Alex

~1~

Prologue “Mummy, mummy!” Harry shouts at me, tugging at my sleeve. Once I turn around, he looks at me, suddenly shy. He twiddles his thumbs and whispers, “Mummy, can you tell it again?” I sigh. Could a child never get enough of one story? Although I always told him, how could I not? It was such a major part of my life, without it he wouldn’t be alive. Neither would I really, inside. To him it is just another ~2~

made up story; to me it was my life. I always left out the sad bits though; he’s only five after all. I don’t feel like telling it to him today though. November the seventh is a sad day for us. Of course Harry doesn’t know that part of the story, doesn’t who he’s named Harry after. I’ll tell him one day. Not today though. That’s why I’m writing this book. So one day, when I’m finished, he’ll be able to read it and finally understand. My life. The important part at least.

~2~

Chapter One Suddenly, I found myself being thrown onto a hard, cold, dusty floor. I ~3~

was shivering all over. What had happened? One second I was sitting, lazily reading a book in the suffocating heat of my room, and the next I was laying face down on the floor of what seemed to be an old cellar. I sat up and looked around cautiously. That is when I realised I was not alone. The first child I saw was a girl, about seven years old, and she was staring at me. Her blue eyes were wide with curiosity and her pale blonde hair was wild and dirty. Her skin was unusually pale and she looked very worn out but, ignoring her altered skin colour and poor state of health, I realised that I recognised her. It was as if I had seen her before, but could not quite work out where. I decided that I would remember eventually, and decided to investigate more. I turned my eye to another ~4~

child, about ten years older than the last. This boy also had fair hair and light eyes but his gaze was not very inviting so I turned away quickly before I got to analyse him further. What I saw next terrified me. Sitting next to a small, dripping tap was a girl who must have been about sixteen and at first sight looked like a ghost! You could see her thin bones through her almost see through skin and her light blonde hair hung loose over her bony shoulders. She was wearing a very torn, dirty white silk dress. The only thing that finally assured me she was not actually a ghost was her eyes. They were bright blue and unaltered by her stay in this dreadful place. I was scared to investigate any further and decided just to ponder over where I had seen these children before. I had been home schooled so I ~5~

wouldn’t have seen then around school and I was hardly ever let out as my nurse did not have enough time to be chasing me up every few minutes. The only times I was let out was when I went for a walk with my nurse. I had been used to my lonely life, and had always been pleased at getting whatever I wanted, although I always felt something was missing. I was getting sidetracked; I needed to get back to the point. Then it hit me. These children had been advertised as missing on lampposts, milk cartons and on TV. These children had gone missing, and now so had I. ***** I sat there, considering this point and, when I realised how serious the situation and was on the brink of crying, looked up. The boy was still giving me a defiant look. I was taken ~6~

aback, and what he said next shocked me even more. “You know, when most people enter a room they at least introduce themselves, they don’t just sit there staring at us like we’re circus freaks!” “Keeran, have you looked in the mirror lately!” a voice to my left spoke. I turned to see it was a boy, about my age, with dark hair and brown friendly eyes. I recognised him as Harry Billington. He had been on the news only a month before, reported missing. Keeran interrupted my thoughts by exclaiming bitterly, “What mirror?” “Just stop it, you’re making Alex nervous!” exclaimed the young girl. I decided that I didn’t want to know what she meant, or who Alex was. It was all strange enough already. “OK. So what’s your name?” Harry asked nicely. ~2~

“Err…” I paused, feeling stupid for forgetting my own name. I’d only been there five minutes and the dimly lit, dusty room had made me forget my own name. Who knew what else I could forget, my parents, my home, my nurse. I shivered at the thought. “Hurry up, we don’t have all day!” Keeran prompted rudely. “Well, we do.” Harry smiled. How could you smile in a situation like this? “So, what is it?” “Jess,” I decided, though I still wasn’t sure, “my name is Jess.” “Jess. Pretty name. I’m Harry, he’s Keeran,” he jerked his thumb at Keeran who glared at me then turned away, “That’s Abby,” he pointed at the little girl who smiled and waved at me, “That’s Maya and the girl next to her is Shelly” he nodded at the ghostlike girl, who smiled but her friend ~2~

ignored me totally, “and then there’s Alex, behind you.” I swivelled round and instantly blushed. The contrast between his Dark hair and green eyes was stunning. He was so mysterious and good looking, and what’s more, he was staring right back at me. My breath caught in my throat and for a second, I was completely unable to speak. ***** Once I had caught my breath back, I asked a question I had been meaning to ask my whole time here. “Where are we?” “You don’t want to know.” Harry’s answer just made me more determined to find out. I was scared. How were they all acting so calm? “I do!” I exclaimed, hoping to get my point across. ~2~

It was Alex who answered my question this time. I didn’t dare turn to look at him, as I was scared I would concentrate on the way his lips moved more than the actual words he was saying, and I had to know. “Ok,” he paused, probably wondering how to explain. I imagined him biting his lip at that moment, puzzling over how to put this in a way that wouldn’t frighten me and a shiver went through my body. How could I like someone so much when I had only Just met them? I did though, there was no denying it. He was perfect. “We are trapped in a cellar.” He explained carefully, interrupting my thoughts, “Every so often people take us away and do experiments on us. None of us really know what they do, because they put you to sleep before. They feed us one piece of bread to share a day, if that. We have to drink ~2~

out of a dirty tap. We’ve tried to escape but it’s no use. Then they lock us away on our own for a week with no food or drink. There used to be more of us but they… disappeared.” I knew what he meant. They had been taken away, and probably killed. I nodded, unable to speak. I felt his hand hover over my shoulder then, when Harry whispered at him to let me have a moment, it being withdrawn. In any other circumstances, I would have kicked Harry but I was in a state of shock and unable to move. A tear rolled down my cheek. Then another. Before long I was sobbing uncontrollably, not bothered about the fact that I was being watched by six other people. I felt someone lean down beside me and put their arm around my shoulder. ~3~

“It’s Ok. Take deep breaths. Everything is fine. I will not let them hurt you.” He whispered into my ear. I shrugged him off and jumped up. “No it’s not! It’s not Ok at all! How can you even pretend…? We both know that we’re in serious danger.” I ignored the voice inside me that was telling me to shut up and let him hold me, “And how exactly are you planning on stopping them hurting me? There’s got to be at least six of them, and they’ll be grown adults, trained to deal with un co-operative kids, how are you going to beat them? Get real! And it’s all very well you saying it’ll be fine but I don’t see you making any plans for us to escape.” He sighed, “I told you, it’s impossible.” “Well, I’m not just going to sit here and do nothing because some stupid person got it into their head that ~4~

kidnapping a load of helpless kids was a good idea! Now unless you have some excellent plan on how to get out of here I suggest you don’t tell me everything’s fine, because it isn’t.” On the last word I collapsed to the floor, crying uncontrollably. Alex put both arms around me and held me tight, stopping me from lashing out. Even though I was still upset, I couldn’t help feeling embarrassed by my outburst. Now there was absolutely no way he would want to even be friends with me, let alone feel the same way I felt about him. My pain doubled. Not only had I lost my family and my home, I had now also lost any hope of fitting in in this strange place. I felt Alex wince slightly. “What.” I sniffed, looking up at his perfect face. How could one person be so perfect? I had watched TV at ~2~

home and read magazines, but I had never come across anyone quite like him. “Of course you belong” he insisted. I had forgotten my question; I didn’t even remember asking one. I’m sure I had been thinking in my head, how did he hear? “How do you… oh never mind.” I couldn’t take any more shock in one day. I just leaned my head against his shoulder and tried, unsuccessfully, to get some sleep.

~3~

Chapter Two The door banged open and Alex jumped. He had clearly had more luck sleeping than me. My head slipped off his shoulder and into his lap. I looked up, expecting to see Alex’s face smiling down at me, but instead saw him staring at the door, panic stricken. I sat up and looked around to what all the fuss was about. In the doorway stood a huge, bald, fierce looking man snarling at us. He looked around and his gaze settled on me. He chucked a piece of bread on the floor, without averting his gaze, and then walked over to me. “You’re the newcomer aren’t you? Don’t get too used to this place, you’re coming with me!” He growled ~4~

at me in a low, menacing voice. On the last word, he grabbed me by my pyjama top and pulled me away. My feet dragged along the floor as I stared back at the others. Abby, Maya and Harry were staring back at me, a little worried but not surprised. I guess this was a regular event for them. Shelly and Keeran were just sitting there as if nothing had happened but Alex, only just got over his panic, tried to mouth what was happening. I wasn’t very good at lip reading so all I saw was “They… tests…fine.” As I was pulled up the stairs, I hoped this wasn’t the last time I ever saw them again. ***** I was thrown onto a white table in a large white room. People in white lab coats started prodding me and writing things down. “Hey,” I shouted, “Leave off!” ~5~

One of the people said in a mocking voice “Ooh, she’s feisty. We’ll soon fix that.” I didn’t even want to know what he meant. The man walked away and I heard a draw opening. He came back holding a small blue pill. “Open wide!” he exclaimed. I pushed my lips together so hard they went blue, like the pill, and shook my head hard. He held my nose so I couldn’t breathe. I opened my mouth a tiny bit in the corner and struggled to breathe. He stuffed his finger into the corner of my mouth, his finger tasted of chemicals and rubber, and prising my jaw open. He quickly dropped the pill into it and held my mouth shut. I had no choice but to swallow. I felt woozy. My vision started blurring. Light danced in front of my eyes, none of it making sense. I could hardly see what was going on, and I felt dizzy and sick. Just before I fell ~2~

unconscious, I heard one of them mutter quietly, “Wow, I know what he meant. She is special.” ***** I opened my eyes slowly, aware of the throbbing pain spreading through my body. Was I at home? Had this all been a dream? The pain suggested otherwise, but I may have fallen out of my bed. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that theory. I would certainly not miss that dingy cellar, and I could live without those horrible scientists. However, the friendships I had formed would stay with me forever. I had hardly been there a day and I already felt at home. Alex, Abby, Harry, Maya, I would even miss Keeran’s bitterness and Shelly’s ignorance. How could I go from a place where I had friends who cared about me, back to my ~3~

lonely world where no one gave a damn? “Please let it be real, please let it be real.” I muttered to myself. Finally my vision cleared and I could see Alex staring worriedly down at me. I sighed out of relief, but also annoyance. I was with the people I loved, but in a place I despised. I tried to sit up but was pushed back down. “You need some sleep” Alex whispered, then added to himself “god knows what they did to you.” I ignored his last comment and nodded, though I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep. What had they done to me? I had no idea. All I knew was that I had to say something to him before he went. I had to let him know that I appreciated his help. “Alex,” I whispered, loud enough for only him to hear. ~2~

“Yes?” He replied in his soft, beautiful voice. Just hearing it convinced me he would take no notice of whatever I had to say. “Thanks.” I muttered meekly. He nodded. It hadn’t come out quite as gratefully as I had wished it to. ***** I lay there pretending to be asleep. It was impossible to get to sleep with the uneven dripping of the tap and everything that was on my mind. Everyone was asleep, except me, Maya and Shelly. Shelly was just sitting there, staring into space, and Maya seemed to be talking to herself but, it was very strange, she seemed to be saying half a conversation and waiting for an answer that, as far as I’m aware, never came. “What do you think,” she started. I had never heard her voice before. It was very quiet, almost a whisper. I ~2~

had to strain my ears to hear her and even then I didn’t understand. Also, this struck me as a weird way to start a conversation. “I know what you mean. He thinks about her a lot, and she adores him.” Who adores who, I wondered. She paused for a second, as if awaiting an answer, then whispered “Yes, but it really is none of our business.” She waited a few seconds, and then ended the conversation. “Yes, now let’s get some sleep.” And with that she lay her head down carefully on the stone floor and, after a few minutes, was quietly snoring. I longed to hear the other side of that conversation. ***** After a few hours of tossing and turning, I was finally asleep. I was standing on a vast blue landscape. I looked around; there was ~2~

nothing but the blue, hard ground and me. Suddenly the ground disappeared and I was falling through the dark, cold air. A voice whispered to me, “All is not what it seems, it seems, it seems, While you lay there engulfed in your dreams, your dreams, your dreams, A child above you surely cries, it cries, it cries, You are lost in a world full of lies, of lies, of lies, You have been sent to save them all, them all, them all, Save them quickly or you will FALLLLLLLL” ***** I woke up quickly, coated in a layer of sweat. I sat up promptly, ignoring the throbbing pain in my head, and, breathing rapidly, looked around me. Everyone was asleep except… where was Abby? I wiped the sweat off my ~2~

face with my sleeve, brushed my hair out of my eyes and crawled over to Alex, not trusting myself to stand upright. I tapped him on the shoulder and, ignoring the electricity running through my body when I touched him, leant down and whispered into his ear, “Where’s Abby.” He took a second to realise what I was asking. When he did, he sat up and looked me in the eyes, although his were barely open. My heart raced. “They took her about an hour ago. You were fast asleep so I told the others not to wake you. To be honest, I didn’t think you would ever be able to get to sleep after the day you have had, so I didn’t want to risk waking you and you not being able to get back to sleep.” He muttered sleepily. I was about to tell him about my dream, but decided against it. The ~2~

dream had seemed somewhat personal. I didn’t feel right telling anyone, even Alex. I just had a feeling it was something I couldn’t share, like it wasn’t mine to share, like... like it was, I don’t know, put into my head by someone else? Something I needed to know. Something important. Something I needed for the future.

~3~

Chapter Three As I was washing my hair under the dirty tap, unsuccessfully I’d like to point out, it was impossible, I thought about my old life. At home I was quite an ordinary girl really. The only times I came across circumstances like this was in books. I never dreamed I would be in this situation. But, it’s weird, although we are in this horrible place with dreadful people doing terrible experiments on us, I feel more at home than I ever did in my actual home. I fit in more here than I ever have anywhere else. At home I was ignored, only acknowledged when my parents work friends came round and my parents wanted to make a good impression. I would have to come downstairs and my mother would proceed to tell everyone how “brilliantly” I was getting on with my Spanish, I don’t even learn Spanish, ~4~

and how she had paid hundreds of pounds for me to go to a private school, I had never actually been to school in my life, I was tutored at home, and not very well I might add. I turned the tap off and sat leaning against the filthy wall, pulling my legs up closer to me and hugging them like I used to hug my teddy bear when I was seven. Even so, I couldn’t help missing my parents. They were such a big part of my life, and now I might never see them again. “Don’t worry.” Alex consoled, “You’ll see them again soon, I promise.” I wondered how he knew what I was thinking, but then decided I must have been thinking aloud to myself. How else would he know? My thoughts were interrupted again by the sound of the door banging open. I saw Abby flying through it. I could think of nothing, other than ~5~

preventing that little girls’ head from hitting the hard floor. I stood up and ran over to where I knew she would fall if I didn’t catch her. I didn’t think what I was doing was unusual. So, when I had caught her and lay her down carefully on the dust covered floor, I was astonished to turn around and see every-one gawping at me. “What?” I asked. I hadn’t really done anything special. I mean, she had come at me quite slowly and she was a small girl, hardly difficult to carry. Saving a little girl from falling was more logical than amazing! These were strange people if they wouldn’t even have tried to save her! Alex looked around at the others. They nodded at him to tell me. “Erm… You… Abby… really fast. How…” he stopped and took a deep breath. “You… you ran like really fast. I didn’t even see you get up and you ~6~

were already over there. She was flying at you at such a speed… and you just caught her. You didn’t even fall or anything. How did you… How did you do that?” “Do what? I didn’t do anything. She was going really slow, and she’s really light. I didn’t do anything special. Come on, any-one could have done that.” I stuttered. It wasn’t true. He had to be lying! I wasn’t special. “No. Only you, and I’m not lying. Ask anyone.” I turned around and looked at all the others. They all nodded slowly, even Keeran and Shelly. How could this be happening? I’m not special. I’m not! Suddenly, I felt myself falling… then nothing. ***** I was falling through darkness again. The voice was starting whispering to me again, faster this time. More ~2~

urgent, like it had something important to tell me before I woke up again. “These children have powers, as do you, you, you, They have powers, you never knew, knew, knew, Maya reads minds; Abby sends thoughts, thoughts, thoughts, Alex reads feelings, he knows when you’re distraught, distraught, distraught, Harry talks to animals and Keeran can fight, fight, fight, Shelly knows when you lie, but why’s she uptight, uptight, uptight...” ***** I opened my eyes, annoyed that I had been woken when the voice had been about to tell me something important. I groaned. The small light bulb was shining right into my eyes. Suddenly, the light disappeared. My eyes ~2~

adjusted to the sudden darkness, and I realised it was because someone was leaning over me. At first I thought it was Alex and my heart jumped into my throat. Then I realised it was only Maya. “Alex was watching over you, but you have been unconscious for quite a while and he hasn’t slept in ages! He’s really worried about you though.” She muttered. I grunted, not quite feeling up to a whole sentence just yet. “He… he likes you too.” She stated. My cheeks burned but I tried to hide it. I didn’t even know if I liked him yet, so how could she? I mean he was perfect, and wonderful, and caring, and... “I…I don’t know what you mean.” I lied. It was worth a shot. “Alex. He likes you too.” She repeated, matter-of-factly. I didn’t ~2~

know what to say, maybe I did like him. However, even if I did I wasn’t going to admit it straight away, was I? “Yes…” I said carefully, wondering what to say, “But I like you all. You’re like the only friends I’ve ever had!” I hated admitting that but it was true, and the only way to distract her from the Alex conversation. “You know what I mean.” She insisted. Then, turning to Alex, she whispered, “He’s dreaming about you.” I turned and looked at him. He looked so peaceful and untroubled. There was no anxious look in his eyes, he just looked like a normal, trouble free, boy. When he was awake, however, you could see in his eyes that he was worried about what would happen in here. He was scared, I know he wouldn’t admit it if he asked but he was. I could tell. ~2~

