Frozen

Chapter 18

I break the hug so I can look at his face. We are surrounded by the dark forest. It is definitely late in the day.  

"Grayson-"

"I know, it's bad," he says back not giving me eye contact.

"Don't worry about it. It will eventually heal." 

He lets go of me and take the one earpiece he has. He turns it on and brings it to his lips. 

"Sonia, I know you can hear me," he says bringing it to his ears. "You should stop while you are ahead, or now I should say, stop while you're safe. We are changing the plan a little and now that we don't have trackers, try finding us. Good luck." 

He drops the ear piece and takes his gun. He points and shoots the ear piece. We stand there in silence not knowing what to do. 

"Grayson how did you survive and how did you find me?" 

"We have a lot to talk about Danielle," he says walk back past the tree I was tied to. He comes back with two backpacks. We walk for a bit leaving the tragic events behind. 

"I was the one that got your letter and they tracked me down but I got away. They followed your trail and got to you before I did." 

He grabs a piece of paper from his back pocket and opens it up. 

"It's your letter," he says. "I wanted you to be alive too. When I saw this it was like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. My fight was worth it Danielle." 

He starts to tear up. He starts to choke from sadness. I grab his arm and turn him around. I look up at him and wipe his tears with my thumb being careful from his bruised face. I just don't know what to say. 

"After they took me in the truck and drove away they left me to myself. I guess the plan was to hurt me but to keep me alive. I was able to kill two men on the way there and escape. I knew the truck was filled with explosives and chemicals so if I were to shoot it with my gun multiple times and I could blow it up. I got my gun and shot it again and again and they knew what I was doing, but they didn't even try to drive away," he says bowing his head. 

"Danielle, they wanted to die," he says pouring his eyes out now. "Sonia has done worse to all of them and they did not want to go back." He ducks his head onto my shoulder and wraps his arms around me. 

"They were guilty with what they did," he says continuing to cry. I place my right hand one his head and my other around his shoulders. "So many children are dead because of us-"

"Grayson you tried," I say back. 

"YOU DON'T GET IT!" He says pulling away. He walks in a big circle grabbing his hair with his hands. "I could have tried harder!"

"But Grayson-" 

"NO! You weren't there! I watched everyone get shot in our group! I just stood there not helping them." He falls onto the ground and cradles his legs. "Their eyes were open from shock. Th-they didn't know" 

He continues to cry pouring his eyes out. I crouch in front of him. 

"Don't come closer to me Danielle," he says in almost a whisper. "I am dangerous." 

"Grayson-"

"Stop."

"You haven't seen what I have seen and I know you tried your hardest. You care so much and that alone should mean something," I say going closer to him. "You were in shock too. It was a new scene and an unexpected case as well. You were helping them because you cared Grayson please. Please see that." 

"Danielle, I am not safe for you." 

"Grayson I have never felt so safe with another human being in my whole entire life," I say looking him in the eyes. "You're not evil. I promise." 

He places his left hand on my right cheek. We continue to look each other in the eyes. I place me hand on his hand and lean in to kiss him on the cheek. I kiss him on his cheek and place my head on his shoulder. 

"I'm sorry for everything wrong I have done to you Grayson. Thank you for finding me." 

I lift my head off his shoulder and look him in the eyes again, this time our faces are much closer. I hesitate before backing away. 

I stand back up and lend him a hand. He takes it and picks himself back up. We grab our backpacks and I place mine on my back. I whip out the map and give it to Grayson. 

"You can probably read this much better than I can," I say letting out a little laugh. 

I look forward and continue to walk in front of him continuing on our journey to Section 6.