Chapter 1
As I lie in my room on the floor crying my eyes out I have a thought. Why am I am I acting this way? Sure my mother had just died days ago and I was being forced into a foster facility. But I'm getting ahead of myself. My name is Ezra, Ezra Totemz. Yeah weird name whatever that's not the point. I'm 15 years old and am in gymnastics. Kinda the stereotypical girl right? Yeah probably. My father was out of the picture before I was even out of my mothers womb. My mom said she never told him about me, something about obligations or something. When I say I'm a gymnast I don't mean 1 day a week to help me with cheer. No I mean every day for 7-9 hours straight. I was elite or at least that is what I liked to think. My mother always wanted to be a gymnast and was living vicariously through me because she never go the chance. I'd been doing it ever since I was 3 and really wanted to be an Olympian. But how could I? I was about to be a foster kid. They surely wouldn't pay for my training! Alright now that you know a little bit about me let me go back to where I was. Oh yes, crying on the floor. My mother was killed in a car accident a few days ago and of course I was with her and was uninjured. The guy who hit us was drunk. I know right? Boring! I knew I couldn't get out of this one there was no way I was going to be able to support myself. When suddenly I realized.. I should try and find my dad! I jumped up and ran to my mothers room looking for anything I could find about who and where my father was. I looked for almost 3 hours before I came across an old picture of her in high school. There was a young man standing next to her, his arms around her as she was hugging him smiling. My heart sank at the sight of him. He looked just like me, or rather I looked like him. I turned over the picture and looked on the back. I saw nothing. Disappointed that I still had no idea who this man was I knew he had to be my father I clutched the picture tight to my chest and began to weep. I was going to find him if it was the last thing I did. I quickly ran to my room and went to sleep still holding the photograph.
Chapter 2
"Ezra!" I heard my name and immediately knew it was my social worker. I panicked I was not about to leave with her, I was determined to find my father no matter the cost. I looked out my window and without hesitating I ran to it, unlocked it and slowly stepped out of it, the rain hitting my face as I began climbing down my house and on to the ground. I left my phone behind, knowing I could be tracked. In fact I hadn't had time to get anything. "Crap." I thought to myself. What am I supposed to do now. I heard my social workers voice getting closer and I began to head for the woods which happened to be across the street from where I lived. I lived in the town of Boston and it was always raining. I ran to the woods and entered before I ran into my neighbor, Bryton Paisly. Bryton was a chubby 15 year old boy, he was a green eyed paled skin ginger and little weird for my taste. We barely ever spoke at school but then again I never spoke to anyone there. We'd had a few encounters here in there around the neighborhood but other than that he was a complete stranger. "Hey watch out!" I hissed, I got up from off the muddy ground and wiping the mud off my clothes. "Great I thought, this boy is just who I needed to run into." "Hey you alright?" He asked with a hint of concern in his voice. "I'm fine." I say trying to brush him off and get on my way. "Have you been crying?" He asked me curiously? "I heard about your mother, I was so sorry to hear..." I cut him off. "I said I'm fine Bryton, now if you don't mind I need to be on my way." I said with an ugly voice. "You aren't possibly going into the woods are you?" He asked. "What's it to you anyway?" I said. "Sorry if I'm prodding, but its getting dark and its raining, don't you think it's a bit dangerous?" "No!" I hiss. "I'll be fine, mind your own business." I begin walking towards the woods when I heard soft footsteps behind me, it was Bryton following me. "You've got to be kidding me!" I thought. "What are you doing?" I yelled at him still concerned that I was going to get caught and thrown into an awful foster home. "I'm not letting you go by yourself Ezra." He says in a sad voice. I look at him with anger and a hint of guilt. "I don't need anyone's help, Bryton I've got this now be on your way!" "I saw you climb out your window, what was that about is someone after you?" He said still in a concerned tone. "It's none of your business Bryton! I yelled leave me alone!" "It was the social worker wasn't it? My best friend had one after his parents died in a plane crash, he said it was horrible, I can help you Ezra where are you going?" I looked at him with guilty eyes, he really wanted to help and I was being awful to him. We walked and I told him about my situation and about my father, he was eager to help as we walked now deep into the woods when he said. "My cousin knows how to analyze photos and can determine when it was taken." He said knowingly. "I think I know when it was taken, I just need to know who that man, my father, is and where he's now living. He looked at the ground for a moment I could tell he was deep in thought, Bryton was always very smart or at least that's what I always thought. "Maybe we could..." Just then a giant light in the sky flashed into the thickness of the woods about a mile away from us. I pulled Bryton aside and told him to run
Chapter 3
What was going on? It had only been twenty minutes and all ready the freaking police were after me! I started to run not daring to glance behind me when I was pushed into a giant hole. I sat up and looked around, just then I felt myself being hit, my whole body aching with pain. "Bryton!" I yelled, he had been on top of me I'd had at least 300 pounds crushing my body into the muddy earth. "Sorry" he exclaimed as he rolled over "I'm really sorry Ezra, I just had to get away from that light, who do you think they were looking for?"
I knew who they were looking for but I wasn't going to waste my breath telling him. I just shrugged at him. "We'll maybe we should stay here a while" he said short of breath you could tell he'd been running or doing something physical by the redness and sweat now taking over his once pale face. It was blatantly obvious he never did any kind of exercise, let alone running. "You okay?" I asked already knowing the answer. "I'm just out of breath" he answered. The light was now headed the opposite direction of the woods and I decided it was safe to escape the dark hole. "You ready to move on" I asked him "yeah I'm ready just give me a second" he said still breathing heavily five minutes had gone by when I'd had enough. "Let's go Bryton, get up!" I yelled. "I can't! once I sit in the ground I can't get back up." He said embarrassed. I just looked at him trying to contain the laughter that was building up inside of me. "Do you need help?" I said suppressing a giggle. "Would you?" He asked without looking at me "sure" I said as I went over to him. I grabbed his hands and pulled. He was heavier than I thought. "Can you help me?" I exclaimed it was like he was trying to be heavier "oh yeah sorry" he said still in an embarrassed tone. I finally got him up. Thank God, we began to crawl out of the hole and back to the leveled ground. "Where does your cousin live?" I asked. We were almost at the edge of the forest and into the town. "About a mile away, but he's working in Ireland for the summer so we will have the place to ourselves." Perfect I thought how am I going to find out where my dad is without him. "Once we get there I can help you find out more about that picture" he said as if he was reading my mind "my cousin taught me last summer" We headed towards town trying our best to fit in. When I heard someone yelling my name and then everything went black.