How could Maya tell what he was dreaming anyway? Suddenly, I remembered the dream. “Maya reads minds.” so she knows what he’s dreaming? What if Maya could see my dreams? Did she know that I had to save them? She wasn’t letting on if she did. “Maya… Can you see my dreams too?” I asked carefully. I didn’t want her to know but, in a way, it would be nice if someone else knew what I was going through. There might not be quite as much pressure on me. “No, it’s strange. Sometimes I can’t read your thoughts at all. Sometimes everything just goes blank. Do you know why that is?” She asked. “No,” I lied, although I knew exactly why it was. Someone was tampering with my thoughts so that no-one found out about my responsibility. I shivered. Some-one was controlling ~3~

my thoughts. Some-one was sending that voice to my dreams. My thoughts were interrupted when Abby stood up and walked clumsily over to me. “I can’t sleep” she murmured. “Come here,” I whispered, pulling her onto my lap. I sang a lullaby that my old nurse used to sing to me when I was a baby. The nurse had died when I was only five and was replaced by the mean old woman who my parents hired next. I missed Darcy, my old nurse. I don’t remember much about her but what I do remember is always nice. She used to sneak me chocolate and read my books at night. She gave me the love a child needs to be brought up with, unlike my parent or my new nurse. None of them cared about me. Darcy did. So, I sang the song that Darcy used to sing to me to ~2~

get me to sleep. It always worked. I always obeyed Darcy. “Go to sleep, Go to sleep. When you wake up, A new day will dawn. So the sooner you sleep, The sooner you wake, The sooner you can get up, And enjoy a new day.” She was asleep before I had finished but I still held her tight realising there was no chance of her enjoying the next day. She would still be here, in this cellar, without food, drink, family. She was younger as well. As I said earlier, children need love. She wasn’t getting enough, but then again, who was to say she would have got any more at home? If her parents were anything like mine, she would feel, like me, more loved here than she ever had in her life. ~3~

***** The door swung open and I jumped. Abby was awake again and we both looked over at the door. Standing there, smirking was the man who had dragged me out of this room only a few hours earlier. He said nothing, just walked over to Alex, who had only just woken up, and picked him up, by his hair. “Hey! I can walk you know!” he screamed, while kicking the man’s shins. The man didn’t react; he just dragged Alex up the stairs and slammed the door behind him.

~1~

Chapter Four When I first met Alex and he was telling me about this place, he said that some of the people who had been taken here had “disappeared”. I keep replaying that sentence in my head. What if Alex doesn’t come back? Isn’t it strange how when you’re waiting for something to happen, time seems to go slower? Time dragged on and every second of it I wished I had gone after him or done something, anything. “It’s not your fault.” Maya whispered into my ear. I had gotten so used to her creeping up on me that I didn’t react. “They would have taken him ~2~

whatever you did, and he would have hated it if you’d got hurt. Don’t cry. He’ll be…” she stopped talking as Keeran walked over. “Hey Jess, what’s going on between you and Alex? He’s always staring at you and you’re upset that he’s gone. He is coming back you know...” He exclaimed. I blushed and looked down, not knowing what to say. Lucking Maya answered for me, “Mind your own business Keeran!” she scolded. Thank you I thought, knowing she could hear me. She turned and nodded at me, smiling. “Calm down, I was only asking.” Keeran muttered, walking away. I knew he could have started a fight, and easily won, if he wanted to. He obviously cared more about his friends than he let on. That realisation still hadn’t distracted me from my worrying about Alex and, ~3~

as I sat and sobbed quietly, Maya hugged me. Her arms somehow didn’t feel right around me. Only Alex’s did and ever would. ***** “Jess, Abby is crying. I think I should go over and see her.” Maya let go and her arms were replaced by a new, warmer, more comfortable pair of arms. It still didn’t feel right though. I turned to see who it was and saw Harry staring at me. “I don’t get why you’re so upset.” he muttered. “You weren’t this upset when Abby disappeared.” “It’s different.” I whispered my voice hoarse from crying so much. “How’s it different.” He asked. Why did he care so much? “It just… It just is.” I whispered back then burst into tears again. Why was I worried? Abby came back so why wouldn’t Alex? It wasn’t so much that ~2~

I didn’t think he would come back, I thought, it was the thought of not having him hold me when I’m upset. The thought of not having him near when something important happened. The thought of not having him altogether, I realised. Oh dear. What was going on? I couldn’t love him could I? I hardly knew him! He was so perfect though, different than the others. He cared about me, wanted to protect me. But still, it was too soon... wasn’t it? Oh god, I thought. I need to stop thinking about him. As if he knew what I were thinking, Harry whispered into my ear, “You should get some sleep.” I nodded. That was the one sure fire way to stop thinking of Alex, but did I really want to think about what I knew was coming next? ***** ~2~

I was falling again and the voice finished off its last poem, “You are here to save your friends, friends, friends, But if you tell them your power will end, end, end.” A bang woke me up. Alex was flying right at me looking worried. “You are here to save your friends” the voice rang in my ears. I stood up quickly and he landed right in my arms. He was right, I didn’t even topple over. Looking into his face, those eyes, those lips, he was perfect, I realised how much I loved him, and how much worse it would be if I fell in love with him anymore. I collapsed to the floor, let go of him and blinked, trying not to cry. I’m going to start getting a reputation as a cry baby I thought, but why does it matter. Nothing matters but him. I couldn’t hold in my tears any longer, ~1~

so I muttered something about going to sleep and lay down, burying my head into my arms and cried. I thought he had gone, but after a minute or so he talked, “Jess, are you Ok? Why are you crying, and why are you hiding it from me? Maybe I could help.” He seemed concerned. I couldn’t tell him why I was really upset, so I muttered something about missing my family, and not wanted to bother him about it again. “Don’t worry, I don’t mind. I like comforting you. I… oh don’t worry.” He was obviously going to tell me something, but had decided against it. It was probably just something to do with his family, so I sat up and prompted him. “So, what was your family like?” I asked, trying not to look into his eyes. ~2~

I didn’t want to start crying again, especially not in front of him. “Erm… I didn’t really get the feeling they cared about me. I know it’s horrible to say but… I didn’t really love them. I hardly ever saw them and when I did they ignored me. It was like I didn’t exist.” He just summed up my feelings exactly. I was astonished. “What about you?” he asked carefully, not wanting to upset me again. “Exactly the same.” I said smiling. “Then why were you upset?” I looked over at Maya for help. She nodded. “Jess can you come over here a second?” she shouted at me, winking. “Can it wait?” Alex asked. “No, it can’t. Sorry.” Shouted Maya. I smiled apologetically at Alex and walked over to Maya. ***** ~3~

“Thanks,” I said. “Don’t mention it. So, what’s going on there?” she nodded towards Alex and my heart skipped a beat. “Oh leave it Maya.” I really didn’t want to talk about this right. “Ok. But if you ever need to talk…” “I know where you are.” I finished bitterly. I was being really horrible to Maya, I know, but I wasn’t really in the mood for talking. I looked over at Alex and he was staring at me intently. “What’s he thinking?” I wondered aloud. “I thought you wanted me to leave it.” Maya replied, smirking slightly. I rolled my eyes and sighed, “Immature child.” “You’re one to talk.” She replied. “What?” “Love is childish and naïve. Heartbreak is reality.” She sighed. I sensed some sadness in her voice. ~1~

“What happened?” I asked. It was obvious she wasn’t just talking generally. “I loved him.” She exclaimed and burst into tears. It was my turn to comfort her, so I put my hand on her shoulder. I waited for her to continue. Finally, after a few minutes of crying, she looked up and explained. “He was our driver, my family was very posh you see. I was fifteen when I was taken away. I had run away from home because I had told my parents about my love for Daniel. They had completely disagreed and had told me to split up with him straight away, but I couldn’t. He was four years older than me, and he was an orphan who earnt his money from working for us. He had been our driver since he was seventeen, and since we first saw each other, we knew we had to be together. We ~1~

snuck out together all the time and we both fell completely in love. Then, a few years later, he proposed. We obviously couldn’t get married because I was only fifteen, but we would have got married when I turned sixteen. We both agreed that we would have to tell my parents, but it was a total mistake. When they said I couldn’t, I flipped out and just ran out the door. I didn’t wait for Daniel, I just ran. When I had no energy, I collapsed in the middle of the street and cried. Then someone came, gagged me and carried me away. Daniel has probably found someone else, but I’ve never stopped thinking about him.” She burst into tears again. I had never seen her like this and it was somewhat disconcerting, but I hugged her until she stopped crying. ~2~

“Sorry. I just miss him so much.” She said, then added quietly, “Go for it with Alex. Trust me on this one.” ***** I got up and walked over to Alex, still none the wiser about what to say to him. It turns out I didn’t have to. “What was wrong with Maya? Is she Ok now?” He asked, worried. I loved how everyone cared about each other so much here. It was a refreshing contrast to home. “Yeah she was just… missing home.” I didn’t feel quite up to telling him everything, and Maya probably wouldn’t have wanted me to anyway. When I looked over at her she nodded. “Oh, Ok. Like you.” He winked. Oh, he knew, but I didn’t feel embarrassed or angry. I felt so at home here, how could I. ~1~

Chapter Five

I looked around the dingy cellar. Shelly was sitting in the corner on her own, and I realised I hadn’t even spoken a word to her since I had got here. She seemed a bit uninviting but I was sure first impressions could be wrong. I stood up, attracting the attention of the whole room as the floor was so hard I made noise when I ~2~

walked on it. However, instead of being embarrassed I just walked over to Shelly and sat down next to her. “Hello.” I exclaimed, trying to sound as friendly as I possibly could. She nodded and turned away. I tried not to be discouraged, and continued. “So, how are you?” “How do you think I am? I’m stuck in a cellar with hardly anything to eat or drink with people I don’t even like!” “Oh thanks.” I exclaimed sarcastically, letting my anger take over, “I’ll just go then, shall I, if you don’t like me.” I started getting up but she pulled me back down. Well, I say pulled, she barely touched my hand and gave a slight tug, nothing that could actually make any effect but I sat back down anyway. At least she was making an effort. “No!” she shouted. Well, shouting for her was about the same volume as ~2~

normal talking for the rest of us. Then she added quietly, “Don’t go.” “Ok. Why are you so…” I couldn’t find the words, so I gave up. “Moody? Bitter? Horrible? Well…” She hesitated, wondering whether to tell me. “Go on, I won’t tell anyone, I promise.” I prompted. She paused, as if working out whether I was telling the truth and she obviously decided that I was because she carried on talking, “Well, when I was taken away I was pregnant. Eight and a half months pregnant actually. I was the first one here, so no one was there to help me when the baby was born, then those scientists,” she paused and a tear ran down her cheek, “They took her away, and I haven’t seen her since. Now every time someone comes here I’m bitter, because I know none of ~2~

them have got it as hard as me. I desperately want her to be alive, but I doubt it. She was so pretty, too good to waste.” Tears ran down her cheeks, and I found myself once again comforting instead of being comforted. After a while she had calmed down and she smiled at me. “Thanks.” She whispered. “I’ve never felt comfortable enough to tell anyone, but you’re different. I don’t know what it is about you, but I can trust you.” I smiled back. I couldn’t help turning to look at Alex for a second. He was telling Abby a story and she was sitting in front of him listening intently. “You like him don’t you?” Shelly interrupted. I was determined not to go bright red this time, as I was used to this question by now. Was it that obvious? “What?” I asked, indifferently. ~2~

“Oh get real, you’re practically drooling over him!” I realised that I my mouth was open as I was staring at him, and quickly closed it. “Am not!” I lied. Damn it! I thought. She knows I’m lying. She gave me a knowing look and gestured for me to go over to him. I was going to argue but I knew she would know I was lying and so I gave up and stood up. ***** As I was walking towards him, I realised how clumsy and unsteadily my feet were moving. Also I was sure I was staring right at him, so I looked away and immediately tripped over something. I fell flat on the floor and, though I was unhurt (presumably because of my superhuman powers), I was mortified! I fell over right in front of everyone! I turned to see what I had tripped over. I realised that Keeran had stuck his foot out in front ~1~

of me and was now smirking at me. Just as I was about to retaliate, but someone was pulling me up by my shoulder. At first I thought it was Alex, but then I heard him say, “No Harry, leave her. She might have concussion.” “Oh shut up! I didn’t hit my head at all, and I wasn’t hurt! I just tripped over!” I know my cheeks were flushed red and I looked very defiant, but I didn’t care. I wouldn’t have him thinking I was a child. I could take care of myself. To prove this, I stood up quickly. A little too quickly perhaps, as I got a head rush. I collapsed back down on the floor and held my head. “See I told you that you were hurt!” Alex ran to my side. “I’ve got this one, mate.” Harry said, a little competitively. ~2~

“Ok.” Alex agreed hesitantly. I looked at him, as if to say don’t go, but he just shrugged. “So, your head hurts?” Harry asked. I was still staring at Alex as I answered, “No, it doesn’t, nothing hurts,” not strictly true, I thought, but I don’t think my heart counts, “I just tripped I’m not injured at all.” I continued, careful not to lose my temper again. “But when you stood up you fell over again.” Harry insisted. “Yeah I got head rush! Now leave me alone!” Whoops I didn’t succeed in keeping my temper. “Ok, I just care about you.” Oh no, I see where this is going. “How did you trip over anyway?” “There seemed to be a foot blocking my way.” I said, turning away from Alex for a second to smirk at Keeran. He poked his tongue out at me and I laughed. He was a boy after all, he ~1~

couldn’t help being awkward. When I turned and looked at Alex again he seemed upset. “Look, I’m fine Harry. Thanks for the thought anyway though.” I got up and walked over to Alex, careful not to trip over this time. ***** “What’s up?” I asked, sitting down beside him. “Nothing, just give me a second Ok?” He sounded a bit tearful so I stayed quiet until he talked again. “Sorry about that. So, what is it?” he still sounded a bit choked up. “What’s what?” “What do you want?” “I wanted to see if you were Ok.” I was really worried about him. I’d never seen him show his emotions before. “Oh, it’s nothing.” ~2~

“Go on tell me. I always tell you!” I wished I hadn’t said that. “So why were you upset the other day? I know you lied to me.” He accused. I felt my face flush red. “Stop changing the subject! I asked why you were upset.” “The same reason you were, maybe?” “I doubt it!” “Really?” he winked and my cheeks flushed red. I shook my head. It wasn’t possible, it really wasn’t possible. Suddenly his face fell. I had been so engrossed in my thoughts that I hadn’t heard the door open. I turned and saw, not a big bald man, but a thin old man with grey long hair. He carefully set down two pieces of bread and then beckoned me to come with him. I looked at Alex and he gave my hand a quick squeeze then helped me up. I gave him a quick kiss on the ~1~

cheek then, before I could regret it, ran through the door.

