A Far Cry from Normal

12: Jace

"Wake up." I faintly hear someone say.

"Wake up." I hear again. My heart pounds and my eyes feel glued shut.

"Wake up!" I hear again louder this time. I feel someone put their hand in my face. I slowly open my eyes and see Noah's blue eyes and blond hair in front of me.

"What." I say with a bit of tone. I slowly rise my hand to my forehead and rub my eyes. My head pounds and my whole body aches like hell. I reposition myself and pull my hair from my face.

"Ohh, look who's in a bad mood." I hear Maddox say. I look over at him and see him smile. I glare and turn back to Noah and raise my brows.

"Right, we started a fire and Maddox managed to catch a few fish. I found some coconut on our walk so we got a few of those." I look at the girl who turns her head down when she sees me. "Here drink this." Noah says shoveling a coconut in my face.

I take a few sips of the cold, discussing liquid and set it back down with a cough. I rise my head and look around. It's night.

Shit.

"How long have I been out?" I quickly say.

"Maddox said that you fell asleep shortly after you two were talking. You r-"

"You hear that?" Maddox abruptly interrupts.

"No." Noah responds turning around facing him. It hard to tell, but I think he got angry from that. Weird.

"Listen." He says again. I watch him and freeze trying not to make a sound. He looks into the forest focused on something, standing still with his hand up at us.

I start to hear faint sounds in the distance, but I can't seem to make it out. It sounds like a human, but theirs no way to be sure. Maddox takes a few steps closer to the noise and stops. "Theirs someone out their?" He says turning at us.

"Shhh." Noah stands up and walks to Maddox. He pauses next to Maddox and freezes. "Someone's yelling help." He looks at us and randomly runs off into the drab forest.

I scrunch up my forehead and make eye contact with Maddox, "Go after him." He nods and runs off.

"It never ends." I say looking at the girl with a smile. She says nothing and just looks at the floor. I watch her closely and she looks up at me. Her facial extension seems nervous. Scared maybe?

"So what's your name?" I ask raising a brow.

"Ester." I hear her mumble.

"Ester?" I say looking at her. She silently nods and looks back at the floor.

"Nice. I'm gonna call you East. My names Aelin."

She looks up and smiles. "I like that. East. Sounds nice don't you think?"

"Yeah. I came up with it so..." I trail off.

She laughs and I see a smile beginning to creep up on her face. "Nice to meet you Aelin."

I smile and start to sit up against a tree.

"How long were you there." She asks me.

I looks at here emotionless and take a deep breath, "10 years I think." I look down at the ground and start to play with my hands.

"I'm so sorry, that must have been hard. I've only been in their for  3, maybe 4 years." She says.

I scuff, "Lucky." I look back up and show her the first scar I got in their. Her eyebrows lift and her exspresion changes from happy to nothing with a bit of discomfort. I roll my eyes, "I don't need your sympathy." I look back down at the ground till I hear something in the woods.