Safe

Chapter One

In the forest, on an exhausting night, I lay on the ground trying to rest my eyes within the few moments I have of safety. I am now a fugitive of the law for a crime I did not commit. I feel alone, although I am with five others with stories that are similar to mine. I'm with people I never dreamed of meeting again or ever meeting. People that I barely knew of their existence until four days ago when my troubles started. Although my misery has long existed, I now find myself in extreme, gruesome happenings. We must find a safe place before we are turned in, or worse.

I suppose you're reading this story wondering who the mysterious and secretive person is writing this long and dreadful story. Well, I don't know who I truly am anymore, but I will tell you all that I've grown up knowing to be true. None of what I am about to tell you is confirmed to be real and for this I apologize. My name is Melody, but my five partners in "crime" better know me as Mel. I know that's a boy’s name, I just thought it'd be best I identified myself this way. You see, the five others that I escaped with are all male, so this way, I can be treated as one of the guys and not be babied because I'm a girl. When I realized I was the only girl in a group of six, I knew something had to be done, and fast, if I wanted the way they were treating me to stay the same. So in the darkness while we rested, I grabbed one article of clothing from each of their bags so that they wouldn't notice all of their clothes missing. After gathering all of this, I pulled my hair up and shoved it inside a hat that I had taken and I tried to speak in a lower register. At first, I thought for sure someone would recognize a shirt or their shorts or sweatshirt, but nobody said a thing or even glanced down at my clothes. I was waiting for the moment that someone would recognize me, or notice how feminine I looked, but they must have been too exhausted and distraught to notice. Maybe I made that convincing of a boy.

My fellow innocent criminals are all males, as I've told you, between the ages of fourteen and seventeen. The oldest, Anthony, thinks he's in charge and tries to run the show. He may be the oldest, but he's not the brightest at times. Most of the time I let him give his motivational speech, than wait for one of the guys to ask what next then, I step up, and say where we're to go and what the best way to get there is. Sometimes it bothers me that Anthony tries to take the credit for how we survive not getting caught each day, but thankfully, when it all comes down to it, the guys know it's me who gets us to where we need to go.

The next two people that I am traveling with re a little more grounded than Anthony and not quite as self-centered. Tim, who is sixteen, is really cute. The sad thing is that I can't do anything about it because they all think I'm a boy. I won't risk saying anything to blow my cover. The second super cute sixteen year old boy is Josh, or Joshua. He's quiet, but I can tell he's smart. It's how he talks when he does speak. Sometimes I feel like when he looks at me, he knows my secret. I hope so too. I can't hold in such a huge secret like this any longer. I need to tell someone before everyone finds out.

Erick is fifteen and he couldn't be nicer. He's so sweet and compassionate to everyone all of the time. He's very optimistic as well, and loves to cook. It's great because then some nights he'll cook and I'll clean the few things that need it so that we don't leave an obvious trail leading towards us, then other nights, he'll clean and I'll cook. He's easy going and I feel like I could trust him with anything, but I'm not taking my chances.

Kevin is the last and youngest of the bunch. He's cute, but his ego s so over powering that he doesn't seem nearly as hot as he should be. He's like a Oreo but the inside is filled with hot sauce and right in the very center there's a tiny sweet spot. I only have complaints about him. I know, I shouldn't be so harsh, but the way e talks about girls disgusts me. What I don't understand is that Erick and Kevin are the best of best-friends and get along so well. Erick is so sweet and has respect for girls and a talks about them like they are people, not things, but Kevin is the total opposite.