You Jump I Jump

Tip Toe Balance

“Ok we need a game plan.”  Calum said quietly.

“Well we need to move in closer.  Someone has to be standing guard.  There is no way they are going to watch out.”

“Watch for what they are the enemy.”  Calum said quickly. 

I stood quietly for a minute. 

“We have to go in expecting everything Calum.”  Then I kneeled down and began to move my way through the tall grass.  Calum was behind me.  I felt him hold the back of my shirt so we could see each other.  In the grass the moon didn’t give us as much light.  I moved until the smoke smell got strong and then I stopped.   I turned back and held my hand up at Calum and he stopped. 

I lifted my head slowly, so if someone was looking I wouldn’t pop out and expose myself.  I hadn’t realized we had moved as far as we did.  We were close.  Probably closer than we should have been.  I could see in the window. 

“Alright move it.”  I heard a voice say and I saw as two people with hoods on their head were lead in side.  One was crying and it made it obvious it was a girl. 

“Who is that?”  Calum said quickly.

“Cant tell.  They have hoods on their head.”  I said looking back at him.

“How close are we?”

“Really close.”  I said before holding a finger up to my mouth.  He was getting loud.  I could tell he was getting nervous. 

“So…What now?”  He whispered. 

“Well…..This changes things.”  I said sitting down.

“Why?”

“I came for Harry.  I don’t care about the rest of them.  They mean nothing to me.”

“Mikey is in there man.” Calum said softly sounding disappointed in me.  I get it Michael was one of our good friends.  WAS.  But now he was one of them.  And if I didn’t mean anything to him why should he mean anything to me.

“Its doesn’t matter anymore Cal.  I don’t want to hurt him.  I don’t want to hurt anyone.  But he made it clear it’s me or him.”

“But he doesn’t know you are here.  He doesn’t know you are even alive Luke.  I mean you could just go.  You could take Kelly and just run off and he wouldn’t know any different.  We could just go now.  Find them.  And move on.”  Calum said.  He was having a change of heart.  It wasn’t his fault.  It wasn’t his fight. 

“We need to see who the people in the hoods are.”

“Why?”  Calum said quickly.

“Because….It’s the right thing to do.  They need help.  We can’t just leave them.”  I said getting back on my feet in a squatted position.  Then I started to move.  I could hear Calum behind me.  We moved quickly but as quietly as possible. 

Once we came to the clearing that lead to the house I stopped in the high grass, not ready to reveal myself just yet.  I turned to Calum.  Now I could see his face a bit and he looked super stressed. 

“Stay here.”  I said softly.

“Why?”

“Just do it ok?  I’m going to check the window and I will be right back.

He nodded and I turned back to the hut.  I took a deep breath and skimmed the area again.  Everything was still.  Then I moved.  I bolted for the hut and when I reached it I pushed my body up to it.  I looked back and saw that Calum was still hidden.  I was glad.  It was nice to have that back up. 

I turned and moved to the window.  It was up a little higher then I could reach but there was some wood piled up.  I stepped up on it and then moved my head slowly so I could spy without being seen. 

“Who is this?”  Louis asked.

“Found them down by the creek at a makeshift camp sight.” Someone said.  I couldn’t tell who from this angle.

“Why are they covered?”  A familiar voice said.  Michael.  I found myself pushing myself up on my tip toes so I could see better. 

Pull off the masks.  Pull of the masks.  I said over and over and over again in my head.  I felt panicked.  Who the hell was it?  It couldn’t be Kelly or Talia.  They wouldn’t blindfold them.  Why would they?  They knew them.  I finally got a better view and I saw it was a guy and a girl.  You could tell by their shapes.  I couldn’t see what they were wearing though.  Maybe if I could just stretch a little bit more.

“Hey!”  Calum hissed.  It scared the shit out of me and I fell back on the back.  Lucky for me Calum was right there and he caught me.

“Jesus Calum what the fuck.”  I said as quietly as I could but still getting my point across.  He laughed. 

“Sorry it’s just you weren’t being very smart.”  He said with a laugh.  I stood up straight.  “I mean you’re standing on a damn wood pile.  Its classic movie dumbness man.  Its gonna fall.  You are gonna make noise and get us caught.  You aren’t thinking straight.  What is wrong?”  He asked.  I shook my head saying nothing. 

“What?”  He asked. 

“They have prisoners or something.”  I said quickly. 

“Who?”  He asked the obvious question.  It was so obvious and yet I couldn’t answer it because he interrupted me. 

“Well I have no idea because you’re dumb as interrupted me.”  I snapped.

I high pitched scream caused both of our heads to snap to the window.  I went to the wood pile and climbed up again.  I could hear crying.  Who was it?

I had to get on my tip toes and once I steadied myself I could see.  My blood ran cold.

Her long dark hair was messier than I remembered.  And she was crying.  Her cheeks were read and she was dirty, probably from the struggle that had happened when they found them.  Her eyes darted around the room frantically looking for some form up help and I felt helpless.

“Who is it?”  Calum said behind me.  My throat was dry.  I turned and jumped down.  I cleared my throat. 

“Um…I think you should go back.”  I said.

“What?  No I am not going anywhere who is it?”  He said, his eyes searching mine for answer.  I didn’t answer.  Not because I didn’t want to.  I wanted to scream it out to him.  But I knew what was going to happen.  He pushed past me and climbed up.  He struggled to see inside as I had a good inch or two on him.  He was breathing heavily and I worried he would give us away until his breath caught itself.  Then it was quiet.  Eerily quiet.  He jumped down and grabbed me.  He pulled me to the grass and we crouched down.  He took a deep breath and looked at me.  In the moon they were shiny even though they were dark and I don’t know if it was because he was on the verge of tears or he was just that pissed off.

“We have to get in there.”  He said.  It was the most serious I had ever heard him say anything. 

“Not now.”

“Fuck that Luke.  It’s Talia.  They have her and I’m not leaving here tonight without her.  So get of your ass.  We are going in.”  He said.  And without hesitation he stood up and walked towards the hut.