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CHAPTER ONE: SHADOW HAZE
RACING THROUGH THE WOODS wasn't exactly the way Cordelia Frost wanted to start her day.
The pink and orange sky looked down on the brunette girl as she tried her best to stay upright with each twig she snapped under her shoe. Her short hair whipped back and forth each time she attempted to get a glimpse of her chasers— not that she needed to. She already knew exactly who they were.
You see, Cordelia wasn't the only person to have escaped the isolated facility in the middle of the woods. There were more like her, many more children just wanted to get away from the horrors they couldn't bring themselves to talk about. No, she wasn't the only one they experimented with.
Throughout her years there, the young girl tried her best to convince herself that she was going to be free tomorrow— no more hiding from the world. Only, when it actually happened, Cordelia realised she had no idea where she was going, yet her legs dragged her forward, despite the burning stitch growing in her side.
Her breathing was unnaturally erratic and it only got worse when she collided with someone from her left. They both went down, a small scream leaving their mouth, while groans left Cordelia's. She clutched her side, the sticky feeling of blood attaching itself to her skin, "What the—"
"Shit! Shit, shit, shit, are you okay? You're okay? No, you're bleeding! Shit!" Scrabbling to his knees on her left, Cordelia realised she'd crashed into another child, who looked a few years older than herself. She gathered from his reaction he wasn't dangerous. However, the moment of safety was only erased by the sound of shouting further in the woods.
"We've gotta get out of here," Cordelia said as she pushed herself from the ground, wincing as her side screamed at the movement. Her eyes scanned the trees, before turning to the boy, "Dude? Are you listening?"
His eyes snapped from the blood laid on the rock beside him and up over his glasses to her, "Yes. No. Are you okay? You're bleeding, I'm sorry. I'm really sorry, let me—"
"It's fine, it's fine, just get up." He obeyed her, standing from the ground, but his eyes wandered back to her side, which made Cordelia groan, "I'm alive, it's fine. I've had worse."
"But can't I just...?" The boy's hands gestured to the injury. Blood seeped through the fabric of her shirt, spilling onto her trousers too. Cordelia moved her hand, wiping the blood onto the fabric covering the front of her thigh, while he lifted her shirt slightly. The breeze made her inhale quickly through her nose and she bit her lip harshly, being careful not to suck in her stomach. The boy hovered his hand over the cut, before closing his eyes. A tingling sensation entered her hip, making Cordelia look down, just to see the skin attaching back together.
"Done." The boy breathed out, clutching his hands together as he met Cordelia's eyes. He pushed his glasses up, "I'm still sorry— I wasn't looking where I was going, and-and... Sorry. I'm Theodore. Or my friends call me Theo. But, whatever. I don't mind."
