“C’mon, we have to keep moving.” He tells me when I stop at a lonely tree. I’m out of breath and in a desperate need of a break. And water. “We are at the final stretch.” Jacob shouts behind his shoulder, climbing the steep hill with vigorous pace.

I have no idea how long we have been hiking, but I think this is enough for one day. Even the rest of the year. I look back at how far we have climbed up, and its enough height to make anyone afraid.. There is a cliff not too far from where we were, and even though the view was incredible, it was terrifying. I could easily fall and possibly die from that fall.

“Where are we going?” I shout back, getting an itch from the grass against my ankles.

“You will see. C’mon.” He stops just before the top of the hill, and reaches out for my hand. I climb up and extend mine to grab it, but misplaced my foot, suddenly falling down the hill, tumbling and screaming. Oh no.

“I can’t stop! Help me!” I panic, flailing my arms out to hopefully slow me down, but I just continue to roll faster by the second.

“Amber! Grab something! Quick!” I try to focus my vision as best as possible, but through the grass I see only nothing.

I feel something sharp scratch my legs, so I curl myself into a ball and get into a position to be sitting and slow myself down, which was thankfully working. The ground had soon disappeared up ahead of me, and I am terrified because I know that I won’t stop in time. The hill has gotten too steep.

“Jake! Help me!” I scream for dear life, even though it won’t help thanks to the distance between us.

“Amber!” I hear Jacob and his friend yell as I pass the edge, and feel the gravity pull me down to earth as I fall. I frantically wave my arms around, thankfully grabbing a branch or root from a nearby tree growing out of the side. My happiness come to a halt when I hear a crack. Oh fuck.

“AMBER!” I hear Jacob scream out. I look up to see the two of them sighing a breath a relief and wiping their face. “Thank God.. Amber, hold on I’ll go get something to pull you up.”

“Well its not like I can just have some tea right now..” I say sarcastically, rolling my eyes. The branch cracks again, catching my breath. “But please hurry!”

Eventually I have been handed rope, and the two of them pull me up to safety.

“Hop on.” Jacob shows me his back, and I had no problem climbing up I continue to shake like a lost puppy, my heart racing.

“Whoa, uh Jake..” Chris says, poking at my bleeding leg.. I don’t even feel that.

“Shit..” He quickly jogs to the top of the hill where we stop at a tree. “Get the kit, now!” Chris quickly goes through the bag and pulls out a white box, handing it to Jacob. He pulls out some rubbing alcohol, cotton balls, a gauge, and medical tape.

“This may sting for a bit. Get ready.” He tells me as he dips the cotton ball in the alcohol. He counts down before applying pressure, which hurt like absolute hell. Its not the best feeling in the world. Once the blood was wiped away he placed the gauze on top, and secured it with the medical tape.

“That should hold until we reach the cabin. Come on, let’s hurry.” He picks me up and swiftly puts me on his back.

“Why are you taking me away?” I ask him for probably the millionth time. The question just drifts away in his mind I suppose.

“It’s more of ‘rescuing’ you.. Believe me. You will thank me later.” He says.

“Does Harry at least know?” I realize that I miss Harry. “What does he know?” He is probably worried sick about me.

“Probably doesn’t care, at this point.” He says without another word. Wait what? Chris just shrugs, walking ahead to make sure the coast was clear.

“Amber, hold this.” I think I hear Chris say suddenly. He hands me his bag, before creeping up behind a tree. His face cringes as he looks through the woods to a lake cabin. He motions for us to move in closer.

“Police.” He mutters. The police cars surround the cabin, as the officers remove belongings that were inside and carelessly thrown onto the grass.

“Amber, I need you to listen carefully..” He says as he removes me from his back. My stomach drops when I sense what he is gonna do. “Amber?” He whispers a bit more loudly.

“No, you wouldn’t..” He shakes his head, not wanting me to argue.

“It’s all I can do to buy you time.” No. My head starts to feel fuzzy, and fuck I don’t feel good. He is going to risk his life.

“Chris I need you to take her to the southern camp. Its just a few miles out that way.” He points south, and he nods. “I’ll see you there. Now go.” Chris makes me hop onto his back and starts to run without looking back.

I look back, however, and I see Jacob pull out a small gun from his bag. When I could no longer see him, a shot was fired, and I could hear the police yelling. Another shot. More yelling. Even more shots, agony and pain fill the air.

“Don’t worry Amber, he is going to be okay. We are going to meet up with him later. Okay?” I don’t say a word. “Amber?”

“Amber!!!” An annoyed scream pierces my eardrums, waking me up with a fright. I slam my hand against my chest, collecting a breath of relief.. I look in front of me to see Charisa sitting on my lap, a confused look on her innocent baby face.

“What?” I ask her, sitting upright and holding her close.

“Ew, you are covered in sweat. Lemme go!” She squirms out of my hold and sits on the empty space.

“Sorry. Just had an intense dream.” A cough catches my attention, as my mother stood at the doorway, cross armed, and curious.

“Charisa, can you give mummy and Amber a minute?” She asks her. Charisa nods and scampers out of the room quickly.

“Amber, what happened in your dream?” She asks sitting on the edge of my bed. My eyes widen, why does she want to know?

“Umm, well I went out for a hike, with some people and I slipped and fell, but I was okay. Then I woke up.” I tell her generally.

“With who?” She asks.

“I-I don’t remember. I remember seeing the figures of people but not their faces.” I lie through my teeth.

“Amber, you shouted a name. What was it?” She is acting strange, well, more strange than usual.

“I don’t remember.” It was Jacob. She nods slowly and quietly with no expression on her face, then gets up and walks to the door.

“You are watching the girls today, your father and I are heading out for the day. I expect all the chores to be done, yes?”

