Lost Horizons

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Chapter Thirty Eight

"I took off in paradise

And I landed in the jungle

And I spent the whole time watching my back" –Crooked Colours

"Tristan?!" Sienna exclaimed.

It was as if the world stood still in those few seconds when Tristan got lost in Sienna's eyes. Juts hearing her voice was enough to calm him down. He was relieved to notice she was alright, physically at least.

Sienna quickly got up from her chair and ran to Tristan. He embraced her with open arms. The feeling of relief was mutually strong. She wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head on his broad chest. For a moment they forgot they weren't alone in the room.

"Sienna," Tristan sighed "Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Are you? How did you get here? Did they let you out? Where did they take you?" Sienna fired question after question at him. It was then Ana cleared her throat and Sienna noticed her presence. "Ana!" she yelled and ran to her. Both girls hugged each other tightly.

"We were so worried. We thought we'd get caught before we found you," Ana told her.

"Caught? What do you mean?" Sienna asked with a look of bewilderment.

"They had us locked up like prisoners! If it wasn't for Tristan we'd still be down there or worse—being experimented on in the labs," Ana said bitterly. It was in that moment that Tristan lunged at Mrs. Hale. She'd remained quiet this entire time, simply watching from behind her desk in surprise. She'd never expected these two patients to come shooting through her office door. How had they even escaped?

Tristan grabbed Mrs. Hale from behind and restrained her, pointing his gun to her head. She froze in shock.

"Tristan! What are you doing?" Sienna exclaimed letting go of Ana. Why did Tristan have a gun? She wondered in panic.

"It's our only way out of here safely. Just follow my lead," Tristan answered her and then to Hale he said in a threatening voice "And you better cooperate or I'm putting a bullet through your head." All three women gasped. He sunk the gun deeper into her head and urged her forwards.

"Tristan wait! You don't know the whole story. It's all a misunderstanding," Sienna tried to explain.

"I know she locked us up in a cell and was going to bring us up to the lab to be experimented on and do who knows what to us. I also know she's been messing with not just us but all of the students at O.W. for months," Tristan was growing angrier by the second. All he wanted to do was get rid of Mrs. Hale once and for all but they needed her as a bargaining chip to make it out alive. She'd get what she deserved soon enough, Tristan promised to himself.

"But there's lots of things you don't know. Mrs. Hale explained the Institute's true purpose. Please just put the gun down and let's sit and talk like civilized people," Sienna tried again.

"I don't know what she told you but she's a master of manipulation. Don't let her fool you, Sin. She's far from civilized. Now follow me out. We've got to go before security shows up," Tristan said.

"Tristan you don't understand. Just please listen to me," Sienna said in desperation. They were almost to the door when Mrs. Hale spoke for the first time since Tristan and Ana had barged in.

"Don't worry. It's not his fault, Sienna. It's the IED. He will regret his actions later but right now he's blinded by anger," she explained calmly. It took everything in Tristan not to shut her up. How could she speak of him as if he weren't even in the room? And what did she mean by IED? Tristan wondered.