically clean his whole entire house, make all the meals, everything, by myself. He never even paid me a bit of money.
"I got annoyed with him. He told me I could visit B-Dad on the weekends. He said I could relax, not do a lot of work, but he lied.
"I started planning my escape. I couldn't take living there anymore. Thankfully, I found the Private Room, and had found a way out. I was able to leave when he was at work one day. He didn't find out until the next day as he got home from work at 11:00pm."
"Where did you go after you left?" I asked.
"I went back to B-Dads. I had to go through the forest as the police were still searching for me."
We were silent. Zack wasn't the kind of person who would share about his personal life or history. I was a bit shocked, but relieved he shared this much information.
"Um Zack? Why didn't you recognize Mr. Felton when he came to get us?"
He took a deep breath. "I did recognize him that morning. I guess I didn't want to believe it was him. I guess I thought it was someone else. But once I heard his name, I thought, maybe he changed. Guess I was wrong."
He looked down at his lap, then looked back into my eyes.
"I'm sorry Kendal," He said, his voice a bit weak. "I'm sorry I put you through this." He looked away. "You would've been better off without me."
"Zack that's not true. You know that."
"No Kendal it is! If I had just left you alone you would've been perfectly fine. You wouldn't have had gone through any of this."
"Zack stop being so stupid!" I said. I couldn't believe it. "Do you really think that?"
He nodded his head.
"Well you're wrong." He looked at me confused. He probably thought I would agree with him. That I would just leave him (If I could), and never talk to him again. He was wrong. I would never do that. Not to Zack. "Look Zack I don't know what is making you think I would be better off without you. If you hadn't found me. If you hadn't helped me. If you hadn't even cared about me one little bit. I would either be dead, or found by the police, and taken back home."
"Kendal, you're a smart girl. You would've found some way to survive. I know you would."
"No Zack, I wouldn't have. I'm not you."
"Well I'm glad you figured that out." He teased me, slightly smiling.
I returned the smile. "What I mean is I don't have your skills. You know that forest inside and out. I don't. I probably would've gotten lost for all I know!
"Look, what I'm trying to say is that, we're a team. We both have different skills. But put us together, we're unstoppable. We need each other. We need each other to get through this. To find a way out."
I stopped speaking to let this sink in. Hoping Zack got the message.
"I understand." He finally said after a few, long, minutes. "But that doesn't mean I still feel bad I got you into this mess."
"What mess?"
"This mess with Mr. Felton."
"Zack what else was there for you to do?"
"Stop Mr. Felton from taking us."
I sighed. "Zack. If Mr. Felton really wanted us, he would've found a way. No matter what we said or did."
"I know." He sighed. He didn't like having to agree with me. Even though I was right... about this at least.
"Are you good?" I asked. I was concerned about Zack. I didn't want him to think this was his fault. There wasn't anything he could do really. At least nothing that would've made a big difference.
"Yeah. Thanks." He gave me a warm smile, which I returned.
"Good, glad we got that out of the way. Also wasn't there something you wanted to show me?" I asked, remembering the real reasoning we were down here.
"Oh yeah that's right!" He jumped off the couch. "Come, follow me."
I got off the couch, and followed Zack.
"Remember this morning how I said I learned a few things about this place?"
"Yeah." I said slowly, trying to remember back to early this morning.
"Well, I found out that there's a way out of this place."
"Won't Mr. Felton be alerted once we leave the property?"
"Nope."
"How do you know?" I tilted my head slightly to the right, with my arms crossed.
"Last night after I fell down the stairs, I had noticed another door that said 'Exit'." He pointed to where the door should be if it was visible. "I was curious. So I opened the door, and walked where it led me. Only 10 minutes after I was at a dead-end."
"How exciting." I said sarcastically.
He ignored my comment, and continued. "I was about to head back, when I noticed there was a ladder. I looked up, and on the ceiling, there was a trap door. I climbed up, and opened the door. Outside, there was the forest. In the distance I could see B-Dads store. Kendal do you know what this means?" He asked, but continued before I could answer.
"I think this room is rooting for us. I think it wants us to get out. It's helping us, don't you see?"
I nodded. "So when do we leave?"
"I don't know. We'll need to make a plan. It might take a bit. We need to explore this room a bit more too. But I know we'll be able to get away from Mr. Felton sooner or later. Don't worry." He smiled. This time showing his teeth a bit. "For now we should get some rest. We can discover this room tomorrow night."
"Okay." I said, yawning. "Good night Zack."
"Good night Kendal."
We went off in our own directions. Zack walked straight through one of the hidden doors, while I went up the stairs to get to my door. I entered my room, quietly closing the door. I flopped on my bed, and fell asleep.
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Thanks everyone for reading! I know this chapter was short, but don't forget to vote, share, and comment!
Sorry I meant to finish this yesterday for you all, but I got busy, and never had the time to finish. One thing I really want to start doing though, is posting 1 chapter everyday. I'm going to try to do this, but I make no promises. (And for those of you who read Fantasy Life, I'll try to keep updated with it too.)
Anyways, if you enjoyed this part then comment something below, vote, and share with someone you think will enjoy this story!
Thank you all for everything! Hope you have/had an amazing day. I love you all so much. Bye for now!