“Yes ma’am.” I tell her, wiping the remaining sweat off of my forehead. She nods and opens the door, a bouncing Charisa comes barreling in.

“Bye mommy!” She shouts to her as she leaves, and joins me on the bed. “Sis, do you wanna play a game with me and Hope?” She pouts her face.

“It’s Hope and I.” I correct her grammar with a smile.

“Whatever.” She sasses me, sticking her tongue out.

“Give me a few minutes to shower and I will be right there.” I tell her, throwing the blanket off of me.

“YAY!” She screams, before leaving the room once more.

I collect my clothing and head for the bathroom. Never had I ever sweated this much in my life, not even in gym, and I do try. I quickly remember my leg injury and look down at my leg. I know it wouldn’t be there, since it was just a dream, but you never know. I could’ve scratched myself or something with my toe nails. That was just a dream, right?

I send a message to Harry telling him to have a good day and that I miss him, just in case. I know Harry wouldn’t leave me.. Right? When a few minutes pass with no response I assume he will read it later, so I get out of bed and start my Saturday morning with a nice cup of joe.

I sat around for hours around my room, hoping that I would get some sort of message from Harry. When I got no response I began my chores and played with the girls afterwards. Maybe he is just busy. He is Harry after all. I’m getting too worked up about this. That’s all.

“Amber, you take Princess Purple to her castle, quickly!” Charisa yells, while pretending to fight Hope with their plastic light sabers. Hope just sits there giggling, somehow fighting back as well. The doll is thrown at me, and I quickly look to the ‘castle’ which was her bed. I sit and wait for further command from her, watching them play fight.

I look down at Princess Purple and run my hand through her brown yarn hair, the material was familiar to my touch.. It’s the doll from my parent’s closet. My doll. Why is it here? How did it get here?

“Girls, how did you get this? Who gave you this?” I ask them, starting to feel bad that I cut off their play time.

“Mummy gave it to me!” Charisa responds before resuming her play fight with Hope. “Now go bring her to the castle! She is in great danger!” She points to the bed, and I play along and try to just barely make it to the ‘castle’ and rest there.

Soon, my parents return home, with the sound of the front door closing loudly as usual as their cue.

“Girls! Come down we got you something!” Mom yells out. The girls get excited and pause their play fight to run out the bedroom door. I set the doll down on the bed before joining in the living room. Dad walks through the door with a bunch of bags and set them down on the floor by the couch. This is a lot more shopping than they usually do.

“What’s all this for?” I ask, as politely as possible. My mom gives a stern look my way before facing the younger girls.

“Well we went out to the mall, did some extra shopping, and got my favorite girls something.” She pinches the girls’ cheeks lightly before going through the bags. When she finds the bag she was looking for, she pulls out 3 boxes from a white bag. They were Apple products… Seriously?

“This one is for Charisa.” She gives her one box, and Charisa squeals with joy, quickly opening the box. “And this one will be for Hope when gets to the age of 6. For now she can use this iPad. Here you go sweet pea.” She coos to them. They squeal with joy and run back to their room to use them.

“They seem to have enough fun with their toys. Why these?” I ask casually.

“Well, with everyone in their age group having these items, I don’t want them to feel left out. Don’t worry. I got you one too. To replace your old one.” She hands me an iPhone box. The Rose gold phone.

“Mom.. Its beautiful. But why?” She looks at me confused.

“Because you are my eldest daughter.. It wouldn’t be fair that your younger siblings get one and not you?” She says as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world. I was afraid to open my mouth, wanting to say that now she cares about fairness, but not before?

“Well.. Thank you.” I say instead. She nods and starts to take out the rest of the items she had bought, which was mostly decoration and set them down on the table.

“Amber be a dear and help me set these in the house.” She says politely as she throws the extra bags into a bag.

Okay, this is weird.

“Really?” I ask this time.

“Yes, why?” She acts confused.

“I don’t know.. You are acting a bit strange. Do you not hear yourself?”

“Yes, loud and clear. Do you want to help me or not?” Am I still asleep or something? No, I couldn’t be.

“Of course..” I give up with her for now, and help set the decorations for the living room first.

“What are the decorations for?” I ask, to make conversation.

“We are having company later for dinner and I thought it would be nice to have the house looking better than it already does. Don’t you think?” There we go. That’s why.

“Who’s coming?” If the house needs more decor than it has to be someone important.

“Someone important.” See.

When the house was set we had a couple hours to make dinner. Mother actually helped out with cooking as well, as she rarely does that. We made ham, turkey, mashed potatoes, and many other fixings. It smelled really good in the house and my father had to be kicked out of the house to get last minute essentials until the guests arrive.

My mother, the girls and I got ready in the meantime and honestly I have never felt so fake in my life. My mother did my makeup to make me look like a Kardashian, and my dress is way too tight around my upper chest. The girls look fine however. They look even more adorable than they usually do.

The doorbell rang and my mother was quick to answer the door, but it was only my father, dressed sharply for once in his life. A few minutes after my father returned home the bell rang again, and again my mother was quick to the door.

Checking in the mirror for her hair she opens it with a large smile and greets the guest. The voices rang in my ear and I quickly sat up. My mother introduced herself and let them in. First Anne, then Gemma, Robin right behind, and finally Harry, with a proud smirk on his face. He sends a wink my way before greeting my parents with his dimpled smile.

Notes

(Late, I apologize.. I'm just having writers block.)

Merry (late) Christmas, Kwanzaa, and all other holidays in general. (I'm trying to cover all religions, even though I am not of them I wish the best for all of you because I care about all of you.) And happy new years!

I'm already half way through the next chapter, so I don't know when that will be up but I'm hoping it doesn't take another 5-6 months. Sorry for the delay. xx