Chapter 25- Down Poison

Three days later, I was still stuck in this hell hole but I kinda didn’t mind anymore. I had Nadia, Kitty, James and Nick. I had apparently “failed” the observation part even though all I had done was sit on the floor the whole time and slept a little bit. Nadia and James were right, once you come in you never come out. Noah was probably scared out of her mind and I’m surprised Eli hadn’t busted door down to rescue me. The day Nick showed me his secret hiding spot was the day we practically became inseparable. His secret place was the most beautiful place I had ever seen.
The tunnel opened out into a place that was still surrounded by rock except overhead were the sun shone brightly. There was a waterfall along one wall that fell into a lake-like hole that was a clear and as warm as the springs. There was grass instead of the pebbles that covered the tunnel, and a huge boulder with different crevasses and enough space to sit and lay down. There was an apple tree in one corner that didn’t seem completely developed yet. We had had lunch there which consisted of food from the crevasses in the rock. We sat at the edge of the water with our feet dipped in and talked about everything we could think of.
The man that had attacked me earlier was no where to be seen when we had gotten back. Nadia, James and Kitty had thought I was crazy to befriend one of the Malicious but I guess they accepted the fact that he was a good guy.
Right now we were in the game room watching TV. I was laying on Nick’s lap his hand stroking my hair, skinny Kitty was sitting on the other end of the couch with Nadia on the floor below her and James was laying on his stomach on the floor his eyes glued to the TV.
When the show was over, it was lunch time so we all got up and walked to the cafeteria. ‘Alice, you hardly ever eat. Why is that?’ Kitty asked, walking beside Nadia.
I shrugged my shoulders, ‘I don’t know, I’ve never had a big appetite.’
‘Well, aren’t we little Miss Attention Grabber,’ Nadia smarted back. I ignored her outburst and we got up to the line.
‘Well, today you’re going to eat all of your food today,’ Nick teased, nudging my shoulder.
‘That’s not fair, what’d I do to deserve that punishment?’ They all laughed at my dislike of the Centers food. We moved up little by little in the line.
‘Well we could always go somewhere else to eat,’ Nick whispered grabbing onto my hand to give it a little squeeze. I smiled up at him and nodded. ‘Hey guys,’ he spoke to the rest of the group. ‘We’re going to take a walk, we’ll be back after lunch.’ He pulled me away towards the doors outside.
‘Use safety!’ James hollered out, whistling. I giggled, shooting him the middle finger before walking out the door that Nick held open for me.
When we started walking towards the wall Kyle appeared out of nowhere. I accidentally bumped into him and sighed outloud.
‘Why don’t you watch where you’re going?’ He pushed me, staggering back as he did. He was probably on something again.
Nick clenched his fists, ‘Hey! Don’t you dare-’
I stopped him, ‘It’s okay, Nick.’ I looked into Kyle’s dilated, bloodshot eyes. ‘He didn’t mean it, did you Kyle?’
Kyle glanced back at his two buddies and laughed pointing at me. ‘She thinks she’s slick.’ Then he looked back at me, ‘You got some balls little girl. Now move out of my way.’
I crossed my arms, ‘You didn’t say please.’
‘I don’t have to,’ he growled. ‘Now move out of my way, b***h.’
I smiled, ‘Make me.’ He did just what I thought and I was ready for it. He swung his fists towards me but I caught it and used his own force against him to make him face plant into the ground. His other two buddies came after me and Nick elbowed one of them in the face. The other one tried punching me in the face but I kneed him in the nuts and when he bent down in pain I kneed him in the face, making him fall to the ground. Kyle had gotten up and yanked my hair back. I twisted around towards him, despite my scalp feeling like it was being ripped off and took him out at the knees. He feel to the ground, yelling and grabbing his legs. I kicked him in the head for good measure and looked back at Nick who lifted up his guy and dropped him on his back.
Kyle and his thugs were on the ground. Nick held out his hand towards me and I grabbed it, stepping over the guy I kneed in the face. We walked all the way to the dead end trail and veered into the underbrush. ‘That was awesome!’ I cheered. ‘I felt so powerful, so in control.’
‘I’m impressed by how quickly you caught on. I’m proud of you, Ms. Badass.’
I smiled and pushed him, ‘Thank you for teaching me, it’s really boosted my confidence.’
‘Now you’ll be able to kick any guys a*s who tries to hurt you. Including your brothers whom I still don’t like.’
I giggled. ‘He probably doesn’t like you either.’ We came up to the wall and stopped.
‘He doesn’t even know me.’
‘He doesn’t like any guy I hang out with. Now open the door so I can go swimming!’
He chuckled, ‘Okay, okay calm your horses.’ Nick walked away to go climb a vine like structure to the left. A few moments later he popped the door open and let me in. While he shut the door I walked through the tunnel and to the boulder to sit there, looking at the waterfall. All of the sudden arms picked me up wedding style and ran towards the water. I screamed as Nick jumped into the water with me.
When we came up to the surface, I splashed him and he splashed me back. ‘You jerk face,’ I pouted. He floated towards me and I ducked his head underwater. He grabbed me by the waist and brought me under with him. I swam away from him towards the waterfall, I found a ledge and swam up towards the surface and stood on it. I looked back at him and saw him back stroking across the water. I stood there for awhile, letting the waterfall fall over me like a veil.
How was he so interested in me that he’d show me this place? He swam up to the bank and looked back at me motioning me to come over. I dived into the water and glided towards him, when I came up he helped me out of the water. He took off his black shirt and handed it to me, looking away. I looked down and realized I was wearing a see-through white shirt and it was chilly outside(if you catch my drift). I took off my shirt while he wasn’t looking and put his on. I took my pants off and set them on the ground to dry in the sun.
Then I snuck up behind him and jumped on his back, scaring him. He jumped and when he realized it was me, grabbed onto my thighs for support and walked me over to the boulder. After he set me down, he walked over to the other side and got out stuff to make sandwiches.