Gone

Part 17: Lottie

Lottie stared at the bathroom door. Jamie had been in there for ten minutes. She decided to get up and knock.

"Jamie?"

No reply.

"JAMIE!?"

Again, no response.

She burst through the door, nearly breaking the lock. Lottie stared at the empty room. Her eyes darted to the open window. She collapsed, her head hitting the side of the bath. She stayed there for a second, but decided this was her turn. Lottie rubbed her head and jumped up onto the bath, nearly falling into the tiny rub. She jumped up onto the ledge and carefully slid through. She had lost a considerable amount of weight at leviathan, having only fed her soggy lettuce and mashed potatoes, the only vegetarian food they had. Lottie quickly ran across the open field, fast enough to see Jamie jumping over the fence. She stopped in her tracks, looking at all the guards. They were all slumped against the wall, very much asleep. Lottie quickly ran to the wall and climbed up, scraping both her knees until they were red raw and bleeding. She sat on top of the wall, taking one last quick look over to the base, then jumped, hitting the pavement with a thump! Lottie landed on her knees and winced, trying to blot the cuts with the sleeve of her night dress. She then made a run for it, rushing to the nearest road and quickly crossing into the darkness.

It was around 3 am and Lottie was freezing. There was no way she would be able to get back to rosewood before freezing to death. She quickly ducked under an open gate and into someone's back garden. She slid open the door to the shed, to see a small room filled with old blankets and a tumble dryer. She quickly curled up in some blankets and stared out the window. The house was abandoned, with boarded up windows and broken glass scattered around the back yard. Clearly someone had used this shed after they abandoned the house, but it was full of cobwebs and now seemed, most definitely, abandoned as well. She cringed at the disheveled state but Lottie knew there was no where else to. She lay there deathly still that night in her 'bed' and no matter how much she tossed and turned Lottie was no closer to falling asleep. Ice cold tears ran down her cheeks : she was covered in cuts and scratches and was completely and utterly alone.

Sleep deprived, Lottie unhappily awoke to Water dripping on her head and stood up carefully. The sun was rising as she straitened out her skirt and started lumbering to Rosewood in the far distance. The feeling of betrayal lingered inside like an incessant stomach ache.

Why would Jamie leave her?

Does he hate her now?

Does anyone even care at all?

Questions flooded her mind as she trudged back but she knew she had to keep going.