And so what if I did? Who is he to judge me?
With renewed energy, I focus on finding my way out of this forest even though it hurts. My lungs suck in the air like nothing else as I go on as fast as I can, despite the fact that I can’t run anymore.
I can’t afford to wait until the pain subsides. The guy behind me must be coming to. He’ll be right behind me in no time. I can’t get distracted again.
I push forward until I get to the edge of the forest. There’s another drop-off, but this time, I search for a softer slide, and I go down butt-first.
Only when I land do I look up … and my jaw drops.
This is not a riverbank.
It’s an actual sea.
My heart sinks into my shoes as the panic comes to a boil.
“No, no, no, no,” I mutter, tears welling up in my eyes as I stumble around, looking for another way.
But there is only water … for as far as the eye can see.
What do I do?
“Fuck!” I scream.
I don’t swear often, but when I do, I mean it.
I look out onto the horizon, wishing a magical boat would appear out of nowhere. That’s when I spot Anna. My eyes widen.
She’s wading right into the water.
With nothing to hold. No raft. No boat. Not even a plank of wood.
Nothing.
Just her against the waves crashing into her body, threatening to swallow her whole.
“Anna!” I call out, trying to run to her, but I’m not quick enough.
She’s disappearing fast.
“Anna! Stop!” I yell, pleading with myself in the hopes that she doesn’t go any further.
THUMP!
I’m coughing into the dirt, my face buried in the sand.
Someone toppled me right into the ground.
A knee pushes into the small of my back, and then my wrists are locked in place with cuffs.
I’m turned around on my back. But it isn’t the guard whose eyes are staring back at me. It’s Eli’s.
“Where is she?” he growls at me.
“I don’t know. She went into the water by herself,” I reply.
His eyes widen, and he scans the surface of the water to find her.
While he grabs his walkie-talkie, I try to free myself, but it’s impossible. The cuffs are too strong for me.
“Tobias. Need you here. Beach. Anna’s going in. Over,” he says.
He tucks the walkie-talkie away again and shoves me back against the sand.
“Why?” he growls, the look on his face so full of rage that I don’t even dare to look at him.
All I can think about is how I’ve failed. I did everything right, planned it all out, knew exactly what to do … and then I fell.
“What were you even thinking, huh?” he growls. “Did you really think I’d let you go?”
I shake my head and slam my lips together, refusing to reply.
“Amelia.” When he says my name, the tears start to run.
I thought I’d be free. That I’d make it out alive.
And now my time is running out.
“What did you do?” he asks. “What did you tell her?”
“Why does it even matter?” I mutter. “You caught me. It’s over.”
“She’s in the water, goddammit!” he yells, looking up to scour the water again. I’ve never heard him swear before.
Suddenly, Tobias springs out of the forest and runs past us. He’s like a lightning bolt, that’s how fast he is. Without saying a word, he rushes straight into the water.
Is he going to look for Anna? I don’t see her anywhere. She stepped into the water, and then I was pounced down. I couldn’t see a thing. And now she’s gone. Vanished. As though she never even existed in the first place.
And it suddenly becomes hard to breathe.
“You see now?” Eli whispers into my ear. “Do you see what you’ve done?”
Tears roll down my cheeks, sand sticking to my face. “No. We were going to escape.”
“Escape is impossible,” he says. “I told you that on day one. But you wouldn’t believe me.”
“Tell me what this place is,” I reply as we stare each other down. “Tell me where I am. You owe me that.”
His eyes narrow. “I owe you nothing after what you just did.” He gets up and grabs me by the arms. “On your feet.”
He drags me up until I’m standing, keeping me in place in front of him.
“You put not just yourself in danger but Anna too,” he says. “You don’t even know what you’ve done.”
“I freed her,” I say through gritted teeth.
I’m just hoping she made it out alive.
“You think you freed her from blame? From the guilt etching a gaping hole into her heart?” he hisses, and his grip on my arms tightens as he pulls me closer to his body so he can whisper into my ear. “You don’t know everything there is to know.”
“I did what I had to do to get us out of there,” I growl back.