Chapter Six

“W-w-who are you?” I didn’t realise how nervous I was until I heard my voice. Was this what happened when ~2~

they came to take you away? Was that why Alex’s face fell and he squeezed my hand? “There’s no need to worry,” he paused and looked around then leaned close to me and whispered, “I’m on your side.” “So YOU send me those dreams?” he nodded, and then talked again in a nearly silent whisper, assumedly so no one would hear. “We don’t have much time. All you need to know from me is that I’m on your side, and so are all the people who do experiments on you. We give you powers to give you a chance to escape, so use it! There are guards around this building, and they aren’t on your side so you’ll need to learn to fight! You may not see me again; I will only come to speak to you in times of dire need. I needed to talk to you today because you are going off ~3~

track! Yes, you do need to be friends with the other children, but you have a mission, and don’t forget that. Now, we have to go. Just remember your mission.” With that, he stood up and grabbed my hand. I looked around trying to remember the route to the way out. It was right opposite the stairs down to our cellar. At the top of the stairs, the man leant down slightly and looked me in the eyes. “Good luck.” He whispered then hugged me and pushed me towards the stairs. He waved, then turned and walked away. I contemplated on running for it then, but when I turned and looked at the cellar door, I realised I had a duty. How could I leave them there? ***** I opened the door, walked through it and, with much hesitation, closed it again. I turned around and saw Alex ~2~

standing opposite me. He had obviously been pacing around, and his hand was touching his cheek where I had kissed him, but when he heard the door open, he stopped. I took a deep breath, and then he smiled. I ran at him and jumped into his arms. He whispered into my hair, “I thought you weren’t coming back.” I jumped down and grabbed hold of both of his hands. This was it, I thought to myself. Here goes nothing. “I love you.” I whispered, loud enough for him to hear, but so no one else could. He didn’t say anything, just swept me into his arms and kissed me. He pulled back for a second, “I was hoping you would say that.” He smiled then kissed me again. ***** I tried to stifle a yawn but didn’t succeed. ~2~

“You’re tired.” Alex said suddenly. “Let’s get some sleep, we’ve had a long day.” He smiled and laughed. Have you ever been so happy that you just can’t breathe? Well that’s what I felt like. I loved him so much my heart actually hurt. I tried to catch my breath and closed my eyes. So this is what love feels like? I thought. I should be in love more often! Suddenly I felt myself being tugged downwards and fell into Alex’s lap. I looked up at him and he smiled. I snuggled up to his chest and tried to ignore my rapidly beating heart long enough to be able to get some sleep. ***** I woke up the next morning from my first dreamless sleep in days with a satisfied grin on my face. I slowly opened my eyes, savouring the moment. I climbed off Alex’s lap, careful not to wake him. I turned and ~2~

looked at his beautiful face. His dark hair glistened in the dull light the light bulb was casting. His fringe fell over his closed eyes as he shifted in his sleep. I reached up to touch his cheek, then hesitated for a moment. What was I afraid of? He was mine now, we were together finally. I reached up again and stroked his face. He smiled in his sleep. I turned and looked at everyone else. Abby was curled up tight with her fists clenched in front of her face. I think she was a lot more vulnerable than she let on. I turned and looked at Keeran, who was muttering and grunting in his sleep. As he tossed and turned I realised how vulnerable he actually was as well, though he tried desperately to hide it. Harry lay sprawled out on the floor snoring. Maya was curled up in a ball with her hands over her face. It must be ~2~

harder for her to keep her thoughts away from Daniel when she was asleep and there was no distractions, I thought. Shelly was lying with her hands on her stomach, where her baby had been at one point. She also seemed troubled, even in her sleep. I turned back to Alex, whose eyes were slowly opening. Once he had fixed his gaze on me, he smiled. Neither of us said anything, his smile said a thousand words. I looked down, somewhat embarrassed by the way he was looking at me. Like I was something special, well in his eyes I might be but I couldn’t see it myself. “Did you have a good night sleep?” I asked, trying to break the silence. “Oh yes, did you?” I allowed myself to look up and realised he still had that cheeky smile on his face. I couldn’t help smiling back. ~3~

“The best.” My heart skipped a beat as he grabbed my hand and pulled me closer to him. He cupped my face in his hands and leant in. He was just about to kiss me when I heard a cough from behind me. We both looked around and saw Harry sitting up with his arms crossed. “We all know you’re an item, no need to go sentimental on us!” I looked at Alex and we both burst out laughing. Abby opened her eyes and got up. She walked clumsily towards us and Alex pulled her into his lap. “Did we wake you up?” he said. “Sorry.” I smiled. I had the perfect boyfriend. “No, I was already awake. What does seminenal mean?” “Sentimental.” He laughed. “It’s a word boring people use to criticise interesting people.” ~2~

“What does criticise mean?” It was really cute the way Abby’s eyebrows creased together when she concentrated. “Be mean to.” Alex smiled. “Oh ok. Why’s Harry being mean?” “I’m not!” Harry retorted angrily. “I’m stating the facts!” “Someone’s jealous.” Abby joked. “As if.” “Who wouldn’t be?” Alex said, Ignoring Keeran’s comment. He pushed a strand of hair out of my face and leant in to kiss me. However, I suddenly felt sick and started swaying. He leant back and held me steady, but his worried face was only in the background. ***** I was falling again, but it was different this time. Alex was floating about me and I was reaching for his hand. ~2~

“Someone’s coming to ruin your chances, chances, chances, So beware she advances, advances, advances!” I reached Alex’s hand and he pulled me back up to reality. ***** I was breathing heavily and collapsed into his arms. “Are you Ok?” he whispered, worriedly. “Yeah, just came over dizzy for a few seconds, but it’s gone now.” “You were screaming at me to catch you, that you were falling.” I looked around and everyone was staring at me, worried. I turned back to Alex. “You were flying!” I gasped. “I’m pretty sure I wasn’t.” he laughed. Every-one sighed a sigh of relief, realising that I was Ok.

~1~

Chapter Seven

The door swung open and through it flew a girl, about my age, with long, curly, blonde hair and pale blue eyes. She sat up and her eyes shifted from side to side. She eventually set her gaze on Alex. Her eyes welled up with tears and she started wailing. Alex ran over to her and my head, which had been on his shoulder; fell to the floor with a bang. He hardly noticed, as he was already comforting the girl. She asked where we were and I gasped as her repeated exactly what ~2~

he had told me, word for word. I had felt special when he had talked to me like he cared about me, but I guess he just did this for everyone. I knew she was upset, but couldn’t help feeling jealous. I though he loved me! A tear hit the hard floor, then another, and another. Soon I was holding my hand over my mouth to stop anyone from hearing my sobbing. I gasped. This must be what the voice meant when it said “she’s coming to ruin your chances.” She’s come to ruin my chances with Alex. “So what’s your name?” he asked in his sweet voice I had come to love so much. She sniffed. “Emily.” He smiled at her, his signature smile, cheeky and full of mischief, the one I thought was reserved for me. I shuddered. He was practically drooling over her! ***** ~3~

“He doesn’t love her. He only has eyes for you.” Maya whispered, wiping the tears from my face with her sleeve. “He’s treating her exactly like he treated me, and he smiled at her like he smiles at me. And… I know he loves her.” “How?” Maya whispered, trying to hide her curiosity but not succeeding. “I… I can’t tell you.” I couldn’t tell her about my dream, I knew she would then ask if I’d had any other dreams like it, and I definitely couldn’t tell her about them. “Then you can’t prove it can you?” she said playfully, then the playful tone left her voice and she whispered, “he doesn’t love her! I don’t know how she feels though because…” “Because?” I prompted, curiously. “Because I can’t hear her thoughts.” I gasped. ~1~

“I thought you could hear every ones thoughts!” “No I can’t hear the scientists, or her it turns or her it turns out.” “Maybe…” no! It couldn’t be true. “Maybe she’s a scientist.” I suggested. “Just because you don’t like someone doesn’t mean you have to accuse them of such terrible things. What has she ever done to you.” Maya hissed, getting up. She gave me one last stare and walked away, to the other side of the room. She didn’t know the scientists were on our side. I wouldn’t be able to tell her though, and now she was mad at me. Why was everything going wrong all of a sudden? ***** “What’s up?” Alex asked me, after he had finished comforting Emily. He sat down beside me and put his arm ~2~

round my shoulder. I shrugged him off. “Jess?” he persisted, in a worried voice. “What?” I asked moodily. Ignoring him wouldn’t work, obviously. “What’s up Jess?” he tried to hold my hand, but I pulled away. “Nothing!” “Well it’s obviously something! God you’re so difficult sometimes!” he exclaimed, then looked down and, in a softer voice, whispered. “Sorry. Please, just tell me.” “No.” I whispered simply. “Ok, I’ll go back to Emily if you’re going to be like that.” He started getting up but I pulled him back down by his arm, desperate for him to stay. Also, the thought of him going back to Emily made me feel sick. “No!”

~2~

“Tell me then.” He whispered in his soft, hypnotising voice. I don’t know what happened, it just slipped out. “You love her don’t you.” I whispered. I buried my head in my hands. Why had I told him? Why couldn’t I just have kept my mouth shut? He pulled my hands away from my face and looked me in the eyes. “What?” he laughed. “That’s why you’re mad? That’s stupid!” I pulled my hands out of his, suddenly taken over by rage. “Oh stupid am I now? Well not too stupid to not notice you flirting with her.” “What?” he said, more seriously this time. His eyebrows knitted together. “I thought you loved me.” The look on his face at that moment broke my heart.

~1~

“Of course I do.” I whispered, then added, in spite of myself, “that’s more than I can say for you.” He shuffled away from me a bit, stopping his attempts to hold me. “I just don’t get you sometimes.” He whispered. “You’re the one who says you love me then go off with Emily” He just lost it, completely forgetting anyone else was there. He stood up and, looking down at me, shouted, “I thought I knew you, but then this whole other person came out. You’ve turned into something that I don’t like, and I’m not sure if I want to be with you when you’re like this!” I stood up opposite him and looked him in the eyes. “What are you saying?” I breathed deeply, trying to stop myself from crying. ~2~

“I’m saying,” he stopped, then whispered; “I’m saying I think we should” he swallowed and then finished a sentence neither of us wanted to hear, “break up.” I gasped and stumbled backwards into the wall. He turned and walked over to Emily, but I could no longer see, my eyes were overflowing with tears.

~2~

Chapter Eight

I slid down the wall, sobbing quietly, as I buried my head in my arms. I was having trouble controlling my sobbing but it hardly mattered. The one person who I cared about already knew how I felt anyway. I looked at my hands, at the spaces between my fingers, and thought about how perfectly Alex’s fingers had fit into those spaces. My hands felt empty now. I felt an arm around my shoulder but made no effort to lift my head. “I’m sorry I stormed off earlier. You’re right she is horrible. I tried to talk to her and she ignored me. I don’t know what Alex sees in her… oh I’m so sorry Jess! I forgot about…” ~3~

“It’s Ok.” I lifted my head for a second to interrupt her and immediately saw Alex talking to Emily. A new wave of tears came over me and I put my head on Mayas shoulder. Someone came up and tugged my sleeve. “I can’t sleep.” Abby’s voice whispered, close to my ear. I was just about to sit up when Maya talked for me, “Not now Abby, Jess is busy.” I couldn’t stand being talked about when I was right here, so I lifted my head again. “It’s Ok Abby, come here.” I pulled her onto my lap and buried my head in her hair. “Erm… Jess?” A new voice above me whispered. I pretending not to hear Harry but he sat down and carried on talking anyway. “I saw what Alex did you. That must have been horrible. ~4~

That was so out of order, and anyone would choose you over stupid Emily.” I looked up to see how she reacted to this and saw Alex staring at me with a kind of longing and confusion. Harry saw that I was looking at Alex and moved to sit in front of me. “And… well… I think you’re beautiful and if I had you, I’d never let you go.” I was only half listening, because I was thinking about Alex. I leant around Harry and looked at Alex. He was talking to Emily again, but you could tell he was doing it half heartedly, and he kept closing his eyes, trying to stop himself looking over at me, though I could tell he could feel my gaze burning into him. I knew Harry was talking, but couldn’t concentrate on what he was saying so, when he asked me what I thought, I panicked and nodded. ~2~

“Oh great!” he said. He leant forward to kiss me, but I turned my face so he only kissed my cheek. I wouldn’t want anyone to ruin my memory of Alex’s lips on mine. He didn’t seem discouraged at all. “So now that you’re my girlfriend…” “What!” I exclaimed. “I never agreed to that!” “Yes you did… you nodded!” He sounded confused and I almost felt sorry for him, but only almost. I looked at Alex and he was looking away, biting his nail, breathing deeply. His eyes kept turning to me quickly, then he’d look away. “Yeah, because I wasn’t listening, you think I would agree to that right after I had split up with…” I could feel Alex’s eyes boring into me now, but I wouldn’t let myself look at him. Tears started welling up in my eyes again ~1~

and buried my head in Abby’s hair again, she was fast asleep by now. ***** I looked up, hoping Alex wasn’t still staring at me, and saw that Keeran and Shelly had joined Alex and Emily, and they were on the opposite side of the room to me, Maya, Abby and Harry. That’s when I realised, our big family had split in two, and all because of me. I breathed in deeply, and whispered to Maya, “Can you take Abby for a couple of minutes.” She nodded and I placed Abby in her arms carefully. She stirred, but didn’t wake. I brushed a hair out of her face and smiling as I listened to her soft snoring. This may be the last time I saw her after all. I stood up and brushed myself down, I had to get out of here. “Where are you going?” Harry asked quietly. If I told him he would try to ~2~

stop me, so I shook my head and walked over to the door. I looked back at the others, maybe for the last time. Maya was holding Abby tight in her arms. I loved the way she cared about everyone and listened to their problems, even though she had many of her own. I turned and looked at Harry. He did mean well, even though he had a strange way of showing it. Shelly was the first here, and she had to go through so much, so I was’t surprised she was so bitter, but, flashing back to when she opened up to me, I realised how vulnerable she actually was. Keeran, though he tried to look tough, was also very vulnerable inside. I skipped Emily and looked straight to Alex. I’d left him until last so he would be the one I remembered most. A tear came to my eye. He was the only person I had ever, would ever, truly love. It was a ~2~

shame it had to end like this. He was staring back at me, his beautful eyes wide with fear. I turned quickly, determined not to change my mind. He loves her! I told myself. There’s nothing for you here. I turned and looked at the door. ***** I had quite forgotten there was anyone else in the room with the thought of being free. I turned the handle of the door and, to my surprise, it opened. I looked up at the door to the outside world. It was close, but not quite close enough. It’s worth a shot, anywhere’s better than here, I thought, and stepped towards the light. ***** I felt a hand grab my waist from behind. Alex’s other hand closed the door, and he sat me down in the middle of the room. The barrier ~3~

