Sorry I've been so neglectful lately. :( Lots of stress from work. Anyway here's a bonus chapter. As always reviews are appreciated and encouraging. :)

Chapter 24

I wake up alone. Brea is nowhere to be found, he must have left for work. I walk downstairs and find that he is not there either. It is about 9 o clock if I'm right. If what Brea has taught be about time is right.

I make myself some breakfast, just a small bowl of cereal, and it's not long before it finds it's way out. I curse myself for throwing it up so easily. I hate being sick. I hate this. I suck down some water, brush my teeth and lay back down in Brea's bed. I'm tired, so tired.

The sound of the phone ringing wakes me up, I don't answer it, Brea has instructed me not to answer it. I let it ring and ring and ring until finally it stops, I throw up again, then let myself go back to sleep.

At lunch I wake up, it's 11:30. I don't know why I'm so tired. I don't know what to make myself, I'm not hungry, but I know that Brea will be furious if I don't eat all day. So I rummage through the cabinets until I find a box of crackers and open them. I eat a few, along with a few sips of soda, and sit on the couch and watch TV.

I doze in and out, just when the clock strikes twelve there is a knock on the door, and I startle myself awake. Thinking it was just the TV, I walk over to the doorway where the hall is and gently peer out over the wall. Sure enough my dream was a reality and there is someone standing at the door. I look closer, there is actually more than one, there are several of them, and I recognize one of them as the awful man that brought me into that facility.

They're here.

Even though nobody has seen me yet I panic. I dash across the doorway when I'm sure none of them are looking and escape into the basement door. Brea's room of pleasure. He still has not brought me back down here. The thought of being in here gives me chills, but it's better than them seeing me.

I can't hear anything, I can't here them talking, I can't hear them walking around. I don't know what they will do but something is wrong, something is very, very wrong.

I wait for an answer and nothing ever comes to mind. I don't know what to do, I don't know what I can do, other than sit here and hope that they don't have Brea. Please don't let them have Brea.

I sit in the basement for hours. I am dehydrated, hungry, and have thrown up three times by the time I hear Brea open the front door. I hope it's Brea, but I stay down in the basement, just in case.

"I'm home Adley, where are you?" he calls. I hear him walking, I don't hear any other footsteps along with his, I am safe.

"Adley?" he calls out again when I don't answer him. I bound up the stairs, and open the door to the basement. He's in the hallway, but when he hears the basement door open he rushes into the kitchen.

"What happened why are you in there?" he asks as I rush over and hug him tightly. I thought that something had happened to him, I thought they were coming to take me back. A million different scenarios ran through my head as to why they were here.

"They came today," I say shaking. Brea wraps his arms around me, pulling me closer.

"Who came today?" he asks, curious. I don't know why he is so calm about this. He just holds me in his relaxed arms, playing my fear as if it's nothing.

"The people, from the place that you came and got me from, they knocked on your door, there were a gang of them, all waiting to see if you would answer, I ran down here and hid in the basement so that they wouldn't see me and take me.

Brea tenses up. Now he is as concerned as I am. "How many were there? What were they doing here? Did you hear them say anything?" he asks.

"I don't know how many there were, but there were quite a few. I didn't catch anything they said, but I didn't want to find out. I'm scared. "

"It's going to be okay," he says pulling me in again and pulling me close. "You have to trust me alright?"

"What do you mean?" I ask him.

"I mean, I know why they're here. They probably figured out that the urine on that test was mine and not yours. I'm going to need to get you out of here. Now."

"Like, now, now?"

"Now," he nods. "As soon as possible, because they are going to come for you. I'm going to get you a plane ticket, I'm sending you off to Sweden, and your going to make it to that cabin. Understood?"

"What? How am I going to do that? Did you even buy that place in Sweden?"

"I did, now I'm going to need you to go there, I'll write you instructions, if you can't read them ask someone to translate them for you, just tell them you cannot read.

"Brea, there is no way that I'm going to be able to get there on my own, I don't know how."

"I'm going to tell you, and if you get lost I'm betting someone will help you. Adley you need to do this if you don't want to go back."

"What will you tell them?"

