Running Away, First Book of the Rhia Series.

There was never any doubt in my mind what had happened to Ebony Peari. The newspaper article confirmed it. Mum or Imogen usually went through the newspapers they gave me and took parts out they thought might scare me. I wondered, had they deliberately left this one in? Probably. To scare me enough to stay hidden, not sneak out.

As if I'd do that again. 

The moon and stars were shrouded by misty green-grey clouds that night. You could see orbs of light in the sky where they were trying to fight through the industrial smoke, dim and dying. Thinking back, it would have been more fitting if they had been clear and bright, the moon round, glowing and luminous. But it wasn't. It was a normal, average, unremarkable night. 

 I had crept out through the boarded up window, unscrewing all the nails and pulling back the wood and cardboard. My room was under the house, in the basement which wasn't meant to be there. The window was underground too, mostly, with a tiny bit at the top just jutting out from the ground, letting in a few rays of sunlight to fill up the room in the early morning. I wasn't meant to ever take the wood and cardboard off the window in case someone saw me, but I was going mad having to stay in that tiny room my whole life, the possibility of freedom looming just outside that window. After Ammon told me that he'd heard of Extras like us meeting at the dump, it was virtually impossible to stay put. 

 Ammon and me were born one month and three days apart. His mother, Miyra and my mother were best friends, and when Miyra got pregnant with Ammon, she didn't tell anyone. But my mum, Tieoly, could tell straight away. And three months later, she told Miyra her about me, and as she expected,  Miyra spilled the truth about Ammon.  They swore to never to reveal their secret to anyone, and when Ammons father was tragically killed in a 'terrorist revolutionist attack', my mum was inspired by Miyra's strength and independence, and they both ran away, mum with my sister Imogen, and Miyra with her daughter Chlieo from Beigak, a country town that was much sought-after, the town they had both grown up in, to Noemi a huge industrial city. I always wondered why my mother had left. After she told me, I wondered weather I would have had the guts to leave.

  "Rhia!" Ammon hissed. I looked across and saw his glittering forest-green eyes staring towards me.  He flicked his head upwards, indicating that there was a helicopter above us. I held my breath and waited for it to pass, trying to make as little sound as I possibly could. In the moonlight, I could just about see Ammons face. I hadn't seen him for what seemed like ages, and I missed his eyes, the way he limped a little when he walked from breaking his foot last year, his stupid laugh, just him. He glanced around, precariously perched  on a high crumbling concrete wall, covered by a tree with little tiny leaves, but lots of them, which hung down from the branches reaching for the stars,  the leaves draping themselves over his head and creating a perfect hiding-place. A bird soared overhead, then a flapping bat after it. The hum of the helicopters blades grew quieter and quieter, and I gradually started creeping out from under the shed in my garden. I heard Ammon fall down the wall clumsily, and when I ran over he had scraped all his hands, legs, and had cut his face.

 When he saw me, he smiled from ear to ear. "Rhi," He said, hugging me, "I've missed you!" 

 That night, me and Ammon had met behind Qraigs' pub, and waiting for Elettra to arrive. A lantern swung above our heads, glowing in the gloom, the smell of strong alchohol and body odour stung my nose, and the shouts of drunken townsmen and women and dance music made the corners of my mouth twitch into a half-smile. I peered through a gap in the wooden door that was falling off its hinges, covered in grimy black filth, and saw the colourful red, blue green and purple lights, and the shadows of dancing people. A puddle on the badly-cemented floor reflected the lights, dancing along the surface of the dodgy-looking liquid. Suddenly all the colours were thrown into the air and onto the surrounding concrete, the colours drowning out of them as the liquid splashed everywhere, I looked up to see a thin, tall girl, her blonde curly hair wild and her hazel eyes darting to me and Ammon. 

 Ammon coughed "Hey, Elettra." Elettra stared at him, a grin spreading across her face. 

"Ammon!" She exclaimed, it seemed as if her smile spoke for her. Ammon looked up from his feet and to her face, and he coulden't help smiling a little half-smile himself. I laughed to myself, although these moments were always awkward and I never knew what to do with myself, Ammon was always so happy when he was around Elettra, and it was obvious she was too. Ammon was a brother to me, it was as if we could read each others minds, but him and Elettra had something different. Me and Ammon had to like each other. We had to be there for each other. But with him and Elettra, they had just worked from the beginning. Like a spark, a chain reaction, and although neither of them ever admitted it, they brought out the best in each other, and were plain perfect when they were together. 

She turned to me, "Rhia!" She said, hugging me "It seems like been ages since the last meeting, d'you know who's coming tonight?" Sha asked.

I looked up "Uhm, everyone I think. Me, you, Ammon, Quinn, Isaac and Scarlett. Oh, and that new girl, Ebony" 

"Good," she said, "So, we'd better be off then? Or are we waiting for someone else?"

"Nope." Ammon replied, "Unless you wanna wait for the police?"

Elettra looked at him and dryly said, "Oh Ammon, you know how I love a man in uniform." He smirked sarcastically, and then leapt over the concrete wall onto the huge metal bins the other side.  He made no noise, jumping expertly, he had done this so many times. Elettra looked at me and we both giggled, before following him over the top of the wall. 

  If we had stayed there for five and a half more seconds, we would have been shot where we stood.