CAPTURE THIS (Updating regularly)

Chapter 2

"Ann," Amber called as she placed her hand on the steel handle.

"Yeah?" Annette responded without looking back.

"It'll be alright," Amber told her.

Annette let out a shaky laugh but held a firm smile on her face. "I know it will, sis."

Amber closed her eyes and fell back onto her bad. She distinctly heard the door shut and she let out a long sigh. How on Earth had things ended up like this? Annette being pregnant, her losing her mother's beloved paint set to a complete stranger...

She had to get the paint set back. Without it, she felt as though her mother's presence had been lost with the set. Amber kneaded her forehead with the palm of her hand, hoping that an idea would hit her. The only thing that she could think of was going back to the forest but would the man be there? He had said that he visited that place frequently...

Amber sat up on her bed and glanced at her quirky wall clock. It was three o'clock on a late August day. It would be a while before it got dark. She'd be able to wait for the guy for at least an hour. If he didn't turn up, she'd just have to try again tomorrow.

Now there was the issue of getting there. Usually, Amber would have hiked up to the clearing but it would be ten times harder to do that with her crutches. There was no way she'd be able to get into the forest unaided.

Amber grabbed her phone from her bedside table and flipped it open. She scrolled down through her contacts list until she found Matty's number.

"Hey, Matty," she greeted him.

"Amber!" He replied cheerfully.

Amber couldn't help but grin. She hadn't heard from Matty all summer since he had been on holiday in Spain.

Matty was her best friend. They had met at an art gallery where Matty had been working. Amber had left her phone there and he had called her home phone, asking if she'd meet him to come and get it. When she had gone to get it from his house, they had really hit it off. Amber had had a slight crush on him at the time but it wore off when she had met his long term girlfriend a couple of weeks later. It turned out that they were at the same school but Matty was in the year above. When he turned sixteen, Matty left school to work full time at the gallery. Amber, on the other hand, stayed to finish her A-levels so that she could head to university. It was Amber that brought together their friendship group. Amber introduced her school friends to Matty and they all were incredibly close, but Amber and Matty shared a special bond since they had been friends for longer. 

"How've you been?" He asked, curiously.

Amber spent the next twenty minutes explaining all the boring details about how she'd spent most of her holiday at home doing pretty much nothing. When she told him about the mystery man and how she had managed to stab herself with a paintbrush, Matty hurriedly asked her if she was alright and then proceeded to tease her about the guy.

"You like him, don't you?" Matty teased. "Ambs is in love!"

Amber couldn't stop herself from blushing. "I do not! Anyway, he has my painting stuff, Matty. I want to see if he's in the forest. Will you drive me there please?"

Matty was eighteen and had already gotten his driver's license. His Dad had taught him how to drive and so he hadn't needed the lessons. He took the tests and passed both on the first try. Amber, on the other hand, had taken the theory test twice and had failed. She hoped to re-take it in a couple of months so she had time to study again. 

Matty sighed. "Alright, but I'm only doing this because I owe you."

"Sure," Amber said dismissively, "after this, we'll be even."