Noxious

39 | time is over

Kyle

I was panicking. 

It was dark and I had lost my siblings. 

I didn't know where to look because everywhere I had been looking, they weren't there. I had no idea where I was and we only had until dawn to figure things out. It wasn't hard to search for people in broad daylight.  

But what if someone had already grabbed them? Had the police set up a trap and they had us right where they wanted us? What if the police already had Charly and Tommy? 

My thoughts were in overdrive. 

Rowan followed me, he hadn't said a word. 

I felt hopeless. 

Still, I kept trudging along through the woods, even when I felt like breaking beneath the weight of my own regret. If only I hadn't stopped Rowan and gone back to set the car on fire. Although perhaps we wouldn't have escaped the police then. 

Would they have chased us on foot? I didn't know. 

I felt like I made another stupid mistake. 

Out of nowhere, I wasn't expecting the ground to disappear from beneath my feet and I flailed my arms to catch anything to stop myself from falling but all I grasped was air. I hit the ground and then I was rolling down the steep embankment. 

"Ow! Shit!" 

Rowan's voice was muffled. 

Leaves and sticks and dirt stung my eyes until I squeezed them shut and kept myself from crying out when pain flared through my body as it took a beating. I was almost dizzy by the time I stopped rolling and planted back first onto a very hard surface. 

Groaning, I sat up. "What the fuck was that?" 

Rowan came to a brutal halt and he heaved a breath before he spoke, "You didn't see that?" 

"You didn't see that?" I quipped, "I'm not the only one with eyes, you know." 

"I was following you." 

"Yeah, whatever," I grunted and then I hauled myself to my feet. My eye slowly trailed over the hard surface we had landed on and I saw faint white and yellow lines, "This is a road." 

"Great," was all Rowan said. 

I froze when I heard rustling nearby. "Shhh," I whispered to Rowan, even though he was already silent. He quietly stood up and we stood together, listening. 

"Ky?" A quiet voice spoke through the dark, "Ro?" 

"Charly!" I spun to face where her voice had come from, answering automatically, "Where are you?" 

"We're here," She responded, and I heard more leaves rustling as they drew closer to us, "Are you guys okay? What happened?" 

As soon as I saw her, I had no words. There was nothing that could describe how relieved I was to see her beside my actions. I raced forward and wrapped my arms around her. She hesitantly returned the hug and then held on tighter. 

"Are you okay?" She asked again. 

I cleared my throat, "Yeah, yeah, I'm good. Are you?" 

"Yeah," She nodded, pulling away, "I thought you guys were right behind me. When we finally stopped and saw that you weren't, we panicked." 

"We panicked, too," Rowan said, and he briefly hugged our little sister, "I thought we wouldn't find each other in this darkness." 

I turned to Tommy, who stood close to me, and slung my arm around his shoulders, "You good?"