Hadley has been on edge lately. Everyone is keeping a close eye on her but she is very agitated about being in the cabin. She wants to leave, as do all of us, but its difficult when you have no way of escaping. Hadley has been running up and down the stairs to the basement and back to her room all night long. She hasn't slept in days and is now on the verge of a psychotic break.
I believe she's acting this way because Armin's death date is coming up.
I was on the back deck feeding Joel for Locklyn and Cason. Cason had two seizures last night and isn't feeling well, so I agreed to help Locklyn with the triplets. I think it's good for the triplets to be outside once in awhile, it may help them with growing and gaining weight even.
Joel started to cry halfway through his bottle and I slowly put him on my chest and pat his back softly. I was staring down at him as he continued to cry and then, he puked on my shirt.
"Okay, it's alright," I mumbled to him. I took the cloth Locklyn gave me and put it over the vomit. Joel continued to cry. "Shush," I kissed the top of his head and he slowed his crying and was soon sleeping after twenty minutes.
I went inside the cabin and into the living room. Locklyn was asleep on the couch while Everleigh and Paislee were sleeping in the crib. I put Joel there and grinned widely.
Anya came into the living room and hugged me from behind, putting her head on my shoulder, and staring at the triplets' sleep. I put my hands over hers' and squeezed.
"They are so cute, aren't they," she whispered.
"Yeah, and I can't believe we are part of their lives. It amazes me that Locklyn and Cason had triplets with no medical equipment or doctors. It was just Locklyn's body caring for these babies and all of us hoping for the best."
"I know, its crazy to think a woman's body can change to bear a child and then aid in its health. Its pretty cool."
"I want three children when we get older."
"Why three?"
"Because I never had siblings and don't want my child to grow up alone. I want three because it seems like two can be iffy but with three you know that two are bound to be close."
"Three sounds perfect." She kissed me and then walked away. I followed her into the kitchen.
"How's Cason and Hadley?" I asked sitting at the island.
"Cason's in a lot of pain and his head hurts. I put up blankets over his windows because he was screaming every time the sunlight came into the room. Hadley locked herself in her room and won't talk to me. I'm worried for her because she hasn't slept and is now freaking out thinking our families forgot about us."
"I'm thinking she is finally grieving Armin's death. Its almost been a year since he died."
Anya sighed and stood at the sink. She gripped onto the counter and closed her eyes tightly. "I know and in the back of my head I feel like he is alive."
"Same here," I whispered.
We both heard someone pounding down the stairs and it was Hadley running and stopping at the hall closet. She whipped open the doors and dug through the stuff in there. She was breathing heavily and shaking. I glanced over at Anya, got up, and went to Hadley. she had this small ball of paper, rope, and wires.
"What are you doing?" I asked her. "You're acting crazy."
"Leave me alone!" she yelled and frantically dug through the stuff. "Go away!" she screamed and the triplets started to cry.
"Fuck!" I heard Locklyn yell from the living room and Anya ran in to help her.
"You just woke the triplets up. What the hell Hadley?" she was ignoring me. "Hadley Sadie Mikaelson!" I yelled and pushed her away from the closet. She had a red stick in her hand and was shaking while holding it in her grip. "What is that?"
"A way out of here!" she stood up, walked past me, and towards the back door.
"Hadley, wait!" I yelled and went after her. "Stop!" I yelled and pushed her to the ground.
"Get off of me, Trace!" she yelled. "We need to get out of here and now!"
"We need to have a plan. We need to pack up the triplets and get Cason out before you do something stupid and could hurt all of us."
"You don't get it!" she yelled and had tears falling down her face. "I can't be here another minute. I need to get out of here. I want to go home, be with my family, be a normal teenage girl again." I stared at her and watched as she was breaking down. "I want Armin. I want to talk to him, I want to hug him, I want to be with him. I want to die in order to see Armin and it sucks to feel like this. He understood me, he was there when none of you were, I carried his child, I was going to save him from the damage he was doing to himself. I didn't save him though and I can't carry that guilt any longer."
"This is about you missing Armin, not a way out of here, huh?" she nodded and cried harder. "We all miss him, Had."
"His death date is coming up." I nodded and closed my eyes. "And I don't want to be in this cabin when it comes. I want to be home."
I sighed and got what she was saying. I want to be home when that day comes also. Armin was my brother, a brother I never thought of having, and Cason is also, but Armin and I had this connection where we knew each other's thoughts, we knew when one of us was hurt or in trouble, we were like twins. Cason and I have this connection where he is more of a step-brother, he's there, we're close, but we don't know each other's thoughts, he will come to me if he sees something bothering me, sort of like a father figure.
Hadley pushed me off of her, stood up, and ran out the sliding glass door. she pulled the tab off the top of the flare and it began to crackle, smoke, and let out a bright orange color.
