Haven

Chapter 4

The crossover tree is a lot taller than I expected. Jamie and Red have already jumped down on the other side so now it is just me balancing on the end of the branch and my mum back against the tree.

"Go on," she urges, "It's not as far as it looks, you'll be fine, I promise."

Taking a deep breath, I close my eyes and count to three. Then I kick my legs out and my hands loose their grip on the branch and suddenly I'm flying.

For that one moment I feel free; free of the world and the System and the Outlanders and the Minister and I am happy. Maybe this is what it is like to be a baby, to not have any worries at all, simply because your mind is incapable of thinking of anything else but each singular second as it comes.

But soon enough my feet hit the ground hard and I fall to my knees, landing in a painful crouch. Because, like everything, that blissful moment of thoughtlessness had to end. Eventually, everything ends. Every rose has to die, every summer turns to autumn, every tree sheds it's leaves. But that is the balance of life, because if nothing ended, how would anything ever begin? And this, for me, is the end of an old, safe life, and the start of a new, dangerous and exciting one.

Jamie pulls me to my feet as my mother drops out of the sky, absorbing the shock of the fall by landing in a roll. If only she had taught me to do that, I'm sure it would have hurt a lot less.

Stretching my legs out, I stand up tall and look around. We're free. Finally. And, outside the Haven, the world is so different. The woods inside the fence were near and evenly spaced out with the undergrowth cut back. But out here it's wild and dark, the bushes and thorns springing up wherever they want, carving their paths through the forest. The trees are thick with vines and their canopies dense, blocking the stars from view. There is something about the wild, free way the woods grow that is dangerously beautiful. Humans are no longer the rulers out here, nature controls everything and cannot be controlled even by us, the most powerful animals on the planet. I feel strangely calm, knowing that everything is in balance and is unified out here, a perfect System without the help of humans and machines.

After about an hour of walking, Mum guides us up into the treetops where we strap ourselves to think branches and lie down to sleep. It's quite uncomfortable but I'm too tired to care. Besides, "We have to stay up here in case the guards come looking for us." My mum says. Red is on a branch next to me and before I close my eyes, I reach out and squeeze her hand. She squeezes back, giving a small smile.

"Thank you." She whispers.

"What for? I should be thanking you. You came with me without even doubting me for a second. You're the best friend ever, Red."

"You would do it for me." That much is true; I would do anything for her. "And thank you for telling me the truth when you didn't trust anyone else. It means a lot."

"What did you expect me to do? Lie to you? I would never." And with another squeeze and smile, we both close our eyes.

I'm asleep instantly, exhausted from running away in the middle of the night and staying up late or days in a row. Surprisingly, I don't dream anything, and when I am woken in the morning by the bright sunlight falling through the leaves, it feels like no time has passed at all.

In daylight, the beauty of the forest is absolutely breathtaking. Dappled orange-yellow light filters through the leaves creating colourful shapes and mysterious shadows in the undergrowth. All of the colours of the wild are enhanced in the morning light: the greens brightened into emeralds and jades; the bright flowers shimmering with dew, iridescent as the light sparks off them; the textured bark of the trees with so many shades of brown sewn into one giant tapestry.