separating our group disappearing and everyone sighed with relief. However, the relief didn’t last long, as Alex was fuming. “How could you even think you had a chance of escape? After all I’ve told you; after all you’ve put us through.” I had to interrupt him there. “After all I’ve put us through? What about you and Emily?” He whispered through his teeth, trying not to lose his temper. “I told you. There was, is, nothing going on between me and her.” “And why should I believe you?” I asked. “Because I love you.” After all we’d been through; those words still made my heart skip a beat. “But you treated her like you treated me.” My head was telling me to shut up but I couldn’t. “You hugged her ~2~

you…” I couldn’t carry on because a lump was forming in my throat. “I was trying to be nice, and people being anxious makes me anxious too, so I was helping myself as much as her. Whereas with you, it was all about you.” He sat down beside me and suddenly I felt better. I could no longer feel jealousy, anger, resentment or sadness. All I could feel was his hand in mine, and the feeling that everything was alright again. The spaces between my fingers were filled. He pulled me into his arms with a kind of need that wasn’t there before. It had been such a long time since I had last held him, yet it didn’t feel long at all. It felt natural that we should be together again, almost predictable, yet an hour ago I would have felt in quite impossible. The urgency with which his lips touched mine seemed ~2~

almost to be expected; although my heart still pounded so loud I was sure everyone in the room must be able to hear it. ***** We stopped kissing only when Harry walked past and ‘accidently’ kicked Alex. I pulled away, if only to see Alex’s beautiful eyes and gleaming smile. Finally, I had him back. The Alex I knew and adored. I could not help the smile that spread across my face at that moment, though Alex was glaring angrily at Harry. I was sure he was angry at Harry, not only for kicking him, but also for keeping him from me. My heart fluttered and, when Alex turned around and smiled at me, I had to say something. I took a deep breath. “I’m sorry.” I whispered, in what I hoped was a regretful tone, “It was all ~3~

my fault, I shouldn’t have blamed you.” “You were right to blame me, it was my fault. Anyway it’s all in the past now and, if anything, it’s pulled us closer together.” I smiled and grabbed hold of both his hands. “I love you.” This was exactly how I had first told him, and the memory made my smile widen. We had come so far since. Looking into his eyes, saving everyone didn’t seem so difficult. I looked around and saw them all together again. Maya and Shelly were hugging and whispering that they had missed eachother ‘ever so much’. Harry was sitting with him arms crossed, sulking, but was finding it hard to stop himself laughing at Emily’s jokes. Keeran was telling Abby a story about how he kidknapped a murderer and sold him to the police for lots of money, and Abby was ~2~

gasping as if it was real, which she probably thought it was. Finally our group was happy again, now I could concentrate on saving them!

Chapter Nine ~2~

I needed to come up with a plan to escape. If I thought about the plan, Maya would pick it up then whisper it to Abby, so it wouldn’t be suspicious, then Abby could send it to everyone. I turned to Maya and she nodded. Ok, I thought, a picture forming in my mind of what would need to happen. I would need to create a diversion for whoever was outside so everyone else could run for it, and then I could use my superhuman speed to save myself. If I didn’t save myself, at least the others were safe. I decided the sign for when to run would be when I turned on the tap. I looked at Maya and she nodded again beckoning Abby. She pulled her into her arms then started whispering urgently, but discretely. Abby nodded, and then suddenly I heard my plan repeated in Abby’s voice. At first I though she had repeated it outloud and blown out ~3~

cover, but then I remembered her power and sighed out of relief. Everyone looked at me and nodded and Alex’s grip on my shoulder tightened. The tap was right next to me, so it was only a matter of waiting until the right time to turn it. The tension in the room was high, everyone waiting for the moment they would have to run. But what would happen when we got out of here? We had nowhere to stay, no clothes and no food. How would we survive? There was too much pressure on me, so I closed my eyes and rested my head on Alex’s tense shoulder. ***** Me and Alex were sitting on a large white sofa and I had my head on his shoulder. We were watching two small children running around playing tag. They looked very similar, ~4~

probably twins, and they both had short brown hair and bright green eyes. Though they looked the same, their personalities couldn’t be more different. One boy ran up to me and Alex now with tears running down his face. “Harry pushed me!” Alex pulled the boy onto his lap and looked at his knee. “Just a little scrape.” he turned around to me but, instead of looking at me, looked at my arms. I hadn’t realised I had been holding anything but when I looked down I saw a very small baby girl in my arms. She was fast asleep and breathing softly. I smiled up at Alex and he smiled back. He leant in to kiss me. ***** I woke up from my dream and turned to Alex. He was looking straight ahead and looked very tense. I wondered ~2~

why, and then remembered my plan. I looked around at everyone in this room, and they were all quite the same. Everyone in the room was so tense and I couldn’t bear it. When I could take it no longer, I stood up slowly. Alex stood up with me and kissed me. I looked him in the eyes and smiled. Maybe my dream would come true one day. The only way of finding out was to escape. I turned and put my hand on the tap. Everyone took a deep breath and their muscled tightened. I looked around to make sure everyone was watching and a wave of nervousness came over me. What if I didn’t succeed? What if I lost one of them? A flash back of all the time I’d spend with them went through my head. The first time I’d seen them all, the way Keeran reacted to seeing me. The first time I’d seen Alex and the way my ~2~

heart felt when he talked to me, when I was shouted at him for telling me it would all be Ok and when he comforted me anyway. When I had been thrown back into that room and how they had all taken care of me, how I had wished for this cellar to be real because of how much I loved the people in it. Maya’s one way conversation, which now I know must have been with Shelly. When Abby had been given back and I had realised my superpowers. When I had found out about all their powers. When Maya had told me Alex liked me back, and how I tried desperately to deny it. When I had helped Abby get to sleep by singing her that lullaby. When Alex was taken, and how upset I had been. When I realised I loved Alex and had tried to hide it from him. When Maya had told me about Daniel and when Shelly had told me about ~3~

her baby. When I had tripped over and when Alex had been upset, because he loved me I now knew. When Alex and I were finally together, and when we broke up. That was my worst memory, so I skipped over that quickly. When we got back together. That was my favourite, so I savoured that memory. I thought about that as Alex held me close, not showing any signs of ever letting me go. ***** “Now!” shouted a voice in my head and, before I had time to regret it, I untangled myself form Alex’s grip reluctantly, and then I turned the tap. Everyone ran for the door, but I got there first and opened it. Something didn’t feel quite right, but I couldn’t back out now. I bounded up the stairs and towards the doorway to our freedom. However, before I reached it I felt someone grab my waist. I swung ~4~

my arm round and managed to hit him in the face, making him let go. However, there were half a dozen men running at me now. I knew we had no chance of escaping now, so I turned back to my friends. “Run back! They’re coming!” There was a delayed reaction to this change of plan, but after a few seconds, everyone turned and ran. It was too late for me, however. Men were coming at me from all directions. I tried to fight them off but it was no use, even with my superhuman strength I couldn’t fight off twenty or so grown adults. I looked down the staircase and Alex was hesitating at the doorway. He started running back up the stairs, but I didn’t want him to be captured too, I loved him too much. “GO!” I screamed and, after a moment of deliberation, he turned ~2~

and ran down the stairs, into the doorway. He turned and, as I was being dragged further away from him, he shouted, “I love you!” there was no time to reply, as the door to another room was being closed behind me.

~3~

Chapter Ten The door was slammed as I was dragged through it, and I was thrown into a small empty cage. Suddenly, an ugly face came as close to me as the cage allowed, and snarled. “Thought you could get away did you?” the man had a big hooked nose with a big hairy mole at the end. He had a bristly beard, but his head was completely bald. He had a patch over one of his eyes and looked, I thought, like a troll pirate. I couldn’t help but laugh, even in a terrible situation like this. “Think it’s funny do you? Well you won’t be laughing after all the mean experiments that will be done one you!” I sighed out of relief and my mood brightened considerably. At least it wasn’t a bad punishment, as ~4~

the scientists were on my side. He gave me an angry look and stormed away, locking the door behind him. ***** There was even less light here than there was in the cellar, but there was a small candle in the corner casting a small bit of light. I sat up and looked around the cellar. I gasped. All around me were more cages with more children in! One even had a baby! I opened my mouth to talk but one girl, about ten, widened her eyes and shook her head. She pointed to the corner, where there was a small man with a long beard sitting on a stool sleeping. I guess I couldn’t talk because he would wake up. I nodded at her. ***** My thoughts turned to Maya. Could she hear me from here? If you can here me, I thought, feeling stupid, get ~2~

Abby to tell me. Nothing. After a few seconds, I decided she couldn’t hear me from here. I thought of everyone in the cellar, and how I had let them down. How had my plan failed? How had they known I was coming? I gasped. NO! I thought. It could’t be true. I felt like I was going to cry, but I swallowed my tears. I had to face the facts, someone had betrayed me. Someone didn’t want us to escape. Someone was on their side. Who could it be? I loved them all so much; I just couldn’t believe one of them was a traitor. I thought of all I had been through with Alex. I though of the look on his face when he slept, innocent and trouble free, it couldn’t be him, it just couldn’t. Abby was so sweet and innocent, it couldn’t be her either, and Maya had always been like a big sister to me so it couldn’t possibly be her. Shelly had opened up ~2~

to me, and she was way too unobservant to be a spy. Harry was mad, but not that mad. Anyway there hadn’t been enough time for him to be given a microphone. Keeran was stupid, but not that stupid to ruin the only chance for him to escape. I hated the thought that it could be one of them, and I may have misjudged them. I felt like I had left someone out. Of course! That explained it all! I sighed a sigh of relief. None of my friends were spies. My smile quickly turned to a gasp of understanding. I now knew what the vioce had meant when it had said that she would ruin my chances. Not with Alex, but with escaping! Everything suddenly fell into place. That’s why Maya couldn’t read her thoughts, that’s why I hadn’t liked her. How could I have been so stupid? ~3~

My thoughts were interrupted when a scientist walked in. He smiled apologetically as he slammed the door and the man in the corner woke up. He seemed startled but, after looking at the scientist, nodded at him and went back to sleep. The scientist came over to my cage and threw it open. He leant forward and grabbed me by my top. I didn’t struggle of course, why would I, he was on my side. Once we were inside the lab he placed me down carefully.

~4~

Chapter Eleven “Sorry, it’s just they’re watching, everywhere but here.” he whispered. He pointed to a chair in the corner and I went and sat on it. The old man came in and the scientist exclaimed, “I got her boss!” sounding rather proud of himself. “I told you to call me William, but thank you Arthur.” Arthur nodded then William turned to me. “Welcome. Have a cup of tea and some cake!” I nodded eagerly and when Arthur passed the food to me I scoffed it down quickly. I hadn’t realised how hungry I was before that. All I could hear now was the sound of the kettle boiling and an occasional cough from William. When I had finished I turned to him, confused about why I was ~6~

here. Instead of answering straight away, he walked over to the kettle, which I now realised had finished boiling, and poured us both a cup of tea. He came over and handed me one, then sat on the edge of the operating table. “You were right about Emily; she’s a spy working for Harper.” I would’ve asked who Harper was at that moment but William didn’t pause long enough, “He is getting suspicious about you all so he sent in a spy to see what you did, and she told him about you trying to run away. I’m sorry I didn’t warn you, I didn’t know at first but now I do I feel awful.” I shook my head to let him know I didn’t blame him; I didn’t have enough time to get a whole sentence in as he wouldn’t stop talking. “Also…” he paused for a second and I waited for him to talk. “Harry’s ~2~

dying.” I gasped and dropped my teacup. It shattered into pieces on the floor but I hardly noticed. “No!” I whispered. “How?” Will looked down and shook his head. “How!?” I asked a bit louder, though I knew he’s heard me. “We were doing an experiment, trying to get his mind off you. You see, you were all he could think about and we wanted him to concentrate on escaping so he wouldn’t ruin it for everyone, but it went wrong and well… he has a month to live.” “Oh my god.” It was my fault, if I had told him how it was straight away this wouldn’t have happened, but instead I had to spare his feelings and now he was dying because of it. Tears ran down my cheeks as Arthur swept up the pieces of my cup. He gave me a sad look and walked away to throw the pieces in the bin. William leant ~3~

forward to give me a hug but I pushed him off and stood up. I sprinted to the door and swung it open, making a huge crashing sound. I turned and saw Arthur running at me but Will grabbed the back of his coat and told him to let me go. That I knew what I had to do. I ran to the door to the outside world and put my hand on the handle. I couldn’t open it though, how could I leave everyone to die here as I roamed around free. Especially Harry, I thought. He’d want to be with his parents for the last weeks of his life. I lay down on the floor infront of the door and hugged my legs, crying. I couldn’t stay here but I couldn’t go without everyone else. We needed to escape soon. ***** I lay there on the floor crying for hours, until Arthur came and picked me up. I did nothing to stop him, I ~2~

was tired out in any case. He took me to the cage, opening the door carefully this time to not wake the man in the corner. He placed me inside and locked the door of it. I cried all night, and for most of the following nights. I was never taken back into the lab; I was never taken out of this cage in fact. Everyone else was given food but I wasn’t given anything. Once of twice I wished I had drunk that cup of tea, but then I’d think of the reason I hadn’t and I’d feel really selfish. Harry only had a month left and I was worried about my stomach. At the end of the six days a man came and dragged me out of that room. I didn’t look up to see who it was, I didn’t care. I would be back in the cellar soon with a traitor girl, a dying boy, a sweet naïve girl who couldn’t be told any of this, a girl who had lost her baby, a girl who ~2~

was being kept from what she loved most and a boy who hated me. Even the thought of being with Alex again couldn’t lighten my mood so when I was thrown into the room I knew so well, I couldn’t help but frown. “What’s wrong? What did they do to you? I swear if they did anything to you…” “No, they didn’t.” I sighed. I really didn’t feel like telling him anything right now. “What is it then?” I shook my head then buried it in my hands. He took them away from my face and pulled my head onto his shoulder. “Please, just tell me. I love you, and I hate seeing you like this.” I nodded, and then pulled my heavy head up to his ear. “It’s Harry.” A lump formed in my throat and tears fell down my face, soaking his dirty, torn worn out t shirt. ~3~

“What about him?” I could hear the contempt in Alex’s voice. I swallowed hard, trying to get into a condition where I could at least speak. “He’s dying.” Hearing it out loud somehow made it seem worse. I closed my eyes and placed my head on Alex’s lap, letting the tears fall down my face. I couldn’t look over at Harry or Maya because she would know by now. All I could do was hope it was all a terrible nightmare, though I knew it wasn’t. Alex didn’t ask any more questions, he just stroked my hair and wiped my eyes. I looked up at him to see how he was, but his face was so unreadable. When I had calmed down I sat up and looked Alex in the eyes. Once he was sure I really had calmed down, he asked the question I hoped he would never ask, ~2~

“Why?” I took a deep breath. “You don’t have to tell me.” he whispered, but we both knew I did. “The scientists were trying to get his mind off me, but the experiment went wrong. It’s all my fault.” He sighed. “Why do you always blame yourself for everything?!” “Because it’s always my fault. I tried to spare his feelings so I didn’t turn him down when he asked me to be his girlfriend.” “You said yes?” “No! I just said that I’d only just broken up with you,” he looked down when I said this, it obviously wasn’t a very good memory for him, “then he said he’d ask me out again in a couple of days and, well, I didn’t say he couldn’t so he thought he had a chance, which he never did!” Suddenly that very boy talked. I ~3~

hadn’t realised he was right behind me, so I gasped, “I’m dying?” he sounded really choked up. I closed my eyes and placed my hand on my forehead. I turned around and looked at Harry. “I’m so sorry Harry.” tears welled up in my eyes again, but Harry didn’t see as he’d already ran to the other side of the room and was now banging his head against the wall.

