Cry Until You Bleed

52- Rebels: Part 1

I'm cold and breathless.

My feet pound against the sidewalk as I run, my breath growing ragged and strained. In the dark, I use the light from the streetlights to guide me down the road and towards my destination and even though I am becoming even more out of breath, I keep running. I only have about two hours before they realize that I'm missing so I have to be back by then. Two hours.

The street was longer than I thought that it would be and I still haven't found the familiar front porch that I've been looking for. I've only seen it a few times but surely, I'd be able to recognize it even in this terrible lighting. I've been running for five minutes though and there's nothing.

My white sneakers are growing wet with the light rain that's been soaking my blue scrubs for the past five or so minutes and I'm shivering. When I left Bernard's, I didn't know that it was raining outside, so I didn't bring my tan fleece so my arms are bare in my scrubs and they're clinging to my skin. My hair is stringy and wet too so I just look like such a mess right now and I'm freezing and tired.

But I only have two hours to do what I have to do and then return before I get caught. Renée said that the worst thing that will happen to me is solitary but I'm sure that they'll extend my sentence as well so I'm not sure. It's best if I just don't get caught at all and make it back within the two hours that I have. Which is why, even though I feel incredibly crappy, I keep running. I'm soaked from my white shoes to the top of my head and the rain just seems to be getting heavier, which makes it harder to find what I'm looking for but I squint as I run to make sure that I don't miss the right house.

I'm running for so long that my legs begin to get distracted from the objective and then I find my left foot losing traction on the slick sidewalk due to the rain and then I'm falling forward. With a squeaky yelp, I fall to the concrete below me on my hands and knees. I scrape my right knee and I look down briefly to see that I tore through the blue fabric and my knee is bleeding but I don't have time to worry about that now.

I scramble back onto my feet and start running again for at least another two or three minutes before I finally find the right house. I recognize the half-dead tulips and carnations in front of the long porch and then the closed black front door on the middle-class house. I've only been here twice but I know that this is the right one.

I take a few seconds to catch my breath before I start jogging up the driveway and then, without giving myself anytime to think about it, I slam my knuckles into the door five times and then I sit back and wait, hoping that Niles will open the door.

-Ten hours earlier-

"Ana, you can't do this," Mia tells me with a pleading look.

"Yes I can," I argue. "And I'm going to do it. I don't care if they put me in solitary for a little while, I can deal with that. Something is wrong though and I'm going to get answers, whether he wants to give them or not. You can't just be so nice to a person and then cut them off completely without a good explanation."

"How are you even going to sneak out?" Renée wonders with raised eyebrows. "I mean, the whole sneaking out to go see Niles thing is kinda romantic, I'll give you that, but it's impractical. This place is super secure, you know."

"He hasn't answered his phone in a week," I tell them, referring to Niles. I've called him at least once a day since Saturday and today is Friday and whenever somebody answers the phone, it's not Niles and they won't let me talk to him because of some ridiculous excuse and I don't know what's happening. He's just ignoring me and I want to know why. Something could be wrong and it's been driving me crazy all week. "And don't worry about the how, I've already got an idea."