Chapter 4 FULL- Take 3

Here's the next chapter... merged into one post. Enjoy!

All he knew was that he wished he could stay in bed that day; that he would get a fever and go to a hospital, far away from any of the problems he was about to face. He kept wondering what would happen if they got caught.

Without further ado, here's the next chapter! By the way, we're officially on authonomy (https://www.authonomy.com/book/85394/)

and wattpad (http://www.wattpad.com/user/Epic0n)!

I'm just trying to see how you guys like the book so far (hence posting the chapters as they are completed). The other sites either have the complete but unfinished version or more of the chapters that I post up here. There will be other content on the way, but for now, enjoy!

-Zach
... 
He could only imagine the consequences of something as daring as that. Everyone else would hate him even more. They’d lock them all up in separate dungeons. Maybe in different orphanages; after all, there were plenty in London, so he heard. His hands shook violently as he slowly put on his uniform and went downstairs for prayers. When they all received time for their own personal prayers, he prayed that something good come out of all this. It was the first time he did so with emotion, but it soon faded after they all left the church wing together.

It wasn’t long until the bells were heard throughout the school wing.

Recess. This is it.

Time to go.

As the boys flooded the playground like a river, David slipped behind the Nuns back inside. To avoid the clopping of his shoes on the stone floor becoming massive echoes he took them off and walked barefoot on the cold stones until-

“Pssst…David!”

“George! Nath-”

“SHH-QUIET!! You want us to get caught?!?”

“Sorry, George. Where are we going again?”

“Just follow us.”

“Ooh. Nice idea to take off your shoes. We just waited here for you. Why does everyone seem to get all of the good ideas?”

The three boys tip-toed through the halls in their bare feet, reaching the other side of the hall without being seen. The school wing was a separate building, joined at the hip to the church and dormitory with no connection to the other building except through the main entrance. The only way to the other side was through the catacombs, and that was prohibited for any child to enter…for good reason.

There was no light down there, only available by torches. They looked at each other in sincere fright. None of them had been there before, and Nathan was clearly afraid of the dark. But it was the only way. The only thing they knew was that it was a straight line to the other building.

So they silently walked, step by step, down the stairs, hands held tightly to the other person. George then David then Nathan entered the world of darkness the moment the door was shut.

Silence. Darkness. They couldn’t speak to each other not to give anything away. They could only hold hands as they walked blindly through the room that housed the dead. Even with wide open eyes they couldn’t see anything. All they had was their hands and feet guiding them. The only thing they smelled was the musty odors of decay and worn-out wood.

They knew about ghosts and demons. They knew how they waited in the dark to scare and terrorize the living. None of them knew if they were down here. Maybe there was a priest down here that woke up and waited for something to possess…

One step. At a time. They held their breaths. David couldn’t believe what he was doing; all this darkness let him think more of it. He was breaking so many rules; going into the catacombs, running away from the orphanage, disobeying a priest, leaving Sister Deborah…

He still thought of her as a Mother. How could he leave his mother?

Suddenly he felt a tug. A strong one. Then he felt steps under his feet. They made it. They were closer to freedom, to the light. He didn’t like the feeling of being blind. This was why he wanted a nightlight wherever he went. At the orphanage, it was the streetlamps.

A surge of happiness surged through him as they all quickly stepped up the stairs. Light was just behind the door. They could see it. They never felt more grateful than then to smell the weird but tolerable smells of the orphanage.

They stuck to the door for a long while, waiting to hear if anyone was coming. They were used to the loud footsteps of the Nuns. George creaked the door open just enough to fit all of their skinny bodies through, as they came out into an empty hallway that would empty out into the main sanctuary. They made it. They were so close. The door to the outside was staring at them in the face. That’s all it was; a straight line.

Then they heard footsteps. Someone was coming! And faster than usual!

It was Father Kenneth!

“What on earth is going on out here?”

They didn’t say anything to each other. They just ran.

The three boys exploded into the sanctuary, as Father Kenneth called for the guards to catch them. Then he saw who the third boy was.

The chosen one? Why-

They got closer. And closer. Nathan reached the door and pried at it.

“It’s STUCK!”

“WHAAT?!?”

“It’s not opening! We’ll have to break it down!”

“Or just opening it would be nice!”

“Come on. David put some back into it!”

All three boys pushed hard on the door, heaving and pushing to get the rusty hinges to move.

“C’mon! C’mon! Budge, please!”

