Chapter 7-White rooms, loving hearts

                “Hey…..you two might wanna wake up…”

                I groggily lifted my head. Somehow, I had fallen asleep. Again. Cody stirred, and before he could slip back into Slumberland, I shook him gently. He lifted his head and looked at me.

                “What’s up?” he whispered. I shrugged and motioned towards the driver. Traffic was at a standstill. Maybe there was an accident?

                Cody tried looking out the front window. The van in front of us blocked the vision. When it moved, my heart almost stopped.

                Uniformed men were standing, leaving only one lane open. And they looked like they were checking for people inside of cars. My skin grew cold.

                Cody grabbed my hand. If it had been yesterday, I would have looked at him weird. But now, I was glad for it.

                “They know.” That’s all he had to say. I nodded and bit my lip.

                “Guess that’s it, then. We’re gonna go back to hell.”

                He sighed. I felt a tear slide down my face. The driver’s side window rolled down, and the man standing there smiled coldly.

                “There you two are. Thought you could get away?” He pulled out a cell phone. “I got ‘em. I’ll bring them over now.”

                He opened the door. Cody looked at me sadly, and we got out. I still had the blanket and my backpack. He had the boxes and his own bag. I hoped that they wouldn’t take it until we got to the holding center. We were probably in enough trouble.

                We followed the man past the road barriers, where a police car was waiting. I held onto Cody’s hand tighter. I thought about running. But memories of the bloodstained gravel surfaced, and I stumbled. Cody turned and started to offer me his other hand. The boxes fell, and the one with the arrows split open. I looked up at the man fearfully. He looked down, the over at me. I felt ice fill my veins.

                “This should be interesting…..what’s in the other box?” He grabbed it off of the ground and ripped it open. Three bows clattered to the ground. Cody pulled me up, but I didn’t move. The man was smiling down at the weapons at his feet.

                “Oh, this is quite nice. I wonder what this will bring the pair of you….”

                Somehow, I walked the rest of the way into the cruiser. As soon as I sat down, I burst into sobbing. Cody pressed my head into his shoulder. I threw my arms around him.

                “Shh….it’s gonna be alright….shhhh…”

                By the time I calmed down, we were at a low brick building, which only had a set of double doors at the front. We were dragged out of the squad car, pushed through the door and lobby, and left in an unfurnished room. Cody set his bag against a wall and hugged me.

                “Whatever they do, don’t let them hurt you. I’ll take all of the blame, alright?”

                I shook my head. “No. If you’re going to get into trouble, I’m going with you.”

                He sighed. “Why do I get stuck with the stubborn one? No, Cammie. You’re smart, athletic, and the perfect person to get out. They’ll get rid of me easily. I want you to get out of here and get home, no matter what.”

                Before I could respond he kissed me. When he pulled back, he looked into my eyes. “I love you. Don’t do anything stupid.”

                We sat against the wall. I had thrown my backpack net to his. We didn’t need them anymore. What was the point of textbooks and notebooks if we couldn’t share them? Cody pulled the blanket over me and let me curl up next to him. His arm went around me. If he was on death row, I wasn’t going to let him walk unloved.

                A couple of hours later, the same man came into the room. He had a pair of syringes in his hand. I whimpered and pressed into Cody. He held me tighter.

                The man laughed. “Don’t worry, this won’t kill you brats. It’ll only knock you out until we feel like letting you wake up.”

                Cody pulled me to the other side of him. I started to shake.

                “Not her. She didn’t do anything.”

                The man laughed again. “Whether she did or didn’t, she’s going the same place as you. Don’t bother. They already filed the paperwork.” He came closer.

                “Do we keep our stuff?”

                “After it’s checked.”

                “We stay together?”

                “Unless we find something wrong with that.”

                I held onto the blanket tightly. “Can I at least keep the blanket with me? I’m really cold…”

                The man scowled. “Fine.” I snuggled against Cody, and the needle slid into his arm. He cringed, but didn’t say a word. When it was my turn, I let out a whimper, and Cody pulled me into his lap. He put his arms around me.

                “I love you.”

                Even as I spoke, I felt myself slip under. “I love you, too.”