Peanut Butter Fingerprints

Chapter Twenty-Five

"Boldness Be My Friend"

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"Freedom lies in being bold."

-Robert Frost

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Maxon

I sprinted into Georgia's cell, warm tears streaming down my cheeks silently. Just like Daphne said, Georgia was fine. Actually, she was more than just fine. In the time between the empty gunshot in the cell adjacent to mine and Daphne entering into my cell, Daphne had quickly cleaned and bandaged the gunshot wound on Georgia's arm with medical supplies she must have hidden in the secret pockets in her dress. Daphne wasn't lying about trying to make amends for her mistakes. Though, at this point, I wasn't so sure anything could make up for what she had done.

As Georgia struggled against the ropes binding her wrists behind her back, I pulled the gag out of her mouth. The knots in the rope binding her wrists together were loosely done, so that when I tugged on them, the rope instantly fell to the ground.

That confirmed another suspicion of mine: Daphne hadn't done what she did on a whim. She must have planned this out the moment she knew her daughter was gone. Daphne knew exactly what she was doing when she put that pistol in her pocket and came down to the dungeon, which only made the sting of her death more painful.

"What the hell is-?" Georgia began in a half-angry, half-confused tone.

I grabbed her hand and tugged her to her feet. "I'll explain later. We need to grab August and get the hell out of here."

"Maxon? Are you... Are you crying?" she asked in a soft voice as we raced down the empty hall to August's cell door.

I quickly brushed away the tears with my dirty palms. Honestly, I was just as surprised as she was that I was crying. I wasn't much of a crier-thanks to my father's firm discipline about displaying such emotions-and when I did cry, it was merely a shaky breath and maybe a tear or two. I supposed that the tears sliding down my cheeks were an accumulation of everything that had happened in the last few weeks. I'd simply reached my emotional breaking point.

"No. And it'd be in your best interest to pretend I wasn't," I replied firmly.

She nodded wordlessly as the thick metal door to August's cell swung open with a shrill creak.

"August?" Georgia called cautiously into the darkness.

His head popped up instantly, and the moonlight streaming in from the barred window above where he was crouched caused the tears on his cheeks to glimmer. It was reassuring to know that I wasn't the only one who was crying.

"Georgia?" August replied softly, his eyes wide.

In less time than it takes to blink, the two were crashing into each other with overjoyed gasps. I stood in the doorway as they squeezed each other in a tight hug.

"Oh, God. I thought I'd lost you," August breathed.

He pulled back and pushed her messy hair from her eyes. Georgia shook her head with a wide smile.

"I'll never leave your side again, August. I promise."

I turned my attention back to the hallway as their lips met. After a few moments, I cleared my throat and they pulled apart. Georgia muttered something about me being a prude, to which I rolled my eyes.

"As much as I hate to break your reunion up, we need to find a way out of here," I exclaimed.

August and Georgia broke apart their hug but kept a firm grasp on each other's hands. I had a suspicion that the two wouldn't let go of each other's hands for a long time after this.