~2~

Chapter Twelve I started to stand up but Alex pulled me back down. “Maybe I should talk to him?” I knew he was right, but I couldn’t help feeling guiltier because of the words he left unsaid, that if I talked to Harry he would only be more hurt, as I was ~3~

the reason he was upset in the first place. “It’s not your fault honey, you couldn’t have known.” I nodded but my mood didn’t change at all. I knew it was my fault, and nothing could change that. Alex shook his head and stood up, walking over to Harry. He pulled Harry’s arms behind his back and sat him down on the floor, so he’d stop hitting the wall. He struggled for a while but in the end he gave up and sat still. The destroyed look on his face broke my heart. Tears streamed down my face and my head fell on the nearest shoulder, which happened to be Keeran’s. However, instead of pushing me off, he stayed completely still. After five minutes or so, he whispered, “What’s wrong with Harry?” I gulped. “He’s dying.” my voice was barely audible, but Keeran seemed to have ~2~

heard. He didn’t say anything, but when I looked up at his face it was completely frozen. As I started crying harder however, his arm slowly went round my shoulder and he held me in a vice like grip which was somewhat comforting. ***** Looking around the room, I could see everyones faces contorted with pain or grief, but none with anger. This should have made me feel better but in fact, I felt a whole lot worse. Even Harry’s face was filled with only confusion and hopefulness. I wish I could feel hopeful, but I was incapable of any emotion except guilt. I knew that the only way I would ever feel a tiny bit better about myself is if I gave Harry one last chance to see the outside world, and his family. This time I was determined, nothing would stop me. Not even that scheming idiot ~2~

Emily. We would escape this time. I just needed a plan. A plan, a plan, oh god it was so hard to think of a plan with all that was on my mind. A cough interrupted my thoughts. I looked up and saw Maya looking at me. As soon as she saw that I was looking she widened her eyes and nodded. What was she doing? Oh! I suddenly understood. She could hear my thoughts, which could help. “Ok.” I thought. “If we wait for a while, until I...” I looked around for inspiration, and saw the tap next to me. “Until I turn on the tap. Then we run for it, Emily will have no time to warn anyone and well actually have a chance of getting away. But how are we going to tell everyone else?” Maya looked over at Abby and I remembered her talent. I nodded and Maya slowly stood up, shocking everyone out of their thoughts. ~2~

Everyone apart from Emily, who just sat there motionless. When Maya sat down beside Abby, everyone looked back down and went back to whatever they were thinking about. Abby crawled into Maya’s lap and Maya whispered the plan quietly into her ear. No-one looked up, that was a good sign. Abby nodded and then closed her eyes in concentration. All of a sudden, words drifted into my head. I don’t know how they got there, but suddenly I was being reminded of my plan all over again. Maya gave Abby a hug and then let her climb down from her lap and sit hugging her knees. I smiled ever so slightly, forgetting about the situation. Keeran’s grip on my shoulder had ever so slightly tightened and everyone else had a flash of hope across the grief on their faces, except Emily who had no idea. ~3~

I looked up at Keeeran and saw his face tense and worried, but mainly hopeful. I’d never seen him show any emotion the whole time he’d been here; it was strange he’d waiting until today to let his guard down. I followed his eyeline and saw that he was looking at Shelly. A flash of something I’d only ever seen in Alex’s eyes went through his. I didn’t have time to think about that though, as Alex had decided Harry was Ok to be left alone and was walking over to me. Keeran, suddenly realising how tight his grip on me was, loosened it and looked at me apologetically. He shuffled away slightly so Alex could sit down. He did, but carried on looking forward. However, his hand slowly entwined with mine and we sat like that for a while.

~4~

Chapter Thirteen

After an hour of so, it was hard to keep track of time in this place, I shuffled closer to the tap. I could feel the tension in the room and couldn’t take any more of it. My sudden ~5~

movement shocked Alex, and when her realised what I was about to do, he leant over and gave me the most long and meaningful kiss he had ever given me. That kiss made me realise how important this was. The fact that everyone was so tense made me realise everyone was considering what would happen if we couldn’t get away. I didn’t even want to think about that though, I just thought about Harry, he needed to be out as soon as possible. As soon as the kiss was over, sooner than I would have wanted it to be, despite the situation, I put my hand on the tap. I felt the tenseness increase as people got ready to run. I looked around the room at all my friends. I was doing this for them. “Come on Jess, you can do this. Think of Harry, think of everyone. You have ~2~

to get out some time, why not now? Go on, three, two, one, NOW!” I turned the tap and everyone stumbled forward and ran at the door. I got there first again and turned the handle for the third, and hopefully last, time ever. Alex was close behind me, followed by the rest of my friends. I noticed Emily sitting there, looking confused as we hurtled out of the door and ran up the stairs as fast as possible. Only one man was on duty, and as I ran upwards I readied myself for throwing him out of the way. However, when I got closer, I realised it was William. He was smiling at us, but I couldn’t help thinking how much trouble he would get in for letting us escape. Therefore, as we ran past him I grabbed hold of his arm and pulled him along with us. As we came to the second door I worried it would be locked, but as I ~2~

turned the handle that too swung open. We ran out of it and I was surprised and ecstatic to see there was no-one on guard there either! So we ran, and ran, and ran further further, as far away from that terrible building as possible. None of us looking back, none of us looked anywhere except the road ahead of us. We couldn’t see much anyhow, the sun was blinding, we hadn’t seen it for so long! But when I finally got used to the sunlight and looked behind me, realised how far back the others were. I remembered my powers, and turned and ran back to them. By this time, we were all extremely tired, but no-one would stop until I told them too. It was obvious I had been given the role of the leader, and I didn’t know quite what to do with that. So, when we had finally got far enough away, by ~3~

my reckoning of course as I had no idea where we were, I stopped running and after a few seconds, everyone else had stopped as well. We all collapsed on the walkway and panted, then all of a sudden everyone realised what had happened. We were free, finally. What followed was what could only be described as a fit of screaming and hugging (Keeran I noticed held Shelly a little longer than anyone else) only broken when Will spoke. In his solemn voice, he mumbled, just loud enough for everyone to hear over the noise, “You know, he’s never going to give up.” There was silence for a few seconds as we thought. We all knew he was right. He wouldn’t give up that easily. I broke the silence the only way I knew how. “Let’s not worry about that now, we need to find somewhere to stay for ~4~

the night and we’ll go home tomorrow.” I heard the other’s groan. I couldn’t blame them. I didn’t want to imagine leaving. I nearly cried at the thought of it. I couldn’t go back home, I just couldn’t. However, Harry needed to, and our group wouldn’t feel right without him. I looked at Harry; he was just as upset about leaving as the rest of us. We couldn’t hold it off though; he only had a month left. It was my fault, I should fix it. Well, not fix it. There was no way I could FIX it. He was dying... because of me. It took me all my strength at that moment not to break down, but we didn’t have time. I could see the sun setting (which was an amazing feeling by the way, after so long) and it would be harder to find somewhere in the night. ***** ~5~

After looking around for a while, all the places being rejected by William because he said they would be “too easy to find”, we finally settled on a patch of soft grass deep in the forest. It was like a dream compared to the cellar, especially as we were free. We all sat up, not even trying to hide the fact we couldn’t get to sleep for excitement. Well, except Will, he lay down straight away and was asleep within seconds. It was cold in this forest so I leant into Alex for warmth. After an hour or so (still no way to predict time) Alex was asleep and so was Abby and Shelly (who was huddled up to Keeran). Maya was sitting looking me right in the eyes. In daylight she didn’t look quite so creepy, just very inquisitive. I couldn’t get to sleep, and as I saw Harry drop off I couldn’t help wondering whether he would wake up. This kept me ~2~

awake all night, which turned out to be a good thing.

Chapter Fourteen At sunrise (around 4 am?) I heard autumn leaves being crushed, footsteps. I sat up and looked over to where they were coming from and saw the man who I had only seen once, when I had been put in that cage, the man who had leant down to speak to me. He was followed by a huge group of huge bald men, the ~3~

ones who had prevented me from escaping the first time. My heartbeat quickened. From where we were lying, they couldn’t see us. I shook Alex awake and when he awoke I held my hand over his mouth so he wouldn’t talk. I pointed to our search party and I saw the fear grow in his eyes. We woke everyone else up and when we were all wide awake we stood up and started running. Soon we heard footsteps coming after us. They were following. When we turned a sharp corner into town, we dove into the nearest shop. We ran into the changing rooms and split into two rooms, one for me, Alex and Abby and another for Maya, Shelly and Harry. When we’d closed and locked to door, I sat down with Abby on my lap, with Alex next to me, and Alex put his legs up so it looked like there was only one person in there. You may have ~4~

realised I haven’t mentioned where Will was. That’s because we didn’t know. All of us assumed he was in the room with the others. ***** We waited there listening out for any sound that suggested we had been caught. Nothing happened. After a while the shop assistant came and knocked, asking if we were Ok. We had to get out then, so all of us piled out of the changing room, with some very weird looks from the shop assistant. We tiptoed slowly outside, looking out for our enemies. However, when we got outside there was no way to see anything because of the huge crowd. I was sure it hadn’t been that packed early. We pushed through, trying to find out what was happening. Once we got closer we saw an area surrounded by police tape. ~5~

We all looked at each other, realising at the same time that Will was missing. We all knew what was inside that white tent. I climbed over the tape and ran past all the police and into the tent. There was no struggle getting through, all the police were concentrating on capturing all the huge men. They seemed to be winning; however I couldn’t see Harper anywhere. Then, as I looked further away, I saw him running away. I ran into the tent and, sure enough, saw Will lying there. There was blood everywhere, there was no way he could be alive. The surgeon frowned and pulled the white, blood drenched cover over him. He turned around to me and, instead of throwing me out, shook his head and looked apologetic. ***** ~2~

I ran out of the tent, past all the police struggling to hold the men, past my friends and ran as fast as I could in the direction in the direction Harper had run. There was no chance of the others catching up with me, but when I looked back I could see they were following. I couldn’t smile at them though. I couldn’t do anything. All I could think of was Will, the reason we ever escaped, the reason our time in the cellar hadn’t been completely unbearable, was lying dead in that horrible white tent. Harper had to be punished. ***** I had no idea where I was going; I just followed my instinct of where I thought Harper had gone. I thought I was completely lost, and then I got to the alleyway. At the end, there was a door on the left. I recognised the alleyway. I remember running down it ~2~

during our escape. The door was easily recognised too, thought I had only ever seen the other side. I had stared at that door for hours after I had been told Harry was dying and had thought of running away. That seemed like a century ago. I was so convinced then that I was never coming back. How naive I was. ***** I didn’t wait for the others to catch up, I was too mad. I couldn’t believe that was all happening to me. I flung open the door and ran inside. I could see the staircase down to the cellar we had been kept in for so long. It looked strange from up here, somehow different, less threatening, when it was empty. I didn’t stop to look though. I didn’t stop at all, even though I had absolutely no idea where I was going. I stormed down a dark, dingy, grot filled corridor. Past what ~2~

used to be Will’s surgery on the right, past the room I had been kept in with all those other children in cages on the left. I carried on dashing past door after door until I got to a door at the end of the corridor. Somehow I know this was the right one. The paint on the door handle was flaking off from being opened too many times, and there was a crack nearly down the whole door threatening to crack further and fall any minute. Suddenly I realised how stupid I was being. It wasn’t going to stop me but I paused long enough for the others to catch up. As soon as I heard them running down the corridor after me, all out of breath, I decided it was time to go in.

~2~

Chapter Fifteen I threw open the door. The final splinters cracked and the door fell with a huge bang. Harper must have heard it, but he stayed still, facing the fireplace. The fire was on and the room was blazing hot. “I knew you would come.” He whispered; hardly load enough for me to hear. “I’m here then. What do you want? You have no-one to fight for you. You’re all on your own. What are you going to do now? Don’t you think you’ve done enough?” I was clenching and unclenching my fists, trying to keep in my anger. It wasn’t time to pounce yet. He slowly turned around to face me. ~3~

“I’m not going to hurt you...” “Yeah right, is that what you said to Will?” I was finding it hard to control my fury. Suddenly I felt an arm around my waist, comforting yet silently restraining me. It was Alex. I knew that without even turning around. However, even he couldn’t calm me fully, nothing could. I was full of rage, mostly for Will but partly for us also. Although without all this I would never have met the wonderful people I met or ever have been free, with being captured came exhaustion, starvation, uncontrollable emotions (both good and bad) and general hard times that I would never have had to go through if it weren’t for him. “Do you want to know why I kidnapped you or not?” I was tempted to say no. I was tempted to pounce on him right now. I remembered his face when he leant down to taunt me in ~1~

the cage. He had people to back him up then, but now we outnumbered him, six to one. We could easily just attack him now. He was old and frail. It wouldn’t be hard. We wouldn’t be as vicious as he had been with Will. We’re not as bad as him. We’d never sink that low. We couldn’t let someone like that live on in the world could we? I couldn’t kill someone though, could I? I’m not as evil as he is. I don’t think... “When I was young,” He started. Even the sound of his voice filled me with rage. Was that what Will heard before he died? That croaky, evil voice. Or did he not even get that? Did he know it was coming? Did he feel any pain? Did they make him suffer? What was the wound that finally killed him? Who delivered that fatal wound? Did he know who killed him? Did he think about us before he died? ~2~

Too many questions I wanted answered, none of them Harper was going to answer. I didn’t want to hear a story about ‘when he was young’. I wanted him to suffer. Just like Will did. I tried to subtly step towards Harper, my hands were twitching. However, Alex somehow knew and tightened his grip on me. I don’t think Harper saw this whole exchange, or if he did he didn’t show it, because he continued his story. “When I was younger, I went to school. I was a wonderful child, bright and handsome, however others didn’t see me this way. They saw me as a pompous geek. One group in particular constantly bullied me. “The Spectaculars” I believe they called themselves. They called me names and picked on me continuously. They made my school life a living hell. I will never forgive them for that.” ~3~

“Am I meant to feel sorry for you?” I exclaimed, “You think that makes anything you’ve done right or good? It’s not our fault and you’ve made us suffer for it. You’re a monster!” I struggled to get out of Alex’s grip, but he was standing his ground. Tears rolled down my cheeks but I kept the determined look on my face. ““The Spectaculars”” he whispered “are your parents.” ***** We all gasped. None of us had ever been close to our parents. None of us knew about this. However, I was still thinking about Will and Alex had now dropped his arms long enough for me to run at Harper. I pinned him against the wall, my hand around his neck, and put my face as close to his as I could bear. “How do you feel now? Do you feel important? Do you feel like hurting ~4~

innocent children? Do you feel like killing anyone? How is it, eh, to be on the other side of the violence? Not good is it? Now you know how we’ve felt. Now you know how Will felt.” I tightened my grip. Alex grabbed the back of my collar and tried to drag me backwards. Harper took advantage of this and, grabbing my arms, threw my on the floor. He leaned over me and sneered in my face. I could smell his horrible breath, see his dirty fingernails, hear his ragged breathing, and taste the dirt in the air. I was convinced I was going to die. I closed my eyes and waited for the blow that would kill me. ***** The weight on my chest where Harper’s foot had been was suddenly removed. I opened my eyes quickly and saw Harry flying through the air holding Harper. I didn’t realise until ~2~

they both hit the floor that Harry had a knife in his hand. Harper lay cold on the floor with blood seeping through a wound in his chest. Harry lay next to him, breathless and disturbed, but something else was wrong. He looked at us, tears in his eyes and whispered, “Goodbye.” With that, he fell backwards and lay on the floor, eyes open still, but not breathing any longer. He was dead.

