How To Get Away From Robin

Chapter 2: The Escape

A few years later Isaac and I walk through the forest that he and I always go through. I like it because it’s always so peaceful and you never ever see people there. It’s perfect. The grass is tall and green as well as the leaves in the trees and the light that shines through them reminds me of heaven looking down at me. In the winter it’s gorgeous since the snow covers the trees. Fall there are so many colors and you can hear the leaves crunching underneath your feet. There is a big open spot where we lay laughing at the clouds.

Isaac looks at me. I wonder if something is on my red tank top, and a black sweater. Isaac is wearing a green striped t-shirt, and blue jeans.

“Are you okay?” Isaac asks with sympathy in his voice.

I get frustrated that he even asks me, even though something is probably wrong. Normally he knows before I do. “yeah! Why wouldn’t I be?” I snap at him. He gives me a look which I realize means that he doesn't believe me.

Before I could correct my attitude Isaac says “there are people ahead.”

“people? really” I chuckle, and the word “why” comes through my brain. This is our spot and they can’t be here. We were here first and I’ve decided that I am going to tell them exactly that.

We both walk towards they’re people I recognize from school but they probably don’t know me, Johnny, Edward, Delannie, and Noah are all there. Edward, standing at five eleven, the stupid jerk is wearing a dark gray t-shirt and green jeans. Delannie, the popular cheerleader and the most girlie girl I have ever seen, has not grown for around four years, is wearing a black dress that the straps cross at the front but covers all the way up to the bottom of her neck but doesn't cover her arms or shoulders. Her dress stops mid thigh and then is flowy in the back and stops a little beyond the back of her knees. Johnny, the cute six foot three jock is wearing a blue sweater over a white button up and a black tie with khaki pants. Noah, known as the popular rebel, is wearing blue jeans and a black button up standing at six feet exactly.

“There are more people we don’t know,” says Delannie who sounds frustrated.

“Dell, I think we need a new spot” Noah says very unsure.

“You think?” replies Johnny as he walks over to me. “And what about you two?”

I look at him like he is crazy. “Me and Isaac?” Johnny nods as I start to fill with disgust. “No! Gross! I don’t like guys,” Isaac bumps me, his head which is always in the gutter he is holding back a laugh. Embarrassed I stumble, “I mean I like them but you know I don’t want to date quite yet.”

“We’ll see about that,” Johnny says as he winks at me. Strangely, I blush feeling quite flattered “Jess, right? We had a couple classes together from school.”

“Yes,” I reply.

I blank out for a second as the others talk about school and I feel something cold. Like someone is watching me. Air slaps me in the face as I stand there, the grass bows in the wind back and forth like I’m the queen and they are the peasants. A faint sound as though someone yells my name and I look up going back to reality. Isaac had called my name. Confused, I mouth out the word what. He runs and then immediately stops, his feet sliding on the ground and he falls backwards. Then I feel it, a cold and sharp feeling on my neck.

Immediately I know who it is. Robin. She is behind me with a knife which is placed forcefully upon my neck. Her ice cold fingers on the knife, with her free hand she grabs my hand and pushes it up my back with vigor.

She is my age with silky, dark brown hair that is at her shoulders, she has black eyes, and can convince anyone that she is good. She is a manipulative person, I still believe she does it as a hobby but as always I could be wrong. She has always been gorgeous with her round face and uses it to her advantage. Again for what I believe her job at manipulating. She is some sort of con woman I feel like but she doesn't use it to get money, she uses it for one thing and one thing only. Revenge.

She whispers loud enough that everybody can hear, “Sweet Jessica. My oldest frenemy,” Isaac gets up struggling to get his beretta M9 gun on the back of his belt. Luke, Robin's minion, appears out of nowhere pointing a gun at my head and fear rushes through my body like a snake slithers through grass, even though I know I could beat him with my hands tied behind my back. He is a midget, so he looks up and holds the gun as high as he can to reach my head.

“I wouldn’t if I were you Isaac,” Luke sneers cheerfully.

