The Chase (Discontinued)

Some peace at last?

The moment my body made contact with the ground, unimaginable pain pierced through my whole body, and I felt that my right shoulder, which was the first to touch the ground, might have been fractured.

I was rolling down hill uncontrollably; I couldn't grasp at anything as I was surrounded by grass only. Even if I could, I would probably dislocate my arm or shoulder in the process.

After what seemed like forever, I finally halted. The world was spinning so fast, so I kept my eyes shut to keep myself from getting sick. Every muscle in my body was on fire, and all I could do was groan.

I couldn't hear Nick anywhere, and I thought he might call to me after he stops. I was starting to get worried. My heart pace quickened, while my breathing shallowed. Suddenly every cell in my body seemed to hurt and my vision went sharper. Stop, I told myself. Nothing will work out well if I panic, I needed to calm down.

With the last bit of energy left in me, I lifted my self up by holding on to a tree beside me. My head was throbbing terribly, but that didn't take my slightest interest, as all I cared about now was finding Nick.

As I opened my mouth to call him, nothing came out, and I had to clear my throat several times to heard something. "Nick!" I called out with the loudest voice I had. I let go of the tree just to get back to it again when I felt my legs give up. Tears slid down my cheeks uncontrollably, "Nick, please answer me, where are you?!" I tried again.

Out of the blue, I heard a shout coming from my left, and without even needing to think about it, my legs took me towards the source and as I neared I could make out some voices.

"Who the hell are you and what are you doing in my land?!" A hoarse voice spoke.

"Look sir, please put down the gun, I swear I didn't mean any harm, I just lost my way," I heard a familiar voice speak.

My eyes widened when I realised what he said. Gun?! Again, my unconscious mind lead me to the site of the two men. An old man, presumably a farmer, was holding a gun pointed ahead of him. Nick was standing in front of him, looking like a mess, with his whole body full of scratches and mud spots. But he was here and still alive, I couldn't hide the smile that crept up to my face.

"Nick!!" I shouted as I ran to him, ignoring the man's surprised looks. My left arm found its way around his neck, while my right arm dangled uselessly by my side. He hugged me tightly and whispered in my ears, "I thought something happened to you, thank god you're okay."

Several tears of happiness trickled down my face and that's when he finally pulled back. I almost forgot we weren't alone until I heard a scoff. "Sorry to interrupt, but what are you two lads doing in my farm? You don't seem to be from around here," The old man lowered his gun with a softer face, pitying the way we looked.

I couldn't blame him, Nick looked somewhat terrible, but I looked even worse. Nick's hand wouldn't let go of mine, meanwhile he was eyeing my right shoulder with worried looks. 'I'm fine,' I wanted to mouth to him, however, I stopped myself for I knew he seemed to have already understood what happened and there was no need to lie about it.

"Please," I started, "we haven't come here to cause anyone trouble, we just came across here by accident, if you let us go, I promise we would leave right away."

He sighed. "I can't let you both leave in your state. I just happened to be robbed yesterday of my corn, so I couldn't trust anyone this fast. I apologise, and to make it up for you, I would be glad to offer you some food and medicine. Please come in," he suddenly seemed like a very kind person.

"How on earth did you do that?" Nick whispered to me, right after the man turned his back to us to lead us to his house. "Do what?" I asked in confusion. "How did he trust you this fast, when I have been trying to convince him for the last 10 minutes?" He asked annoyingly. I wiggled my eyebrows at him.

"It's just something the ladies are good at," I smirked.

----------Time skip-----------

"Here you go," the old man spoke kindly while placing a tray with 3 cups of tea on the small table in front of us. He sat down face to face with us on the opposing couch us and said, "Sorry for the misunderstanding earlier on, but  you should understand that my being suspicious of anyone who comes here is because of what I endured yesterday. These pesky thieves managed to steal the crops I have been caring for for months!! I just wish I can get my hands on them to punish them!" He clenched his fists tightly, and that somehow seemed to scare me more than what happened before.

When he finally loosened them he spoke again, "Never mind that, you can stay here for a couple of days until you heal up, meanwhile, why don't you tell me how you got across this place? There isn't any house closeby." He was staring at me straight in the eye, waiting for me to speak, but since I thought it was a bad idea to tell him the truth, I didn't know what to say, so I starting getting nervous.

As if he sensed that, Nick answered him for me, "Well, to be honest, we aren't from around here. We live far away from this place, but we lost our way while looking for someone specificly." Nick sounded so convincing that even I thought he was really telling the truth, which did the trick, the old farmer seemed to believe that.

"Hmmm... Well, good luck finding that person then. However, that still doesn't explain how you got all these scratches and bruises." I gulped. I couldn't think of a way to escape this question, but Nick looked like he had already planned everything. "You know that steep hill at the end of the road? We came from a town behind it, so we had to make our way atop of it for shortcut. I should've known better than to do that though," he gave a slight smile. The man laughed, "Oh yes, however the best thing is that you are still alive and walking."

The whole time I remained silent, calmly thinking about what where we should be going next. I was cut from my thoughts when the man said, "We should treat these injuries of yours as soon as possible, I'll be right back."

"We?" I asked after the man had gone up the stairs. Nick shrugged. "You know, you were so persuading, I even thought you were telling the truth for a second," I laughed. "I was," he said. I stopped mid laugh, "Wait, what?" He rolled his eyes and mouthed, "I'll tell you later."

Before I could ask him another question, the old man showed up again but following him was an old lady, presumably his wife. "This is Maggy," he introduced, "my wife." She smiled at us and we returned it. "Oh right, I didn't even introduced my self!! My name is Ben, you can call me just that." He chuckled, looking embarrassed.

"Nice to meet you Ben. I'm Nick, and this is Alex," Nick said. "Oh enough talking, I have to treat your wounds!" Maggy smiled, and gently pulled me to another room. I spared one last look at Nick before leaving the room. He looked pretty calm, which was kind of unusual after the events of today, but I wouldn't complain, I can finally have some peace of mind.

At least, I hope.

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A.N:
I really don't know what to say. I really, truly apologise for the update's delay. I missed thinking about and writing this story. I finally got a long holiday!! Although I have to spend a lot of it catching up with my studies and all, I still wanted to continue this story. However long it takes, I don't think I'll stop writing this story till I finish it, or at least I hope to do so. Thanks for keeping up with my story till now. ;)