~2~

Chapter Sixteen I was leaning over Harry’s cold, lifeless body, tears streaming down my face and hitting his motionless chest. I didn’t want to move from there. I didn’t want to move at all. I wanted to stay in that position for ~2~

ever. I owed my life to Harry though, I had to live it. I wouldn’t waste another life for my awful decisions. Alex dropped down next to me and enveloped me in his arms. “We have to go.” He whispered in my ear. I looked over at Harry and Harper. When I looked at Harry I saw a glint of silver round his neck. As I leant in, I saw it was a chain. I’d never noticed it before. Alex followed my gaze. “I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if you took it, to remember him by.” I nodded and unhooked the chain from the back, lifting up Harrys unresponsive head carefully, and then held up my hair for Alex to put it round my neck. Once it was on, I turned around and Alex put his arm around me. I looked up at his face and saw tears in his eyes too. ~3~

“Where are the others?” I asked. You could hardly make out what I had said for the sobbing, but Alex seemed to have heard because he nodded towards the door I had been in only once, when we had tried to escape before and I had been locked a cage in there. “They’re freeing all the children.” he said simply. Neither of us were capable of full sentences yet. The door opened just as we approached it and a dozen or so children ran out. They all had worried, but excited looks on their faces. God knows how long it had been since they had seen the outside world. Alex and I blocked the way down the corridor to where Harry and Harper were lying and pushed them towards the other door we had been so eager to be out of just a couple of days ago. Finally Abby emerged with a huge smile on her ~1~

face. However, when she saw us her smile quivered. “What is it?” she asked. I shook my head and she nodded knowingly. She had guessed, she was clever for her age; well she had been through a lot more than the other children her age so that’s no wonder. With less enthusiasm than she had originally been wishing to tell her story with, she whispered, “Shelly found her baby.” The surprise didn’t over ride the sadness me and Alex felt, but we tried to be as excited as humanly possible after what we had just witnessed. Our frowns turned into sad smiles and Alex leant down and picked Abby up. She sobbed silently on his shoulder. She definitely knew. Now no one was holding me I suddenly felt more vulnerable. I felt like falling to the floor and sobbing my heart out. I nearly did, but then ~2~

Keeran, Shelly and her baby came through the door. Keeran had his arm round Shelly’s shoulder and Shelly was holding the baby, her face glowing. When they saw us, however, they both froze. ‘No.’ mouthed Shelly. I nodded my head and I suddenly couldn’t control my sobs. They came out in big gasps and I could hardly breathe for the amount I was crying. I ached all over and was shaking involuntarily. My throat felt dry yet everything else seemed covered in tears, my face, my clothes, and the floor. I let myself fall to the floor and suddenly didn’t care who was watching. I sobbed my heart out and put all the energy I had into wailing. Even over my wailing, however, I could hear Alex murmur to the others, “I think we should stay here tonight.” ***** ~3~

Through my tear-blurred eyes I could just see what was happening. Shelly and Keeran were directing the children that were so eager to get out down to the cellar, only managing by promising many times that they would be let out the next day. Maya had taken Abby with her to help find some sheets to keep the children warm and some food for everyone, as no one had eaten in quite a while. Eventually they found some medical sheets and a large supply of bread. Everyone knew there would be lots of warm covers and nice food in Harpers room, but no one would go in there. Alex sat with me while all of this was going on, scared to touch me. I eventually rested my head on his chest and he wrapped his arms tightly around me and buried his head in my hair. Looking back on it now, he had the hardest job of all really. ~2~

Once everyone had completed their jobs, the children were all lying in the cellar, warm and fed; Alex carried me into the lab and lay me down on the bed. Keeran and Shelly had promised to keep look out, although who they were expecting to appear was beyond me, Shelly needed to stay up to look after the baby anyway. The others were in the lab too. I was lying on the bed, too worn out and upset to argue about it, Abby and Maya were lying on the floor, close together in case either got upset in the night, and Alex was sitting on the chair next to the bed watching over me. Unsurprisingly, I didn’t get to sleep that night. I didn’t even stop crying, but I managed to reduce my wailing to tears just falling silently, but constantly, down my cheeks. My eyes were swollen and my throat was so dry I couldn’t talk, not that I tried. ~3~

Alex tried to offer me some water and bread at one point in the night, but I refused. I wasn’t hungry or thirsty. I was broken. I could see Harry’s face too clearly in my head. Dead. Cold. Still. I couldn’t even imagine him alive, he was dead. However, I couldn’t help thinking he would have been happy about how he died. He knew it was going to happen anyway, but did he know it would be then? His last actions were definitely ones he would have been proud of. It’s ironic, isn’t it? That I was the reason he died, but his last action was saving me.

~4~

Chapter Seventeen

When I saw light streaming through the small window in the corner, I turned to look at Alex. He hadn’t moved all night. He was still sitting, facing me. His eyes were closed but ~5~

as I turned they opened again, as if he sensed me looking at him. He didn’t know what to say, and neither did I, so we both stayed silent. After an hour or so, or what felt like an hour, I had lost my sense of time in our stay here, Maya and Abby started slowly awakening. Once everyone had woken up, me and Alex both knew we had to leave. My body ached all over and I could hardly move. My head was pounding and my face felt stiff from all the crying. Alex saw I was struggling with moving, so picked me up and set my feet on the floor then put his arm around me and half carried me along. We both tried not to look over to the room Harry was lying in. We tried, but we didn’t manage. As we went past, we both glanced. I wish I hadn’t. That started me off again and I had to put my whole weight on Alex to stop myself from ~6~

falling. He didn’t seem to mind though. He didn’t seem aware of anything to be honest. He seemed numb, unable to feel. Everyone dealt with sadness in different ways, I guess. I let it all out, crying constantly, Alex didn’t seem to accept what had happened. The others hadn’t experienced what we had. They didn’t know how it felt to see someone die. I suffered most though. He died saving me. Everyone had to endure the pain of his death though, but to different degrees. I cried more than I ever had, or ever would, that day. How could someone as good as Harry have to endure something as distressing as he did? He knew he was going to die, he had to deal with knowing that beforehand, but he did it. He worked through that, he was wonderful about it. That didn’t make ~7~

any difference though, he was dead now. It wasn’t fair, but I learn something that day. Life isn’t fair. Not for me, Alex, Harry, anyone. Everyone had different ways of dealing with this, but essentially, every person had to work through it to get to the happiness at the other end. That’s what I would have to do. I knew it, Alex knew it, we all did. Harry would never leave our minds, he would always be there, but one day we would have to learn to suppress that. Not completely, it would be wrong to forget him. We just needed to work out a way for him to not always be on our minds, just to be there when we were on our own, or saw something that reminded us of him. I’m getting ahead of myself now though, right then, right there, I was out of control. I couldn’t stop crying, and I had no intention of trying to. ~8~

***** We didn’t move very fast but eventually we were at the door. Keeran and Shelly were sitting there, both nearly falling asleep but refusing to give up. As we got to them, they looked up. Shelly was holding the baby, I didn’t know her name yet but I didn’t have the voice to ask. I couldn’t even open my mouth. Shelly looked up at me and then down at the baby then back up. “She’s called Jess.” I don’t know how she knew what I was thinking, but I was touched that she would think that much of me. I tried to smile, but my face was too stiff. She knew I was trying though so she didn’t push any further. Instead she stood up and gestured for Keeran to help her. She went down the stairs, opened the door to the cellar and woke the children up carefully one by one and ~1~

Keeran helped her. While they were doing this I collapsed to the floor and Alex sat down with me. We hadn’t talked since we were in the forest, and we hardly did then, but we knew we needed each other’s company. If I didn’t have Alex I would have fallen apart completely ages ago. I couldn’t live with him and he couldn’t live without me. It was our unspoken bond; nothing could change that as far as we were aware. ***** Maya and Abby had joined Keeran and Shelly and they were leading the children up the stairs, helping the younger ones. Eventually, everyone was at the top of the stairs and the cellar door was closed for the last time. Me and Alex stood up hesitantly and opened the door. A cold blast of wind blew through it and we knew this wouldn’t be an easy day. No one ~2~

had any idea of what we were going to do with these children but we had to do something.

~2~

Chapter Eighteen

We wondered vaguely in the direction of town, although none of us knew where we were, having to stop occasionally when a child went astray or I couldn’t stand walking any longer. It took us a while to get into town, but at least we had time to think. For the first time, I wasn’t the one to come up with a plan. I was too tired and raw. We had slowed down slightly, realising we had no idea what we were doing. It was very early in the morning and there weren’t many people around. The ones that were there, too tired to notice the huge group of children in the middle of the pavement. “You know what we could do,” Maya suddenly exclaimed. We all jumped, no one had talked in so long, to each other at least. “We could put them in ~4~

shops and get them to tell the shop keepers they’d lost their parents. Then they’d eventually get back to their parents, right?” I nodded. Even that hurt. I had to use all my energy just putting one foot in front of the other. I was tired, raw and upset. I was finding it impossible to keep up with the others, even though I was usually the fastest. They could tell I was struggling, so Maya suggested me, Alex and Abby sat down on a nearby bench and looked after the kids while they took then, one by one, to different shops. I sat down, Abby sat to my left side and Alex to my right. As we sat and watched over the kids, well Alex and Abby mostly, I couldn’t do much, Abby’s hand slipped into mine. I turned my head to her and managed a slight sad smile. It would all be all right in the end... wouldn’t it? I turned around to Alex ~5~

and he was looking straight ahead unsmilingly. I forgot that he could feel my pain as well as his own. How was he so composed? How was he not falling apart? He turned around and looked at me. “You’re confused.” his voice was slightly throaty but apart from that, completely composed. “How... how are you not falling apart?” my voice came out as a croak and hardly audible. “Because I have you.” I looked him in the eyes. They were perfect, green with black around the edges and specks of blue. They were perfect, like him. ***** Once all the children were gone Keeran, Shelly (holding her baby) and Maya sat down in the floor in front of us, exhausted. We all knew what had to happen next but none of us wanted ~6~

to say anything. Keeran was the first to try, I say try because Abby wouldn’t let him finish his sentence. “You know we have to go...” “I AM NOT GOING HOME!” Abby exclaimed. She knew we had to, we all knew, but, like the rest of us, she really didn’t want to. I know there had been some bad times, some absolutely terrible times, but there had also been brilliant experiences. I had hardly been allowed out of the house before, and now, knowing all of these people, I felt loved for the first time in my life. If I went home I don’t think I could bear being as detested as I used to think was normal. How could I go back to what I hated voluntarily? Why would I? I knew we had to though. We all did. We would get caught if we just stayed together. We couldn’t risk getting caught. ~2~

So, after a while sitting there, all knowing what we would have to do when we got up, Maya stood up. This signalled for all of us to stand up too, so hesitantly got to our feet. “Where to first?” Maya asked. I looked around. I didn’t want to lose any of them; I didn’t even want to think about leaving Alex. No one could decide so Maya suggested we just wandered around, seeing as no one knew how to get to their house from here, and seeing whose house we got to first. ***** We had been wandering around for a while when we came across a large, white house. There were flowers and hedges growing outside, all perfectly trimmed, obviously by a gardener. Through the windows I could see a perfectly cleaned, modern, but lifeless kitchen. Through another window I ~2~

could see the living room. All the rooms looked unlived in. Abby’s face fell. Everyone had noticed. “It’s not fair, why do I have to be first? I don’t want to go home anyway, I’m not going! You’re all just going to go off on your own and leave me out, I know you are! Don’t make me go!” Maya leant down in front of her and looked her in the eyes seriously. “Abby...” Abby stopped shouting and looked and Maya for a second then threw herself at her, crying. Maya stood up with Abi in her arms and hugged her. “I’m gunna miss you, hunny.” “I’m gunna miss you too, Maya.” They stood there for a while then Maya set her down. Abby turned to Shelly next and looked at her sadly. “Shelly,” she sniffed then looked from Shelly to Keeran and back again. “You know what I’m gunna say.” Shelly ~2~

widened her eyes, looked down at the baby then at Abby, then a tear came to her eye and she leant down to give Abby a hug, handing Jess to Keeran carefully. When she pulled back, Abi turned around to Keeran, who was giving the baby back to Shelly. He ruffled Abby’s hair, “You’re a good kid, you know that?” she nodded then, after a moment’s hesitation, threw her arms around his waist. He stroked her hair, looking like he wasn’t sure what he was meant to do. Abi let go and looked up at him, then turned to me and Alex. Alex was holding my hand, but I dropped it when she looked at me. She ran and jumped into my arms. Fresh tears ran down my face, soaking it again. “I’ll miss you most.” she whispered in my ear so only I could hear. She hugged me for ages, then when I placed her down, she gave Alex a ~2~

quick hug and whispered something to him that I couldn’t hear, then walked slowly, hesitantly, up to the front door of that cold, lifeless house. When she got to the door she turned and waved at us sadly then turned and knocked on the door. We turned and walked away. We didn’t look back; it would have been too hard.

~3~

Chapter Nineteen

We had been walking for a while, have no idea where we were going, when Maya gasped and started sprinting. We didn’t know where she had got that energy from, but soon we realised when she threw herself at a boy, about 50 feet away from us. We all looked at each other, wondering who it was, until I remembered the story she had told me once, about why she had been captured. She had run away, because her parents hadn’t approved of her relationship with their driver, Daniel. I smiled slightly, thinking of how much she’d missed him. We wandered over to her, taking our time, she had what she wanted now. As we got closer we saw a door open. Out of it ran posh, ~4~

middle aged woman in a dressing gown with curlers in her hair. “Mary!” The lady slowed down and stopped in front of Maya. “Mary, where have you been? I have been looking everywhere. So has Daniel. He waits outside our house every day, waiting for you to come back, and now your back! Oh darling, me and daddy are so sorry, we didn’t mean for you to run away! We thought you were never coming back! Where were you? Who are these people?” she exclaimed, looking at us at the end. Maya was beaming and still embracing Daniel. He was stroking her hair and kissing her forehead. “Don’t ever go again hunny, never!” he whispered in her ear. She nodded, and then turned to her mum. “I’ll tell you later.” Her mum then proceeded to run down the driveway screaming, ~2~

“DAVE DAVE, QUICK, COME DOWN. MARY’S HERE!” “I guess this is good bye.” Maya whispered, looking down. A tear fell down her face. “If only Harry could be here...” Tears fell down my face for the third time that day. How could my body contain this much water? My breathing was ragged with the roughness of my throat. I had never cried so much in my life as I had in that one day. Maya and Shelly held each other for a long time, while Keeran held Jess; they had been together in the same room for longer than the rest of us had. They were best friends, and now they had to leave each other, forever. After an emotional goodbye, I won’t go into detail as it was heartbreaking for us all as that was the point we all realised we were never going to see each other again. When Abby went it ~1~

was sad, but that was only one of us. Now we were all falling apart. Only I hadn’t accepted the fact I was leaving Alex. I couldn’t, I wouldn’t. It was impossible. I couldn’t live without him. Maya leant in and held me tightly for a second, then whispered in my ear, “He feels the same, trust me.” Somehow that made me cry more and soon I had not only drenched myself, but her also. Oh god, I would miss Maya. I would miss her ability, not only to know what I was feeling but to give me advice too. She was always the one everyone would go to for advice. She was the only one who wouldn’t judge, or bring herself into it somehow. When you were around her, you felt somewhat comforted by her just being there. When I first saw her, I thought she looked like a ghost. How wrong I was. She was the most ~2~

perfect person ever, and now I would never see her again. Maya didn’t say anything, even though I knew she heard all of that. She just put her hands on my shoulder and gave me a meaningful look in the eyes. She said her goodbyes to Keeran, Alex, and the baby of course, and then turned around as her father was rushing towards her beaming. We turned and walked away. ***** We were tired. Our muscles ached from walking too far, our eyes stung from too many tears, or faces were stiff from sobbing and our brains were tired of goodbyes. We stopped on a nearby park bench and sat down. After a few minutes of sitting in silence watching people with dogs or small children, or both, walk past giving us strange looks, Shelly spoke, ~2~

“Me and Keeran, and Jess junior, well... we aren’t splitting up. We’re old enough to legally be living on our own, and we’ll find the money somewhere. If worse comes to worse, we can go and see our parents, which we will do at some point anyway, and ask for some money or a place to stay. Thing is, I can’t go home with a baby AND a boyfriend and pretend everything is fine.” This is the first time Shelly had announced Keeran as her boyfriend. We had all known there was something between them but it wasn’t quite as obvious as it was with me and Alex. Then again, they were different people; they would react to love differently. I knew deep down that they couldn’t be split up, Shelly and the baby, Keeran and Shelly. They were together. Forever. Like me and Alex HAD to be. ~2~

“Yeah ok so can me and Alex then we could all share a flat and get jobs and... and...” Shelly shook her head. “You’re still kids. You can’t live on your own. Besides your parents need to know your alive. I know mine do too, and I’ll let them know. But Jess, Alex, you need to go home.” We all knew she was right. It still hadn’t sunk in though, the fact that I’d never see Alex again. Not yet. ***** Alex and I left Shelly, Keeran and Jess on the bench. We went through our third goodbye of the day. It was no less painful that the first or the second. The worst was Jess though. I held her close to me, not properly knowing her and knowing she would never properly know me. The fact that she wouldn’t even remember this goodbye, she wouldn’t even remember me, that hurt. So, we, me ~1~

and Alex, walked away hesitantly. The worst day of our lives, still not over yet.

