'The beauty of the past is that it is the past'

  The memories come flooding back to me all at once. My light blue bedroom which my mum used to moan at me about because it was never tidy. Teaching my brother, Jamie, how to play the guitar and beating up the tall kid in school who used to bully him. My dad hugging me when I fell off my bike. Then the images become cloudy and dark. Out of focus I remember Jamie not coming home from school one day and spending all night looking for him. Then I see myself hiding under my bed later that night watching my parents fend off 3 men dressed all in black with circular tattoos on their wrists. The footsteps walking around my bed looking for me, constantly going over the instructions my dad gave me.  

  '"Are you listening to me Alex?!" I blink through the tears looking up at my father, "Someones going to come for mummy and daddy now okay? I want you to stay hidden Alex. Do not make a sound! Hide and stay there. We are going to be fine. I trust you okay, you know how to survive. Remember how daddy taught you?" I nodded along my eyes fixed on his. "I love you so much baby girl.".

  "I love you too daddy. I promise, I'm going to find him." I manage to whisper.

  His eyes well up and he kisses me on my head. That's when the banging on the door began.

  "GO! GO!" I run up to my room and watch my parents die.' 

  I drop to my knees and rest my head on the ground.

  "I tried dad. I really tried. Where is he?!" I whisper to the skies. I hear a twig snap behind me and my head whips around to see a boy watching me. "Who are you?!" I say annoyed at how he was there at such a personal moment.

  "Who are you looking for?" he says abruptly, ignoring the question.

   Suddenly I hear someone shouting my name. It's him. He's near. I get up, grab my bag and sprint towards the opposite side of the clearing. The boy watches this and follows me. I begin to run and so does he. I don't have time for this.

  I quickly spin around so the boy stumbles into me.
  "This is nothing personal," I mumble as punch him hard in the stomach. He keels over his dirty blonde hair falling into his forehead as I swiftly kick him where he doesn't want to be kicked.

  "What the-" I turn and run before he can even finish his sentence.

   Okay, maybe that was a little harsh but I am in the middle of a life and death situation and I really don't need anyone holding me back.

  I run for a few miles ensuring I change my direction consistently hopefully making it harder to be followed. Eventually I see a small cabin at the edge of a lake and debate with myself for a moment. It will be harder for me to run during nightfall and seems to make more sense if I get my rest now so I can try and make it out of the country in the next 24 hours. 

   I scan around the wooden cabin checking for signs of life but it seems deserted. That is until I break in and find a neatly made bed, a small television, fridge and other basic kitchen appliances. There is an instant rice wrapper and a coke can in the bin and before I can make a quick escape I am met with a pair of very angry blue eyes. S**t. 

   I raise my first and begin to advance to guy standing in the doorway as he puts his hand up.

   "Don't even think about it. But next time you want to kick someone in the balls you might want to think twice about running to his house afterwards." Surprisingly the anger has faded and amusement has takes its place. His mouth quirks up into a smirk. Now its my turn to be confused.

   "Well, as nice as this was I think I better be off." I flash him a wide and very sarcastic smile and try to dodge around his muscled chest through the front door. A large hand blocks me from leaving.

   "I don't think so. Do you want to explain what you are doing in my house? And what happened earlier?"

   "Not particularly so again... see you around." I duck under his arm and try to run when a hand grabs my forearm.

   "You really need to stop doing that."

   "You really need to get your hand off me unless you want to get hurt." My voice is low and menacing. It took me years to perfect it.

   "As long as your promise not to run"

 I sigh loudly. I was planning to spend the night here anyway and maybe if he gets distracted I could grab some reinforcements from his cabin and leave. I was in dire need for just a glass of water from running since sunrise.

   "Fine."

   "Promise?"

   "Pinky promise." I sneer at him and stalk back into his cabin.

   "Look I don't know what you're problem is but I was only trying to see if you were okay. There was no need for you to go all psycho b***h on me."

   Ugh some guys were such wimps. "Okay. I'm sorry for hitting you. Can I go now?"

   "For some reason that didn't feel very sincere."

   "That's because it wasn't."

   This just earnt me a grin which I must say he wears very well. His square jaw line and high cheekbones would definitely had all the girls in town falling for him. But the eyes, oh the eyes. I felt like I was looking through crystal blue shard of his soul.

   "Are you atleast going to tell me what you've been running from?"

   "Not a what, a who."

  The grin dropped from his face as he stared intensely at me. Woah. This is getting too much.

   "Listen. I really am sorry but I'm sort of in a sticky and very dangerous situation and I really can't deal with a tag along at the moment. How about when I'm done with all this you can hit me up and we can see how I feel then? Yeah? Good?" I looked at him and he was just staring at me. I was starting to feel a bit awkward but for some reason I couldn't look away.

  I start to walk towards the door.

   "Maybe I could help." I stop in my tracks and look back over my shoulder to where he was standing.

   "W-what?" He is still staring at me and I feel like he can see every part of me. All the dark secrets I carry.

   "I could help you. Life on the run is hard and lonely."

   "That makes no sense, why would you choose this kind of life?"

   "I have nothing here. I live on my own and I have no family. I'm sick of waiting around for something to happen. I need to get out into the world."

   "Believe me," I chuckle darkly. "This is not how you want to do it."

   "It can't be worse than the life I lead now. Plus, this way I'm helping someone."

   "I don't need your help,"

   "It looks like you need a place to crash tonight." He's caught me and he knows it.

   "I'm only going to say this once so listen carefully. There are very bad men after me right now. Ones who don't care if I'm dead or alive as long as they have me. There is no one who can help me. They are powerful and I have been running for years. I've done bad things in my life too. So trust me when I say you want nothing to do with me or the situation I am in." I release a long breath and look him in the eyes. All I saw was steely determination.

   "Why don't you let me be the judge of that?" I throw my bag on the floor and climb onto his bed. The argument has made me even more tired and if I have any chance of surviving the next day I need to sleep.

  Just one more person's life I am about to ruin. Great.

   

Author's Note

completely redone. Not sure if I like the direction but we'll see.

Reviews

These two chapters are a good start :) They are interesting enough that you want to keep reading... Please upload more?

[Craig2591]

So far so good. It's early to tell if the story is good or not. It's well written and flows well. And again, you give just enough tidbits to make the reader curious.