Teenage Baby

Chapter 31

Hi. You may want to take some deep breaths before you read *evil laugh*

Chapter 31:

  Aaron had expected himself to waver a little before he'd drop down. Not because he was hesitant of the purpose—he was one hundred percent sure of himself—but because he thought he'd be slightly scared of doing it; he thought he'd be wary as he'd stare down at he ground beneath strewn with the scattered pillows and quilts. Their presence was comforting, but Aaron had thought he'd fear a little longer the sudden prospect of falling down on his neck and cracking it: potential death.

  But that hadn't happened. None of those thoughts had been anywhere in his mind when he'd quickly flung himself and Leo down. He hadn't worried the slightest bit about any damage—or maybe it was that he hadn't had the time to worry; he'd just done it. Without thinking. His brain had been far too occupied dwelling in the horror of that look on Daddy's face that it had blocked out any other thoughts.

  The first thing that brought Aaron to the fact that he was already down crumpled on his side with all his weight on one arm was the explosion of pain that shot through it. Jolts crept in his bones, up his shoulder and down his spine and pounded there. His throat rumbled with a thousand grunts and groans at the pain, but then the situation settled and his eyes snapped open.

  Aaron jerked up, completely disregarding the pain that he realized could've been worse had it not been for the hump that had cushioned the drop; he'd fallen onto the backpack itself, so his arm had benefitted but the side of his face had crashed with the gravel and dirt—he could already feel the blood gathering there and trickling down his cheek.

But there was no time to waste.

  So Aaron jumped to his feet, holding his aching arm for a second as he stumbled over to Leo who, thankfully, had fallen mostly on top of the quilts and a pillow.

"Leo," Aaron said, his voice urgent as he glanced back over his shoulder. Leo shifted, but before he could even speak Aaron had pulled him to stand, briefly assessing him for injuries. Only a cut or two. He was sound. Aaron was surprised Leo wasn't bawling about the blood.

Leo's eyes were wide and frightened; it broke Aaron's heart. "Aar, please, let's go back—"

"No. Leo, now you need to run. Don't stop running whatever happens. Now!"

  Aaron caught Leo's arm, forcefully tugging him behind as he hastened forwards. They bolted into the woods, right between the menacing labyrinth of trunks and beneath the twinkling moonlight that streamed through the leaves of the towering trees above them.

The clinking and clunking of gravel beneath Aaron's feet, the howling of the brisk air past his ears as he raced forward, the sound of his rapid breaths as they wrecked his chest—they were all nothing compared to the sound of his thudding heart harder than ever before. That was all he could hear.

  They hadn't gone too far in the woods before a loud noise echoed from the back. Metal ground against metal for a second, then something squealed: the hinges of the large gates in the iron fence as the two slabs inched open, ready for the captors to flood through. Ready for them to come and get Aaron and Leo back.

  Aaron craned his neck, and he saw lights shining from the top of the fence, shadows of the captors dancing right beneath it as they already scurried after him from afar.

The sight of their shadows alone gripped Aaron's razor-sharp nerves and tugged. His front came right down in clash with a tree trunk he hadn't paid attention to, face slamming into the splintering wood.

He tumbled out of balance and fell down, but he quickly scrambled back to his feet without even allowing himself the satisfaction of expressing the horrible pain that exploded across his jaw and nose. In a second, he was already running again, Leo's arm captive in his hand as he dragged him behind.