The Garden of Vacant Dreams

No More Lies

AN: Saban/Disney owns the characters you know. I own the ones you don't.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

NO MORE LIES

The rain kept falling. Every other minute she was wiping her face with her sleeves. Despite it being pitch-black out, she was actually managing to find her way through the forest. Jamie had run as fast as she could from the reunion and had never stopped running. She held out her arm, her mp3 player strongly grasped within her hand. What little light it provided helped her to see what was in front of her. Instead of the music she usually had playing in her ears, all she could hear was her heavy breathing.

She continued to run past the trees that stood hundreds of feet above her. Her thoughts were on replay, images of her father and mother flooding her mind. They both had sent her off this way and for the same reason too.

"Listen to me, baby. Listen to mommy... I love you so much, you know that... But I need you to go now.... You need to run as fast as you can from here and never come back. Do you understand me, Jamie?"

Jamie shook the thought as she finally came to a stop. She was completely out of breath as she held out her arm once more. She had come to what appeared to be a small hill leading downward. As she took a few steps she noticed a large formation of rocks not too far from her. Looking like a good spot to rest she headed over to them, her mp3 player dying in the balance.

"Damn it." She said aloud.

She felt around her clothes for her phone, pulling it out as she set the mp3 player into the front pocket of her hoodie. Her phone displayed slightly better light but she had been avoiding using it due to its low battery. She struggled to get over to the rocks, the walk down the steep hillside was difficult and even more so in her current state. As she reached them she bent over, her hands both on the nearest rock helping her to climb on top of it and onto another. She momentarily recalled climbing on the rocks at the jetty on Reefside beach when she was younger. Tommy would take her from time to time to surf, which was a hobby he had picked up much later in life and ended up loving.

Jamie continued to slowly climb from one rock to the next, the rain still pouring down on her. She shone her phone at the rock she wanted to reach, shining it back down to see her path to it. A minute went by as she crossed two more rocks, her final destination just a foot away. She had been blocking off her bad memories to avoid distraction, humming or singing loudly since her mp3 player had died. But it was then that she couldn't help but think of Tommy again.

"Jamie... You have to run. Run as far as you can from here!"

"I can't leave you, dad... I won't!"

"I'll be okay... just go... please Jamie, just go!"

In a split second her left foot slid from the rock she had wanted to reach, her body slipping with it. She yelled, dropping her phone down in between the rocks as she tried to grab onto anything to break her fall. Her left foot was now lodged between the rocks, her back against the side of the rock she had wanted to be sitting on at this point. Jamie clenched her teeth as she tried to pull her jammed foot free. She let out a number of whimpering cries as she considered the possibility that her ankle may be broken. She attempted to free her foot multiple times with no success, her failed efforts desolating every last shred of hope she had left in her. Her head fell back against the rock as she closed her eyes. As a tear fell onto her cheek she yelled out into the night, her infuriated shout echoing throughout the forest. Jamie's frustration with her current situation was only climbing at this point.

"I am so stupid..." She said just above a whisper as she looked down between the rocks where her phone had fallen. No one would be able to reach her now and the photos that had been on her phone were irreplaceable.