Saved

Heart to heart

'Run!' Hudson grabbed my now shaking hand and pulled me to run. I was so shocked and confused, but survival was vital.

My legs started running faster and faster, with the crunching of branches and the thudding of trees sound filling my ears. I almost fell over a branch that flew over my head and landed in front of me, but Hudson's strong grip pulled me up and I was able to run.

I turned my head to see the wreckage behind me. So many trees. The amount of trees that fell down was...incredible. I almost slowed down, but I had to run.

And then I realised.

'Hudson!' I screamed out, the sound of the trees falling almost fed rained out my voice.

'What?' He screamed back, not looking back.

'The trees are only falling towards us!'

'What!?'

'The trees...,' I was almost out of breath, 'they only fall towards us, if you look to the side, they're not falling as much! In fact,' I looked over to my right, 'they're not falling!'

I noticed Hudson slowed down when he looked over. 'You're right! Okay, sprint as fast as you can forwards, and then make a sharp turn to the right!' He screamed back. If we turned now, the trees would crush us. And that's not what we want to do.

We sprinted hard until Hudson pulled me to the right, sprinting hard until we jumped over a rock and hid behind it.

'What...was...that?' Hudson was out of breath. He should be, he was running so hard back there.

I took a breath and ruffled my hair and sat down. 'I don't know, but I want to take a breather for ten minutes.'

'Agreed.' Hudson sat next to me and placed his head on the rock. I did the same.

'Leijla can I ask you a personal question?'

'Uh, sure.' I wasn't sure what Hudson was going to ask me.

'What happened with your... Parents and 'guardians'?'

'Well, I haven't met my real parents, because they died in a car crash when I was younger, which caused me to meet Mr and Mrs. Evil. They treated me like a slave. But I still got my freedom. And then when they found out about my power that I didn't know about, they called their friend to take care of me. I remember some of the phone call. Stuff about how they were crazy to get me and how they should've left me for dead. The witch took me and I got sick of her. That's my story. What about you?'

'That's pretty harsh. Yeah, things between my mum and dad didn't go so well. My dad was into science and turning me into a genius, but my mum wanted me to have a great childhood and to have friends. Arguments were really strong, and then my mum walked out, and that was it. I'm sorry for stalking you. Part of it was for my dad and his experiment on you, the other part... I wanted to keep you safe.'

I blushed at the last part and looked away.

'So...did you ever get to listen to music?' Hudson asked, probably trying to change the subject after my awkward blush.

'Actually yes. When I was alone, I would always go on YouTube and listen to The Neighbourhood.'

'No way! Me too!' I chuckled at his response.
This time he looked away and I smiled. Even though things were happening all around me, I still needed to find happiness. Maybe Hudson could be my happiness. Even though I've met him a day ago, he's made me smile more than I ever had in my whole life in only a few hours.

After a long debate on chic chip cookies or macadamia nut cookies, night started falling again and I was getting sleepy.

'Are you tired?' Hudson asked.

'Sort of, yea.'

'Here, I'll make a nice mat out of "comfortable" leaves.' He stood up and walked to a branch and picked some large leaves off of it, and came back, planting them on the ground. While he was doing that, I was thinking about Alex. Is he really that bad? Well of course, he punched Hudson and failed to help you when the Witch was dragging you away. Answer obvious? It was so hard to call Alex bad, especially after he saved my life multiple times. But then he risked my life. I must've been staring into space for too long, because Hudson noticed.

'You alright?' He asked me, holding three large leaves in his hands.

'Yeah, I'm just thinking.'

'Thinking about anything in particular. Or anyone? Alex maybe?'

I sighed. 'Yes. It's so hard to think of him as a "bad guy".'

Hudson dropped the leaves at the bottom of the "mat" and sat next to me with his hands over his knees. He looked at me. And didn't say anything.

'Aren't you going to say anything?' I asked, a bit annoyed.

'No.'

Before I could say something, he placed his lips on mine and kissed me. This kiss was definitely different.

I pulled away. 'Hudson, what...'

'Leijla, that kiss meant something. It means I like you. A lot. Alex probably didn't like you. Just using you to get to that woman. That was the only way I could show you the true colours of Alex...and the fact that I like you.'

I blushed and looked down. Maybe Hudson was right. Maybe I should just stick to Hudson and find a way out of this mess.

He patted my arm and stood up and continued to place leaves on the mat.

'Done.' He smiled down at me and I saw heaps of leaves on the ground. Art.

'Nicely done Picasso.'

'As if you could do better.' He smirked at me.

'Oh way better.' He shook his head at the comment and sat on the mat.

'Goodnight Leijla.' He lied down on the mat and faced the opposite direction. I joined him and faced the other. Keeping distance between us.

'Goodnight Picasso.'

'Shhh.'

'Don't tell me to shhh, Hudson.'

'Ah, that's better.'

'What?'

'I like it when you say my name. Makes me smile.' Um okay...

I closed my eyes but about five minutes later, when I was on the verge of sleep, Hudson turned and placed an arm around me. At first I tensed up, but then I realised that I felt safe.

-

I really wish I hadn't fallen asleep.

Because then, I would've been able to wake up Hudson and run away, rather than someone dragging him away and another placing their hand over my mouth, disallowing me to scream.