Finding paradise

Ch 18

Dream

"This is the day, you will get what you always dreamed of, freedom." I breathed wouldn't that be nice.

Nathen laughed, pulling me in for a hug, and I staled my arms around him, I would never get tired of that feeling. How had I gotten so lucky.

We were exactly alike him and I, his mother and father never really cared about him, they knew he was different, that he didn't stick to the rules, and they hated him for it.

"You are far to smart for this place, I'm sure you have read every book in that blasted library." I giggled, he knew it was true, I had always loved reading. It was something that I
Couldn't get enough of.

Nathen grabbed the jar of fireflys, "it's your turn," he whispered," pulling me closer to him as I unscrewed the lid a giant clown smile taking over my face.

"You flatter me, but we better go," I pulled him up, the jar and bugs long forgotten as we ran, to the place that only we knew about.

Nathen and I had met when I was seven at the council building, my father was guarding the presidents office, and I had wandered to the library to read something.

He had walked by me, dropping a note inside one of the books. I had unfolded it, and it was a map of the council building, showing the secret tunnels.

Nathen had left some books in those tunnels, they used to use them to get around, but now they were long forgotten.

I had learned quickly, about places outside our city, places where it wasn't cold and cloudy all the time.

We grew older, and Nathen became very busy, so many a time we had to meet in secret. I learned science, and math.

I loved to learn, and one day it came to me, what if we built a machine, one that could take us far away from here, one that could camouflage in the sky.

Nathen and I had built it, and that night we were planning on escaping to an Island far away from here, our own paradise. He had given me a book, that had the map on it in secret, it was a little leather bound book, that he had written finding paradise in.

The map was buried deep in the book, and one would only be able to find it if they were looking for it.

I crept out of bed, slipping out the back door, crickets chirped around me, I had been expecting Nathen that night, so we could escape, but he never showed, but someone else did.

——————-

I laid up, cold sweat dripping down my face, I was no longer outside, instead I was in some kind of a cot, sun pouring through the window.

That dream, I had dreamed similar things for the past few weeks, it wasn't a dream, my head pounded from all the days events, but maybe it was not because of the pain, perhaps it was because I knew now that those events were not just a dream, they had really happened, every single account flooding into my conscious mind.

"I see you are awake," I wheeled my head around to face Conrad who was seated in a chair on the other side of the room. He knew about it, he knew about all of it, and that thought alone left me fuming, how come I couldn't remember it?

"Where is Nathen," I spat out, laying completely up, Conrad jumped to his feet as well, gliding over to sit next to me. He didn't seam like his normal carefree smooth self, it appeared as though he would burst at any moment.

"How come you took off the bracelet?" I slid away from him, M red flags alarming in my head, I needed to get out of here as fast as I could. Were they hurting Nathen too, he knew all about it too, and that was why he had been asking me if I had remembered.

"How come you were tracking me?" I shot him a question back to burry his first shot. The cot creaked as Conrad scooted closer to me, leaning over me, his eyes shooting daggers Where were we anyway, I needed to get away.

"It appears that he has taught you well, but your words won't get out of this." Conrad was examining me with those dark soulless blue eyes, but I was not going to give him the response he wanted, I would appear blank, and that was exactly what I did, just as I had before i met him.

"There is nothing to get out of," I shot back as monotone as I could muster. His words did however stir nerves up in my stomach, where was Nathen, what had happened, my mind drifted back to the place we had been last night, when I hadn't remembered, but I knew now.

Nathen and I used to go there, I had known him before this, then how come I had forgotten, I needed to find him, I craved answers.

"You remember don't you," my eyes flung over to the blonde haired devil that sat before me, his intense eyes glued to my face. He knew I knew, what would I do now?

"I don't know," my words were cut off as Conrad leaned forward, towering over me, I scoured back on the bed, my head slamming against the headboard, his proximity wouldn't affect me, I warned my brain, just think, think, think.

Conrad loomed over me, propped up on his hands as he gazed down at me, a lazy smirk taking over his features. He snickered humorlessly, lowering himself even closer to me. My skin crawling at the feeling.
"Don't play dumb with me little girl."

"Get off me," I hissed, a tempting to shove him away, my struggles were in vain, he didn't move an inch, his grin widening even more.

"Nah, I much prefer talking like this." How dare he, I squeezed my eyes shut, letting out a breath, how long would I have to go through this.

"Your advances don't affect me," I muttered, turning my head so I didn't have to look at  him, my ears caught onto something in the distance, a voice, it was Nathen, he was yelling something.

"Your body language says otherwise." How did he always know what to say. "You will always be an open book to me Drew, you know I've known you as long as Nathen has."

"I know," those words slipped out of my mouth before I could stop them, and at that moment I knew that I had fallen into his trap once again.