You're Not Alone (Austin Carlile)

25. Imaginary Condition

Title credit: Born of Osiris

Maddie's POV:

A few hours later

"Hey madds, want to go into town and get something to eat? I'm starving as shit." Gielle asks from sitting on the gross old couch. Wow I never knew it was going to be this easy to get Holly out of here. She really is dumb. She's leaving her here unsupervised, and Josh is no longer here. He only does her dirty work for her then leaves.

"Yeah sure, what about her though?" I point upstairs, referring to Holly.

"Just give her some food, she's tied up and locked in there, she's fine. I'll be in the car." With that she gets up, throws the door keys at me and leaves to go out to the car. I grab some food and run up the stairs to the room Holly's in. The key fits perfectly in the keyhole, I walk into the room and her eyes instinctively meet my gaze. Her eyes are full of optimism.

"I can't stay for long, Gielle wants to go into town. I'll keep her occupied in town for as long as I can." I untie her from the rope and throw it across the room. She rubs her wrists from the rope burn. "I'll text Alan and give them the address. Get the hell out of here while you can, okay? Seize this chance. Goodbye Holly, I'm sorry this had to happen to you. I hope you make the right choices, put us behind bars, we deserve it." With that I leave the room and run down the stairs. I text Alan the address, telling him it's the real address and not a hoax this time. I get in the car, hand her the key and we are on our way. She doesn't want to just leave it lying around so I had to return it to her. I hope they believe me.

Austin's POV:

We have been out in the woods for hours, and still nothing. We haven't even taken any breaks, I'm determined to find her. My phone starts ringing like crazy as we walk through the woods, breaking the silence. I look to see its Alan calling me.

"Got anything?" I ask with a sigh, stopping to lean against a tree. Night has almost engulfed us. By this time it's going to get harder to see and find her, but I will not stop looking.

"The actual address! I got it! Maddie sent it to me and said it isn't a hoax and she's sorry and all this shit but it's the right one!" Alan yells in excitement and half out of breath, getting me all roused up.

"Send it in group text. We'll meet there." I try to contain my excitement. With that we hang up. I'm getting so hopeful. I'll get to see her again. I maps the address on my phone to see it's located several towns over, and we are deep in the woods. We start our quick paced walk, that eventually turns into a dead sprint back to the buses to get in the vehicles. Don't worry Holly, I'm coming.

Holly's POV:

I'm losing hope. It's been what feels like an eternity since Maddie and Gielle left. The sun has already set, and is casting it's black shadow over the land. I'm so paranoid, what if they come back before Austin supposedly will arrive? They will just find me again if I leave that's for sure. It's hopeless, I knew I shouldn't have trusted her. I look up to see a low hanging wooden beam, then look at the ropes. Maybe I can end all of this. I glance at the rope and back to the beam, contemplating it for a moment. It is a tempting idea. No Holly, snap out of it! This isn't the only way out. I can't be so selfish to kill myself and hurt everyone even more then they already are. I sigh and rest my head against the wall.

For what seems like the millionth time, I start to cry again. What if they don't find me at all? Every negative scenario runs through my mind. Gielle will come back and kill me, Austin will never show, I'll rot in this room. I'm dwelling myself in the negatives. I need to be thinking of positive outcomes, that's my only hope; to think positive. I will get out of here, I will be okay. I repeat this over and over, speaking to myself. I curl up in a ball and just wait, for what? I have no clue yet. I just hope to god they find me before it's too late.