Hide and Secret (Wattys2015)

(30) Taylor's POV

Theo led us through the maze where Serena had apparently been. As the rain flew on us and all around, I watched him closely, because I still wasn't positive whether or not to trust him. He could have been the sender for all Jill and I knew, trying to lure us to an area where he could murder us and nobody would hear us scream.

As we all rounded the corner of the maze, getting close to its center, I could hear the sounds of struggling. There was the sound of a body hitting the ground, and then a groan.

I turned to Jill, who was right next to me. "Did you hear that?" I asked her, whispering.

Jill nodded. She almost looked green.

Theo turned his head around to face us. He was at the front of the pack, and he made a hand gesture for us to come closer. "Hurry!" he whispered. "She's close."

We crept along, and once the sounds of fighting got louder and closer to our ears, we decided to hide and watch and plan an attack before we got out there and did it. Cautiously, the three of us peeked our heads out from behind the leafy side of the maze, and what we saw nearly made me scream. Next to me, I heard Jill gasp with shock. I felt Theo shift next to me, as though he was going to run out there and do something stupid. I placed an arm in front of him, a makeshift barricade preventing him from doing anything.

And then we watched with growing horror at the scene in front of us.

Serena was disheveled. Her hair messed up, her face dirty, tear stained, and bloody. Her dress was ripped and her shoes were messily discarded, kicked to the side. Her upper thigh was bleeding profusely, clearly the result of a stab wound. Her face was contorted with pain as she battled...

Kai. Who held the knife, slick with blood. A party outfit was on the ground near her, and now she wore the hoodie we had come to know and loathe. I watched as she lunged at Serena, knocking her to the ground and pinning her down. But Serena fought back, her hands reaching towards Kai's face, trying in vain to do something to take her down.

I took a moment to process this, as I'm sure the others were doing. Kai was the sender? The more naive sidekick of Jill? Kai, of all people. We were all tormented and injured and threatened by Kai? But why? How? The more I thought about it, the more confused I got.

Theo was clearly only thinking of one thing, and it wasn't the fact that Kai was the sender. Quickly, he jumped out of our hiding place, revealing Jill and me in the process. "Serena!" he shouted.

Kai and Serena both froze and turned to face the direction his voice was coming in. Kai's expression was filled with rage, while Serena had a mixture of several emotions: Confusion, happiness, and a lot of pain. "Theo!" she cried.

Next to me, Jill slapped a palm to her forehead. "Nice going, Romeo. Now Kai knows we're here," she muttered under her breath so low that only I could hear her.

Theo raced towards Serena, and she continued to struggle against Kai. But without warning, Kai tumbled off of Serena, leaving her on the ground. Serena's chest rose and fell rapidly as she struggled to catch her breath.

Kai moved quickly to Theo, and she started to punch him relentlessly. Theo fought back, but Kai aimed a hard punch at Theo's jaw, and her fist hit the intended target. The impact sent Theo flying backwards onto the ground. He hit his head on the ground and was immediately unconscious.

"Theo!" I heard Serena cry. My gaze turned to her. Serena sat up then and she tried to stand, before suddenly screeching like an injured puppy as her legs buckled out from beneath her. Serena's body collapsed into a crumpled heap on the ground.

I let out a scream for a minute thinking that she was dead, only to note with relief that she was breathing. Jill let out a low cry as well, and as I turned to her, I saw her face streaked with tears. My face was probably the same. It was horrible to see Serena like this, so helpless. She was clearly in major pain if she tried to move at all.