THE GIFTED

CHAPTER 6

ESCAPE

Candice

"Are you crazy?" Chase asks for the tenth time since I told him my plan. "You're just going to believe something that some person in your dream told you?"

"Chase you have to trust me on this." I try to reason with him "it isn't easy for me either"

"Okay then. I'll help you, but don't say I didn't warn you. I'll say it a hundred times again, your plan is delusional" I am so happy that I pull him into a hug. When I finally pull away I look him in the eyes. His left eye is brown and his right eye is a murky green, due to a condition called Heterochromia Iridium. It causes two different coloured eyes in one individual. Many people find it distracting. I find it calming.

"Chase I can't thank you enough for doing this for me"

"Yeah yeah, now tell me what your plan is"

"I have already told and convinced Bree. We agreed that Liam, Sophia and Eva don't need to know. Okay, now this is how it is going to go..."

For the thousandth time, I wonder if I am making a big mistake. This orphanage was built a hundred years ago by the people of the north-east. That's what we call them. We don't know their official name. This old three-floor building - ground, first and second - is surrounded by a fifty feet tall wall that has only one huge entrance. To make matters worse the top of the walls have spikes coming out of them so that no one can climb in. Or out. At the main entrance, there are watchmen. Just to check who is coming in and going out they say. I am pretty sure that those innocent watchmen know an assortment of various martial arts though. The dorm rooms and the rooms of the sisters are kept separate by the classrooms, kitchen and library. The dorms are divided into two. First floor for boys and the second floor for girls. At midnight me, Bree and Chase will meet at the storage closet near the staircase that leads to the first floor.

That will be the last time I see both of them for a long time. We will go our separate ways. Chase to help provide a distraction, Bree to keep the sisters and everyone else from looking for me and me to escape this place without getting killed or injured. Hopefully, I do. Bree looks at me with watery eyes. I can tell Chase is trying to hold himself together.

"Candy you're sure about this?"

"I have never been more sure about anything else Bree, especially after mom and dad died. I have been missing a part of me which I feel that I might be able to get back now" Bree slightly flinches when I bring up the death of my parents.

"Okay. But promise me that you will be safe and that you will visit or that you will at least see us again"

"I promise" I only hope to keep it.

I turn to Chase.

"Chase I don't know what to say. You have been a true friend. You comforted me when I was sad and stood by my side even when I was a hundred per cent wrong. For all those times I will be forever grateful. You may not be the fittest or athletic person contrary to your name" I say pointing at his slightly overweight figure

"But you have tons of other qualities that make up for it. You are smart, frustratingly witty and impeccably funny. You turned that introverted, scared and lonely girl into someone who is ready to look at the future in the eyes. I love you, Chase, for being my friend, shoulder to cry on and my second brother" I finish and he looks like he is about to cry. A single tear rolls down his cheek.

"Jeez Miss Piers you really know how to make a guy cry." He says with a chuckle wipes his tears away with the hem of his grey shirt.

"Candice I love you too because you accepted me for who I was. You looked past my body and saw what was on the inside. You never ignored me and pushed me off. You listened and cared about every single dumb thing that came out of my mouth. Even when I told you that I was found on the streets, that I was nobody you made me feel like somebody. Somebody to you. Thank you, Candy, thank you a hundred times and again." Now it was my turn to cry like a baby. Remember when I said that I don't cry often. This is one of the times that crying is acceptable.