Page 58 of Yours to Break

Oliver

This was the stupidest idea I’d ever had. My lungs burned.

Branches clawed at my arms, slapping across my chest as I pushed forward, barely able to see. The cold bit at my exposed skin, but I didn’t stop. Icouldn’tstop.

They would come after me. It was only a matter of how long a head start I would have. I prayed that they wouldn’t notice my absence for at least an hour, if not more.

I hadn’t even made it into the woods before I’d gotten hurt. I was pretty sure I had a sprained wrist and ankle.

My brain knew I’d made a mistake mid-drop from the roof. My body knew I’d made a mistake when I hit the ground. By that time, though, I felt like Ihadto keep going. What else was I supposed to do? Knock on the door and say that I’d accidentally fallen out of the window? So, I ran.

Into… a forest. Not my best idea in a long shot. I had no real idea of where the woods even ended or which way I should go. I had no experience with hiking or hunting or camping. I also had no fucking shoes on.

But when I’d seen that those windows could open, I just needed to go; to run away.

Away from the eyes that watched too closely and saw too much. Away from the hands that were too gentle one moment and too rough the next. Away from the twins who didn’t know the meaning of boundaries—and made mehatehow much I sometimes wanted to let them cross them anyway.

My jeans were soaked from the knees down. My feet were caked with mud and covered in scratches. I didn’t care—I just kept going. My thighs burned, my vision blurred, and my stomach rumbled.

You’re doing the right thing, I told myself.

You have to leave. Youhaveto.

But even now, I wasn’t sure what I was running from more—the potential danger the twins posed, or the part of me that wanted to stay and lose myself to them.

I tripped; my body crashed hard into the frozen ground, knocking the air from my lungs. I whimpered, but stifled it fast. I strained to listen for any sign of the twins, making sure I hadn’t just gotten myself caught.

Snap.

A branch.

Close.

Too close.

They were here. Oh, fuck, they were here.

“No, no, no—please,” I whispered, scrambling onto my feet. I pressed my back to the tree beside me, shivering from the cold and my fear. The cold bark scraped against my skin through the back of my thin shirt. My breath came out in puffs of white.

A low voice floated through the trees like smoke, almost ghostly. “Oliver…” Hayes sang. How far was that coming from? I couldn’t tell.

My knees almost buckled.

I turned and ran again, venturing deeper into the forest, ignoring the tears threatening to freeze on my lashes. My thoughts blurred into white noise.

Please let me get away. Please don’t let them find me. Please don’t let them—

“Sweetheart, you’re going to get hurt out here,” Hudson’s voice called, sounding closer than Hayes’ had before. “You’re probably already hurt, aren’t you? Just come back with us and we’ll get it all taken care of, little one.”

Hayes added, “Come on, Ollie. You’re going to freeze.”

I pushed harder, feet throbbing with pain.

They weren’t going to let me go, but I wasn’t going to stop.

* * *

I didn’t know how long I’d been running. Ten minutes? Twenty? It felt like hours. My thighs were trembling with each step, my breath coming in ragged gasps that felt way too loud in my ears.

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