"NO!" I screamed right as she threw the flare into the forest, causing it to explode and catch the trees on fire. "What did you just do?"
"We're going home," she said while looking back at me with a tear stained face.
"Anya, Locklyn!" I yelled and ran into the living room. "Get the triplets and run!"
"What just happened? Why did we hear an explosion?" Locklyn asked. "The babies are crying now."
"Hadley set off a flare and set the forest on fire! We need to get out of here before it spreads!" Anya and Locklyn exchanged looks and shook their heads. "NOW! MOVE!"
"Help Locklyn while I get Cason out of bed. Take some sheets, wrap it around your neck to cradle the babies. how long do we have until it spreads?"
"All I know about flares is that we have up to thirty minutes until the fire and smoke get bigger and thicker. We need to get going." Anya nodded and ran up the stairs to get Cason. I helped Locklyn with the babies. I looked in the giant box and saw two packages of special baby wraps. "Here, put these two wraps on for the girls and I will get a sheet and make one for Joel."
"Wait, Trace, we need diapers, bottles, the formula, clothes, blankets. How far do we have to walk? Will someone at least see us from the road? We were supposed to have a plan, what happened to that?"
"there is no plan! There never was!"
"What do you mean? Cason had several written down."
"And you really think he was going to go through with them." She did a small nod. "No, he didn't want to. He was scared of what could happen if it backfired. He didn't want to get arrested."
"But, Trace, he had the plans. He knew how to get out of here correctly and safely."
I went over to Locklyn and took her by the shoulders. "He had the plans written but not the strength to go through with the plans. The plan now is to get out as fast as we can and run. We don't have much time." She let tears fall and stared at the triplets in the crib. "don't worry about the triplets, we will keep them safe."
"How?" her voice shook. "they're so tiny and fragile. I don't think they will last the walk." I hugged her tightly. "I don't want to hurt them."
"And you won't. We will protect them, all of us will make sure they are safe on the walk and don't you worry about them." She nodded, pushed away from the hug, wiped her eyes, and sighed.
"Now, why did Hadley throw a flare?"
"she had a mental breakdown, Locklyn! She isn't thinking and set the whole fucking forest on fire." Hadley slowly came into the living room and had a blank stare on her face. "What, Hadley?" I snapped at her.
"What did I just do?" she was shaking and crying. "I'm so sorry. I wasn't thinking and now I regret it and feel awful for everything I caused."
"We forgive you. can you help pack a book bag for the triplets while I figure out how to make a sling for Joel." She nodded and looked for a book bag. She got one from the basement and started to pack stuff for the triplets.
Anya and Cason came downstairs. Cason came over and took Joel out of the crib. "I'll carry him, he's my son, I have to protect him."
"But you had two seizures yesterday. Don't your muscles hurt?"
"I will suffer through the pain for my children. Ill start walking towards the road."
"Wait for us, Cason!" Locklyn yelled while Anya put Everleigh and Paislee in the slings. "Do we have everything we need for the triplets?" Hadley nodded. "Anya, get the map over there and let's go. How many minutes has it been since she–" we heard another explosion and soon smelt smoke. I went into the hallway to see the glass blown out from the sliding door and the trees up in flames.
"We need to get out of here, now!" I yelled and began to walk out the front door. we started to walk into the forest and towards the road. Another explosion went off and more trees caught on fire. We started to walk a bit quicker but everyone was tired and in pain. "I don't think it was a flare you set off, Hadley."
"It looked like a flare. What could it have been then?"
"A bomb." Her eyes widened and she looked back at the damage she caused. "Lets hurry up and get out of here." Joel started to cry and Cason was trying to calm him down. "Do you want me to take him?"
"He's burning up and very pale." Locklyn stopped and looked at Cason quickly. She went over and looked at Joel. "His cry sounds different, Lock."
"he can't be sick, Cason. We need to get him to a hospital and quick. He doesn't look too good."
"We're on our way now," Anya said, "hold him close to your chest, near your heart, maybe it was calm him down a bit." Cason did that and Joel kept crying.
In the distance I can heard sirens, and lots of them. Someone probably saw the smoke and called 911 and they will be able to help us and get us out of here. But what will happen when they find us? How will we get back to New York? Who will call our parents?
This doesn't seem real. We are actually going home, being rescued, getting help. It feels somewhat normal to think we may be home in a couple hours or days. We don't have to wait any longer.
Our time is here to face the world and tell them the truth behind the cabin.
The president isn't going to win. We are.
The sirens got closer with each step we took and after a couple minutes, they seemed to be right next to us, blaring sounds and flashing lights.
We've been walking for about thirty minutes now. Anya was leading the way with Locklyn and Cason behind her, and then Hadley and I in the back. Hadley was sobbing softly and I didn't know what to say to make her feel better. she just set a whole forest on fire and feels like everything that has happened in the cabin is her fault, and its not.
