The One She Loves • George Springer

Run Away

|S A M A N T H A|

I blink through the tears trying to look at the person who's holding me.

Jonah?

I try to figure out how to get out of his hold and do the worst thing a man could experience. I kick him. Really hard. He lets go of my mouth and falls to the ground covering his... you know.

I run past him and down the hall knowing that I've escaped and have a very good head start. I run to where I saw the two guys and see them about to close the door.

I scream, "HELP! HELP! PLEASE!" One of the guy turns around I realize it's Jake. I cry relieved and see George come out of the doorway. I run into George's arms crying. He strokes my hair trying to calm me down. He lifts my chin and asks worried, "Sam, what's going on?"

I try to wipe some tears from my face as I stutter, "I-I was trying to f-find y-you and h-he found m-me and tried t-to hurt me."

George asks me with anger in his eyes, "Who?"

I bury my face into his shoulder and mumble, "J-Jonah."

"Jonah?!"

I nod making part of his shirt wet with tears.

George asks me softly but with definite anger in his voice, "Can you stay with Jake so I can go find him?"

I let go of George hesitantly, "I g-guess so."

Jake takes my hand and rubs my back trying to calm me down. George walks down the hall I came from while I hope nothing happens to him.

|G E O R G E|

I walk down the hall and look for a guy around Sam's age. I check around the corner and don't see anything. I hear footsteps and look at the stair case to see a guy in a red shirt running up them.

I shout, "Hey!" He looks at me and runs even faster.

I run to follow him and go up the stairs. I chase him up to the main level and see him trying to leave the park. He's close enough where I could see his face clearly.

I run even faster and run outside of the building. I keep running behind him and almost catch him when I hear a loud honk. I stop dead in my tracks and realize that I almost got hit by a car.

I stay on the sidewalk and watch the guy keep running. He runs until he turns a corner. I turn around and walk back to the park. I run my fingers through my hair and get extremely frustrated since I wasn't able to catch him.

I meet Sam back downstairs with Jake near the locker room. I shake my head, "I didn't get him."

I shout in fustration and walk into the locker room to cool off. I can't believe I can't even protect Sam when she needs me. I'm the worst. She could've gotten seriously hurt. If she would've gotten hurt, I don't know how I would handle it. Especially her being so close. I can't believe I didn't even see her.

"Hey George, she wants to know where she should go."

I look at Jake who's holding Sam. I rub my face and stand up. I'm not even with her when she needs me right now. I take her in my arms and rock her slowly.

"G-George?"

I look down at her, "Yeah Sam?"

"C-can you t-take me to Lily?"

I nod but feel even worse because she doesn't want me. I sigh, "I'm sorry I couldn't have helped Sam."

"It's o-ok. I j-just need to t-talk to Lily."