Hello, my beloved readers! Here is chapter seven of Without Cause!
//Without
Cause//
//Chapter
Seven//
//Sticks
And Stones//
~Kylie
Drip. Drip. Drip. Water softly splashed
on my face. “Ethan, stop that! It’s annoying. Get out of my room!” I rolled
over and tried to go back to sleep, cuddling my pillow, which felt oddly like a
backpack. Drip, drip, drip, drip. This
time the water hit my face harder and faster. “Ethan, if you don’t cut that
out, I swear—” Whoosh! Icy rain
poured on us, jerking me out of my not-so-peaceful slumber, while forcing me to
remember where we were. “Why!?” I wailed, waking Ethan, who seemed oblivious to
the rain.
He looked around,
still in shock by the icy blast. “Aw, man!” We both scrambled up and took
shelter under the nearest tree. Ethan ran his hand through his dripping wet
hair and sighed. “Well, we’d better head out.”
“What?”
“We’ll start
walking now, and see how much ground we cover by the time it gets dark again.”
“You’re joking,
right? It’s raining buckets, and I just woke up. I’m not going anywhere until
it stops.”
Ethan grabbed the backpack
from me and pulled it on. “We—”
Bang! A gunshot split through the rain.
I screamed as Ethan
and I both took off running in the opposite direction of the shot. We hadn’t
run very far when another shot sounded. I was scared out of my mind, and just
wanted to go back to bed. In my bed. At my house.
Ethan slowed down
and pointed to a fallen tree. “Let’s take a break under there.” He wheezed. We
crouched under the tree and caught our breath.
“I’m so done with
running.” I moaned. Silence ensued while we waited for any sign of anyone.
Five, maybe ten minutes elapsed, but we still couldn’t hear anything over the rain.
“If you want to try
and get some more rest, go ahead, I’ll keep watch.”
I yawned and pulled
my jacket on tighter. “You sure? If anyone starts shooting at us again, wake
me, okay?”
He chuckled. “Sure
thing. I’ll wake you in a few hours. We need to look for water, we’ve only got
a bottle left.”
*****
“Has the threat
been eliminated?”
“No, sir, there’s
been complications.”
“Care to
elaborate?”
“The parents are
out searching the forest as well, with a team. It will be too hard to catch the
targets quietly, if at all.”
James gave a
disgusted scoff. “Garbage. I want them in my office by tonight. Unless, of
course, that’s too much of a task for your sorry carcass. In that case, Shannon
can do it.”
“No sir, that will
not be a problem. The problem is that there’s over two hundred acres of this
forest, and they’re in the middle of it by now. There’s been heavy rainfall,
which has made the terrain difficult. It’s going—”
“Hugh, are you
still talking? Or was that just the wind shutting the door on your way out?”
The victim of the
address tried to hide his frustration. “On it… sir.” With a quick turn on his heels, Hugh exited the office of his
boss, slamming the door hard behind him, making the windows shake.
*****
I awoke extremely
sore, but refreshed. The sun was out now, and it seemed like mid-day.
“Buenos días, mi hermana!”
I stretched and rubbed my eyes. “Hey,
bro. How long was I out?”
“Five, six hours,
maybe.”
“And you didn’t
sleep at all?”
“Nah, I’ve been
sitting here roasting and wishing we had water. So whenever you’re ready to get
going, we can go.”
“All right, all
right.” I got up and dusted myself off. “Lead the way.” The sun found its way
through the trees, warming me up and giving my mood a boost. However, a
throbbing pain in the back of my head had begun, and wouldn’t go away.
As the day wore on
and we continued on our adventure, if you could call it that, the heat began to
rise. The mugginess made my headache worse, and I began to stumble.
“Hey, listen,”
Ethan stopped. “Does that sound like water to you?” Without even waiting for a
reply, he began sprinting in the direction of the noise.
“Wait for me! Oh, never
mind.” I followed him, but at a much slower pace, picking my steps with care.
As I got closer, it did indeed sound like water. Ethan stopped ahead of me and
pushed through brush. As I caught up, he turned back to me with a huge smile.
“It’s a river! Now
we just have to figure out a way down.”
“Yay. You do that.”
I closed my eyes, leaning against a tree, and listened to the river.
