Breaking Free: Chapter 5

He was gone.

Ksenia had been looking all over the place but there was no sign of Tariq. She had seen him in front of his room when the morning alarm had went off but after her breakfast she hadn’t seen him anymore.

His bed had been  made up and his roommates were gone too. Ksenia let out a desperate sigh when she returned to her own room and sank down on the thin mattress. Her new best friend had disappeared.

He was probably off to some creepy brainwashing camp and she was still here, sitting and waiting quietly for her destiny to show up. She buried her face in her pillow and let out a soft groan. The cold grey walls and the emotionless guards were getting old real fast.

Ruria walked in and stared at Ksenia before walking to her own bed and burying her face into her own pillow. After a few seconds Ksenia heard soft sobs drift from the other side of the room. She sat up slowly and stared at the younger girl.

Her shoulders were softly shocking and Ksenia stood up to walk towards Ruria’s bed where she sat down next to the girl.

“Hey, something wrong?”

Stupid question…

Ksenia felt like slapping herself but stroked Ruria’s hair instead. It seemed like the right thing to do at the moment. It’s what her mom would have done if this was her laying here.

Ruria turned her face towards Ksenia and looked at her with big eyes which were red from crying.

“My sister is gone.”

Ksenia bit on her lip and felt awful for her. Normally she would have known what to say but the grey walls had been influencing her mind. It was one big mess inside. She started to awkwardly pat her on the back and mumbled  something about being sorry. Ruria buried her face in the pillow again and continued sobbing.

They had been sitting there for about an hour, or that’s how long Ksenia thought it had been, when a guard came bursting in. They both immediately jumped up.

“Ksenia Lahnser, you are being transferred to another camp. Please follow me.”

The guard eyed her cautiously as she gave Ruria a quick hug and turned to him with fear in her eyes. Ruria let out another soft sob and sank back on the bed.

Poor thing.

The man grabbed her by her arm and pushed Ksenia into the hallway. She held back a squeal when he tightened his grip. She quickened her pace to keep up with the guard and didn’t ask any questions. He didn’t look like the kind of guy who would answer them anyway.

After a five minute long walk, they reached the secured door that led to the halls with the breathtaking marble floors. The guard held his wrist against a scanner and the steel doors slid open. The first thing that caught her eye was, of course, the black marble floor with ocean blue in it. That view never seemed to stop amazing her.

The guard must have felt her slowing down, because his hand closed even tighter around her arm and he dragged her through the hall. Ksenia stumbled along and tried to pull her arm loose which was starting to feel quite numb in his grip. It was no use though. The guard didn’t let go until she was in the back of a car with her hands cuffed to the seat in front of her.

The guy in the driver’s seat gave the guard an acknowledging nod as he closed Ksenia’s door and walked towards his window.

“Watch out with this one. She has an ugly side to that pretty face.”

The driver chuckled joyless as he looked at her in the rearview mirror. The guard stepped back and patted the car as a sign that they could leave. The driver closed his window and started driving away from the huge intimidating building. Soon there was no sign left of it as they disappeared behind the immense trees.

“Wait! What about my stuff?!”

Ksenia sat straight up when she remembered that her bag was still back at the transfercamp. The driver didn’t even slow down. He let out another one of his unpleasant chuckles and that was all the reply she would get. Ksenia tried to get an answer out of him but gave up after the tenth try without any result.

* * * * * * *

They had been on the road for about two hours now and there was no sign of life around them. Ksenia let out a deep sigh and tried to get comfortable for as far as that was possible with cuffed hands. She leaned against the window and stared at the trees that flew by.

It reminded her of that night before her 16^th birthday, when times were a lots less complicated than they were now. A small melancholic smile appeared on her lips as she drifted back to that time.

They had been fighting that morning about something silly and Ksenia had arrived home with tears in her eyes. He had been unreasonable as always and his words could be sharp as knives when he wanted them to be. There wasn’t much left of her excitement for her birthday after that. Ksenia went to bed that night with red eyes and dried tearstains.

