Impostor

Chapter 21

Jane's pov

The sky was grey and snow fell fast and relentlessly. The once-green trees were blurring into a white canvas. Everything looked exactly the same and I'm not sure if I'm going in the same direction as before. My bare feet went numb after running in the thick snow for almost three hours. My body was completely exhausted, but my mind knew that we had to keep moving. I struggled to move my legs through the deep snow while checking my phone for the hundredth time. It was 11:43 am but it felt much later. My phone only had one percent battery left and fear was clawing at my insides. I decided to stay in one place just in case my phone died.

I knew better than to stay still. I walked in a small circle, trying to maintain my body heat and trying not to think about my numb feet and fingers. My King of Spades outfit consisted of a long dress with long sleeves, which I was grateful for. The problem was that the dress did nothing to keep the cold at bay. The jacket only covered the top part of my body and I needed to rub my legs every few minutes to fend off the cold. I must have walked for at least an hour before I started to see the dirt break through the snow. The snow around the roundabout was up to mid-thigh. I reasoned with myself whether or not to sit down. If I sat down I was shielded from the icy wind, but then I wasn't creating any new body heat. I let out a breath and watched as it froze in front of my face. I got down on my knees and cringed as my stiff legs had to bend painfully. I adjusted and pulled my knees to my chest in an attempt to contain my remaining heat.

With luck, my shelter was beneath a particularly large branch that stopped the heavy flow of snow from burying me. I started to rub my red fingers together to get the feeling back, but it felt like I was rubbing my hands against steel wool. I blew a few breaths on my icy fingers, but I feared that I only made it worse. It was nice and warm for the first ten seconds and then the wind would blow on my hands and they would freeze. I really hoped that someone was looking for my phone's location. I hope that they saw me stop here. I missed Harry's pool and the way the sun kissed my skin gently. I missed Harry. I dared a glance at my feet and tears filled my eyes at my red swollen toes. I knew that blisters were the first sign of frostbite. I needed to get warm and fast.

I lay down and pulled my body into a small ball while I waited. If I wasn't rescued in an hour, I needed to get up and leave. I looked at my watch and then pulled my arm between my legs and chest. I closed my eyes to relieve them from the harsh cold. I knew that falling asleep was the biggest mistake, but soon I couldn't force my eyelids apart. I let the darkness pull me away from this freezing nightmare that was my life.

Harry's pov

We were two hours away from her when the signal on her phone stopped moving for ten minutes before dying completely. The detective, Blake, reassured me that she stopped because her phone was about to die and that she was smart enough to do that. I looked impatiently at the trees rushing past the window. Blake was pushing the car as fast as manageable, but it felt too slow for me. Every now and again I would let out a breath of frustration and Blake would risk a glance at me before focusing on the road again. He tried to ease my frustration by turning on the radio, but to his dismay, I turned it off immediately. At this point, he accelerated and didn't risk a glance at me again. I felt like a bomb without her. If anyone tried to talk to me I would just blow up in a fit of rage.

We finally turned off the highway and onto a snowy dirt road that led us into the forest. My chest got swollen with hope as we neared her location. Blake's eyebrows were furrowed in concentration as he tried to navigate the neglected road. We could see that a car has been here recently. Blake suddenly stopped and I turned to him with both irritation and confusion consuming my body. I raised an eyebrow and he opened his door. "We need to walk from here." He said and held his phone up while walking around the car and into the forest. I pulled the blanket off of the backseat and got out of the car. The cold wind knocked the breath out of my lungs and I had to gasp a few times before I regained my breath.

I was following Blake through the forest. He kept us going at a brisk pace and I had no objections. Everything looked the same and I was getting a little worried about getting lost. Blake seemed to know where he was going and this eased my mind a little. He suddenly stopped in a small clearing and looked around. I looked to our right and saw a strange circular hole under a sturdy tree. I walked over and a breath of relief rushed out of my mouth. Jane was curled into a tiny ball in the middle of the hole. She was shivering and her hands looked red and swollen. I moved quickly, scooping her unconscious body up and wrapping the blanket around her.

The walk back to the car felt much shorter now that I had her safely in my arms. The ride to the hospital was rushed and I wanted to hold her a little longer, but her health was more important right now. As soon as we entered the emergency entrance, the doctors put her on a bed. We rushed to some other room where they would treat her. Two swinging doors came up and two of the four doctors pushed them open and stayed behind. They pulled me along and I struggled to stay with her. She disappeared around a corner and I felt anxious. "We'll take good care of her, sir. Please stay behind these doors." One of the doctors tried reasoning with me. I finally stopped struggling and accepted that her life was in their hands.