Leaving the Horse

Chapter 24

I blinked my eyes open, flinching at the bright sunny waves that greeted me. Pushing myself into a sitting up position, I ignored my protesting muscles that stung with the little exertion I'd put them through. As I glanced around, I blinked rapidly as I attempted to clear my vision of the cloudy blur that I saw. I flinched as a hand touched my arm, as suddenly a distant ringing sound made me want to cover my ears in annoyance. But as my vision got clearer, the ringing sound faded until I could make out voices.

"Jay? Please answer me if you can. It's Grace. We are in the woods, and we are being searched for. But as for right now we are okay."

I glanced into a set of bright blue eyes, instantly recognizing grace's fine shaped face gazing at me in concern. She was crouched near my head with her hand helping me support my back as leaned over to see my blank face. I slowly curl my arms around my legs, biting my lip so I didn't cry out in the pain I was already in. I gazed at my hand and ankle that were tightly wrapped with clothe. Blood seeped through the cloth on my hand but my ankle seemed to stop bleeding as the outside of the cloth was bloodless. Although my ankle didn't seem to have bled as much as my hand, it still stung extremely bad.

"Jay?" Grace pressed again. "You okay?"

I didn't look at Grace but I decided to answer her. "I'm fine," I said through a surprisingly hoarse voice.

"Here," Grace offered a canteen to me.

I gazed blankly at it for a moment before realizing how thirsty I was. Slowly grabbing it with my good hand, I raised the tip to my mouth and greedily drank the water. The water felt wonderful on my splitting lips and my dry, swollen throat. As I gulped down the remaining bits of water, I handed the canteen back to Grace as I gasped for breath.

"Are you hungry?" She asked immediately.

"I little," I lied. I was starving.

Grace smiled before standing up and walking away. I gazed over to where Grace was walking. Elliot was sitting on a stone, smiling weakly at me. He must have been as hungry as I was as he didn't pause for another moment before continuing to stuff his face with the meat they must have found. I continued to gaze over, locking eyes with a small girl with shortly cropped hair. The girl's cyan colored eyes were stunning and as she gazed into mine, I was dimly aware that I couldn't look away. Something about her seemed incredibly different. Maybe even comforting.

The girl smiled, putting down her food on top of a log before meeting Grace and offering her hand. Grace stared at her in surprise as she mumbled something before smiling and handing her the food she'd picked out. I watched as the girl walked over to me, sitting on her knees as she offered me the food.

I muttered my thanks as I took the food and began to eat it. I cherished the wonderful taste of the meat as I quickly gulped it down and went for more. The girl remained by my side and as I looked at her out of the corner of my eye, I realized with shock that this was the girl who was dying in the hospital while the men had been chasing us.

"Who are you?" I asked as I gulped down another bite.

"Milestiba," the girl answered in the sweetest, most innocent voice I've ever heard. "My parents called me Mila," she confessed afterwards, looking at me with a smile.

"Your parents?" I questioned blankly, gazing at Mila's face as it fell with painful memories.

"They are gone," she murmured.

I gazed at her for a moment before I had to ask, "How old are you?"

"Twelve," she replied, looking down.

I wanted to ask her more questions but for some reason I didn't feel like it was a good time. Instead, I gazed back down at my meat and continued to eat. I froze suddenly as Mila stroked my hair. Instead of feeling threatened though, I felt mysteriously calm. I didn't think I liked kids, but this one seemed to have a certain hold over me. I gazed back at Mila as she ran her hand through my hair.