Chapter fifteen

I am awakened from my sleep by heavy rain. I open my eyes and look to the side, but I don't spot Luke on the bed. I look around the room and realize that I am alone.

My heart goes up to my throat. The darkest scenarios run through my head.

Has it started?

I get off the bed. I peek into the bathroom, but he is not there either. I am all alone in the house.

Where is Luke?

I open the exit door. A strong gust of wind hits me, along with heavy rain. It's so dark that I can't see anything outside, but I'm sure the drops are hitting the car next to the house with force.

He must be nearby.

Has something happened? Why did he disappear in the middle of the night?

I'm so terrified that I don't know what to do. Dressed in sweatpants, I stand on the doorstep, breathing heavily.

At this point, I'm not worried about being alone and in danger. I am panicking about him. I have a bad feeling that something bad has happened.

- Luke, where are you? - I whisper under my breath, nervously stomping my feet in place.

I look at the darkness and my legs refuse to obey me as I think to myself that if I want to try to find him, I have to take a chance and go deep into the woods.

No, this is a bad idea. What if I get lost? After all, it's the middle of the night, it's pouring rain, and you can't see anything in sight.

What do I really want to do?

- Luke! - I yell out unexpectedly, trying to shout out the downpour. - Luke, where are you!

I don't hear any answer.

I bite my lip, and my gaze finds my shoes lying by the door. For a moment, I wonder if I can actually do this without risking my safety, but the thought that he might have been hurt worries me to the point that I can't stand still and wait until dawn.

What if I manage to help him now, but in a few hours it will be too late?

Rummaging through the closets, I managed to find a flashlight. I hastily pull my boots on my feet, put on a large hoodie and run out into the rain, heading ahead.

- Luke! - I shout, moving between the trees. For that brief moment, I am so wet that my clothes stick to my body. - Luke, speak up!

Since I found out that he had been stuffed with drugs all this time, I realized that I can't accuse him of the boorish acts he committed against me. All this time he was suffering as much as I was. Forced to serve Alexander, he eventually compromised himself to help me escape from the hands of this devil.

Recently, something has begun to change in me, and I can feel it in my heart how worried I am about him. That's why this concern is now causing me great anxiety as I circle among these trees and can't find him.

- Luke, I beg... - I say in a broken voice, lowering the flashlight. Just then, the light falls directly on the silhouette who is sitting with his head lowered under the tree. - Luke? - I run up to the boy and crouch down opposite him, forcing him to look into my eyes. His face is pale, looking terrible. - Why are you sitting here in this downpour? Do you realize how worried I was about you?

He looks at me with sad eyes, looking exhausted.

- As I drifted off to sleep, I felt that something was wrong. My body began to be covered with cold chills, my head was humming, and I was very anxious. I knew I couldn't stay with you, I was afraid that I would inadvertently hurt you, so I ran outside. I circled the forest, tried to use all my energy to make the hunger go away. Eventually, I fell down and sat under that tree, letting the raindrops refresh my body.

- How long have you been sitting here? - I ask in a caring voice, seeing that he is shaking from the cold.

- I don't know... probably for a few hours.

- God, Luke.

I help the boy up and grab him around the waist, letting him lean on my shoulder. We are soaked to the bone, and this makes me feel sluggish.

We are not far from the house when I hear loud voices. We stop in place. I hastily turn off my flashlight, watching the people on whom the car headlights cast their light. My heart rises to my throat when I spot Alexander among them.

- They found us - I say in a panicked voice, lifting my face and looking at Luke.

- Alexander must have caught our helper. He would never give me away in life, so I suspect he fell into a trap. Perhaps the boss began to suspect him.

- God, Luke, your drug craving saved our lives.

- We can't say that yet. We have to run, Solar. Shortly, they will start searching the area.

- You are feeling bad. We won't get far.

- You've been to the beaches. You can swim, can't you?

- Of course I do... What are you thinking about, Luke?

