The Runaways

Chapter 28

Every time I tried to grab a hold of her, she’d move away. The first couple times I figured maybe she was playing around, but she kept dodging me like some kinda disease.

After a little while, my gut gave out, like I’d lost my nerve and dignity all at the same time, and I snapped. Just snapped. Stopped caring about what she thought of me, leaned out as far as I could, and pulled her back on to solid ground.

Hailey flew into me so hard she knocked me straight off my feet and down on the dirt. Her shoulder crashed into my ribs about half as hard as Liam’s fists had back in the cold room. The burn of bruised bones exploded up my back, and ripped right through the morphine.

She jumped off of me as soon as she saw my face and turned whiter than Birch bark, like she suddenly remembered how to feel something. She kept saying she was sorry, and asking if I was okay, but the more she asked, the less I wanted to answer.

        “Caleb, I’m sorry.”

        “Don’t worry about it, let’s just get outta here."

I rolled forward a little too fast, like I was fine, hoping she wouldn’t catch my bluff.

Trying to get up on my own felt like a good idea when I started out, but I couldn’t even get to my knees without her. The second she touched me, my insides bunched up so tight I thought I’d pass out or puke.

Looking at her up close made everything worse. Bile shot up the back of my throat whenever she blinked at me with those damn eyelashes, so I slammed my eyes shut ‘til I got to my feet.  

Hailey’s hand slid around my waist so fast I almost couldn’t stop her from trying to keep me steady.  She had the softest fingers I’d ever felt, but I shoved them away, like letting them go was easy.

        “Why are you still standing here? I told you to go, so go. I don’t want your help,” I said.

All the pretty things about her face faded a little when I yelled at her. I shouldn’t have, but my blood was burning so badly I couldn’t help it.

        “I didn’t mean to crash into you, Caleb, but you won’t even let me apologize.”

        “What’ll it matter if you do? I said not to worry about it, so quit. It’s done. Just walk.”

The wind kicked up before she could say anything. Good thing it did or she probably would’ve been yelling. It wasn’t like I didn’t wanna hear her out, but I was scared to. Ma used to say that you could tell how much you meant to a person from how they said they were sorry.

If Hailey up and said those words without any heart behind them, I’d know I didn’t mean anything to her. But she was it for me, whether she knew it or not. If I didn’t have her, I didn’t have anybody.

The downpour wouldn’t let up and neither did I. As soon as I had the chance, I started in on her again, like getting angry was gonna fix things. Lately, crying and shouting felt like the only things I knew how to do.

        “What’s with you, Hailey? You’re acting like I did something wrong," I said.

        “What are you talking about?”

        “You tell me. You’ve been dodging me for nearly four hours.”

        "That's not true. ”

        “Then look at me.”

She couldn’t. Even after getting called out, she kept staring around or above me, like I didn’t notice. I did.