“Why. Won’t. This. Door. OPEN?!”

The hinges gave way as Father reached for George’s shirt. He missed, and they burst out into the sunlight, the warm air, the calm winds, the colorful leaves...

And the guards.

 “Don’t stop, David! Keep running!”

The guards were younger policemen, hired to every orphanage to keep the orphan “scum” off of the streets. They were about to be tested.

But Nathan was fast, and David was quicker. They turned on the hair and spun away from the guards as they grabbed for them.

One of the fugitives wasn’t so lucky.

“NO! LET ME GO!”

David immediately spun around.

“GEORGE!!! NO!!”

The two men held him in grips too strong to break. He wrestled against them, trying to wiggle out somehow.

He realized that all was lost.

“David! Nathan! Run! Don’t stop! Just go!! NOW!!”

David’s tears kept him from moving. George was so kind…

“David, let’s go! Come ON!”

A good push was all that was needed to get him moving as the orphanage swallowed up yet another victim. 
...

They never wanted to stop running. The sun wasn’t as bright as before. The blurs of color were deeper shades, not the brighter kinds. They stopped at an alleyway off of the main street to take a breather. They didn’t even realize that they lost their shoes.

“Well, David. We did it! Huh. We’re free!” He couldn’t hold himself back as he pumped fists of celebration, jumping around like a jack-in-a-box.

David just sat across from him, his legs stretched out in front of him.

“I guess. We still lost George, though.”

Nathan acted as if he had just got out of a tight space, stretching his arms over his head and taking huge breaths of fresh air.

“Well, who cares? We got out of there.”

He looked down to glaring, wide blue hazel eyes.

“Who cares?! George got caught! What are we going to do?”

“Look, I know what happened, but there’s nothing we can do for him. We got to keep moving.”

He couldn’t believe how insensitive Nathan was being.

How rude of him to completely forget George. He was our friend!

“But first, we have got to find some shoes. I can’t believe we dropped them back there.”

“Nathan, that’s it! We can go back to get our shoes then get GEORGE out!”

“David, you’re mad. No way! That’s not a good idea!”

But David was determined to find a way to get George back. But Nathan thought otherwise. The moment David heard Nathan’s rejection, he tried to run for it. Nathan held him back as much as he could.

“David, please, listen to me! I didn’t mean it! Don’t try to get him back! You can’t!”

“WHY NOT?!”

“Because…you’re…they’re all grown-ups, David. You can’t take them on and get George too. Not now. Please! I didn’t mean it! Stop!”

Nathan pushed him back into the alleyway. David just stood there with clenched fists.

“No! I know what you really meant! You never liked him, did you? You wanted him to get caught, so you could escape.”

“No! Not at all! It’s not like that! David, I’m…I’m sorry.”

He didn’t believe him. He slipped underneath his legs and ran out into the alleyway as fast as he could. Nathan didn’t try to stop him again.

Good. I bet he didn’t want to deal with me anyway. So selfish…

Nathan had enough.

“Go get him back!” He screamed with sarcasm, “But they will grab you back in!”

He stormed out into the street, speckled with men and women walking between them.

“If you leave, I can’t help you! You won’t last out here! You’ll die and you know it! You need me!”

He looked back at his last hope…only to run away faster.

“Of course he won’t come back. I failed you George. He was a foolish, heartless orphan.”

…

The running didn’t help anything. He had to stop because of the tugs of pain and guilt on his chest. Not only had he lost one friend, but completely abandoned another. And if he gets caught again trying to save George…

He didn’t know what to do. Save George or try to find Nathan again? Forget about both of them and go out on his own?

At that point he was even more scared of going back than going forward. The guilt had gripped him so tightly that all he could do was want to sit on the side of the road.

Then it happened. A rush of calmness and serenity came over him, the same one that helped him stand his ground against John. The same one that helped him befriend George and Nathan in the first place. He began to think in much calmer terms:

Let’s see. What was I doing just now? Going to get George? Then that’s what I’ll do.

So he started to turn up the winding streets and after he realized he was walking in circles, turned back to any way that seemed familiar. A right. A left. Then another left. It came back to him now…sort of. He just went with his gut, continuing to go straight, then a right, then another right.

He saw the sign of the street: Country Street. We’re here! He knew it. This was the street the orphanage was on! He avoided the front steps and headed to the right of the huge church.

