It's been a while, Willow's looking a lot better and we only have scars now. Scars that'll never go away. Scars that'll remind us of our anger over and over. Cora can never erase our scars, she can never fix this, she can never go back. Now we just have to know how to get out of her reach, how to escape.
"Jaxon," I say, I'm scared, no, I'm terrified. We haven't said a thing about what happened at the cabin. "Jaxon, why couldn't she control you?"
He stiffened. "Jaxon, she wants me too, I- I wanna be prepared. Please,"
"Do you remember," he sighed, "Do you remember the story about my friend? About what happened to him?"
"Yes," I say. "I walked on this plant. When I walked on it, she lost control of me,"
"So, you keep it with you?" I ask, he smiled and held up a necklace it has a normal chain with a pretty blue and white polished rock on it.
"It's the only thing I kept going into this forest, one day, I broke it," I looked at him curiously. "It doesn't look broken,"
"The stuff is sticky, or, at least it's sap is. It stuck it back together, and is always touching my skin,"
"So, you can put it wherever," he says. "Is the necklace important to you?" I ask.
"It's from my birth mother, I was pretty devastated when it broke,"
Willow walks to Jaxon and rubs on his hand. Jaxon hesitantly pets him. "We should start going to them,"
I grab Jaxon's arm as he stands up, "Jaxon, I have a plan- to escape I mean,"
"What if, we used the plant on our weapons, we could stun her and maybe even-" I realize this will be hard. "We have other options though, It's just- an option,"
"No, it'll work, maybe, but I want out, I don't want to stay here forever. We can't run forever."
Jaxon's look grows sad, "But- you have to leave me if I can't escape,"
"I have a few thoughts too, one of them was you have to leave me if it comes to that," I say. "But, you have so many more reasons to live, you have a home, a family,"
"I have a back stabbing mother, who only cares about her own happiness and I'll probably get put to death for going in here, but I have a few thoughts of how to escape that-"
"Okay, I can do that, I can try,"
"The other thought was, Willow is definitely coming home with me," I say. Jaxon's smile returns, "I don't know why you like that damn cat so much!" he says. I smile too. "I'm not taking the cat to get the plants this time, by the way,"
Jaxon looks at me with a understanding look. "I won't let it get hurt again," he says. I smile again "It?" I ask. "Yes, it, it just is someone or something,"
I laugh. "But he's a he,"
"Yes, I know that, but I shouldn't get attached to something so delicate," he says. I stop laughing and give him a sad smile. "I'm so sorry for the way you had to grow up," I say.
"That's not the problem, I've only been out here for a couple years without her," he says "I think,"
"my childhood was- good, she was like any loving mother,"
"We should go," Jaxon says. "Yeah," I respond.
We walk outside of the cave, the fresh new morning sunlight touches my face and I breath in the wonderful smells of the forest. It feels like the first time in a long time I got to enjoy the forest. "It's gonna be so plain when I go home," I say. "You mean you like the murderous woman and her crazy minions?" he says in a sour voice. "No, that's not what I mean at all," I say.
"There's no nature, and we can't go into the forest, there's no animals except the ones in the labs, there aren't even really bugs," I say. "That'll be a hard adjustment, I don't remember much from there, it's been a while,"
We walk soundlessly near the path, just enough so we can see it and know where we are. "I didn't want to go back here," Jaxon says, which makes me feel a little guilty. "I never wanted to face it, but I'd have to at some point I suppose,"
I don't know what to say. What can I say? "I'm sorry," I say I grab his wrist and his eyes stare into mine, "But listen to me, it's not your fault. It's her's and it won't happen again. I won't let it," he looks down "Some things- some things are just out of our control." he looks away and continues walking his wrist breaks free of my grip. Does he really think we won't make it? I wonder.
◈◈◈
Finally, we're in the clear to leave. I walked towards the door "Oh no ya don't!" I heard a man's voice and looked up to see Jordan. I groaned and tried to keep walking like I didn't hear him. Once I get outside I can run and he won't even know I heard- My thoughts are interrupted by cold hands clamping around my wrist, squeezing it.
"Don't pretend ya didn't hear me," Jordan hissed in a low dangerous tone. I tried to pull away, but he had a firm grasp. He squeezed hard, "Let go of me!" I say. "Not a chance," Jordan sneered and pulled me out the door, two familiar men got the idea and followed.
We walk out to a spot where they never monitor. It's right next to the fence and in the corner of our village. Jordan never letting go of my wrist. I felt ready to cry because I knew exactly what happens now. First Jordan let go of my wrist and pushed me into the fence, with a loud clang. Now I get beat.
This wasn't the first time I was beat, and it wouldn't be the last. I didn't even try to fight or run, they'll only catch me like before. I could never scream, I'd be put to death. There's only one option here, let it happen.
The beatings' time could range anywhere from to hour or more, or if I'm really, really, lucky, twenty minutes. Jordan's two men hold me still for him to get good punches in. I felt tears run down my cheek, "Stop!" I yell, but it's hopeless, I get another punch to the stomach, "Please! Just stop," I'm kicked hard in the shin.
The two men drop me, and I tried to crawl away, but all I can do is crawl so I'm quickly kicked to my side. I groan, this was the worst beating I had ever received.
"You know you can't get away. Why even try?" he said. I'm still on my side trying to breathe the best I could. "I've decided," he reached under a bush and pulled out a baseball bat. Baseball was one of the few sports left now.
"You need to be punished for trying to escape," I try to calm down and breathe again but I can feel myself begin to shake, my breathing quickened again. The two men pulled me up roughly, making sure I was wide open for Jordan. Jordan raised his bat.
◈◈◈
We continue to walk through the forest in silence, finally Jaxon stops. He points to what looks like just color. It takes a moment to notice the details. The strange plant looks like a cactus but it's a vibrant pink with occasional light blue and green spots. Next to the plants, there's a cross made of sticks.
I look at Jaxon, he looks terrified. "Jaxon I'm-" he looks at me with his blue, wide, eyes, like oceans. I put my hand on his shoulder to say the rest. "You can go if you need, I'll just put one in my bag," I say. Jaxon doesn't say a word, he just nods. Jaxon begins to walk away.
I drop to my knees and grab a couple pieces of the plant and it definitely is very sticky. Then I have an idea. What if I brought these back with me? Maybe we'll need them, I can even grow them, there are seeds inside the plants, which makes me wonder how they reproduce, maybe they don't. I grab one, roots and all. I quickly shove the plant and pieces into my bag.
Suddenly, the same spiky vines that wrapped around me, all that time ago, shoots out of the ground completely surrounding me, locking me into a sphere room and through a thin part of the vines, I see Cora.