The Jewels; Mother of Pearl (#ABA2017)

Chapter Nine

Her whole body was sent into a shivering frenzy as hot and cold flushes filled her body and made her sweat despite how cold she was and made her shiver despite how warm she was getting.

Her knees gave way and she was kneeling before a garbage bin, she wanted to sit there and cry for a long time. But the idea of being caught in an alleyway by the guards again made her want to vomit even more. She forced herself to her feet and started walking down the streets again; she started running when her legs became less wobbly. Every time she saw a guard she always thought they were gonna come after her.

She didn't know where she was going.

Her Mum came to mind, but her reaction in the hospital gave Lola the impression she never wanted to see her again, she couldn't go to school in the middle of the day, Jasmine and her friends were there... where else was Lola going to go?

Then Lola finally had some sort of idea where she could go. When Lola was little, she remembered going to the beach near the edge of this kingdom, there was a cave she could stay at for a while, or in the forest, the canopy made a nice place to sit.

Lola staggered throughout the whole town; people gave her odd looks and kept away from her as if she had the plague. Lola continued to run until her lungs were burning and her legs were close to collapsing beneath her. She stumbled and fell over several times before she came to the quiet streets that were filled with 'normal' homes, almost every house was fenced and in a couple she saw little toddlers and their parents playing on a swing set or playing in a small sandpit while their parents continued to try and make them stop eating sand.

Lola leaned against one of the fencing and stared at the brick fencing that surrounded the city, it was a thick brick wall; the exits were either very far right or very far left. Lola managed to lean against the brick wall, it towered over her, as a rule of the town no houses or any form of structures were allowed to be within a metre of the wall. Lola looked down both sides of wall; they seemed to stretch on forever before they curved to surround the town.

Lola started walking, refusing to cry as she wiped her eyes and took unsteady breaths that trembled. Lola wanted to cry very badly, Kylee's body falling to the ground after she got shot flashed before Lola's eyes and made her want to cry even more. She tried her best not to go back out to the streets where people could see her, only once venturing out of the space between houses and properties because she heard some cats fighting near some garbage bins.

The exit finally revealed itself and Lola practically ran through it and down the dirt road that was bordered by large thick trees. Out of nowhere Lola heard someone yelling with a deep gruff voice. Lola turned and saw two Dark Guards standing either side of the fencing, their weapons drawn.

"What are you doing kid?" they commanded as they started walking closer.

With every step they took, Lola took a step backwards, she probably didn't look too good to them, puffy eyes, trembling hands, sweaty complexion and dirty looking clothes, and she probably looked like some sort of runaway.

Lola's eyes started to cry again as she just ran to the side and straight into the trees.

She pushed leaves and bushes aside, crumbled leaves beneath her feet and dodged low hanging tree branches. The ground was covered in a thick layer of wet canopy leaves; the air was thick and warm. But that didn't stop the voices of the guards behind her cutting through the air and every single obstacle and coming to her ears. All she could hear was the cursing of the men when they couldn't get through the bushes as quickly as Lola.

Lola stopped when she couldn't hear their voices anymore, she was in a small clearing as she kneeled over and then simply lay down on the floor of the forest, and she hugged her knees and tried to get rid of any and all voices Lola had heard in the last 24 hours. But they kept bouncing around her head, tricking her into thinking that they were being said in real life.