Esme Hunt

2

They glanced between them at the empty space, then one spotted my shoe, just about to come though the door. "She's escaping!" The cops bolted through the church and down the street after me. I knew I couldn't outrun them. I could hear their footfalls thumping closer and closer to me. I clambered onto a nearby car and leapt over a fence into a tangled backyard, then coming out of the driveway and onto the next street. Yells of, "Get her!" and "She's over there!" were everywhere. I sprinted through three more backyards and jumped a few more fences, and found myself in a park I knew well. Mom used to take me here when I was little and we would play on the swings for hours at a time. I choked back a sob that was rising in my throat and continued across the grass and over to the next street. 

Dodging traffic, I crossed a short bridge and saw an old, boarded up house. I crept around the back and peeked in. There was nobody there and nothing inside except for a tattered couch and mouldy toilet. The paint was peeling and the floorboards were cracked. Nearly all of the windows were smashed of covered in wooden planks. I pulled some off and scrambled awkwardly inside. A small cloud of dust appeared where my feet touched, so there probably had not had any visitors recently, so hopefully it was a safe place to hide. I scraped some cobwebs off the couch and lay down.

In my dreams, the scenes of my brother's and parents' deaths played over and over again, like a song on repeat. I woke with a start and remembered where I was. Panic washed over me and questions flooded my head. Had the police found me? Were they waiting till I woke to arrest me? Was this whole place surrounded my armed cops? Was Rosa Youth nearby, itching to kill me? I peeked my head over the couch frame and out the window. The frosty yard was empty, with the exception of a few birds high up in the trees. Was it possible that nobody knew where I was hiding?

Keeping out of sight of the front windows, I surveyed the room. There was no food so I was starving hungry and couldn't even call my best friend because my phone went dead. Not that he'd answer. The whole country thought I as crazy, but I couldn't get the image of him out of my mind. I would have to go find some food, supplies and a place to charge my phone. No matter how dangerous it was, if i didn't, I would die anyway.