“Pack all of them up!” Robin shouts with glee. “We have work to do.”

I struggle to get out of Robin's tight grip but I can’t. I elbow Robin in the stomach and she bends over grabbing her thin abdomen.

“Jess!” Isaac shouts, and he runs towards me. It distracts me then I remember Robin and I look at her. Holding her stomach she growls as she runs at me and the world turns black.

The next thing I know is I wake up and I see light shining through trees and tons of people walking on sticks and through bushes and thorns. I am being carried by a man in black torn clothing. My hands and feet are tied and I feel a pain on the side of my head. Robin must have hit me. My head feels like it is crushing my brain from the outside in.

“She’s up!” the man shouts, painfully, into my ear. I hear a faint reply come back to him.

He puts me down and unties my feet. Everything is still blurry and my head is still throbbing. The man pushes me and connects me to the rope connected to seven others, like many people, between Isaac and Johnny. I look up and there are probably fifty people in front of me, all tied to their own group. I just wonder what they did to be in this long line.

I stare down at my feet trying to clear my blurry vision. I look up and Isaac is trying to speak to me but I can’t hear him. I feel like I’m in those movies where something is wrong with the main character, like they got hit in the head and their friend is trying to comfort them but everything seems slow and you can’t really understand them. The only problem is that this is real. I feel like I am going to pass out but Isaac gives up after a while. I must have a concussion of some sort.

After a couple steps I realize that my hearing is actually there. Now I just feel like I’m going to pass out.

“Isaac!” I whisper. He looks back and smiles. The reason why is what scares me.

“Jess, I’ve got an idea!” I just look at him because I know that his ideas are not the smartest. They always end with someone getting in trouble or me laughing because he injured something or someone.

“Don’t do this to me!” I exclaim. “Everything you do ends up being plain dumb and reckless. This is not the time or place for your stupidity!”

“Well what is your definition of stupid?” Isaac asks.

“You!” He gives me a look like he is pretending to be hurt. What a moron.

Isaac smiles at me with that evil grin and he stares at a guard. I think he is waiting till one of Robin's soldiers looks at him. His smile slowly turns to a frown after a while of standing and walking. He then lifts up his tied hands and starts coughing. It’s very obvious it is fake though. The guard looks at him and Isaac waves his hand back towards him then against him like he is fanning himself. The guard comes over and I just know what's going to happen and it's going to be another event as bad as the great depression. I shake my head in denial as he jumps over his ropes and does a side kick kicking the guard in the stomach. The soldier does not move, he just looks at him. “Really?” I reply to Isaac. “I'm going to need to save the moron, “is the thought running through my brain.

I jump over the ropes so that my hands are in front of me and swing the rope so it can give me a boost since my five foot body can't reach the top of his head. I swing myself, not caring about my team whom I am yanking around. The rope wraps around his neck and I am able to pull him down. I then look up and nobody else notices since they’re so many lines of people. I then get a pressure in my chest thinking I might kill this man. I wait until he stops struggling and I untie the ropes. I put my head to his chest and I hear a heartbeat. I smile and the pressure releases. I take the keys off the loops of his leather belt and look at my team who is just staring at me in shock from the ground. I think knocking them to the ground is my fault. I throw the keys at Isaac who catches them and unlocks each lock that the rope somehow is connected too. We hurry to take off our ropes and try to run in silence.

We continue running until there is a big deep slit in front of us with dark choppy water and sharp rocks inside. I try to stop but then I start falling. I grab the ledge and Isaac and Edward pull me back in.

“You okay Jess?” Isaac asks me. I try to speak but no words come out. “Jess! You okay?” I could tell in his face that he is commanding me to answer.

“Yes!” I shout at him.

After I stand up I look down the hole and start to say, “we can jump it.” They just look at me like I am a joke. “I’m serious!”

“Well then show us and jump first!” Edward told me.

I glared at him and started taking my sweater off and I throw it at his face.

“Jess…” Isaac started.

I jump before he can finish and a rush of wind rushes through my body. I hit the edge of the cliff and hold on to the edge. “Help!” I scream.

