Life As We Knew It

Chapter Eleven: Escape Plan

My eyes snap open when the footsteps fade away. Grabbing my jacket, I shrug it on and grab the keys, unlocking my cell with one of them. I sneak out into the hallway and hide in the shadows. Running through the deserted hall, my heart begins to pump faster with the adrenaline.
I turn a corner and am pushed into a room. I gasp and look up to see Carlisle standing above me. I grab the gun from my pocket and point it at him, my hand shaking.
"What're you doing here?" I ask through clenched teeth.
"Saving you." he whispers, pulling me to my feet.
"I don't need to be saved. I have a plan. I could've done this by myself. I'm not a damsel in distress, Carlisle." I say, trying to move around him.
He hushed me, making me angrier.
"Seriou-"
He clamps his hand around my mouth and pushes me into the closet, his body against mine, closing the door behind us.
"Don't move." he whispers into my ear.
I hear a guard enter the room and walk to the patient sleeping in the bed.
"Get up!" he shouts. There is a clatter.
"You're not asleep. I heard you making noise in here." the guard says.
"I wasn't...I don't-"
The voice of the man was silenced by a smack followed by a cry. And then, the deafening click of a gun.
"No. No, please! I-"
My entire body jumps as the sound reverberates through the room. The gun is fired and the dead body falls to the ground with a thud. I feel tears enter my eyes and I feel Carlisle rub my arm soothingly, his hand still covering my mouth.
"Clean this up, Delilah." the guard orders. I hear another set of feet enter the room and the body is dragged out. After a few minutes of silence, Carlisle releases his hold on me.
"Your plan is flawed. That guard would've caught you, Esme." Carlisle whispers.
"Please. Just let me get you out of here and then I will leave." he says. I roll my eyes, trying to hide my heartbreak.
"Fine. Show me the way. And then you never have to look at me again. I know how hard it must be for you to be around reform school trash." I say in a cold tone as we walk out of the room. He stops and stiffens. He quickly grabs my arm, swinging me onto his back. I gasp at his strength.
"Hold on tight." he orders. I wrap my legs around his hips and my arms around his neck. I feel the wind blow back my hair and my surroundings become a blur as we move faster than i've ever seen. Before I know it, we are outside. Not just outside of the building but outside deep in the woods. No where near the building. He drops me from his back and walks a couple feet away.
"You can leave. I'm fine. I'll find my way back." I say, turning to walk away.
"Look, I'm sorry for being rude all of the time, I just think it's the best way. We shouldn't be friends Esme." he says, walking after me.
"I get that. You've made it very clear that you don't want to be friends with me." I say bitterly.
"Those things I said...they weren't true. None of them. I feel a magnetic pull toward you and I can't stop it, as hard as I try."
"I get it. You don't have to explain yourself." I tell him.
"Esme stop." he demands. I stop and turn around to face him.
"I don't have the strength...to keep myself from you." he says.
"Then don't."
He looks at me for a few seconds before turning away.
"I can't be around you though."
"Why?" I ask. He shakes his head.
"Why won't you just trust me?" I whisper. He rests his back against a tree and sighs painfully.
"Essie-"
"Carlisle, please. Let me in. I trust you." I whisper.
"You'll be afraid of me."
"Never." I tell him.
"I'm not...human." he says, stepping away.
"I know." I tell him.
"Do you know how old I am?" he asks.
"23." I say, remembering what he told me.
"Physically yes. But I've been 23 for a long time."
"How long?"
"A little over three hundred years." he says quietly. I gasp with shock. How is that possible?
"I don't sleep. I'm fast, I'm strong, I can't die. I don't eat human food. I feed off of the blood of animals. That is why my eyes are golden instead of red. I'm different from my kind." he says.
"Vampire." I whisper with disbelief. He nods and takes my hand into his cold one.
"Are you going to run?" he asks.
"No." I say, squeezing his hand.
He looks down at the ground before back up at me.
"So, you're immortal?" I ask.
"Yes." he says.
"And now that I know..." I say, not knowing what happens next.
"I won't let anything happen to you, Esme. I will protect you with my life." he says. "But right now, we need to get back to the resistance."
I nod. He pulls me into his back again and we take off. Within seconds, we are back at the building. He helps me down and we walk inside together, the secret shared between us locked behind my lips.