"Guys, flashing lights!" Anya yelled and pointed straight ahead of us. "we're so close!" there were faint flashing lights that can be seen through the bushes and branches. We pushed through the bushes and slowly went out into the open.
"Freeze, put your hands up!" several cops yelled in unison to us and held up guns.
"Help us," Anya screeched. "Please, help us." The cops lowered their guns and stared at us. They saw Locklyn with the girls and came over to help her.
"Call for seven ambulances!" a cop screamed to another.
"No, eight," Cason stepped out from behind Locklyn and took Joel out of the sling. "He hasn't stopped crying and is very hot and pale. Please help him." Cason was panicking.
"Come with me. I'll check him out while the ambulances come. Now what happened to y'all?" we followed Cason to a cop SUV. "Where did the babies come from?"
"They're ours," Locklyn point to Cason and her. "we were taken against our will, locked in this cabin, and had to fend for ourselves."
"Who took you?" his badge read Topher.
"The president of the united states. We witnessed Senator Quinn's murder and they took us to keep us safe. But we weren't safe, we were hurt," Locklyn sobbed. "I need to sit down. I feel sick."
"Leslie and Hobbs, I need assistance!" he yelled and took one of the girls from Locklyn. "Take the other baby from her and get her a chair before she falls. She looks faint." The one that says Hobbs took the other baby and had his hand lightly behind Locklyn's back. The other cop had a foldable chair and set it down for Locklyn. "How long were you in this cabin for? And when where the babies born?"
"We have been there since a week after Senator Quinn's murder," I said. "And the babies were born May 2nd. We have the paper of the times and weights of each baby."
"First off, how old are you, all of you?" Hobbs asked.
"Eighteen and nineteen."
"And how did you have triplets with no medical equipment or doctors?"
"She has a condition where she was born with two uteruses and before we left, she was on birth control, but while in the cabin, those two had sex for about a month and she became pregnant with triplets. We thought she was having twins and made her go on strict bed rest early on, but it turned out that she had identical twin girls and a boy. The boy weighed about two pounds lighter than his sisters and was breeched," Anya said.
"Did you deliver the babies?" Leslie asked.
"Yes, I did. I was an EMT back in New York and have experience." The ambulances arrived and paramedics came over to us.
After they took our information and our vital signs, they put each of us, including the triplets, in our own ambulance. They had to put an oxygen mask on Joel and Locklyn freaked when they did and had to be restrained and was the first to leave with Joel behind her. Cason was the one who went next and then me. Hadley and Anya left at the same time right behind me.
While in the ambulance, I was strapped to the stretcher and felt really weak all of a sudden. My hands began to shake and I was sweating.
"Trace, stay with me, come on buddy," the paramedic said to me. He was doing something with my fingers and a meter. "Blood sugar is sixty. Injecting half units of glucagon."
"My ankles, they hurt," I whispered.
"I know they do and the doctor will take care of them right away." I nodded and sighed. "Tell me about yourself. You need to stay awake until we arrive at the hospital. Do you have any siblings?"
"Yeah."
"How many?"
I let tears fall and cried harder. I was mostly thinking of Armin and how I should include him. "Four."
"What are their names and how old?"
"Cason, Locklyn, Hadley, and," I paused and looked at the ceiling of the ambulance. I then felt the stickiness of blood on my hands and looked to see the faint color of red. I was reliving the day of the accident. "And Armin."
"Cason, Locklyn, and Hadley? your friends are your siblings?"
"We've been best friends since first grade. Anya is my girlfriend. Armin was her twin brother and basically could be my twin. I don't have any siblings and they are my family. My mother died six years ago and I don't get along with my father."
"Where's Armin?"
"In heaven. He died last year from a baseball accident."
"Oh, he was the one who was hit in the head with bat and hemorrhaged." I nodded and let tears fall. "I'm so sorry, Trace. It must be hard on all of you losing a friend like that. I can't even imagine."
"He was basically the leader because he made sure everyone was okay and never let us get hurt and knew when something was bothering one of us. But, I let him get hurt, and I feel awful that I didn't protect him from the stupid bat!" I yelled and banged the railing of the stretcher. "I could've saved him and I didn't. if only I yelled to him two seconds before or held my hands tighter over the gash in his head, then he would be here with us. I didn't protect him," I sobbed and closed my eyes shut. "I broke his promise."
"Trace, don't put the blame on you. it was out of your control, trust me." I nodded.
The ambulance pulled up to the doors of the emergency department and they wheeled me through the halls. Doctors and nurses filled the room and started to examine me. One nurse pricked my finger and had a meter with her. she nodded and wrote something down. A doctor was looking at my ankles and how purple and swollen they are.
Everything was becoming fuzzy and my heart was racing and then slowing and racing again.
It was soon black.