The Price of Freedom

Hope

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That's basically it.
Jemcac

(Jade)

I woke to a lump on my forehead and a throbbing headache to accompany it. I sat up. It was pitch black and I couldn't see a thing.

"Where am I?" I wondered out loud. Then it all came rushing back to me, like a terrible flood. Gale and Cleo had been out. Stealing. I had been in the bedroom, reading-

We only had a few torn pages we had found in the garbage, not even a whole book. But Leah, one of the older Wheeler Street Kids had taught me to read using it. I read those pages over and over and over and over. I sometimes dreamed of books, Gale said there was a place called a library where there were shelves and shelves covered in books! Leah disappeared a few months after she had taught me to read she disappeared, we never saw her again. We always assumed the police had caught her-

Then I had heard the faintest of footsteps, but I had dismissed it as nothing, a rat maybe? A minute or so later as I was nearing the end of the last page I felt a rough hand close around my mouth and grab my arms. I tried to scream, but I couldn't. I couldn't even move. I was as helpless as a newborn child. Panic welled up inside of me like a volcano-threatening to explode. I wriggled and resisted as much as I could but my efforts were in vain. The rough hands only tightened their grip. I heard a voice calling from outside of our tent.

"Hey James, hurry up will ya! Da boss is waitin."

"Gimme a sec" the man holding me, James, replied. His voice was as rough as his hands but also dangerously low. You would not want to get in this man's bad side. I was promptly yanked to my feet and shoved out of the tent. I could barely keep myself from collapsing, I was so terrified. We then joined the other man and I was pushed forward yet again. I had no idea where we were going. This made no sense. Why would two men come and take me-a harmless, homeless girl. Unless...maybe this was the police, maybe they knew we'd been stealing. I hoped and prayed that they hadn't caught Gale and Cleo. But they must've. My heart sank like a weight dropped in water. Then I noticed something. How could I have been so stupid?! My legs! The man held my arms but not my legs! I pulled my right leg up into the air and aimed a vicious kick at him-where Gale had taught me to kick a man if anything should ever happen to me. He doubled over in pain-groaning. But I didn't look back-I made a run for it. I knew I was running for my life. For my family. For my hope. For my freedom.

I heard the other man yelling and heard his heavy footsteps running after me. Thud. Thud. Thud. Like the hooves of a galloping horse beating against the ground. I ran. And ran. And ran. Faster than I'd ever run before. I looked ahead of me, and to my despair I saw a man standing there with both arms stretched out blocking the alley. He wore a black hooded cloak, identical to what the other men wore. He was one of them. I slowed down and looked around. I was looking for something. For anything. For a glimmer of hope. That Gale and Cleo were alive and free. That I could escape. That we could live normal lives. But there was no hope. Not there, on Wheeler Street. I was cornered and I was alone.

The Third man walked up to me. And for a moment the cool night's breeze lifted his hood. Only for a moment. But even in the dim moonlight I could make out his face. And what I saw made me cringe with fear. I knew this man. I recognised him. Seeing his face brought back memories that to this day I wish I had never remembered. This was the man in black. The man who had pulled the trigger. The man of Gale's nightmares. Then I felt something hit my head from behind. Hard. And that was the last thing I had remembered.

"I have to tell Cleo and Gale" I thought. But then of course I couldn't, I had no idea where they were. A groan interrupted my thoughts, a very familiar groan.

"Gale!" I cried.

"Jade! You're here!" Cried another voice in return. Cleo. I had never been happier to hear her voice in my life. I felt my way towards her and we embraced. I am not ashamed to say that I started to cry then, with relief. You will never know what it's like to think your sibling has died. It's as if someone has taken away your heart, or lungs, even if you do fight with them all the time. And then to get them back, your world feels...well...complete. I's just an amazing feeling that I cannot put into words.

"Where's Gale?" I asked, wiping away my tears. Rather than replying she guided my hand to a warm body lying beside her. For a moment I thought he was dead but the steady rise and fall of his chest assured me that he was alive. He was just asleep, I assumed.

"Is he...Is he ok?" I asked, gingerly.

"Well...no, not really" She then continued on to tell me the whole story. How Gale had been tying to steal from the Twilight Gang and how they got him and beat him up. I was slightly shocked but not surprised. It was typical from every angle. Typical of Gale to want to steal from rich (by our standards anyway) bullies. Typical of him too be to proud to back off. Typical of the Twilight's to want to teach him a lesson, and typical of Cleo to try to come to his rescue.

What we didn't understand though was what we were doing here. we both agreed that we were in some type of truck or vehicle but beyond that we knew nothing. Who would want to kidnap three poor, harmless, homeless orphans? And it couldn't be the police, as I had originally suspected because why would the police be working with the Twilight Gang and the man in black? Cleo had been shocked when I told her about the man in black. She didn't believe me at first, butI eventually convinced her.

We checked the whole truck, or at least the compartment we were in, but we couldn't find anyway to escape. In the end we decided that it would be best to just get a goodnight's sleep, as there was nothing we could do. So I gathered a few old sacks from the truck's floor and laid down on them. Considering the fact that Gale was injured, we were travelling farther away from home by the minute and there was no way to escape I wasn't as upset as you would've expected. But we were finally back together, and that was all that really mattered. So once again I had hope, however false it may've been.

Ok so I know how annoying Author's notes can be but this is really important. I'll try to make it short.
So basically I just realised I didn't mention this before but I do not own these photos. All rights go to the photographers I basically just edited them and-yeh. Oh and also in case you didn't know this is a shared account and we kind of take turns writing different POV's so if you want try and guess who writes what you can.