Chapter 17 - Regrets

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REWRITTEN

   The moon is slowly descending, the skies turning a beautiful shade of pastel blue and purple, the colors smearing and blending together to pure perfection. I stand on my feet, the climate still warm. I gaze at a sleeping Keith, his eyes shut and his brown locks all messy.

  I stare ahead, the sound of water captivating me, beckoning me to come closer, and I did. Soon, in front of my feet is a large lake, the water swaying back and forth peacefully. It's places like these that draw me out of reality. It's places like these that make me forget about the real problems.

  I sit down on the damp gravel that's mixed with sand, little pieces of grass growing out of it. I'm startled when I hear shuffling feet from behind me, whipping around and calming down when I see who it is. I avert my gaze, and focus it on the crystal blue water, the clouds are streaked in the sky, looking like claw marks.

  "Beautiful, huh?" Keith asks from beside me, taking a seat close to me.

"Yeah," I say, lost within the view that is truly mesmerizing.

We stay silent, the wind ruffling my hair that freely falls around my shoulders and cascades down my back. Something is nagging at the back of my head, begging to be asked.

"Keith...that night when you opened up to me, you said that your name was Camden, right?" I say, regretting saying that because I know it's a hard subject for him to speak about.

"Yeah, it's my real name," he says, his brown eyes flickering to me.

"Why did you choose a new name, even though you know your real one?" I urge on, but regret in instantly, my mouth not knowing when to stop.

  Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!

"Because, it brought up many unwanted memories of my past, so when I escaped from Walker, I changed it, which obviously Walker knew," he says, staring down.

  I hug my knees to my chest and place my head on top of them, "oh, I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring it up, I know it's a hard thing to talk a-"

"Don't, it's fine," he states, giving me a weak smile and I can't help the ache I feel for being so selfish and asking a question that I should have kept unsaid.

We resume the silence again, staring at the wonderful view in front of us. The water moving calmly and the birds soaring overhead slowly as the sun starts to rise in the east, illuminating the sky into a bright pink, rays of light shine over the clouds, making the trees that surround the area into beautiful silhouettes.

  Truly beautiful.

***

  We struggle to walk as our knees buckle beneath us. My breaths come out uneven as Keith heaves for air. My stomach growls deeply, pleading for something to give energy, but I have nothing. Nothing. I flicker my gaze to Keith, who's dripping sweat under the heat and growing more and more paler than he was earlier when we started walking.

  Beads of sweat gather at my forehead, sliding down my face. The sun beats down on us as we stride forward, farther and farther away from the Shadow Men who could be out there looking for us.

   We wave in and out of the trees, the roots bending into arches, crating little traps for your feet. If you were to get stuck in one, you'd surly end up with a broken ankle.

  Keith stops abruptly in his step, freezing.

"What, what is it?" I ask.

"Do you hear that?" He whispers, going silent to listen, but I hear nothing.

"Hear what?"

"Footsteps," he goes silent again and I listen carefully, then I hear it, shuffling feet making their way closer to us, not just one, but multiple.

  I stare wide eyed at Keith and his eyes look wild.

"Run."

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   Uh oh!!!! They're in trouble now! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and is enjoying this book so far, hopefully it's good and descriptive for you where it paints a picture for you, and if it has, then my job is done✔️✔️✔️

  HAPPY READING!

  Question of the day: I don't have one☹️

~AlexisJadeS22

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