His hand was warm against my wrist but the cold air hitting against my face made me highly alert. He turned a street that led into an isolated area.
I was panting by now but the other five boys hadn't stopped chasing us. "Where are you planning to take me?" I screamed over the wind at Adr-no, this can't be Adrien. Adrien is from that movie...right?
"Somewhere where they'll lose us!" He screamed back, taking me deeper into the dark street. I tried to slow down. "Huff...hufff," I finally panted after breaking free from his hold and stopping.
He stopped to and looked back at me and cursed, "Please, don't be so stubborn. If they catch us, we'll die. And that'll be it."
Look at me, out in the night running away from 'death' with some strange boy who looked like a movie character I just saw not less than an hour ago. I was really out of my mind. Was I hallucinating? Maybe I was. But it was the most interesting thing that had happened to me in 2 years.
I looked up at him, "Stupid," I said, my frown turning into a slow smile. If he really was Adrien, he didn't know New York as well as I did.
This time, I slipped my hands into his and held it tight, "We'll lose them only if we go to a crowded place, you dummy," and we took off running again, but this time into the light.
People turned to stare as we entered the square. "Excuse me, yes...excuse me...give way please...incoming!" I said as we tried to maneuver through the hundreds of people.
The five boys were now dangerously close. The one with the eyebrow ring was the fastest and he almost caught me by my shoulder, his fingers slightly slipping off the leather of Darren's jacket.
I screamed at the touch out of reflex and Adrien shocked up. He looked at me, and stopped but yelled at me "Run!" and that's exactly what I did. I ran.
Adrien turned back around to face the eyebrow ring boy. "Ethan, leave the girl alone. Take me if you want," Adrien said, blocking him from reaching me.
Sweat rolled down my forehead even though it was a cold night. The crowd of people felt like they were pressing into me like a sandwich. I hated crowds. Hated, hated, hated them. I wanted to stay in that isolated place Adrien initially took me to.
But then his scared face, the way his eyes were flitting from side to side...at least getting pressed into a crowd was better than dying by the hands of merciless boys.
I wanted to get out. Out, out, out.
Back where Adrien was, a strong verbal fight had started out.
"Move out of the way, Adrien," Ethan warned. He was the same height as Adrien but his face was paler and his light brown eyes were now dark in anger. He stared at Adrien like he was a useless piece of fish bone.
Adrien stepped closer and tried to coerce him into backing down, "Ethan, Hermann is dead. His daughter has nothing to do with this."
Ethan grunted, "How you've changed Adrien. Isn't this the revenge we've worked towards?" he stepped past him, hitting him on the shoulder, "Move out of the way. If not Hermann, then his blood."
Adrien sighed frustratingly and placed a strong hand on Ethan's chest, pushing him back, "Man, don't make me do this," Adrien warned, trying to control himself, but Ethan was stretching his limits too thin.
Ethan laughed in a deadly way and pinpointed Ashe in the distance, "Get out of the way-"
Adrien' control broke. He cracked his knuckles, and punched Ethan to the ground. His face flew to the side as blood spurted out from his mouth. Adrien regretted it the moment he did it. He had never hit them before. All they had done was stick to each other even when Adrien was at his lowest.
Ethan stood up straight to punch him back to make his stand against his old friend. New Yorkers and tourists had started to circle them by then, foolishly recording the small brawl with their cameras.
Before Ethan could punch Adrien, his eyes landed on me, who was standing far away from them and he laughed, that deadly laugh again. He dropped his hand and shook it out before pointing it back at Adrien, "We'll keep this fight for later," he said.
Confused, Adrien fearfully turned around to look at me. He gritted his teeth.
There I was, held with a knife to my throat by another one of the five boys. I was scared and I couldn't escape it because it wasn't just one boy. Three other black dressed boys surrounded me, on their toes to kill me if I moved even one inch.
The cold blade was threateningly pressed on to my throat, lifting my chin up. My hands were held back the boy's undeniably strong hands.
I bit my lip and held back my tears, and for the first time, I put all my trust on a complete stranger. That strange boy, Adrien.
Our eyes met across the numerous heads and it felt like a lightning zap connecting us both...a weird feeling. This stranger was the only one who could save me now.
Or I was as good as dead.