“Jess I’m coming,” Isaac tells me, laughing his head off as he starts running and jumps perfectly to the other edge and grabs my hand but I slip and my stomach lands on a root stuck in the ground.

“Ouch!” I groan. “Help!” I exclaim with annoyance in my voice. “I can’t stay here forever,” I look down at the choppy water and feel nervous as the root is jamming into my stomach. I then feel fingers clutching my hand, I look up and Isaac is reaching for me.

“Grab On,” Isaac shouts at me.

“What took you so long?” I ask, trying to grab his hand.

“Well I did have to jump across without landing on you, so I think that gives me a good enough excuse.” he tells me with his voice strained from reaching towards me.

“I’m going to take a risk!” I shout.

“Don’t Jess,” Isaac replies as I let go and jump to reach fully and he has one hand around my waist and the other on my wrist and pulls me up. I hit the dirt and he wraps his arms around me. I think it was from him thinking I was going to die. He lays down with his head on the ground still with hands on me.

I push his arms off of me laughing and I start to stand up. Dork. I looked around and Noah had already come across. Delannie runs back a little and with a full out girlish run she jumps. She also hits the edge.

“Help me, Please!” she shouts. I know it's mean but I can’t help but think, ‘can’t we just leave her there?’ Noah runs over and grabs her. He pulls her up and she is hysterical. Like a monkey. Kinda like that specific monkey had found a banana and when he opened said banana it was rotten. The monkey then got sad and started bawling like a baby. That monkey.

Tears are planted on her face and I chuckle a bit. Johnny jumps over with one jump and lands just beside Noah.

“Just give me a second to revive Delannie!” Noah shouts.

“You’ve got five minutes,” Isaac replies as Edward jumps across.

Johnny walks over to me and starts whispering in my ear, “I know exactly what you’re thinking. We should’ve just left her!” he agrees, chuckling.

“How did you know?” I ask, curious.

“Your face, and when she came up you were giggling a little,” he replies.

“Hey, I don’t giggle!” I say, sounding very offended.

“Jessica!” he laughs, “you have giggled ever since you first came to school in the first grade.” he says matter of fact. He smirks at me. I don’t giggle, do I?

“I thought I was invisible?” I mumble to myself very confused. Johnny just tilts his head with a worried expression.

“Jess, you think too much! No. You were not invisible and no. I didn’t hate you. I tried to talk to you when you first came but you seemed more scared of me then excited to have a friend so I just thought that…” he stops for a second and then continues, “just know that you are a lot more memorable than you think. I did recognize you in the forest for a reason, then Delannie and Noah did right after! Don’t be such a pessimist.”

I open my mouth to say something then Isaac shouts, “that was three minutes but we have to go now!” Johnny smiles and runs past me.

when we all start running. I don’t know where my feet are taking me. I look up to feel wet on my face. Perfect time to rain.

“Jess!” A man’s voice calls out. I stop but my feet slip on the mud. My feet seem to run ahead of me and I fall on the side of my butt. The mud is squishy and it feels disgusting. I push my body up. It is soaked in water and mud from my toes to my butt. I start running back and they’re walking into a cave.

We sit in silence in the dark cave, then we hear it. Robin's voice shouting out. The high pitch scream. A snake hissing in the darkness. We hear people running out in front of the opening of the cave. We all creep in the shadows, like ghosts trying not to get seen, as the thunder of people running gets quieter.

It seems like so much time went by. I can feel the tension in the cave. Then finally I can’t hear anything except the sound of water drops falling on the cave floor. I look out the opening and it is still raining. It looks dark outside but that’s just the clouds. I don’t think it's even supper time yet. I close my eyes. They feel like a big metal anvil is placed on them and I doze off.

I wake up and it's pitch black outside but of course still raining. I still sit in a dark corner with Delannie sleeping in the corner to the left of me. The boys were sitting by the door mumbling. I don’t like the quiet. It's unsettling. I never have since it makes me spend time in my own mind. I think of what other people think of me. Like I am too harsh. I just reply, yes I know I’m a jerk, be a big boy and deal with it. I say that out of experience of doing it before. I have always been harsh and easily forgotten. Apparently I’ve never been as invisible as I always thought I am. I just want to know what Johnny was going to say before he stopped.