There were his shoes. They were right there, staring at him in the face from the inside of the fancy gate where the congregants would leave.

David gave a puzzling stare at them. They must have been swept to the side amidst all of the action. He quickly moved across the street from the orphanage and, as he slipped back on the shoes and tied the laces, never felt happier not feeling the cold ground anymore. Yet he liked walking barefoot in the beginning. He just wished there was some grass…

Then he heard a commotion. The sound of a car. He saw that it parked right outside of the orphanage. He rarely saw a car, let alone at the orphanage.

Oh. A boy must be getting adopted.

Safely out of sight, he looked out to the entrance to see who it was.

Then he saw a tall boy with deep black hair scream “Just let me say goodbye!” while firmly escorted to the car by a man and a guard.

It was…

George! No! I’m too late!

The man cranked the front as a women- his new mother- got into the back of the car to join George. The car putted to life as the man climbed in.

The car turned around and drove in David’s direction.

He got out of his spot and tried to get another glimpse at him as they sped by. The woman blocked the window, but as the car passed him his legs just started to chase the car. He just wanted to see him again.

“Stop! Wait! George!”

He ran as fast he could, passing building after building, the stones flowing underneath him like a river.

But the car was faster. He could only run for so long until the car sped ahead. Then it made a turn. David tried to keep up, but as he turned the car went a different direction. As he made it to that road, the car turned again.

No… It was hopeless.

“I lost him. I didn’t even…get to…say goodbye.”

Tears began to swell up in his eyes and with blurry vision and sheer desperation, he thought he could cut the car off by taking a short cut. He ran down a different road and started making any turn he could find, hoping he could find a road to that bloody car. He ran and ran until he couldn’t take it anymore. He just wanted to cry. It took more strength to hold back those tears than it took to run this far.

He aimlessly walked down the rest of the street, up until the corner. For the first time in what felt like forever, he was completely alone. No George to make a plan and no Nathan to help. Then he heard a commotion coming from the adjacent street:

“Got ‘ya, you little thief! Now you’ll pay for what ya did!”

A policeman dragged a boy -younger than David, with darker hair- by the collar across the street David came from. That boy struggled to free himself from the policeman

“Get offa me! You got t’e wrong boy! I didn’t do nothin’! ‘Onest! Let me go!”

“Not this time, ‘ya little runt! It’s off to the o’phanage for ya!”

He pressed himself as close to the wall as possible when the man passed the narrow street perpendicular to David’s.

He had never seen a policeman so close up before. But all it took was one look to be scared of them. He ran the opposite direction and even hid in an alley out of fear of being grabbed by them. His heart was beating fast in his chest, and once again, was scared to go out. No confidence was coming now.

He didn’t even know that there were other boys hiding behind him. They started whispering to each other, and the hairs on David’s neck shot up.

Wait- there were others in here?

“Hey, kid? Wheh you come from?”

Uh oh.

It took a little too long for him to muster up the courage to turn around.

“Well? Who are yeh?”

“Some little rich scut. Pro’bly lost his Mum.”

“You got any money on ‘ya?”

“Nice hat.”

There were three of them, their clothes and thin faces caked in dirt. Their eyes narrowed on him, as if ready to tear him apart.

“M-m-my name is Da-David. I’m from the… the Orphanage.”

“Oh yeh? Prove it. Which one?”

“S-Saint Augustine’s.”

They were taken aback and gave looks to each other.

“Guys, I remember that name from somewheh.”

“Yeah, it does… wait that was wheh Porgey must’a gone!”

David looked confused. “Who’s Porgey?”

They turned to him again. “You don’t know Porgey? You must have not gone there, you liar!”

“W-wait, is that his real name? Porgey?”

The smallest one spoke up. “It was a nickname. It’s from the nuhs’ry rhyme- ya know? Georg’y Porg’y? That’s wha’ we called ‘em.”

“Georgey? As in George?” David never felt this excited that day.

“George who?”

        “Was he tall? Black hair? Did he steal a carriage once?”

        They all looked shocked, their eyes opened in the childish manner again.

“Holy shweest-… how did ya know ‘bout tha? ‘E told ya?”

David started reminiscing in front of the wide eyed others. “He told me about how you all stole the Judge’s carriage, galloped away before he could blink, and destroyed it while keeping the horse. So…which one of you is Oliver, Johnny, or Willy?”

...
So, what do you think? Sound off in the comments section. Thanks for reading. Part II is on the way!!