A few moments
later, Ethan called from downriver a ways. “Kyles, come here!” I walked slowly
to where he was standing. Part of the bank jutted out, with a few stumps here
and there, and a few nice sized trees, making a perfect place to sit. “Looks
like someone’s fishing spot. We’ll stay here a while, help me collect ferns for
us to sit on.”
“Ethan, I’m
hungry.”
“We’ll eat later,
we only have so much food.” He answered, continuing to work.
“When’s later?”
“Maybe tonight. Come
help me pick ferns the ferns.”
“It’s was really cold
last night. Shouldn’t we build a fire this time?”
“You can use my
jacket if you want. And no. No fires. We can’t risk getting found.”
“But don’t we need to be found?”
“No, I’m not
getting captured by those idiots again. We can get out of here ourselves, then
find help on the road.”
“How? What road? You don’t even know where we are. And those
‘idiots’ were helping us! What if it rains again?”
Ethan rolled his
eyes and growled, turning to face me. “Kylie, please stop asking me questions!
I know what I’m doing, and I have a headache.”
I gave an annoyed sigh
and put my hands on my hips.
“Now be quiet and
pick ferns, or you can sleep on the dirt and moss.” I slouched my shoulders and
glared at him while bending to pull the fern leaves.
We finished
collecting and arranging, and sat on our beds. My stomach growled, and I looked
at Ethan with pleading eyes.
He rolled his eyes,
reaching for the backpack. “Fine. But keep in mind we don’t have much.” Ethan
grabbed half a squished sandwich for each of us. “Here. No more until tomorrow,
got it?”
I crawled back to
my patch of ferns, being careful not to get my sandwich dirty. “Yeah, got it.”
I chewed slowly, trying to make it last. My eyes wandered the forest and river,
making a detour to stop at Ethan. “I saw that.”
“What? Saw what?”
“You just put that sandwich back in the backpack.”
He shifted and
crossed his arms over his knees. “So?”
“So, eat it. I’m sure mum’s not going to be happy if only
one of us returns home.”
“Kylie, people can
live several weeks without food. I’m fine. It’s the water we need to worry
about. And now, we have it.” He concluded by coughing and gagging.
“Ethan!” I got up
and knelt by him. “What was that about?”
“Hand me the water
bottle.”
“Dude, I think the
heat’s getting to you. Quit overworking yourself and not eating or drinking.” I
grabbed the backpack and pulled out the last water bottle. “It’s empty. Do you
want me to fill it?”
“Shhh! Did you hear
that?”
I paused and
listened. People! My eyes widened and
Ethan pushed me behind one of the stumps, slowly following. We hunkered down
and waited, but the voices soon moved on. “Alright, let’s move.”
“You’re insane, we
just got here.”
“Yeah, and now we’re
leaving.” Ethan jumped up and surveyed the area.
“Ethan, I’m really
tired again, I don’t want to move.”
“Whoever that was
will be back. We can’t risk just sitting here and getting caught again. Come
on!” he coaxed.
“Ethan, please. I’m
tired, and I don’t feel well. I just want to rest!” I didn’t mention that my
head felt like it was going to explode.
“Shh! Just keep
moving. There’s got to be a road or something somewhere around here.”
“A road?! Ethan,
we’re in the middle of the woods! And how do you know that it’s the bad guys
who were calling us? We should at least check and see.”
He turned around
and whispered angrily, “No! I’m not going to risk you getting hurt.” He turned
back, and we climbed out from our hiding spot, and attempted to continue our
‘hike’. We had only gone a few steps out, when Ethan saw a figure hunched over
looking into the river and examining the bank.
“Get behind me.”
Ethan instructed in a hoarse whisper. He ran a hand through his hair, rubbed
his eyes, and took a deep breath. He was obviously extremely tired, we both
needed nourishment terribly, and it didn’t help that the heat was so intense.
Ethan stumbled and caught himself, but crashed into some bushes and made a
bunch of noise.
The man who had
been looking into the river heard it immediately, and whirled around with his
hands up. He looked like a friendly character, with a shorter, more stout
build, darkish blonde hair, and a concerned, caring look in his lightly colored
eyes.
Ethan coughed until
he gagged and had to kneel on the ground.
