Time is of the Essence

Chapter 6: Looking for me

I had spent the whole night avoiding anyone who I spotted. It was difficult to see in the dark, as the roads and streets just looked like the deep, dark abyss. You could barely see anything until the person was literally two steps away from you, so the whole night I was running around like a lunatic, trying to avoid the people who had startled me, purely because I didn't want to crash into the Killer and Derrick again. Who knows what they would do to me or why they even wanted me in the first place. As soon as it started to get brighter, I hid in one of the shelters in the playground and figured out what I was going to do. From what I know, no one else was looking for me besides those two thugs and no one had seemed to notify the authorities about what had happened at my place and Tess' place. With regard to Tess, I have to figure out where she is ... I can't have her being alone. But at this very moment, I have to go back to that place where the announcement said to go, to listen to this "new rule" that was being put to place to those who were still under the age of 18 years and then try to find Tess if this 'rule' didn't effect me as much as I would think it was going to. 

I walked towards the place where the announcement had taken place yesterday and when I arrived there was already a pandemonium of people waiting around, wondering this 'announcement' was. Everyone was confused and disarrayed as these had never happened before. Well, ever since I was born I had never heard  of these people wanting to say something to the community. We'd usually just get on with our life, going through the stages and just trying to make sure we keep our time up. It was the afternoon when the mysterious voice came back on. It sounded like it had been amplified to make sure no one would recognise the person's voice, so no one could really tell if it was a man or a woman speaking. At this point, it could be anyone talked. Heck, it could even be the guy next to me. Who knows. 

"Hello ladies and gentleman. Thank you all for coming back to this place to hear this fabulously new rule that we have implemented into our system. This new rule is designed as a .... race I guess you could say. A compeition would be more appropiate. It's kind of like a game of hide and seek, but instead of having only one person looking and a bunch of people hiding, we decided to change it up, make it more exciting and difficult. This version of hide-and-seek involves finding one person, and only those who have not had their time ticking you, that of which being those of you who are under 18 are allowed to participate in this marvelous competiton. The man that you are going to be finding, will be a teenage boy. A boy who like yourselves who are participating, is not eighteen just yet ..." 

As soon as he said that, I instantaneously thought that it was me. I was the target. Those thugs weren't going to be the only ones who were looking for me now. Now the whole freaking community would be trying to search for me.

" ... this boy is quite important to us and we need to find him as soon as possible if we are to save our system from being corrupt and disrupted. Of course, the boy has not yet realised that he will be the cause of all this destruction and havock, but he will be. We need to find him. Now. The reward for the first person to bring him to us will get a reward of infinite time. Meaning you will never age, you will never have to go through the stages, and you will simply ... live forever. Those of you who bring us the wrong boy, will be terminated immediately. Now, you're all probably wondering who this mere, ordinarI de boy is. His name is Jacob. He is currently 17 years old and is soon to turn 18, in about a month's time. He, of couse, would be in this very area at this very moment, listening to this very message. As soon as this message has ended he will either run, or try to fit into the crowd. You will all need to pay close attention to him as this game can soon be ended. When you catch him, bring him to the Starlet Building. We will take care of the rest after that. Good luck everybody, and have fun. May the winners win." 

The voice cut out and everyone was looking around, certainly looking for me. A holographic picture of me suddenly lit up in the sky, so it would be easier for someone to spot me. I wanted to quickly hide. Run away, even. But any sudden movements would make  people notice me immediately. And I would be screwed. But if I stayed here any longer, someone would definitely notice me. I decided to stay low, hunched back, trying to walk slowly out of the crowd, until someone shouted out, "If we all stop moving, we can catch him faster. Everybody, stop moving and once we all have stopped moving, everyone look around and try to see if you can see the kid. He is bound to be in here." 

Everybody stopped moving, including me, and I tried to keep my head low as the people around me were scanning their eyes, trying to see if they could spot me. I lifted my head slighty up, and as soon as I did, a lady locked her eyes on me, widened them and screamed out, "I have him. He's here!" She quickly ran towards me and I lifted my head up and started to run out of the crowd. Everyone was trying to grab me, and I was trying to dodge the flinging arms of people. I was able to make it out of the crowd, but as soon as I turned back, everyone was looking at me, hungry to catch me cause of the substantial reward that was placed on my head. I kept running, and the ground actually shook with the sound of running footsteps, vibrating against the ground. 

I took a turn into a street and quickly hid behind one of the houses. I heard the mass crowd running down the street, and then heard them come into a halt. Probably realised that I was no longer running down the streets. I heard the crowd split up and looked out from my hiding place to see that they were looking around the houses. I had to find a better hiding place. As soon as I got up, anticipating to run away, someone grabbed me from behind and dragged me into the house I was hiding behind. I was flailing my arms around and trying to kick the person to try and get away from them. The person had covered my mouth, so I couldn't scream and shout, and even if I could, I wouldn't. That would only cause people to pay their attention here. A woman whispered in my ear, "Shut up and quit hurting me if you want to live." 

I decided to stop, and once she felt that I was calm enough she let me go and let me sit on one of her couches. I took a seat and just stared at her. She looked about her late twenties, brunette hair, dark brown eyes and nice, tanned skin. If I was in a different circumstance, I would find her extremely attractive, but all I was feeling towards her at this very moment was curiousness and wariness. What did this woman want from me? 

"You can stay here while the people search for you. Nobody will come in here. Do you want anything to drink or eat?" She asked, looking as if this was normal for her to be bringing a teenage boy who people were looking for. 

"What do you want from me?" She turned around as I asked and sat down on the couch opposite me. 

"I'm trying to help you here, Jacob. I can't do that if you're roaming around the streets, not having a palce to go and people are looking for you." She replied, looking very much serious and as if she knew me for quite a long time. 

"Why? Who are you?" I asked, trying to not sound rude, but also trying to wrap my head around this person. 

"I'm your mother." 

Hey guys! Hope you liked this chapter, sorry for the very late upload! But I promise I'll try and be more consistent with my uploads and whatnot. HAHA did you like how Jacob found his mother attractive? AWKWARD. The pictue on the right is a picture of Jacob's mother, who will be later introduced in the story as Brooke (One Tree Hill reference haha). Tell me what you think of her so far, and who knows. Maybe she's just pretending to be Jacob's mother. But why would she do that?

Anyways, if you liked this chapter please vote, comment or follow! It would be greatly appreciated. Thanks fellow wattpad peers, till the next time xx