She was scared. Absolutely terrified of what was going to happen next but that still didn’t stop Sophia. She didn’t dare look back when Ava told her to go to the bike. She just listened, quickly running down the stairs. Her bare feet made small puffs of dirt as she moved; hands pulling Ethan’s jacket tightly around her. The air was warm and thick as it entered her lungs. Even in the night the touch of the sun was still evident so the ground was a little hot under her feet but that was the least of her worries. With Ava still focusing on the man upstairs, Sophia took her chance. Quickly yet still carefully, she took a few pages from the journal. Some were full pages and others were only half or smaller. Sure, she was trusting but she wasn’t dumb. Sophia knew more than anyone that to trust someone completely without question was to sign your own death warrant. She knew Ava would get her out but she wasn’t exactly sure if the girl would keep her other half of the bargain. Her saving grace would be her memory. It was pretty similar to that of an elephant’s. She remembered conversations from years ago, word for word. She’d even remembered the last words Amina said to her before she died. It was another reason why he kept her around.  

Besides, Sophie needed Ava. There is only so much you can do at her weight especially when you considered how she was dressed. A bra, hot pants, and a large weren’t exactly as threatening as they were alluring. Perhaps the jacket could be thrown as a distraction but that was as good as it got. Besides, the only thing Sophie had going for her was the ability to throw knives, scream really loud, and run just as fast as any gazelle. There, standing beside the motorbike, she had no knives, screams wouldn’t help her, and running wouldn’t be required with the bike. She was at a very large disadvantage.

BANG! Several loud booms went off in the hallway she’d just escaped while Ava moved down the stairs towards the bike. This woman was more threatening than Sophie was for sure. Even Ethan hesitated when he spoke to her at times and that was why she stuck to her. Without Ava to defend her where she couldn’t, Sophie would still be laying in Ethan’s bed terrified of the night’s coming events. As they raced off into the night, Sophia wrapped her arms around Ava’s waist and used the taller woman’s back as a sort of shield from the dust floating up around them. She didn’t dare glance behind them. The bike was going so fast that Sophie figured it’d be best to just keep her eyes closed. She didn’t quite understand how Ava was doing it; seeing as fast as they were going. But then again, there were still a lot of things that Sophie didn’t understand about the woman in front of her but she was sure she’d find out everything soon enough.

Slowly but surely, the bike slowed in front of what appeared to be a small cave.  Sophie hesitated, she could see things moving, hear them in the dark but if Ava thought this would be a good place to rest then she had to trust her. She entered the cave last with her hands running against one of it’s walls. Her bare feet hurt against a few of the stones scattered across the ground. Even the air in the place was thick and musky, smelling slightly of mold. Sophie stumbled a few times but she noticed that Ava moved before her like there was some sort of light in the cave when it was nearly as dark as the sky outside. Something was definitely different about this woman. Ethan never kept people around him just because they looked scary. Most of his personal guard all had pretty gruesome pasts. Now Ava had her wondering why he’d kept her around. Sophie kept out of her way though by placing herself to Ava’s left and farthest away from the entrance. She sat down ignoring the feeling of cold stone and watched the other woman light a fire.

“We’ll be safe from Ethan and his men here.”

Sophie nodded her reply. She didn’t have much to say at the time because her eyes were fixated on the entrance of the cave. Something was there. Something that she couldn’t readily identify or maybe there was nothing there at all. Maybe the shadow she was seeing was just a small change in the amount of light coming from the moon outside. [i]Perhaps a cloud covered it.[/i] Her eyes lowered to her hands as she allowed her mind to think of other things but something moved again. Sophie gasped but Ava was ahead of her, calmly speaking to whatever it was outside. She knew what it was from the way she spoke to it and her eyes seemed focused on it yet Sophia could see nothing. What the hell was going on?

“He can have her. If he comes here, tell me Mo.”

[i]What?[/i]

“Give me the journal.”

Her heart was racing now. Her hands were even starting to shake. “W-what? What do you mean? You said you’d take me home if I got this journal for you. I did, didn’t I?”  She stood then, to face the woman in question. She knew she shouldn’t have trusted her. She should’ve tried to risk it on her own. But she’d believed the sob story about Ava’s father and she knew what it felt like to love and feel loss. So she’d believed her in the hopes that maybe she’d be different than most of the people in Ethan’s guard. But now she knew in every cell of her body that she’d been wrong and that whoever this Graver fellow was, he was coming for her like Ethan had. “You know what? Forget it. Here.” Sophia threw the journal at Ava with one fluid motion and walked towards the entrance of the cave. “Fuck you Ava,” she called over her shoulder, “Fuck you and Ethan… You’re both two of a fucking kind.” With that she walked out into the night clutching the leather jacket around herself. She had nowhere to go and no one to save her but she’d rather belong to the canyon people than Ethan any day. Sure they were rough, they would use her body just as Ethan had but atleast they’d protect her. At least she hoped they would.

“You want me?!” Sophie stopped a few paces from the cave. She could hear things moving around her. Leaves crunched, gravel moved, rocks fell along the hillside but nothing approached. “You want me?! Come and get me!” She would not die if she gave herself willingly. They wouldn’t hurt her if she pretended like she enjoyed would they? Either way, death was better than being with Ethan. She slipped his jacket off, standing only in the bra and cut off shorts she’d thrown on. She turned to see if anything approached but everything was suddenly still. Everything grew quiet. Should she get rid of the rest? She could see them now with their eyes glowing softly in the moonlight yet they stayed out of reach. Why?

“Come! You can have me. Come on!!”