Runaways- Runaways 1

Chapter 22: Eli

"Are you sure you're good?" I asked Aaliyah.

"Yes, I'm fine."

"I'm sorry again for not seeing you sooner."

She just shrugged. "It's not a problem." Her tone was strange, a hint of annoyance hidden under the polite words. Over the past day or two it was like she'd built up a wall against me. I walked away, giving up on the conversation. It wasn't going anywhere anyways.

I knew the real reason why I hadn't seen her go under. I'd let my mind wander back to a couple weeks ago when they'd all found me in the Georgia creek.

My shoulders weren't shaking this time. I wasn't shedding a tear. There was no resistance in my body at all. I wanted this. After Natasha had pointed the gun at me yesterday, preparing to shoot me, I'd been overcome with the desire to end my life again. It was stronger this time. It wasn't like my mission would succeed anyways. I wasn't the only one on it, and it wouldn't matter if I quit.

I let my thoughts drift for a moment, wondering for the umpteenth time why she'd put me on the wrong end of our only gun. I couldn't remember doing anything to hurt them. I once again came to the conclusion that they'd been intending to kill me from the start. They had been the ones sent to track me down.

I'd hesitated too long. I felt the pressure in my chest build until it eventually burst, and I doubled over, crying. I was still sitting there in the creek. I should just go under, I thought. Get it over with.

I didn't even bother to take a breath before I laid back into the water. My head submerged and water filled my nose and mouth, but I didn't attempt to spit it out and I resisted the human urge to come up for air. Then I heard voices. I considered just laying here and letting them find my body if they even noticed me at all. But they were getting closer. And they were young voices. They were my age.

I poked my head up enough to get some air. I tried to hold back my coughs and sputters, but that only resulted in more coughs and sputters. I took a deep breath and tried to silence myself before I stood up. The voices belonged to four teenagers, all appearing to be about my age. There were two guys and two girls, and they seemed to be having some kind of rock fight. Cautiously, I picked up a rock and chucked it from behind them.

It hit the nearest girl. She turned around, the look of confusion on her face changing to alarm. It took a second for me to register what the taller boy had said. I focused on the girl I'd hit. She had golden brown hair that hung almost to her waist. She was tall too, reaching almost to my height. I assumed she was seventeen or eighteen, maybe older. But it was her eyes that caught my attention. The brown and green had flecks of black, resulting in an interesting hazel color. She was beautiful.

Is there a such thing as love at first sight? That seems to be a thing that only exists in books and movies, or at least it had seemed that way until I met Peyton.

Clearly, I wasn't supposed to die that day. I smiled. It was Raven the first time but this time it was her. I had thought for a moment that Raven was an angel, but Peyton surely wasn't. She was human; she had her flaws and that's what made her perfect.

"Eli!" I whirled around to see Peyton waving in my direction. "Did you find anything that would work?" I shook myself out of my thoughts, remembering that I was supposed to be looking for dry timber to use in the fire.

"A little. I'm going to keep looking," I called back. I saw Luke behind her, scouring in the opposite direction. I looked at the group of twigs in my hand. It was so little. Luckily, it had stopped drizzling a few hours ago so the rain hadn't fully prevented us from starting a fire, but a lot of the stuff in the shade of the forest was still wet.