The Angel of the Ocean

Sticks and Stones

Zach held his arms out and prepared to catch me as I jumped. Time seemed to slow down, as the few short seconds extended into hours. I knew my mother would panic when she found I wasn't there. She had always been protective of me, but since losing Drew she knew how fragile I was. I could only hope that I'd be able to explain it to her before long. The thought of her worrying about me, having no idea where I was made me pause to think about the situation. However, at that moment my feet slammed down against the stone ground. 

"Are you okay Zach?" I could see the fear emanating from him, the anxious hurried movements he was making.  "Are you sure it was him?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know?" he snapped back, throwing his hands into the air in exasperation. "I was barely a child!" I took a deep breath, reminding myself that this situation must be a lot more difficult for him than it was for me. After all, he had spent his life hiding from them. His family had eventually managed to settle down somewhere safe for him and he had fallen in what many people think is the most important aspect of life, he had fallen in love. Now, in his darkest moment when he had lost the most important person in his life, in both of our lives, they were back. I did not understand the true gravity of the situation, but it was difficult to mask the severity of the situation.

"Sorry," he whispered meekly. I was glad he had been quick to apologise. Drew had told me to trust him so I would, but fighting and screaming at each other would not help either of us. "We need a plan to get away and quick".

"Why can't we just go to the police? I know I suggested it and you said no, but surely if they are already here it can't get much worse?" A shake of Zach's head was all it took to dismiss the plan. 

"You heard Drew, we need to get away. We need somewhere safe, somewhere where I can think."

"Okay," I answered. "I trust you Zach, so just tell me what we need to do."

"I would suggest we go back to the house I brought you before, but there's no way to get there without being spotted and neither of us have access to a car, so we need to think of somewhere else and fast."

"Shit!... We need to go now Zach before my mother notices I'm gone and comes looking for me." I grabbed his hand and pulled him passed the house and towards a narrow raised grass verge. I ran up it first, dragging his hand up after me. The hand that my best friend must have been holding and clutching tightly when I thought she was visiting relations or whatever excuse she gave me when she was spending time with him. I still couldn't piece together their relationsjip in my head and how they managed to spend time together without anyone suspecting, but that was a question I could ask Zach when we were not fearing for our lives, when murderous criminals were not after us, seeking some sort of vengeance.

In the distance I could see the river, the one I had been at when Drew had first appeared. All the feelings from that day began to rise up inside of me, boiling over no matter how hard I tried to suppress them and push them back down I could feel them. 

Sensing this, it was Zach's turn to pull me by the hand and thankfully he choose the opposite direction. We followed a dirt track that ran away from my house. We stuck to the grassier areas, carefully trying not to leave any marks in the dusty ground. I knew it wouldn't be long until my mother would be out looking for me, she would probably have a search party out for me once she realised. I could almost guarantee that all of them would suspect the worst, after all I was the broken girl, the girl who barely spoke anymore; who tried to smile, but it failed to mask the pain; the one who avoided looking people in the year. Most importantly, I was the one who lost their best friend, the girl who had in a nutshell lost the second half of herself. 

We quickened the pace, breaking into a jog which sporadically turned into a sprint.  Neither of us spoke, and the only time we stopped was when Zach would slow to check the time. 

"Which way?"he asked as we approached a junction.

"Left heads out towards a main road and right leads to a similar path before you reach a wooded area." Instantaneously, he turned right and continued on his way. I took a second to catch my breath before following him. I knew I couldn't stop, we didn't have the time and then I would start thinking about home, about how worried they must be. I sped up determined not to leave my feelings take over. Drew had told me to trust Zach, so I knew I had to. It was not just a vision of my dead friend, she had spoken to us and the fact that she had been right about them being close served only to prove that she knew what she was thinking. 

After what seemed like hours we reached a dense area of the woods. The ground was covered in plant litter and all sides of us looked almost identical. 

"We'll stop here for a bit and try and get some food and maybe try and get a few hours sleep. Did you bring any food?" he questioned his voice perking up slightly at the thought of food.

I pulled out the small amount of food I had quickly thrown into the bag. There was two small packets of jellies, a school lunchbox still untouched which contained an apple and a chicken and cheese sandwich on white bread. I held the sandwich, turning my nose up as I realised the bread was stale. I placed it back in the lunchbox. 

"Can I?" Zach asked, a glimmer of hope in his eyes. I nodded.

"It's stale th..." I began, but he had already began to devour it. Grated cheese slid out the side of his mouth as he chomped down on the hardened bread.

"Sorry, it's been a while since I've had proper food," he mumbled. His mouth opened wide, showing the half chewed up pieces of food inside. I grabbed the packet of jellies and began to work my way through the packet. Next I choose to eat the lightly browned apple and leave the remaining packet of sweets for him.

"I guess you should sleep for a while Em," he suggested. The sky had darkened considerably since we arrived. At the mere suggestion of it, I could feel my body going limp hoping I'd leave it rest.

"But what about you?" I questioned. 

"Don't worry about me. I'm used to not sleeping much. Besides I need to stay awake and make sure there's nobody coming. I'll wake you if anything happens."

I wanted to argue to demand that he slept first or to say if he wasn't going to I wouldn't either, but I didn't have the energy and I guess a part of me knew he was right I needed rest. If we were going to continue tomorrow and come up with a plan I needed to regain some energy.

"Promise you'll wake me if you start to get tired or if anything happens?"

"I promise!" He almost laughed as he said it. I was fairly certain he had been used to Drew saying it. She had always made me promise when it came to anything and the habit had quickly seeped through to me.

I closed my eyes and quickly fell asleep. I was exhausted there was no hiding that, but I woke up frequently. Some of the ground beneath me contained stones and branches that stuck into me as I changed position and the wind seemed much stronger as I tried to sleep.

Yet, the main reason for my inability to stay asleep. I was not sure if I would be waking up to see tomorrow. We were just two children in a secluded wooded area and there were trained murderous villains after us. If they found us, I was certain we didn't stand a chance. I might not have been involved in the initial situation, but I doubted that would make a difference. After all Drew and Zach were only children when the gang had murdered her mother and they were still after them.

If they found us, we stood no chance and both of us knew it.