The Runaways

The Runaways: Chapter 28: Kasen

              Jedda still hasn’t found me.  That’s a good thing.  All I have to worry about is getting outside.

                I remember my plan to get out.  It’s easy, and in about ten minutes, I’m at the exit.

                I thought I’d be excited to leave this horrible place, but I feel guilty.  I didn’t save Sofey, or even help Don with getting rid of his job.  Those two people are miserable here, and I haven’t helped them get out like I am.  They are going to be stuck here for who knows how long, but I’ll be happy.  I should be helping them.

                The only thing is, Sofey doesn’t want me to save her, and I have no idea where Don is.

                If I leave, I can find the place Don told me is safe for me.  I will never have to go home again.  I can live there for the rest of my life.  That sounds pretty nice.  And Jedda won’t try to take my powers again.

                But if I try to save Sofey and Don, Jedda might take me again.  I can just escape the room again.  I know the way out now.

                The only real issue is convincing Sofey to come with me.  She hates me now, even though I tried to save her from whatever Jedda is planning to do with her.

                I turn around to find Don first.  Someone is behind me.  It isn’t Jedda, thankfully.

                “Sofey?  How did you get out of that room?” I ask.

                She looks at me distastefully.  I guess she doesn’t want to see me.  “Does it matter?  Jedda knows you escaped and she wants to kill you!”

                I nod.  “Yeah.  She wants to kill a lot of people.  And why do you care if she catches me?”

                She is beginning to get mad.  “I care because I don’t want you to die.”

                I smile.  “So you still have feelings for me?”

                She looks like she’s about to strangle me.  “No, and you better shut up or you’re gonna get caught.  Let’s go.”  She starts toward the door.

                I shrug and decide to follow.  But I remember something.  “Wait, I need to find Don.”

                She laughs bitterly.  “A new friend?  If you want to die, go save your friend.”

                What is up with her?  She’s so mean now.  What did Jedda do to her?

                “Fine,” I mumble.

                We go out the door.  It doesn’t look like Chicago.  There is a field of corn and a pen of cows.  We’re still in Illinois, but not in Chicago.  We shouldn’t be too far from city limits, if we were taking a car.  But we can only walk.  I can’t drive, and Sofey can’t drive.  If I could drive, I wouldn’t even trust myself.  I’d probably plow down most of that corn and crash through the barn where the cows are.

                The sun is practically right above our heads.  So, it’s probably noon.  That means I should be eating lunch now.  I don’t have any money for food, and I don’t know where I’d get some.

                “Where are we?” I ask.

                Sofey scowls.  “I don’t know.  They knocked me out before they brought me here.”

                “We’re on our own, then,” I say.

                She nods.  “We should find some place to eat.  Then we can figure out where we are and how to get back home.  How long do you think it’ll take to go back?”

                I shake my head.  “I don’t know.  It could be anywhere from a couple hours to weeks.”

                I know that kind of thinking won’t get me anywhere, but I didn’t want to give her too much hope.

                “I want to go home.  Why was I captured?  What did I ever do to Jedda?” Sofey says.

                “You didn’t do anything.  She wants me,” I tell her.

                She asks, “Why?  Did you even know who she is before she captured you?”

                I shake my head.  “She knows who I am.  She doesn’t care if I know who she is or not.  She wants to take something from me that she wants.”

                Sofey turns to face me.  “What is it that she wants to take from you so badly?  There’s nothing I can think of that you would have and someone would want.”

                It stings.  What she said really hurts me.  I know I hurt her by lying, but she doesn’t need to be so bitter about it.  She can move on if it hurts so badly.

                “Sofey, I know I was wrong not to tell you, but you don’t need to be so mean about it.”

                “Maybe you deserve it,” she snaps, “I never deserved to be lied to, but you did it anyway.  Because you were trying to save my feelings.  It didn’t work as you planned, huh?  Now both of us are hurt.  And it’s your fault.”

                She isn’t going to apologize and forgive me, is she?

                “Stop it, Sofey.  I didn’t want you to worry about me.  I knew you’d try to help me plan and try to come with me, but I wanted to go on my own.  That’s why I didn’t tell you right away,” I defend myself.

                “Shut up, Kasen.  I don’t want to hear your stupid excuses.  You didn’t tell me because you don’t trust me.  I know that’s why.  You can’t hide the truth.”

                She must not know me as well as she thought.  It’s why we are broken up now.  She doesn’t know how I think.  She never has known.

                “I trust you.  All I was doing was trying to help our relationship,” I say.

                She scoffs.  “How’s that working for you?”

                “I give up.  I can find Chicago without your help.  You never needed me anyway,” I tell her and walk away.

                I expect her to pull me back and ask me to stay with her, but she doesn’t do that.  Instead, she says, “You’re right.  I don’t need you,” and goes in the other direction.