UNDECIDED OUTLAWS

Chapter 4.

Cadences POV'

Talking to Bennet always did lead to nothing. When I told him to let Jasper go, he just wouldn't listen. Bennet was too full of fear to cut the ropes that kept Jasper hindered to his chair of misery. But I wasn't scared.

Not anymore.

I was the only one of us that was brave enough to run from Craig because for me, a little bit of freedom was more than enough.

I'd spent all day preparing for this moment. The moment that I'd finally run away from the place that caused me so much pain.

So tonight, as the rain banged against the roof and Bennet lay peacefully asleep on my shoulder. Tonight would be the night I escaped. The night that I'd find freedom for the first time in my short life.

Jasper was choking in his sleep. His neck was hunched forward too far as he sat too slouched in the chair. His hair was long for a boy and it hung down to his nose in oily waves. He was scared and hungry and I wanted to fix it. He was struggling to breathe because my brother kicked his ribs in so hard that they were probably broken. It didn't help that he was awfully drowsy and probably starving.

It was finally time. Time to vacate.

Time to go somewhere were freedom is in every place I walk.

I inhaled the dead air and softly pushed Bennet's head of my shoulder. Fortunately, the boy could sleep through anything. I raised up slowly from my place on the dirty ground and unfastened the barn door. It beat against its hinges and I winced, scared that Bennet had awakened.

To my luck, he hadn't but Jasper had.

He choked himself awake and nearly landed backwards in his chair. It must've been three in the morning. His eyes shot around the room. He didn't know where he was at first but when reality set in, his panicked eyes settled down and he dropped his head to his lap and slouched his shoulder she looked so empty. The kind of angry empty that my brother would fix with a bottle of Jack.

Jasper's eyes landed on me and he stared me dead in the eyes.

Silence was screaming between us as the rain came down harder, hollowing through the walls of the empty barn. Bennet was still holding the gun in his hands and the barrel was pointing at Jasper making me feel uneasy. I reached down and carefully pried the gun out of his hands and emptied the bullets onto into my hand and shoving them into the pockets of my ripped jeans and tucking the gun into my belt.

I brought my finger to my lips to silence Jasper before fleeing from the barn and into the bewildered night air. My lungs hitched as I breathed in the cold night air and found the spot under the gum-trees were I hid my backpack earlier today. The bag contained enough for me to make a life out of for about a day which would be enough for me.

I ran back to the barn, quickly because I didn't want to get caught but despite my avoidance I was still pinned up against the wall outside the barn. My attacker had his wet rough unfamiliar hands on my mouth, making me gasp for air. My eyes met his terrified black ones and he breathed life his lungs had been kicked in, because they had. I didn't know how he had gotten himself untied, but I was glad he had because he was my escapee partner.

I could leave on my own. I knew that it'd probably be wiser but I couldn't bare the thought of leaving this place alone and I was too scared to ask Bennet, Lucas or Darrian to come with me. Jasper probably wasn't the best escapee partner, considering the police were after him but like I said it was better than being alone.

"Please don't stop me from leaving."

I said nothing as we stood in the quiet screams of our breathing and he wheezed enough for me to know he was hurt badly. He pulled his bloody hands away from my face slowly and when I didn't scream he started to run away into the hollowness of the night.

"Wait!"

He turned around slowly and raised is hands to the air like he'd expected me to have a gun. I stepped towards him slowly but he kept stepping back.

"Let me come with you?"

He was shaking his head even before I asked the question and was running away before I could stop him. But I followed him through the paddocks of sheep with a bad feeling that somebody was following us.

I stopped running when I had nobody to follow and I searched the emptiness of the paddock to find the man in the bloody white shirt. Jasper was gone, or so I thought. I thought I'd lost him until I was abruptly pinned up against the tree behind me. I nearly screamed; thinking it was Craig but Craig's hands were soft and creeping whilst Jaspers were rough like he'd worked hard.

"Leave me alone."

Jaspers eyes were pleading but his voice was firm. I didn't want to leave. I wanted to follow him to escape the gloominess of the Keaton farm. I wanted to follow him to independence. To a place where nobody forced a gun in my hands and ordered me to kill because that is what happened here. That's what Craig did to me, more than once. That's what Craig did to everyone I was related to.

"Let her go!"

When the gun clicked and the shadow of the tree morphed into the outline of a person; Jasper still didn't let me go because Bennet was not as scary as Craig and Bennet wouldn't shoot him. I could tell he wouldn't by the way his hands shook as he held the gun and by the way he didn't have his finger anywhere near the trigger. He was just as afraid as Jasper was. I was afraid too. I was absolutely terrified that Bennet wasn't going to let me leave.

"Bennet."

My voice was nothing more than a croak. Nothing more than a whisper. He wasn't going to shoot and Jasper wasn't going to let go. So where did that leave me?

"Bennet. Come with us?"

Jaspers grip tightened on my arm as I stared intensely into my brother's electric blue eyes. He wanted to come. I knew he did but just like that gun was anchored to his hand. He was somehow anchored to Craig's wishes and Craig wished all of us to stay and suffer.

"Please?"

My voice must have hit a nerve because he lowered the gun and darted his eyes between Jasper and I, before looking back at the house in the distance.

He seemed to be struggling with himself but the more he thought about my offer; the lower his gun went down and within a minute he was standing next to Jasper with a hand on his shoulder.

He dragged Jasper away from me and Jasper looked mad, but there was nothing he could do about us following him. He could kill us but I had the feeling that Jasper wasn't that kind of guy.

"You two better not get me killed."

A smile tugged at my lips because I was happy. I was genuinely happy to be able to start again even if I knew that Craig would find me one day. It was good knowing I could have a little bit of freedom.

Jasper flung his hair out of his eyes and I flung my bag over my shoulder; ready to wander off into nothing but bush. We were the needle in the haystack but how far could we run, if everyone's trying to find us?

I took one last look behind me with only one regret. A regret of leaving him behind. A regret of leaving Lucas behind; the brother that wasn't afraid to stand up to Craig if it meant getting himself killed and I knew I was going to miss Darian; the brother that hadn't spoken a word in three years.

I knew Bennet felt it too. The guilt of leaving our two older brothers with our two oldest brothers. Craig was too far gone and Robert was on his way. So we had to run to keep ourselves sane but part of my sanity was left with the brothers I'd left behind.

There was no worse feeling in the world.