"I'll tell them that you escaped and I didn't want to tell them. I'll deal with the mess, but I need to get you out of here first. I need to go and pack some things for you. Do me a favor and get yourself some clothes and things ready. There isn't going to be much at that cabin, if anything. I'm going to send you with the bare essentials so you can survive until I get there."

"Brea, I don't think I can do this alone I-"

"You don't have a choice Adley, you have to. I can't go with you right now, I have to stay behind and deal with this. I'll be there as soon as the coast is clear."

"But how long with that take? Are you even sure that you'll be able to come? What if they take you?"

"What like arrest me?" he scoffs. "They're not going to do that, I'll tell them you ran away, you got out somehow, they'll search the house, they'll search all over for you, and when they can't find you they'll drop the case and I'll go free. It's simple. Don't worry Adley, I'll be there as soon as I can."

"But-"

"No buts, I have to go look at flights on my computer. We'll eat dinner a little later, I have to book one as soon as possible." He bounds up the stairs and into his office. I am left alone.

An hour has passed and he still has not come down. I'm starving. I decide to go into the kitchen and find food for myself. I don't know much about cooking, but I decide to start at least putting some ham on top of the stove and frying it. I add some water to help it cook. Brea comes downstairs and into the kitchen, smelling the ham.

"You started cooking?" he asks. I nod my head and he walks over to the stove and looks at the meat. "Looks good, how about some mashed potatoes and green beans with that?" he asks.

"Sure," I say and he gets out a can of green beans and goes out into the garage to get some potatoes. I pear them while he cooks the green beans.

"You're peeling too much off, try and just get the skin off not the rest of the potato."

"Okay." I try and peel them thinner, it takes a lot longer, but I finally get them done and put them in the boiling water in the pot on the stove. They cook and then Brea shows me how to mash them, then it's time to eat. Everything is ready by the time the potatoes are done cooking.

"This is good Adley, you did a good job," he says.

"You helped and did most of it," I say.

"Not really, all I did was throw the green beans into a pan and cook them, you did the rest, I just supervised. It's good, you should be proud of yourself."

"I don't know, I just hope I know how to do this when I go off to Sweden."

"Which reminds me, I got you a ticket, you leave tomorrow morning at ten." A lump the size of my fist forms in my throat. I don't have much time left here at all.

"It's going to be okay Adley," Brea says when he sees the concern on my face. "I know you can do this, you have to in order to be free. Now go pack your things, now. I'll clean up dinner."

Tears well up in my eyes as I climb the stairs to do as I'm told. I weep silently as I pack a few clothes. I don't know what it's like over there, what the climate is, what it looks like. I don't know if it will be different or the same. It must be pretty far away if I need a plane to get there.

When I'm done packing an array of clothes, blankets and a pillow I go into Brea's room. He's in the bathroom shaving the stubble off of his face when I approach him. "Can I see a picture of Sweden?" I ask. He stops what he's doing and turns to face me.

"You want to see what it's like there?" he comments. I nod my head sheepishly. I don't even know if he's able to show me one, but if he is, I want to see it. I need to know what it's like there.

"Wait here," he nods and goes into his office, shutting the door I can hear him ruffling around in there, I don't know what he's doing, but in a few minutes he reopens the door and gestures for me to come inside.

It's a white room with one window and a desk in the corner. There is a bookshelf overcrowded with books and magazines and paperwork. A filing cabinet and a bunch of papers that are scattered and askew all over the office.

"Here, sit in this chair," he says pulling the chair out from under the desk. I take a seat and Brea brings the screen on the desk to life, clicking on something he brings up a bar that he types words into. "Sweden," I read.

"Yeah baby, that's right. Now here is what this new world will look like," he says hitting go in the search bar. It pulls up hundreds of pictures, it looks exactly like it does here. Tall buildings, city streets, concrete pavement. It looks identical to here.

"Yeah, that's in town, now here's where we will live. On the edge of the Boreal Forest." He types in 'Boreal Forest' and the screen fills with pictures of the place where we live. Trees everywhere, vegetation, all types of beautiful wildlife.

"It's beautiful," I whisper. Brea scrolls down the screen, revealing more pictures of the forest. I've never seen one and I've fallen in love with it.

"Get ready baby, that's your new home."