Chapter:11 | Ameliorate or Astute?

" Hannah!"

" Hannah!!!"

Mr. and Mrs. Lewis, both kept shouting for Hannah but she was nowhere to be found. Mr. Lewis Stopped and parked the car in the middle of the road and hopped out of the car. They grabbed their torchlight and a bag and kept searching for Hannah.

"Let's search in the woods, you go right, I'll go left", said Mr. Lewis.

" but I see no footprints in the woods, she might be walking safely ".

" I can't understand "

" she might be still on the road, because if she were in the woods then we could have noticed some footprints on that land", she pointed at the wet and soft muddy land of the woods.

"Footprints might be there, but maybe the bushes and trees are hiding them"

" See, let us check on the road, huh?".

" Alright"

————————————————————————

Here Sinskey reached the forest.

" Stop!", he commanded the driver.

A black car and 3 GMC trucks following it, stopped.

"Park every vehicle in the woods or away from the forest, no one should get any idea of us being in here", with that he stepped out of the car, and a team of 20 protego joined him with their weapons. They ran deep into the forest with light steps.

" Six to the right and six to the left and eight with me ", Oliver commanded, and just then his men spread in the forest, twelve of them vanished in the woods, and eight accompanied him.

It was getting darker but they couldn't find Hannah, just then Oliver saw something. " Oh looks like someone else is finding her in the woods too.

Oliver took out a radio from his blazer's pocket and connected it to a channel then he called, " gentlemen, come back on the road", after a couple of minutes all the soldiers surrounded Oliver.

" This car, who's car is it", Oliver asked pointing at the car which was parked in the middle of the road.

" Mr. Lewis", one of the men said.

" How do you know ?"

" Sir, I saw it outside the cafe, and when they left the cafe it was there.

" weren't you with us, finding Hannah", Oliver questioned.

" No sir, You commanded me to spy on them", he said without hesitating.

" That's how active and observant I want you all to be", Oliver said raising his voice.

" Hannah's parents are here, they are looking for her here as I suspect, grab your weapons tight, find her or not, just don't let the near her, find her!".

Just then, all the twelve men spread and vanished in the woods on both sides.

________________________________________

Amelia and Kevin were both in the car, the surrounding was filled with silence, nobody spoke, they had hope and fear mixed up together in their mind.

" Stop it here", Amelia held Kevin's right hand which was holding the steering wheel.

"What happened? ", Kevin pushed the brake and looked at the surroundings finding a random grocery store which made him more confused.

" We can't take the car inside the forest, let's park it here, we can't let COD find out about it, hm?".

" Thoughtful … you can think?… Wow!", Kevin mocked her to distract her from the stressful situation.

"Kevin! it's not funny", Amelia glared at him, tearing his soul with her sharp glare.

________________________________________

Mariah and Zoe hopped on their scooter with their bags hanging on their handles and rode them towards the forest.

" Wait! wait! wait!", exclaimed Maria.

" What! ", Zoe stopped her scooter after Maria.

Maria closed her eyes and mumbled something and then blew the air around her, she got down from her scooter and reached Zoe and blew the air on her face.

" What are you doing", Zoe said backing off in confusion.

" Now by God's will, we will be safe"

" what do you mean?".

" I recited some Quranic verses which will keep us safe".

Then again they rode their scooty.

________________________________________

I wanted to rest for a while so I sat down on one side of the road with the support of a tree trunk.

I was looking at the sky which was not quite visible due to the huge-spread trees. I was feeling pain in my wounded foot. I kept my hand on the deep cut on my ankle and pressed it hard because of the pain, after a few moments I felt no pain in my ankle, I took a look at my ankle and the cut was gone.

I got shocked, " What am I ?", I asked myself.

Suddenly I got a flashback.

' Mom was serving us food for dinner when her foot bumped into the table and her toe started bleeding, " Mom I'll do the rest, you should treat your toe", I said worriedly. " No worries", she said. She sat on a chair and grabbed her toe for a few seconds, she released it after a while and her toe was back to normal, it was not bleeding anymore, there was just some blood on her hand. '

" She healed herself …am I an ameliorate? ".

I again stared at the sky and remained silent, but still, I can hear the sounds of nature. I closed my eyes to feel those sounds and relax.

" Where is Hannah ?", I heard a familiar worried voice, I stood on my toes to look around and found no one. " Hannah, don't play with us ", I heard my father's voice and this time I was sure that I heard it, I again looked around and found nothing.

________________________________________

" What if she is not here?", Mrs. Lewis asked losing her hopes.

" My heart is telling me that she is not so far away", said Mr. Lewis.

" Hands up!", Oliver's men exclaimed.

" What! ", Mrs. Lewis looked around and saw six men standing close to them.

Those men seized Mr. and Mrs. Lewis.

Just then Oliver came and commanded his men to take them in the truck but Mrs. Lewis pleaded, " please, at least let us find our daughter, please! ".

" on one condition…" he stopped for a while and then continued, " I will take her to the COD".

" What! Never!", Mrs. Lewis raised her voice.

" Then…", his men started dragging them out of the forest.

" Alright, fine! But let us see her ", Mr. Lewis said getting out of breath.

So they started walking ahead together.

They all came across the river, " Check in!", Oliver commanded his men.

A few of his men jumped inside the river and started searching, few minutes later one of them came to the edge of the river and informed Oliver that there is something in it.

Mr. and Mrs. Lewis held each other's hands tight.

After a while, the men came out of the river with a skeleton that was wearing Hannah's dress.

Oliver secretly chuckled, but Mr. and Mrs. Lewis looked confused.

" Hannah just got missing today, it's not her ", Lewis Knightley said.

" We will check upon it, take them away", Oliver said.

" What do you mean, Oliver, it's not Hannah and you know that".

Oliver's men started dragging them out of there.

" Leave it and find her now!", Oliver shouted

________________________________________

" Leave it and find her now !", I heard a voice.

" Oliver?", I whispered in shock.

" He is here! Mum and Dad were here, I have enhanced hearing abilities."

' Astute? ', I thought.