Meeting at night
If someone would have told me a year ago I would be running for my life through the streets in my ball gown, I would have laughed. Sadly, that laughable scenario had become reality.
I looked over my shoulder to see if the rebel was still chasing me. It was pitch dark, but we were the only ones out here, so I listened if I could hear footsteps. But there was nothing.
I stopped for a second around the corner of the street and peeked my ears. Still nothing. I rested my head against the wall and closed my eyes. I had managed to escape.
After my heart had calmed down and was beating at a normal rate, I opened my eyes, to see where I had ended up. After a minute of looking around I realised that I had never been where I was before. Five minutes later I realised I was lost. I didn't recognize anything. And there were no signs that could help me find my back to the palace.
The palace. Maxon, Lucy, Anne, Mary and Aspen. I hoped that they were safe. That they too had managed to escape. I could not handle another possibility.
No. I shook my head. Worrying about them didn't solve anything. I needed to get back to the palace. I started to walk back the way I came. It may not be very smart, since the rebel could still be out here. But it was my only option.
So I started to head back the way I came from. After what felt like hours of walking I knew that I wasn't heading in the right direction. I had ran from the palace, so it shouldn't be too far…
I sighed and sat down on the curb. With my arms on my knees, I tried to think of what kind of buildings I had passed while I was running. But since it was dark, and I was running for my life, everything had looked the same.
The sound of a gunshot filled the air and I immediately got to my feet. The rebel was still here. Was he looking for me? No, he would not make it known where he was if he was planning on getting to me. Did he found one of the others? Marlee? Or Kriss? I took a step in the direction from where the sound had came from. And stopped. What was I thinking? Going to a place where there was a person with a gun? How dumb could I be? Then again… What if it was a guard? Or what if it really was the rebel and he head one of the elite at gunpoint, my mind added. I should turn around and pretend that I hadn't heard a thing. But what if the rebel had shot one of the elite and left her for dead?
Slowly I started to make my way to where the sound had come from. I would take a look, without letting whoever was there knowing I was there.
As I turned around a corner a man came running in my direction. Not at me. He hadn't even seen me. It was like he was running from something. Or someone.
Just as I figured out that it wasn't smart to stand around the man saw me. Now he was coming at me. Before I could think of a plan, I ran back into the street.
For the second time today I was running for my life. But this time I was losing, I was still exhausted. I started to look for a hiding spot. Somewhere where he would see me and I could catch my breath. But it was no use, I had reached a dead end.
With no way to run, I turned around and faced the man, who stood just a few metres away from me.
He didn't looked like a rebel, neither Northern nor Southern. He wore a simple shirt and jeans, but his eyes radiated with anger.
He reached for his belt and suddenly he had a knife in his hand. Than he looked at me and I could've sworn he looked surprised, but then he grinned. And came right at me.
I opened my eyes, which I had closed without realising, when I heard a strange sound. I saw my attacker choke on something. Blood. It was blood.
For a second I stood there. Just stood there and watched as this man fell to the ground and… died. When I saw a knife in his back I started to scream.
Suddenly I wasn't screaming anymore because someone had covered my mouth with his hand. I started to struggle, but the arm that the person held around my waist seemed to be made out of steel. 'I'm gonna let you go now. Don't make me regret it,' the voice said.
I nodded and he stepped back. I noticed that the sun started to rise, cause I could see something again.
The guy walked past me, to the dead men and pulled the knife out the body and into it's sheath. He had thrown the knife. He had killed that man.
'He would've killed you if I hadn't done it,' the man said as if I said that out loud. As if he knew what I was thinking.
'Why did you?' I asked.
He sighed. Looked up into the sky. Shighed again. 'Because I had to.'
'Had to? Did the King send you?'
Under his hoodie I saw him smile. It wasn't a kind one. 'No.'
'Then who ordered you to save me?' I didn't understand any of this.
'No one.'
'But you just said-'
'I know what I said. You, on the other hand, heard what you wanted to hear,' he interrupted. 'I said that I had to kill him. Not that I had to save you.'
I swallowed and unknowingly took a step back. 'Someone… Someone send you to kill him?'
The fear must have been clearly to see, cause he smiled at me. 'Relax, if I wanted to kill you, you would've been dead already.'
Well that's reassuring. 'Who are you?'
His head snapped up, like he was really taken aback by my question. 'Why do you wanna know?'
'You did just saved my life,' I remembered him.
The man opened his mouth to speak but turned around. 'We shouldn't stay out here in the open. Come.' He grabbed my wrist and pulled me into the street.
I considered to try and break free from his grip, but knew that the safest place to be right now was with him. 'Are you going to tell me you name? Or should I call you my-knight-in-shining-armor?'
He didn't answer as he led me through the streets. Eventually he opened a door and led me inside.
Dim light came from a single candle. Just enough for me to see that we were in a abandoned building. Nothing but boxes and crates. No one had been her for quite some time.
When I faced the man again I couldn't do anything but stare. He was about my age and, I had to admit, he was handsome. His clothes where the interesting part though. He wore a black cloak with under it an even so black jeans, hoodie and boots.
I crossed my arms. 'Well?'
The boy looked at me as he put his hoodie down. 'Well what?'
'What is your name?' I repeated slowly as if I was talking to a child.
He sighed and sat down on a crate. 'It doesn't matter. But if you must, you can call me Aiden.'