“I don’t have a choice anymore.”
“I promise I won’t let you down, not again. Now you need to eat that,” I said, nodding to the food on the side. “And everything else you’re offered, okay?”
Stubbornly, she folded her arms over her chest, ready to argue.
“I mean it, Scarlett. We are going to be running from these people, and I need you to have all the strength you’ve got.”
“Fine,” she replied. “Where do we go?”
“Through the forest and into town. There are two police stations there. Depending on where we come out depends on which one we go to. We will maybe have a one or two-minute head start. We run as fast as we can without looking back. I will get you to safety and back to your parents.”
“What happens to you?”
Gulping, I shrugged, genuinely not knowing. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll leave and you will never see me again.”
Her eyes hardened. “If they find you?”
“I’ll go to a city. They won’t look there. With any hope, the police will pick them up anyway.”
“Your parents?”
“Are dangerous. I love them, I can’t help that, and as much as it kills me to hand them over – because they’re victims, too – they won’t stand by and let me help you. I will tell the police everything. I know it’s the right thing to do. If they killed someone because I didn’t give them up…”
She nodded once and sat back down. “Don’t make me hate you all over again.”
That hurt. “I won’t. Never again, Scarlett. I have to go. Try to calm down the attitude. We don’t want them to be on high alert.”
“I know,” she replied.
“I’ll see you later.”
Fiona was reading in the living room when I left Scarlett’s room. She looked up and smiled. “How is she?”
“Hungry. She seems to be doing well, doesn’t she?”
“I think so. I had hoped she would have understood when I explained on the first night but I think she is now. I am grateful for that. This is so much easier now she is beginning to believe.”
“Beginning to?”
“I think there is a little way to go. There are things she still doesn’t understand but we haven’t had a chance to go through everything yet. She is reading but there is a lot.”
I nodded. “There is. We have had years and she only gets eight days. I think she’s extraordinary for coming this far.”
“I completely agree, Noah.”
“I’ll see you at later, Fiona.”
Smiling, she nodded and then went back to her reading. It was dark when I left. Thick grey clouds coated the sky. I used to find beauty in all weather but bleak summed up how I felt right now. I wanted to get her out, and I would try, but that didn’t mean I’d be able to do it.
***
Donald and Fiona were outside with Scarlett when I left my house. They were showing her the gardens where we grow crops. She looked so uninterested but she watched everything they did and listened to everything they said.
Her long hair blew in the light wind and she wrapped it in her hand, throwing it over one shoulder. She was beautiful, full of life and passion. It had to work; I had to get her out. Whatever it cost me, I had to get her away.
I slowly walked over to them. Yesterday was the first time I was allowed to see her one on one and I didn’t want to push it but I still couldn’t stop myself from going to her.
“Morning,” I said as I approached.
Donald and Fiona stood; Scarlett already was. She wasn’t sure how to play things, whether she should ignore me or reply. I needed her to act angry but still respond, as that’s what was expected of her.
“Good morning, Noah. Would you like to help pick tomatoes?” Fiona said.
Scarlett gripped the wicker basket with both hands and I wasn’t sure if she was trying to tell me something. “I would, if that’s okay with you, Scarlett?”
Shrugging as if she didn’t give a damn, she turned around and started wrenching red tomatoes from the vine. She was good, almost too good. Of course, she would still be angry with me but I hated the extent of her anger. I was doing everything I could to make it right.
“Well, grab a basket then,” Donald said.
Donald and Fiona gave us a little space once we’d started picking. I think they liked that I was friends with her. If she wasn’t the key to our eternity, then I had no doubt that they’d be happy for us to be together.
I slowed my picking down so I could have more time with her. Donald and Fiona didn’t seem to notice or they didn’t care. If they didn’t care that I wanted more time with her then getting her out might be a little bit easier.
“How are you finding it here?” I asked when they moved a little closer.
She glanced at them before answering, wondering why I’d asked her that and understanding when she saw where they now were. “Um… It’s different.”
“Yes, it is definitely different.”
“It’s confusing.”