4
Him
The sent of wild strawberries and sunny days flooded my mind as my consciousness started to awake. As my eyes slid open slightly revealing the bright colours of sunrise. The faint sound of snapping twigs is the first thing that I hear. I looking around for somewhere to hide as the footsteps stopped at the entrance of the black cave where I sat trying to remember what had happened. In a rush the memories of the past few days came flooding back into my mind as I looked at my ankle. The young man appeared at the entrance of the shadowed cave and the scent of wild strawberries was beside me in a matter of seconds “are you okay” his voice was like the wind, strong and fluid. The blank expression on my face was broken by a whirlwind of emotions that struck me like a punch in the stomach, gulping in as much air as I could, “who are you?” I croaked, my throat raw.
Only after I had drowned three mugs full to the brim of water did he answer my question.
“I’m Alex, and please tell me that you are Lilyanna”. He sounded almost desperate.
“Yes, why does it matter to you?”
“I’ve been looking for you for months, you’re almost impossible to track” he said with what sounded like awe and frustration all in one.
“Um thanks”, I mumbled. A shout of another man rang from out side of the cave, “Hey Alex is sleeping beauty awake yet”, he yelled whilst running into the cave.
“She’s awake”, Alex yelled into the man’s ear.
“Why are you yelling I’m standing right here”, I laughed as Alex gave the man a stern look. “Oh and I’m Rivet”, his tanned, lean build and shaggy, light-brown hair tilting forward as he gives me a warm smile.
“Where is Trent? He should have been back by now”, Alex asked Rivet with a frustrated expression.
“Should me and Kyle go looking for him?”
“How many of you are there?” I asked just incase I had to make a quick escape.
“There is only five of us, and no Trent can handle himself. He’ll be back soon”, Alex answered with a note of worry in his voice that he tried to hide.
“Who’s the other one?” I asked. “And was it Trent who acted as the distraction for my escape?”
“Um Jet’s out hunting, he’ll be back soon too. And yes Trent was the one who distracted the guards, but how did you know?”
“Lucky guess”, I replied whilst shrugging my shoulders.