Hide (Sequel to RUN)

Chapter 6

The TV clicked off. Lansing's strong arms wrapped under my legs and back, lifting me from the hard couch.

But my body never leaves. Lansing's arms continue to rise, but I was no longer in them. What the heck? I sit up, looking over the back of the couch. Lansing was walking up the stairs.

With me in his arms.

I jumped up from the couch, my mouth hanging open.

"Lansing!" I screamed. His form shrunk suddenly, as if he'd ran down a long hall.

"He can't protect you, Lekia," a voice wafted through the open windows.

"Aaron," I whispered.

"He'll never be able to protect you like I did, Beautiful. Just come back to me." A hand caressed my cheek. I shuddered, flipping around to escape the touch.

Aaron stood behind me.

"Ah," he sighed, "there you are."

I gasped loudly, coming out of the water that is sleep. My hand hit a hard chest, still disoriented where it was. My brain was on the same train.

"Get off me!" I screamed, slapping the chest. "Lansing help!"

"I'm right here, Lekia," Lansing's voice rumbled behind my hand. I retracted it quickly, looking up. Lansing's face appeared above me.

"Calm down, sweetheart. It's just me." I rested my hand back on his chest, and rested my hand next to it.

"I thought you were Aaron," I murmured, all my energy suddenly gone. His arms tightened around me, and I realized that he was actually carrying me. It hadn't been all in my head.

"I know. But I'm not. You're okay now." I clutched at him tighter as sleep started to take me again.

I can't go back.

"Lansing, don't let him take me again!" I begged, clutching at his shirt. "Please...save me from...the...the..." I mumbled, my eyes getting heavier.

"Save me from the nightmares," I breathed as sleep finally took me into it's dark depths.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I don't need the splint!" I argued uselessly, trying to pull my hand away from the doctor tending my hand. "I already had the bones set! It was fine."

"Lekia, you have to hold still!" the doctor exclaimed. "The sooner you hold still, the sooner this is over with." I held still grudgingly.

"Really, Tristan?" I complain through gritted teeth. "I was sleeping."

"Yeah? Well you should have though of that before you broke your hand, sis."

I held back a yawn, "Why are we here so early?" Tristan crossed his arms across his broad chest.

"Because I have to go to school, and I'm not letting you drive until it's properly set," he huffed as the doctor finished securing my hand in the splint.

"Thanks," I told him, jumping off the bench. After warning me of swelling, the doctor waved us out.

"You broke three of your knuckles, Lekia," Tristan sighed, "Three!"

"Yeah. Dad'll be impressed," I commented, thinking back to previous reactions of broken bones.

"What? You broke three knuckles and the first thing that comes to your mind is that Darl will be impressed?" Tristan asked, his voice rising as it usually did when he was exasperated with me.

"I was just saying," I shrugged my shoulders.

"Darl is sick," he spat, the fierceness in his eyes catching me off guard. I stopped moving down the hall.

"Why? 'Cause he's gonna be proud that I hit a wall with enough force to break three knuckles?" Some kind of protectiveness reared inside of my chest. Why is it sick that he would be proud of me for being strong?

"Yes!" Tristan stopped as well, moving me to the side of the hall. "You're only sixteen-"

"So what? You're only seventeen!" I interrupted. "What are you trying to say?" I matched his gaze with a fiercer one. After a second, something fell away in his eyes, and he straightened his back.

"Just forget it," he sighed, the fierceness dying slightly. I growled, frustrated, and spun on my heel.

"Lekia!" Tristan called after me. I started moving even faster. He caught up to me easily.

"You don't think I'm good enough," I snapped as he spun me around, the pieces clicking back into place. "You don't think I'm good enough!" I shove him, flinching as the splint dug into my skin.

"That's not what I was saying," he muttered softly, taking my shoulders. "You are way past good enough. Look, I'm sorry. Let's just forget all about it." I sigh softly, the anger leaving me like air out of a balloon. Just without the awful noise. That would be truly awkward.

"C'mere." I walked into Tristan's open arms, letting his arms envelope me.

Who needs a dumb shrink? I've got a big brother.