She got woken up at exactly 12.00 AM when her cellphone received a text message. With the sleep still seeping out of her system she opened it.

“Hey babe, Happy B-day! I’m sorry about today. Hope you aren’t mad anymore. <3”

Ksenia giggled softly and a blush crept up to her face. She could never stay mad at him for too long. Immediately the sleep was gone and she quickly replied while smiling very contently.

“No, I’m not mad anymore. Thanks handsome. <3 =D”

Not a minute after she send it, she got a reply.

“Now that I know that you’re not going to claw my eyes out…could you come outside?” 

Ksenia was too surprised to even be disappointed about not getting another little heart. She quickly threw on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt that hugged her beautiful curves. A brush was being pulled through her hair and over her teeth before she softly ran downstairs and into the cold night.

Jordan was leaning against his car and pulled her into a tight hug as soon as she closed the front door behind her. Ksenia let out a small laugh and wrapped her arms tightly around his waist while sniffing up his manly scent. They stood like that for a couple of minutes and Ksenia enjoyed every little second of it though his arm was getting dangerously close to her butt. She felt it slip down a little more and pulled away with an amused but cautioning look in her eyes. Jordan’s only reply was an amused chuckle as he opened the car door to the passenger’s side for her. Ksenia stepped in without hesitating and made herself comfortable in the leather seat while Jordan walked around the car and got in.

She had asked him a couple of times where they were going but he wouldn’t say anything so instead she just watched as the trees were flying by her window. After a few minutes he stopped driving and parked his car somewhere in the woods.

The smell reached deep into her heart as she breathed in the fresh cold air. Jordan stepped out of the car and motioned for Ksenia to do the same. A small warning voice arose in the back of her mind and she knew that her parents would have a heart attack if they found out that she was in the woods alone with a boy. She hesitated for a second but didn’t really have any other choice when looking into his hazel brown eyes. Jordan extended his hand and she thankfully took it while trying to see something in the dark. He locked the car and led her deeper into the woods. The moon gave just enough light for them to see where they were going.

Jordan stopped her somewhere between the huge trees and the moonlight shone on his big amused smile.

“I remembered you once said that it was one of your wishes to walk in the woods at night, so I thought I’d fulfill that wish as your birthday present.”

It was actually to walk in the woods really early in the morning, but oh well…

She let out a small excited squeal and tightly wrapped her arms around his waist. Jordan chuckled and pulled her closer. The cold breeze tugged on her hair and send goosebumps up her arms, keeping her into his warm embrace. Ksenia mumbled a “thank you” into his shirt and breathed in the scent of his aftershave. She had grown to adore it and could recognize it out of a million without searching for it. Ksenia closed her eyes and breathed in deeper.

“I thought you would forget my birthday.”

Jordan let out another amused chuckle and tilted her head with one hand while keeping her close to him with the other. Ksenia couldn’t help but grin at him.

“I wouldn’t forget something important like that, babe.”

He bend his head a little and gave her a soft kiss on her forehead. A warm blush crept up her cheeks and she was thankful that it was too dark for him to notice. Ksenia ignored the annoying little voice in the back of her head and she gave him a warm smile instead.

“I’m smiling at you by the way, just in case it is too dark for you to notice.”

Jordan let out a loud laugh and tightened his arms around her waist and shoulders. His warmth radiated through her shirt and she could feel his heart beat. The little voice told her to pull away before he’d cross the line she normally had.

But she didn’t.

She had been upset all day about the whole fight and had missed his presence too much. And then there was still the fact that she liked him.

“The moon is bright enough to even show that adorable blush on your cheeks, babe.”

She let out a small giggle and looked away embarassed while her heart was racing against her ribs. He could probably feel that too. Ksenia took a step back and tried to pull herself together while her back rested against a tree but he immediately took a step forward and ended up even closer to her than he had been. His arms tightened around her waist and she couldn’t pull out another one of those stunts with her being stuck between Jordan and the huge tree. Not that she really tried anyway.