I stare at the rain slamming down like a hammer onto the flimsy grass. My eyes want to shut on me and I just decide I need to sleep.

“I am going to go to bed so I want.. Hmm… Edward, you are going to take watch until you fall asleep,” I demand. My smile slowly turns to a frown. I look over and Isaac is staring at me concerned. I think I have to go back before he asks questions, I tell myself in my head as I quickly went back to the corner before the tears came. When I sat down I can't hold it any longer and they come streaming down.

I undo my soaking wet hair, put the ponytail on my wrist and I lay on my side staring out of the opening of the cave and close my heavy eyes. I feel somene lay down next to me but I know who it is. Isaac. I roll over to my side and put my arm around his stomach and my head on his chest like a pillow. Even though he is not nearly as comfortable as my pillow at home, I don’t have to worry anymore, because I know I’m safe with him by me and I smile as he gently drags his calloused fingers through my wet hair.

“You don’t need to say anything. I know,” he sighs.

I just nod my head slowly drifiting off into a much needed sleep.

I wake up and Isaac is staring at me.

“Morning sleepy head” he tells me. He puts a strand of hair behind my ear.

“Morning,” I reply quickly. I say it like I’m in a hurry. We really are not at the moment. I start to get up and I yell, “everyone we gotta get up!” I grab the ponytail off my wrist and put it into a quick messy bun again as the others process the importance of getting up.

“It's too early!” Delannie groans with a very whiny voice. I just want to shout that it's only six. I know this almost by memory. This is the time I wake up everyday, but it's muscle memory so it’s not even my fault.

“Come on babe we gotta get up,” Noah tells her.

I walk over to Edward and he is sound asleep drooling on his hand. i***t. I kick him hard but light enough to not do any eternal damage onto his forehead. He opens his eyes giving me the death stare.

“Get up!” I say sternly. One more person. I sigh loudly and walk over to Johnny. I

pick up my foot to put on his stomach and shake him, but before my foot even touches him he startles me. “Don’t even think about it.” He opens his eyes and looks at me. He smiles and it annoys me. I roll my eyes and walk out of the cave.

I sit down listening to the wind and try to figure out my next plan. I have this strange feeling that I need to beat Robin. I don’t know why. Maybe I can leave right now. Isaac. I can’t just leave him but I must. I feel like she wil never let me go free if I don't do this now. I look in the cave and they look silent. Delannie looks devastated, Johnny looks a little guilty, Edward confused, and even Noah who looks mad. Something is weird about all of this though. Isaac is just smiling.

I shouldn’t have woken them up because it makes it harder. I start walking around the hill, ready to leave them and a voice comes out from behind me.

“Where are you going?” Edward asks. I turn around and he looks scared. Like he doesn't know what’s going to happen. Vulnerability is not something Edward shows often. It surprises me.

“I've got to get Robin,” I sigh, “she won’t let me go if.. Well…” I stop.

“We need you Jess,” Edward sighs, “whether you want to believe it or not we do. So you can’t leave. What will we do?”

“You all will go home. I need to go now! If I don’t then I’m afraid I’ll lose my chance,” I sigh. His face looks extremely worried but it draws my attention when he smirks.

“Guys, Jess is leaving us!” Edward shouts.

Terrified, I run as fast as I can. Sticks scratch my legs, like I’m running through a forest of sharpened butter knives. I look behind me to see nobody until I look forward and a big branch is in front of my face. I hit it with a thud and I land on the ground. Something hot and wet slides down my face. I put my hand on my cheek and look at something red. Great time to be bleeding. I feel my nose and somehow it doesn't even seem phased, unlike my cheek with a big gash the size of the Grand Canyon. I push my arms against the hard ground to try to stand up. My arms collapse like a bridge and I get a face full of dirt. Why did I have to wake them up?