~2~

Chapter Twenty As we walked down the road to my house I saw everything. I saw the street I’d only ever seen from my bedroom window. I saw the birds in the trees, even their tweeting sounded sad as if they knew what was about to happen. I saw the house I had lived in for so long, and had never hated quite as much as I did at that moment. Alex’s hand was in mine and I squeezed it tighter, tears running down my cheeks. I tried not to think about what we were about to do, but it was hard when we were at the door. I turned and looked at him, shaking my head. “Don’t go. Please. I love you.” I couldn’t speak anymore as there was a lump in my throat and tears falling quickly down my cheeks. He placed ~3~

his hands either side of my face and looked me in the eyes. “I love you too. You know I do, but where else is there for us to go?” I could hear his voice break at the end of his sentence, and saw a tear fall down his cheek. I’d hardly ever seen him show emotion, he’d always been trying to protect me. “Anywhere, as long as we are together.” He shook his head. “You know we’ll get seen and taken back to our parents, and anyway we don’t have any money.” “Why does it matter? I need you.” “And I need you too, but I want the best for you and I don’t think living on the streets is the best you can do. I want you to have a good life...” “Then stay.” I interrupted half heartedly as I knew he had made up his mind. ~2~

“I can’t.” I could hear in his voice how much he wanted to stay but it hardly mattered if he wasn’t going to. “So you don’t love me then, is that it.” I tried to stay strong on the outside but it was hard when on the inside I was breaking. My sanity disintegrated and all I wanted was to make him suffer as much as I was suffering, but it was no use, he already was. What he said next, though in a matter of fact way, was full of emotion, and the heart I thought could break no further shattered into even tinier fragments. “No of course I love you.” “If you loved me you’d stay.” I insisted, though I knew it wasn’t true. Why was I still fighting? Why was I trying to hurt him? What difference would it make? He was leaving anyway. ~1~

“You know that’s not true. Don’t make this any harder than it is. Do you really want to remember our last moments together like this?” “So you’re really going?” I sobbed. I’d known it all along but somehow that moment made it all seem too real. He nodded then pulled me in and pressed his lips to mine. I grabbed hold of the back of his head and put my other hand around his neck, somehow thinking this would prevent him from moving. However, after a few seconds he carefully disentangled himself from my grip, keeping hold of only my lifeless hands. “Don’t go.” I whispered to him, in one last attempt, though I knew it was useless. He just shook his head and looked right into my eyes with that admiring look I’d seen many times before, mixed in with all the sadness he ~1~

wasn’t even trying to hide anymore. “I’m sorry.” he whispered painfully, walking backwards slowly, still looking into my eyes and my hand clung to his desperately as long as possible. When he let go my hand fell, hitting the door with a dreadful thud that seemed to signal the end. I tried to tell myself it wasn’t the end, just the beginning of the end. That one day this pain would become numb and I would look back on this all as just a dream. The best, most realistic dream ever, but I couldn’t even imagine that. As far as I looked into the future, as hard as I tried to see the light, all I could see was this pain, some days being rawer and some days being almost bearable, but always being there. “I love you.” he said simply, then closed his eyes and after a few seconds shook his head. “Bye.” he’d ~2~

hardly got the word out before tears started falling down his face and he turned round quickly to hide them. “Don’t go. I love you.” I whispered but he was already too far away to hear me.

~3~

Chapter Twenty-one I stood on the doorstep for a few minutes, watching Alex walk further and further away from me. I could hardly see because of the tears clouding my vision, but this was probably the last time I would ever see him, so I had to make the most of it. I could see by the way he was shuffling down the street, barely able to keep his feet moving, that all he really wanted was to turn around and run back to me. I watched until he was just a dot in the distance, then I could no longer see him. Even so, every footstep I heard walking down the street, my heart raced and I convinced myself it was him coming back to me, but after another ten minutes of standing there, jumping at every sound that ~2~

was anywhere near a footstep, I told myself he wasn’t coming back and turned to face the large, white, cold door. I had always thought this door had been flawless and beautiful from the other side, but now I was out in the cold cruel world, about to walk through this door into my cold, cruel reality once again, this door no longer seemed beautiful. It seemed worse than ugly. Everything on the other side that had always seemed so perfect to me, was now hideous in my eyes. I didn’t want to be on that side of the door, but what was there for me on this side? I looked around. Every perfectly trimmed tree seemed to be leering at me; every perfectly maintained house seemed to look at me in disgust. I didn’t belong out here, but I didn’t belong in my house either. It was no longer my home, simply a house. I had never really ~2~

know what had been outside it, but now I had lived in, not what you would call pure bliss, but somehow much more of a home that this place, it was hard to go back to what I had used to live like. I wondered whether I should run after him. I imagined the look on his face when he turned around and saw me there, the way he would hold me tight, the way I’d run my hands through his dirty but perfect hair and the way we’d whisper that we could never leave each other again. It was too late now though, I had no idea where he was and I knew I had a responsibility at home. I couldn’t let him down now. If he wanted me to be here, I had to say. There was a cold truth in that fact. I would never do anything to upset him again. He had been through enough, and so had I. I needed to obey him just this once. ~3~

I wiped my tear-soaked eyes on my filthy sleeve and sniffed, then tapped lightly on the door. There was no answer so I knocked a bit harder. The door flew open and my mothers’ angry face was staring down at me. Looking up into those cold, unforgiving eyes I remembered how afraid I had always been of her. I had been kidnapped; threatened by an old man and his evil army and faced so much trouble in the last month, but the prospect of being without Alex, and in a house with people who were capable of such cold stares seemed a lot scarier. “What do you…” her expression changed from anger to joy as she saw Teddy and Lorie across the road, looking out their window eyes wide with amazement “Oh daaarling I’m so glad you’re back I missed you ever so much!” she exclaimed, smiling at our ~4~

neighbours, then pulling me into the house and slamming the door. When she turned around, her expression had changed back to anger. “Where have you been? You’re filthy!” she asked in a shrill voice. I stared out the window and whispered in a barely audible voice, “I was kidnapped.” “Nonsense!” I hadn’t ever thought she was going to believe me but the way she replied, like I was stupid, made me want to hit her. I held my hand behind my back to stop myself. “Now come on, we are going to have a nice family lunch without all your lies!” that surprised me, I was never allowed to eat with mother and father, I’d never wanted to. The only times I’d ever had to was when they wanted something. I sighed and followed her into the dining room. ~2~

I hadn’t been in this room much, only really at dinner parties my parents held and that was normally only for a few minutes. My father was sitting at the head of the table, silent as usual. There were twenty places set at the table, but my mother chose to sit at the other end from my father. A bowl of soup was brought over to her, but she waved it off. The waitress then set it down in front of me. I thanked her, though I definitely wasn’t going to be able to eat it. She smiled, not used to being thanked, and walked away. ***** After ten minutes of sitting looking at my soup, I looked up. “Can I go out please, mother?” I whispered. I couldn’t live without Alex, I realised, and I needed to find him, quick. However, fate wasn’t on my side. ~2~

“Heavens, no! If you ran away again, I would be called a bad mother.” “Oh heavens no, wouldn’t want that now would we?” I muttered sarcastically, but she just ignored me, as always. “And besides, we wouldn’t want you ending up like Helen’s daughter. She went out and got herself...” she lowered her voice and leant forward, “with child” she leant back and started shouting again. “Helen was ever so embarrassed, but she told me of course. Helen and I have been friends since…” “High school.” I interrupted. Of course, Helen was Shelly’s mother. “Well yes that’s right. Anyway, Sharon’s daughter got herself engaged to a cab driver! How awful! I never liked that girl, and Sharon objected of course. But her daughter, what’s her name?” ~2~

“Maya.” I muttered. “Mary! That’s the one.” I didn’t correct her, what’s the point. “She ran off and got herself lost, how clumsy! Anyway, she’s back now and, you’ll never guess what.” She didn’t pause to let me answer, just carried on talking. “Sharon gave then her blessing, and bought them a flat! Me and the girls are disgusted with her of course and are in two minds whether to discard her from the group! It would be ever so hard though, us girls have had such fun together, expecially teasing little Jimmy Harper. He had a mole right here.” she pointed to the end of her long nose. “How vulgar.” “Jimmy’s dead.” I said in a monotone voice. Her laughter stopped. “Oh you mustn’t say such things dear, how vulgar.” “Harry killed him.”I replied quickly. ~1~

“Stop making up stories Melissa!” I pushed my chair back and stood up. “He kidnapped me and my name is not Melissa!” Mother waved her hand as if to dismiss everything I had said. “Nonsense, eat your lunch Melissa.” I sat down, defeated, and picked up my spoon. I lifted a spoonful of soup to my mouth, and then poured it back into the bowl, splashing it over the table. “Melissa! I hope you’re not going to be in this mood when we go out tonight!” She screamed. “Where are we going tonight?” I sighed. All I wanted to do tonight was to be left alone to cry in my room. “We’re going round Lily’s and you” she pointed her long, manicured finger at me, “are going to behave yourself.” I groaned. Going round mother’s friend’s houses wasn’t a very regular occasion, but when it did ~1~

happen it was the dullest thing ever. However, I thought, maybe this could be my chance to escape. I could excuse myself to go to the toilet then sneak out somehow. I clung onto that hope as I faked a smile.

~2~

Chapter Twenty-Two “Right, it’s time to get ready.” Mother stood up and walked upstairs with her head held high. I stumbled after her, fighting the tears as I looked out at the porch, where I had said goodbye to Alex. I trudged up the stairs, half crawling, and was lead to the bathroom. “Go and have a bath then come and put on your dress. Maxine will do your hair.” Maxine was my mother’s maid, and my favourite maid in the house. Although I wasn’t allowed to be dressed up by her very often she sometimes came to my room and we talked, mostly about how horrible my mother is. ***** I slowly approached the door of the bathroom and rested my hand on the handle. I looked around. Everything ~4~

was the same as it always had been. The cold, hard bath, the large mirror, the sink, which if you looked at closely you could almost believe those taps to be evil eyes looking at you in the same cold manner as my mother. Yes, this was the same bathroom as always but it held more sadness and darkness that it ever had before. I almost didn’t want to get into that bath for fear of washing away everything wonderful that had happened in the last few weeks and replacing it with the hard, cold truth that I could never see those that I loved most again, that instead I would be stuck in this hell hole for the rest of my life. However, I knew I had to because I needed to at least try and escape. I peeled off the filthy clothing I had been wearing for so long it had stuck to me. I had tried to wash under that tap in the corner but the water ~2~

coming out seemed to be dirty and I couldn’t have taken my clothes off to do it because of how many people there were around. I carefully lay the clothes on the floor, I couldn’t throw them away, they were all I had left to remind me. I ran the bath, the sound too loud for me to bear. Tears dropped from my face into the bath, mingling with the bath water. I turned and looked at myself in the mirror. My hair was lank and greasy and my face was covered in dirt, stripes cleaned from the tears. You could see the lines from where my top had been to my actual skin shade. My skin was covered in bruises and scratches and my nails had black dirt in them. I looked a mess, but somehow better than I had ever looked before. I got into the bath and looked as the water slowly became dirtier and dirtier while I was cleaning myself. I rinsed all of ~3~

the dirt and dust out of my hair then reluctantly scrubbed my nails and my face. I was washing away all the evidence Alex ever existed, more tears fell down my face and into the bath. I grabbed my hairbrush and tugged it through my hair. That pain would have hurt before, but I’d been hurt too much in the last few days that I couldn’t feel a thing. ***** On opening the door to ‘my’ bedroom, I saw that it hadn’t changed at all since I had last been in it, except the dress lying in the middle of my bed. I slipped into it mechanically. The dress was long and blue, made out of satin, and the straps were very thin and crisscrossed down my back. It fitted me perfectly and, looking in my full length mirror, it looked fabulous on me but it definitely didn’t suit my ~4~

mood. Under normal circumstances I would have been delighted to have been given such a great dress, but now I no longer felt the need for such gifts. All I needed was Alex. “Are you ready?” I turned and saw Maxine by the doorway of my room and, after nodding, sat on the chair in front of the mirror. She came over and started styling my hair. “So, where did you go?” she asked after a couple of minutes, though the question had obviously been on her mind for a while. “I was kidnapped.” She gasped. “What happened?” she asked enthusiastically and I ended up telling her the whole story, ending with when Alex left me. By that time I was in floods of tears. Maxine ran to my bedside table and got a tissue then came back and wiped my face. ~2~

“How awful, but you musn’t cry mother will be so angry if you ruin your dress.” I stopped immediately. She might not let me out if I looked bad and I needed to escape. Maxine did my makeup then slipped some high heeled silver shoes onto my feet. I gazed at my feet; no way would I be able to run in those. “Maxine, are there any flat shoes that go with this dress?” she nodded and got out some silver sandals. “Are these ok?” she asked. “Perfect.” I smiled. I stood up and looked at myself in the mirror. My hair had been styled into tight ringlets, reaching just past my shoulders and I was wearing blue eye shadow, thick black eyeliner and black mascara. Even I had to admit I looked ok. It hardly mattered though, as I was going to be living on the streets soon… hopefully. ~2~

Chapter Twenty-three I walked down the stairs, careful not to step on my floor length dress. At the bottom of the stairs was my mother wearing a red satin strapless dress that emphasised her tiny waist and reached the floor, even though she was wearing six inch high black stiletto heels. Her dyed blonde hair had been straightened and reached her waist and she was wearing way ~2~

too much make up. She looked down at me. “You are going to behave yourself tonight Melissa. Do you understand?” “Yes mother.” I whispered through my teeth. Just keep this up for half an hour longer and you’ll be free, I told myself. My heart was racing when I got into the cab and by the time we were at Lily’s house I was hyperventilating. Luckily, mother didn’t notice as she was too busy smoothing down her dress and hair. I wondered how she would last in the cellar? I thought to myself and sniggered. She turned around and gave me a warning look. “Remember what I said.” I nodded seriously and looked down to hide my smile. ***** As we approached the door of number thirty four I groaned. It was a ~2~

beautiful house, there’s no doubt about that, but the cellar was much preferable now. I was beginning to have second thoughts about my idea of escaping. Where would I go, what would I do? I couldn’t drag any of the others into this, they were probably all happy at home, and I had no idea where Alex was. I was so engrossed in my thoughts that I tripped over a flower pot that I hadn’t realised was there. My mum whipped her head round. “For god’s sake Melissa are you thick?” She could have gone on for hours, but at that moment a woman opened the door. “Samantha darling!” he woman was very tall and her hair was cut into a black bob. The smile on her face now didn’t look at all natural to her. She gave me a quick angry glare after looking at her broken flower pot, then ~2~

looked at my mother and smiled again. “Come on in both of you.” I walked into the house after my mother, and then Lily shut the door. The house was much the same as our, a huge sweeping staircase, white painted doors, hundreds of rooms, but none of it seemed impressive to me anymore. I tried to look amazed though, to be polite. Lily looked pretty satisfied at least. “Come and meet my son!” she exclaimed. I groaned. A day of having to pretend to like some posh stuck up boy was not what I needed right now. My mother glared at me and I tried to look enthusiastic. “He’s been in such a strange mood lately! He keeps asking if he can go out. Of course, I won’t let him after he disappeared last time.” ~2~