I ran to help him, but became concerned when he pushed me away and
sprang to his feet. The other guy had begun to walk toward us slowly, and
called out asking if we were okay, and what our names were. I couldn’t find the
words to answer him. My headache had gotten so bad, I couldn’t see strait.
Ethan was acting
strange. He grabbed a long, thick stick with a big knot on one end. The other
guy noticed what Ethan had in mind, and brought a walkie talkie to his mouth
and spoke rapidly into it. When he finished, he placed the device back on his
belt, put his hands up and spoke quickly, with an accent I couldn’t quite
place.
“Listen, help is
coming! You’re safe now! Please put the, uh, weapon, down. You have nothing to
worry about! I’m a friend. My name’s Owen.” He smiled warmly and I instantly
believed him. Ethan, on the other hand, thought about it for a second, and I
thought he might listen, but no. He went crazy, yelling things that didn’t make
any sense.
“Stop shooting,
it’s a danger car!” Owen opened his mouth to speak, then closed it. He looked
at me and was about to speak when Ethan shouted again. “Liar! Take the lawn and
don’t know!”
Owen made an
understanding expression, but I was still trying to decode Ethan’s gibberish
while trying not to pass out. My hearing kept tuning in and out, and before I
knew it, I screamed, “What?! I don’t even know what that means! Just go away!” I
fell to my knees and tried not to puke.
Owen looked a bit
freaked out, and pulled the walkie talkie from his belt. “Any time now would be
great.”
Ethan looked back
and forth between us, and I noticed his breathing was heavy. He gripped the
stick tighter, and lunged forward in Owen’s direction with a loud yell. Owen
backed up a few feet, at the same time trying to explain that he was trying to
help. Ethan would have none of it. He swung the stick around wildly at Owen. It
appeared, though, that Owen had predicted what Ethan was about to do.
He ducked and stepped around Ethan, who pitched forward and
stumbled, then turned around and glared at Owen.
Owen looked over
his shoulder at me. “Are you alright?”
All I could manage
was “Huh?”
Owen smiled again.
“Don’t worry. Your Mum and dad are coming to help you, and your brother.” He
turned back to Ethan. “Look dude, put the stick down, you don’t want to get
hurt!”
Ethan looked at the
stick in his hands, and tossed it away. Owen relaxed a little, lowering his
arms and letting a small smile spread on his face. No sooner had he done that,
when Ethan barreled right at him. I screamed, and Owen was in the middle of
stepping out of the way, but Ethan rammed into his side. That sent Owen off balance,
causing him to stumble backwards towards the bank of the river, and sent him
plunging in with a yell. Ethan tumbled right over the bank as well, carried by
the momentum from hitting Owen. I screamed again and ran after him,
overstepping the bank and falling into the freezing river.
When I surfaced,
Ethan was splashing and yelling next to me, and Owen was just reaching the
shore, where a dozen or so other people now were. They were dressed in some
sort of black suits with navy blue trim.
Then, I saw the
most beautiful sight I could imagine; my parents. Dad came rushing into the
water, stopping when it reached his knees. “Kylie, Ethan! Are you alright?” He
didn’t wait for an answer, but jumped the rest of the way in and swam towards
us- well, me anyway. Ethan was almost
to the shore, yelling and thrashing around like a mad man. Several people rushed
to help him, including my Mum, who tried to calm him down.
Meanwhile, I felt
like I was going to pass out, and my kicks and arm stroke were getting weaker.
I closed my eyes tight, trying to cope with my headache while staying afloat.
Suddenly, I felt strong arms wrap around me, and pull me loser to shore. My dad’s
voice kept reassuring me that I was “going to be alright”, and to “hold on,
we’re safe now”. I tried to open my eyes, but they felt like bricks and
wouldn’t budge. I tried to stay awake anyway, but promptly lost consciousness.
And that's it! Sorry for the delay in posting. Our family has been pretty busy. We will be moving in the summer, so we were packing, my brother was showing goats, and the chicken coop caught on fire (no casualties!), among other things. But this week, Billie and I will be traveling with our Grandpa and cousin to another state to visit our Great Grandma. This is exciting, as neither of us have ever been outside of our home state, and haven't seen our Great Grandma in five years.
Anyway, next week, Billie and I will try and work on our Liebster award thing, and post it. Until then,
For the will of Cause,
Ammelia
Psalm 32:7. -"You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance."
