You're Not Alone (Austin Carlile)

24. Break Free

Title credit: Of Mice & Men

Austin's POV:

*dream*

I run through the woods, searching and searching for her, I've been out here for hours. "Holly!" I cry out for the millionth time. I finally drop to my knees and let the tears flow freely. Suddenly, a light appears ahead of me. Being curious, I go an check it out.

"Hello Austin." An angelic lady says to me through the light.

"How do you know my name?" I ask, stunned at how this angel knows my name.

"Give up your journey Austin." She says softly, ignoring my question.

"What? why?!" I start to get angry with her. How dare she say that.

"Because..." The atmosphere changes into darkness and evil. The light has now become red. "She's dead." The angel turns into a sinister demon, screeching out the last part at me. I stumble backwards and run the other way, with the demon chasing me; cackling evilly. I trip over a tree limb and watch my up coming doom as the demon approaches me.

I jolt awake and hit my head off the top of the bunk in the process.

"Ouch! Fuck!" I whisper, trying not to wake anyone up. The dream felt so real, I even woke up crying! I've been having nightmares lately, all of them being along the lines of being told Holly is dead. Dreams can't be true right? I decide against going back to bed, knowing that I will have another nightmare. I solemnly walk to the back room and put a movie on, maybe this will get my mind off everything. I check the time and see it's almost 5 in the morning. After every other nightmare it would be around 2 in the morning, not close to 5. I shake it off and watch Wall-E, Aaron's favorite movie. The whole time I can't stop thinking about Holly though. It's been almost a month, how is this possible? What if she is dead? No Austin, think positive, she's still alive. She's a strong girl, she is still alive. I just want her back in my arms, I'm so lonely without her here, I-I love her. I need her in my life.

Holly's POV:

I feel like I've been running for hours. I've been smacked with tree branches and tripped over roots a few times, but I kept running. I HAVE to keep running, my life is on the line here. My weak legs finally give out on me as I enter a clearing. I just lay in the high grass, trying to regain my breath. The sun still hasn't came up yet, so there is still the cover of darkness to protect me. They couldn't have followed me the whole way here. As I lay there my eyes try to slip closed, but I can't trust them. Gielle's words float around my brain you can't get away from us, it gives me the chills. Eventually I can't fight how tired I am anymore and decide to take a short nap, just to regain some strength.

I'm awoken from a dream, sweat beading on my forehead. I feel worse than before. The sun is just now peaking over the horizon, illuminating everything ever so slightly. I get up, dust myself off, then continue to walk on shaky legs. I'm parched and famished, running nonstop didn't help it either. After the clearing, I'm suddenly aware of where I am. I start to run, I know the bus is around here somewhere. I continue to push myself until the buses come into view. I do a little happy dance and run towards them. That's when I'm grabbed from behind and drug away from the buses. I scream out, but they clamp their hand over my mouth viciously. No, they couldn't have gotten me. My heart plummets into my stomach with realization; they knew I'd run back to here.

"I knew you'd come running back to here. Remember what I said, you can never get away from us." Gielle taunts, coming face to face with me. Tears start to stream down my face. I was so close-so fucking close to being free. I'm 100 yards away from the bus, 100 yards away from Austin; the love of my life. I feel the needle puncture my skin, then everything becomes blurry until it is engulfed with black.

When I open my eyes from being unconscious, I see I'm in a different room, and tied with rope. The tears come again, why can't this end? Why am I being put through this? Is god punishing me? I don't want to be here anymore. The tears come freely yet again, I can't take this anymore, I'd rather die. In a matter of minutes Maddie and Gielle walk through the door. Maddie looking- sympathetic?

"Oh stop your boohooing." Gielle says before smacking me across the face; hard. "That's what you get for running away. Maddie fed it." She commands Maddie before leaving the room and slamming the door shut. Maddie unties me, and hands me a water bottle, crackers and an apple. Without questioning her, I bite into the apple hungrily.

"I'm so sorry this is happening to you, you don't deserve this. I know I helped her with this but I noticed I was in the wrong. You don't have to believe me, but I promise I will get you out of here and back to Austin. That's what you deserve. I don't know when I can get it to happen but I will, trust me okay?" She whispers quietly as I scowl at her, before she gets up, leaving the room. Should I trust her? After all she is a part of this too. Is she now realizing how psycho Gielle is? So many questions are run through my head about her. She gave me a glimmer of hope though, I will get out of here. I finish off the rations and save some of the water to drink for later. I look around the room and notice it's an entirely different room. Either they switched rooms or completely different houses. I sigh, I guess I just have to wait it out.

Austin's POV:

"Dude! Some random number text me the address to where Holly is! Let's fucking go! We have to go get her!" I jump up and down like a giddy little kid. Aaron grabs my arm, stopping me from running out of the bus.

"Give it to the police before we go, it could be a trick. After all you said Gielle has to be behind it." Aaron's right. I give the address over to the police and the random number and wait for their feedback. I really hope she is there, I don't know how much longer I can take of her being gone. I plant myself in a seat and impatiently wait. About an hour later my phone rings and I answer it on the second ring. I'm anxious to see why they say, maybe they found her!

"Hello?" I ask frantically.

"Is this Austin Carlile?" The deputy asks.

"Yes it is. Have you found her?!" I basically shout in the phone at the dispatcher.

"I'm sorry to inform you that the address was a dud, she wasn't there. And we were not able to trace the cell phone number, I'm sorry." I drop my phone to the floor, not bothering to hang up or keep listening. I storm off the bus and start to run, run as far away from the bus as I can. Everyone starts to yell after me to come back, but I ignore them. I can't take this. I've been strong for so long and I can't keep it together anymore. Who would do such a thing? Oh wait, Gielle would.

My legs give out as I run, causing me to fall in the gravel. I don't even try to get up, I just lay here, feeling numb and crying. She's the best thing that has happened to me, she needs to be found. My heart aches without her. I miss her cute smile and her goofy ways. I miss how she sticks her tongue out at me when I make fun of her. I definitely miss how frustrated she gets when she has to stand up on her tippy toes to kiss me when I won't bend down. I fucking love her so much, Gielle just has to ruin it by being jealous and kidnapping her. After a few moments someone appears by my side, I look up to see Aaron.

"Get up Austin." He says sternly. I ignore him and wallow in pity, staring at the ground. "Austin! Stand the fuck up!" Aaron pulls me up to my feet. "Keep it together, we all want to cry and be alone but we need to find her. It's affecting all of us, not just you. While we were looking for you we saw tire tread marks and kicked up dirt before the clearing. No one has been here except us. Get your shit together, we are following them." I silently agree and walk back to the bus with him.

"Thanks Aaron I needed that." Aaron slaps a hand on my shoulder with a smile.

"Anything to keep you sane man, we all need a reality check sometimes." I don't know what I'd do without Aaron. I let my unstable side drop like a curtain, revealing a determined face. We approach everyone outside the buses, waiting for my verdict. I clear my throat.

"Get into groups, and stick together. Keep in touch over every little thing. We are going after her." Chatter fills the bus area as they break into groups, everyone splitting up from their band buddies. I end up in a group with Fronz, Aaron, Eric and Devin. Beau is staying with Lights so she doesn't have to be alone since Keirsten is coming along. Everyone states the ground rules, we also bring flashlights and charge all our phones before we leave.

"Let's go get our munchkin back!" Alan yells, we all cheer and start our journey into the woods. It's only mid day, but sunset is closely arriving.