Runaway

Chapter 6

I walk through the trees, kicking leaves as I go. The reoccurring thought of being alone is haunting my mind. I look around and notice that the sun has gone down already and night is almost upon me. I guess I was to distracted thinking about every possible way that something could go wrong. My heart ached of pain, confusion and questions. Why would Austin kill my mom? How could Max be a part of Austin's gang? Where could my sister be? Did Max get away from the police? I couldn't quite figure out why all this was happening to me out of all the people in the world.

The wind was picking up and the sky was now a navy blue. Soft stars sprinkled the sky, creating small shapes and patterns. "It must be a beautiful view from up there" I whisper to myself as I look at the sky. The wind is creating a small howling sound, sending chills down my spine. I never got to wear the jackets I bought, and now all I have is a long-sleeved shirt and jeans that I've been wearing for what has felt to me like a week. I was so tired and I felt dizzy which was probably from dehydration. I decided to sit down and take a little break, the police are probably miles from me right now. I sat on top of all the leaves on the ground. Suddenly, Max's phone rings loudly, scaring the crap out of me. "Hello?" I speak into the phone. "Hey Alexa, it's Josh, I'm in front of the motel. Where are you?" Josh says. "Umm, I'm not sure, I'll try to head back towards the motel" I speak into the phone. "Ok, be careful" Josh says silently. "I know" I sigh with a grin. He hung up, and once again I was alone. I stood up off the ground, and headed back towards where I thought was the motel.

I've been walking for around 3 hours I'm guessing, anytime now the motel should be in sight. I fast-walked between the trees. It was so dark and the adrenaline was running through my blood. What could be out here at night? I thought, looking out into the darkness. Finally, the motel was coming into sight. I climbed up the ravine as quietly as a could, making sure that nobody was around. I grabbed onto branches as I climbed for support. Hand after hand grabbing anything in reach, all of the sudden one of my hands slipped, making me slide down the hill about two meters. I let out a small shriek, made sure everything was ok, then I continued up. "Alexa?" I hear what sounds like Josh say, from the top of the ravine. "Josh? I'm down hear" I whisper-yell back up. "It's me. Do you need help?" he calls. "No, I'm ok, I'm almost there" I call to him, while wisely choosing which branches to hold on to. I take my last few steps up the hill, finally I feel Josh's hand hold onto my arm and pull me up. I throw myself into his strong arms and begin to cry. "How could Austin do this to me" I say between sobs. "I don't know" Josh speaks quietly. "He messed up my whole life" I cry louder into Josh's shoulder. He slowly guides me to the ground while hugging me, so I can sit. "Alexa?" Josh mumbles. "Wh- What?" I stutter, trying to calm myself. "I need to tell you something" He says looking into my teary eyes. He sighs then says "I can't stand to see you like this... You deserve to know what actually happened" he says. I sit up and curiously look into his eyes. "Josh, what do you mean?" I say, my eyebrows come together in confusion. "I- I- I work for Austin and he sent me to kill your mom, he threatened to kill my family a year ago if I didn't agree to work with him. He wanted me to work with him because he knew you liked me and he wanted you to fall in love with me so he could hurt you. He wants to hurt you because your dad supposedly killed his parents two years ago". "Wh- what? So you've been lying to me all this time?" I say in disbelief. "Well, I fell in love with you too, and I can't hurt you, I told Austin and he said he would do it himself... I'm so sorry, he threatened me" Josh whispers while hanging his head down. I embraced him in a hug, and let my head rest on his shoulder. I stared into the sign that read 'Motel'. Suddenly, my eyes caught sight of something I never wanted to see again. Austin's black jeep, parked in the parking lot of the motel. I let go of Josh and stare into his eyes. "What is Austin's jeep doing hear?" I say quietly. "He drove me here" Josh said with sadness. All of the sudden Josh's exact words run through my mind " he wants to hurt you" my heart begins to pound. Josh is a murderer and he led Austin here to hurt me.

I quickly shove Josh off of me, I look behind him and my eyes widen in horror, Austin is walking towards me with a grin stretching across his face. "Hell no" I whisper under my breath. I turn around and sprint down towards the ravine. "Don't let her get away!" I hear Austin yell while he begins to sprint in my direction. I quickly turn around while running and see that he is beginning to catch up. I direct my head forwards but I am to late, before I know it I'm rolling down the ravine. I out-stretch my arms and try to grab on to anything while rolling. I feel my arms and legs being scraped against all kinds of debris. Finally I come to a stop, gasping in pain, I look up into the tree branches hanging above my head. I feel my head throbbing, everything is blurry from the tears running down my cheeks. I look back up to the ravine and see Austin and Josh struggling to carefully come down the ravine and catch me. I struggle to get up but successfully I'm standing while swaying from the dizziness. I begin to run between trees, stumbling over rocks and leaves. "Get back hear!" I hear Austin's holler echo from far away. I stop to catch my breathe, I turn around and see Austin's small figure far away, Josh is behind him staring straight into my eyes. I wipe the tears from my eyes, then turn around and begin to sprint once again.

Running for one hour now, my head feels like it's going to explode from pain. I'm sobbing widely but that doesn't stop me from running. My legs are slowing down but I'm still confident enough to keep moving. My sight begins to blacken. Suddenly I'm heavily breathing, but still running. My body crashes into something hard, like a person. "Alexa?! Stop!" I hear a familiar voice say. I look up and see Max. "Let me go!" I yell into his face while I fall backwards onto the ground in pain. I scramble under his grasp, until he pins my hands to the ground beside me. I stare at both my hands caught under his hands. Tears pouring down my cheeks. "Don't hurt me!" I scream. "Alexa, shhhh! I'm not going to hurt you" Max says, making me quiet. "Alexa, I may work for Austin but..." Max is silent. "But what?!" I cry in pain. "But... I love you, and I know you probably think this is part of a plan but it isn't and I can prove it" I whimper in silence. "You think you can just say that and everything will be ok?! Your such a..". Suddenly Max's lips connect to mine, at first I lay there in shock but to my surprise, I begin to kiss back passionately. Our lips disconnect and I stare blankly into Max's brown eyes. He climbs off of me and I carefully sit up in pain, I look at my wrists and see a small bruises appearing on both of them from Max's strong grasp. I rub my wrists and Max notices my pain. The awkward silence is killing me. Max is now sitting next to me. "I'm sorry" Max mumbles under his breathe, while carefully taking my wrists in his hands and observing them carefully while I look at him. He lays my writs on my lap then looks into my eyes, all of the sudden he embraces me in a warm hug, as I begin to quietly cry once again. This time I don't feel like nobody cares, now I feel cared for.