- We have no choice.

This time, it is he who embraces me around the waist and pulls me with him towards the lake.

- Are you crazy?

- Now this is our only chance to survive, so be quiet. I know what I'm doing.

- But you're not in the best condition....

- I'm a man, so regardless of what the situation is, I have to stay strong to protect you.

I feel like screaming from the cold as we plunge into the water, but I clench my lips tightly so as not to betray our presence. I hear Alexander yelling at his employees, probably ordering them to search the entire area.

- What are our chances? - I ask in a trembling voice when only our heads are sticking out anymore.

- Not much, but those slim chances are our only hope now.

We are next to the platform, I look at Luke with terrified eyes, he observes the situation behind my back.

- They are walking here with flashlights. We have to take the plunge. Hold out as long as you can.

- I'm scared - I whisper.

- I won't let anything happen to you.

Looking into each other's eyes, we plunge our heads, trying to go as low as possible. Panic grips my whole body as I lift my face and see the light from the flashlights falling on the water. I start to shake my head, letting Luke know that I won't last long, and then he swims closer, grabs my face in his hands and presses his lips to my lips.

I feel like I am in a gangster movie, where the heroine suddenly begins to feel love directed at the man who protects her.

Currently, I'm trying to occupy my head with nonsense, as long as I don't think about how great the danger is.

I feel Luke begin to swim upward and only part our lips when we emerge headfirst. We are under the platform, surrounded by darkness and safety.

I look into his eyes, believing that he will be able to protect us until the very end.

- We'll have to swim a bit further to get to shore.

- What if we run into Alexander's men? - I ask in a whisper.

- We won't swim forward, but will retreat. Everything will be fine, trust me.

I nod, trying to be calm at his assurances. Swimming in such heavy rain and still at night is extremely difficult. Nonetheless, we have adrenaline in us, which is released for the sake of our bravery and the thought that we must be safe.

Our lives are at stake here.

Luke swims beside me, watching over me at all times. I have to admit that his drug craving and the fact that he ran away from home at that moment to recover saved our lives. Had we been asleep, we would have unexpectedly been caught by Alexander in the middle of the night. The worst part, however, is that we have absolutely nothing with us. We lost our fake documents, all our belongings, and even our car.

Either way, we are finished.

We struggle to get ashore, exhausted from swimming in such harsh conditions. Breathing loudly, we sink to the grass, hit in the face by the heavy rain.

- We can't rest. We have to run. Can you do it, Solar?

Breathing loudly, I nod, then rise from the ground. We run ahead, holding hands. I can see that Luke is severely exhausted, and yet he does not give up, wanting to keep us safe.

It is just a moment when we stand on the branches that hide the giant hole below us. We are falling down so fast that I can't even scream. A sigh escapes Luke's lips, with which he signals that he feels pain throughout his body. I am also unable to move, getting the impression that he is tearing me apart from the inside.

- Solar?

- I'm alive - I reply quietly.

Luke leans on his elbows with difficulty and looks at me, but his gaze finds the passage, which is on my side.

- Is this a cave?

I follow his gaze and squint my eyes to better see the place we've come to.

- Can we be safe here?

Luke rises from the ground, croaking in pain. He helps me up, and I feel like a million pins are being driven into my body.

It's difficult to see anything in this darkness. It's a great pity that underwater I lost my flashlight. Now it would be the perfect helper.

We walk ahead. I hold on to Luke's sleeve, and my lips tremble from both cold and fear. We are wet, frozen and scared.

- What is this place? Is this actually part of a cave?

- I don't have a clue, Solar, but I suspect so.

Suddenly, a light comes on, which reacts to movement, and we stand as if blown. With wide-open eyes, we look at the man who appears in front of us with a gun.

I am panic-stricken by him, while Luke looks as if he has seen a ghost.

- Dad? - turns to the man, and my knees buckle under me.

Wait a minute, isn't his father dead? What's going on?