His warm breath stroked across her face as he looked down on her with a big amused grin on his lips. Her hands lay on his chest and softly tried to push him back without any result.

“Don’t fight it, beautiful.”

Ksenia hesitated for a second but his soft low voice made her hands slip around his shoulders. Another amused grin from his side.

Jordan bend his head again and slowly kissed her on the cheek. The butterflies in her stomach seemed to be high on coffee. Ksenia couldn’t help but smile as he kissed her on her other cheek. Every warning her parents had ever given her came crashing back but her heart won the battle from her mind. She was tensed but didn’t do anything to make him go away.

“Would you relax, babe? It’s just a kiss. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

Before she even had the time to think, Jordan lowered his head and she felt his warm lips on her own.

A thousand alarmbells went off in her head and she knew that “just a kiss” wasn’t [i]just[/i] a kiss. It was her first and she had been wanting to keep that for the right one. And deep in her heart she knew that Jordan wasn’t the right one. They would never be a happy couple with him hating God and her being way too jealous to accept his flirting with every girl. He didn’t even care that much about her.

She wanted to be strong, she wanted to have a backbone and pull away but instead she gave up fighting and kissed back hungrily.

PULL AWAY!

Jordan’s grip got even tighter and she felt a light panick coming over her. She needed air. Distance, lots of it.

Her cellphone went off and she quickly jerked away from him as he had loosened his grip. She picked up before he had the chance to turn it off and could continue with eating each other.

After the phone call she asked Jordan to bring her home and though he protested at first, he finally took her to his car and brought her back. The entire way she hated herself and yet wanted to relive the moment a hundred times.

They didn’t exchange a single word ‘til he stopped the car in front of her house.

“Thanks for…you know,…the walk…”

Ksenia awkwardly cleared her throat and didn’t dare look into his eyes. She could feel his stare on her and a red blush crept up on her cheeks again. She hated having a crush on this guy.

“No problem.”

His answer was short and cold and Ksenia knew that she had hurt his ego by pulling away like that. She slowly pulled her hand away from the cardoor and slid her fingers between his. No reaction.

“I’m sorry that I reacted that way. It’s not that I don’t like you or anything, it’s just…”

Ksenia bit on her lip and tried to find something to say. His eyes were cold and seemed to look right through her. Jordan knew that she couldn’t stand it when he acted like that which was the reason why he was doing it right now.

She pulled his hand towards her and hugged it while resting her forehead against their hands. His fingers closed around hers.

She sighed relieved and looked up just in time to see his other hand slip around her neck, pulling her into a hungry kiss. This time she didn’t hesitate but quickly pulled away and jumped out of the car.

“I’m sorry, Jordan. I just can’t do this.”

She closed the door and ran inside.

* * * * * *

The car made a sharp turn and Ksenia bumped with her head against the window. She returned to the present and yelled at the driver to be more careful. The driver growled something back and threw a notebook at her head. Ksenia saw it coming too late and it hit her hard on her cheek. A soft groan escaped her lips.

She kept quiet for the rest of the trip, not wanting anything else to get thrown in her face and stared out her window again.

Jordan had avoided her after that for about three months until life was being hard on him and he needed her to lean on.

Ksenia sighed deeply and tried to abandon him from her mind. She had been wasting too much time on that guy already. Things had always been about him. It was time she started living for herself.

“Yeah, now’s the best time to go live your own life…” She thought sarcastically while staring at the handcuffs in front of her.

The sun was already on its way down when they finally arrived at the camp. There were no other buildings as far as her eyes reached. The campbuilding was huge and surrounded by high fences with tons of barbed wire and sensors that went on and on as if there was no end to it. Ksenia tried to guess how large the camp was but the sun shone in her eyes and prevented them from wandering off too far.

The driver stepped out and walked around the car. He quickly loosened her handcuffs and grabbed her arm, yanking her out of the black Mercedes. She held back a squeal and tried to ignore the pain while gaining back her balance.

This better not be the way they’re treating us in there.