“Melissa keeps asking if she can go out too. She disappeared for a month or two saying she got kidnapped! How preposterous” I know I shouldn’t have said anything but I couldn’t help myself. “I was kidnapped and my name is not Melissa!” I shouted. Suddenly I heard the sound of someone getting up in the living room and footsteps coming towards the door. We all looked around and after a few seconds the door creaked open. Through it stepped the very boy that had been constantly in my thoughts. I gasped, Alex! I had an overwhelming urge to run to him, jump into his arms and never let go, but I couldn’t, not now at least. It got a lot harder to breathe then, and I had to hold onto the door handle to stop myself running to him. He seemed to be in a similar position, holding onto the banister. ~2~

“Alex.” I whispered, I couldn’t stop myself. Luckily our mothers seemed pretty confused. “Who’s Alex? There’s no Alex here.” Alex’s mother said. I was confused, but was not about to let on. “Charles, are you going to go over and say hello to Melissa?” Alex shook his head. Charles? Melissa? Had our parents gone crazy? Or, I thought, had we both forgotten our names in the cellar and made them up? Things were getting very strange, but that was the least of our problems. Me and Alex needed to be together, and very soon. “I need the toilet.” I gasped. My mother hissed back at me, “Go then, you don’t need to tell us all.” Alex sniggered and I glared at him. “I don’t know where it is.” I said, emphasizing every syllable and ~1~

widening my eyes at Alex, hoping for him to realise my plan. He obviously did because the next thing he said was, “Oh I can show her.” His mother nodded and both her and my mother made their way into the living room. I walked up the stairs carefully, not looking back at Alex, and stopped at the top. He nodded and overtook me. I pressed back into the wall, but I could still feel his breath on my neck as he walked past me. It took all my effort to follow him slowly. We walked right past the bathroom and up another flight of stairs to his bedroom. On the surface it was an ordinary boy’s bedroom, painted blue with football posters on the wall. His bed was made nicely, and there was no mess on the floor. I looked on his bedside table and there was a ~2~

drawing pad. I flicked through it. They were all pictures of me, as I was in the cellar of course. I looked down at my dress, and decided I looked much better then. I looked back at the drawings. They were amazing. “These are really good.” I whispered, then turned and looked at Alex. He was looking out the window. He turned around; a tear was rolling down his cheek. “I thought I wasn’t going to see you again.” I ran at him and jumped into his arms, pressing my lips to his. After a few minutes, he set me down and leant away. I leant forward with him, magnetised to him, and he laughed. He took my hands into his, smiling and whispered, “I love you.” before leaning forward and kissing me lightly on the lips. “But if we are going to escape, we ~3~

better get out quickly.” I smiled. He knew exactly what I was thinking.

Chapter Twenty-four “It’s a long way down.” I was normally quite brave, but the prospect if jumping out of a third storey window filled me with fear. He laughed. ~2~

“There’s a terrace. Why do you think I chose this room? Sometimes I just need to get away from it all.” I smiled, but I was still worried about the height, if I fell… “I’ll go first.” he whispered into my ear, interrupting my thoughts, “But I don’t know what you’re worried about, superhero.” we both laughed, and then he swung his leg over the window. He winked at me, before climbing round to the terrace. After a few minutes, he was on the floor and beckoning for me to come down. I imitated the way he got onto the terrace and started climbing down. However, my dress got caught and I let go of the terrace to unhook it. I felt myself falling and it was very dark outside. I couldn’t tell if it was a dream or reality, but it hardly mattered. It was dark and I was scared, it was exactly like my dreams ~1~

I used to have in the cellar, but with one difference. Alex caught me. I looked up at him and saw his worried frown turn to his perfect smile. I smiled back, expecting him to put me down. Instead he kissed me with a kind of urgency I had only witnessed once before, when we got back together. It seemed like years ago, although it must have only been a couple of weeks. He placed me down and I realised that the bottom part of my dress had been ripped off and it was now five inches above my knees. Alex followed my gaze. “I like it better that way.” Alex laughed. Well, it’s a lot easier to run in, I thought, joining in his laughter. He stopped laughing suddenly. “We have to go.” he whispered and grabbed hold of my hand, sending a wave of electricity up my arm. It took ~2~

me a few seconds to recover and in that time I heard my mother shout, “Melissa, Charles, hurry up!” We looked at each other then sprinted down the road. ***** Soon we were out of breath and had to stop. We were in town, right next to a café and I groaned. “How are we going to eat? We have no money.” running away had seemed such a good idea at the time, but now I realised the bad points, like having no food, drink, clothes or place to stay. “Do we not?” he laughed, pulling a wallet out of the back pocket of his trousers. I gasped as he opened it up, revealing at least two hundred pounds and a credit card. “Where did you get that from?” I exclaimed. “My dad’s pocket, he’ll never notice he has so many. ~2~

“Ok, so we have money for food and clothes…” he smirked at this, looking down at my dress, but I ignored him and continued, “but where are we going to stay?” he thought for a moment, I loved the way he bit his lip when he was concentrating, then exclaimed, “You know what my mum told me? Maya and Daniel just got a flat given to them by Maya’s parents. I remember the address as well.” “Isn’t that a bit rude though?” “I’m sure she wouldn’t mind.” I nodded in agreement. “But let’s get something to eat first, and here’s as good a place as any.” I nodded again, unable to speak after staring at his face for so long. He pulled open the door to the café and gestured for me to go through. I walked in and looked around. It was quite small and no one else was here apart from us and an ~2~

old woman, standing by the counter who, after having looked me up and down, was giving me strange looks. I felt Alex’s hands on my waist and his breath on the back of my neck. I smiled as he led me to a table right at the back in the corner. He pulled out a chair for me and I sat down, then he sat down opposite me. The old woman came over and asked us what we wanted with a curious look on her face. I didn’t blame her; it probably did look a bit strange to her. We told her what we wanted and she nodded, walking away. Alex turned and looked me in the eyes, and my heart skipped a beat. He grabbed hold of my hands across the table. “You know, I thought I was never going to see you again, and then I heard your voice in the hallway. I still thought my mind was playing tricks ~2~

on me, but I went out just to check, and you were there.” “I know it’s amazing.” I breathed. “I was so upset when you left, I couldn’t think of anything except you. Why did you leave me?” I felt tears filling my eyes again, but he reached across and wiped my eyes with his hand gently. “I thought… I don’t know what I thought. I just wanted you to be happy and whatever you say, I’m sure you wouldn’t be happy with no money, living on the streets.” “If I was with you…” “You would still have no money and nowhere to live, but you would also have someone to blame for it.” “You know I would never…” “I know.” he smiled. “Anyway it hardly matters anymore.” I smiled back at him as our food was placed on the table. I hadn’t realised how ~3~

hungry I was but I now remembered the lunch I had missed out on, and the lack of food before that in the cellar. My sandwich was finished in a few minutes and, when I had devoured every crumb from my place, I looked up at Alex. He was smiling at me, “Do you want mine?” He passed me his place. Under normal circumstances I would have refused it, saying that he must be hungry too, but I was in no position to refuse food. I finished his off as well then sat up again. “Sorry, I haven’t eaten in ages.” Not since Harry died, I thought. “It’s ok.” Alex laughed, passing the waitress a five pound note and standing up. “Right, let’s go.” He walked over to me and grabbed hold of my hand. We walked out of the little café and up the street towards ~2~

where he said Maya’s flat was. It was very late at night when we got to there. Alex and I stood by the door which had her flat number on it. “Maybe it’s too late. They might not be awake. It’s rude to wake them up.” Even though they were our friends, I was worried there would be no space for us, or they didn’t have the money to look after us or… I went over a hundred different scenarios in my head. Alex rolled his eyes and smiled at me, knocking on the door.

Chapter Twenty-five ~2~

The door opened and Maya was standing in the doorway. I was just about to talk when Shelly came up behind her with Jess in her arms. They both looked me up and down, taking in the appearance of my dress, then Maya exclaimed, “You better come in.” I hadn’t realised how tired I was until that moment so I just nodded, not even wondering why Shelly and Jess were here, then walked and collapsed onto the sofa. Alex sat down next to me and I rested my head on his shoulder. I was asleep within seconds. ***** I dreamt me and Alex were running from our parents. The road was getting smaller and smaller and we could no longer run side by side, so I ran ahead of Alex. They were gaining on us so I tried to run faster, but it was no use. Suddenly, I felt that Alex ~1~

wasn’t behind me anymore. I looked back and he was being dragged back by his parents. I couldn’t go on without him, but I couldn’t go back. Or could I? I’d never see him either way, but at least if I went back I’d be able to say goodbye, and we had more of a chance to run for it. With that in my head, I walked slowly back towards a world I wanted nothing to do with, taking with me the feeling of walking voluntarily into a hungry lion’s cage with only the thought of seeing my beloved one last time pushing me onwards. ***** I woke up shaking with fear and reached up to touch Alex’s face. However, he wasn’t there. I was lying on the sofa on my own with a blanket over me. I stood up quickly, throwing the blanket onto the floor, and looked around the room. Finally realising he ~2~

wasn’t there; I opened the door to the next room. It was the spare bedroom, and on the single bed laid Shelly with her hand dangling into the crib Jess was asleep in. Keeran was lying next to her. I closed the door silently the moved on to the next door. Maya and Daniel were both asleep too, Daniel with his arms around Maya. I was getting more and more worried about Alex, I was practically hyperventilating. Silently of course, I didn’t want to wake anyone up after they had been so nice to me yesterday. I ran back into the living room and, seeing Alex still wasn’t in there, collapsed on the sofa with my head in my hands. At that moment I heard the door ring. Now, I know it wasn’t my house and I know I shouldn’t have opened the door, but I did. Standing in the doorway was Alex ~2~

holding Abby’s hand. I sighed out of relief and threw myself at Alex. “I woke up and you weren’t there... I looked everywhere... I thought you’d gone.” He stroked my hair and whispered into my ear, “Shh... I’m here. I was looking out of the window and saw Abby walking down the street looking lost so I went down to see if she was Ok.” I let go of him then knelt down in front of Abby. She looked at me, proud of herself. “I ran away.” I looked at her seriously. “Abby you could get in lots of trouble for this.” she looked back at me seriously. “I left a note.” “Saying...” “I don’t like you, don’t come and look for me.” I smiled involuntarily. “They don’t care where I go anyway; they didn’t even notice me coming in.” I nodded. I couldn’t really have a go at ~3~

her, then I’d be a hypocrite. Except worse, I didn’t even leave a note. My parents wouldn’t care enough to read it though. ***** Me, Alex and Abby couldn’t get to sleep, so we just sat together on the sofa waiting for the others to get up. After an hour or so, Maya came out of her room in a dressing gown, sleepily mumbling to herself. When she saw Abby though, she woke up and Abby jumped off my lap and ran at her. They hugged and talked to each other so fast and loud neither I nor Alex could make out what they were saying. All this commotion woke the other up and Shelly appeared at her door, closely followed by Keeran who put his arms around her waist and looked over her shoulder curiously. When they saw Abby, they gasped ~2~

and Abby, looking over Maya’s shoulder, exclaimed, “I told you so!” None of us understood what this meant, apart from Shelly who turned bright red. Maya set Abby down and she went and talked a mile a minute to Shelly and Keeran while Daniel appeared at his and Maya’s door then walked over and hugged her. Looking around, we looked more like a family than any of us did with our real families. We were all so happy and perfect. Our only regret was the fact Harry wasn’t here to share this with us. We all realised this at the same time and stopped talking and looked at each other. Maya turned and picked up a glass of water that was laying on the table side, “To Harry. We wish you could be here with us now, but you gave your life to save ours. We know that, wherever you are, you are looking down on us ~2~

happily. We would give anything for you to be here right now, but we can’t. All we can do is wish that you are well where you are, and live our lives to the full, in memory of you. To Harry.” She lifted her glass and we all nodded. To Harry.

~2~

~3~

~5~

Three years later....

~7~

~3~

Chapter Twenty-Six

“... and then this girl flew through the door. Emily. I knew she was a rotten egg to begin with.” I walked into the flat, coming back from my job at the Sports Club. It was all I could get, as a seventeen year old. ~5~

Alex was sitting on the floor in the corner holding Will in his arms, with Jess sitting opposite him. I guessed she had asked him to tell her again, she could never get enough of that story. Will was Maya’s baby. She had announced she was pregnant two years after we moved in. When she had the baby she decided to call it Will, for obvious reasons. Her, Daniel and Will were the perfect family. Maya was so caring towards, not only her baby, but Jess too. Jess was three now and brought up to be very strong by her parents. Keeran and Shelly were a strange couple, they would always argue over small things but were so in love in didn’t matter at all. At the end of the day, they would still huddle up together and watch a movie and would still fall asleep at night holding hands. ~1~

It goes without saying; Alex and I were still as we had always been, completely in love. We spent so much time together it was hard to be apart, and I spent most of my time at work talking about him. Three months after we had moved to Maya’s flat we went to see our parents. It was hard, and they weren’t very happy. However, not at all surprisingly to me but it was to the others, my parents cared more about what others would think of them than how I was affected. Once I had reassured them that no one would notice I was gone, they were fine about the whole thing. Well, I say fine, they didn’t say anything. My mum shrugged her shoulders and I’m sure my dad wasn’t even listening. Alex’s parents were a lot harder to get around. His mother gave me the dirtiest looks possible and his dad ~2~

shouted in a booming voice that shook the whole house that Alex ‘wasn’t going anywhere’. We nearly ran out of his house, and we’re not thinking of going back any time soon. ***** Keeran and Daniel were on the sofa watching a football match, Shelly and Maya were whispering to each other in the kitchen and Alex was still telling the story to the children. No one had noticed me come in. I wandered into the kitchen and Maya and Shelly suddenly went silent. I looked them in the eyes and they eventually gave in, looking down at my stomach. I followed there gaze, unable to see what they were staring at. “What is it?” I was confused and felt left out of a private conversation. “Jess... you’ve been gaining a bit of weight recently.” I had noticed that ~2~

but I didn’t think that was something you pointed out in polite conversation. I ran my hands over my stomach, feeling the bulge of weight I had been gaining over the last few months. I hadn’t been eating that much, in fact I had cut down when I noticed my weight going up. I looked back up at them. “And...” They looked at me like I should know what they were talking about, but I really didn’t. “Do you really need us to spell it out for you?” Shelly asked. “Yes please!” I exclaimed. I had no idea what they were on about. “You’re pregnant!” They both whispered. I froze. “No... No I’m not...” “Then how can you explain the fact that you have been sick every morning for the last month?” Everything fell into place. Of course I ~2~

was pregnant... it made sense. All the evidence pointed to it, but how was I supposed to tell Alex? “Go now!” Maya whispered. I nodded, still shocked by what I had just found out. ***** Just as I walked into the living room Alex was finishing his story. “... and here we are now.” He smiled up at me and passed Will to Maya who had just appeared by his side. She winked at me then disappeared back into the kitchen. Jess toddled over to Keeran, who picked her up and started playing “round and round the garden” on her hand. This was followed my laughing scream and shouts of, “Again! Again!” Alex walked over to me and smiled. “Hey.” he spoke, then wrapped his arms around me and kissed my neck. ~2~

“Alex...” I whispered. He pulled back and looked at me with his perfect eyes. So innocent, unknowing. “Nothing.” I finished. I would tell him tomorrow, or the day after. It didn’t matter; we had the rest of our lives together anyway. But when we did have the baby, if it was a boy, I knew what I was going to call it, and I’m sure Alex wouldn’t disagree. Harry.

~2~