I Love You More Than I'm Afraid (Our Forevers #2) by Rebel Hart (the first e reader .txt) 📕

directions down the hallway and then waved me forward. She stood watch down the hallway that led back towards the staff rooms while I shuffled forward, past the landing of the stairs leading down, and slipped as quietly as I could into the boys dorms. There was a quiet moaning in one corner that I just ignored, praying that those guys didn’t get caught, and made my way down to Codie’s bed. He was tossing and turning in his bed, something many of us were plagued with, and when I reached out to shake him to wake him up, he jumped.

“Oh… Arden,” he said letting out a sigh of relief. “What are you doing here?”

“My friend came to get us out, we gotta go.”

Codie’s eyes widened. “I’m sorry, what?”

“My friend, the one I was telling you about, she’s here to save me and I’m taking you with me, but we gotta go right now.”

“I can’t,” Codie said. “My parents call daily, if I go…”

I frowned. “You can’t stay here.”

“I’ll be okay,” Codie said. “I’m in the happy camper part of the program,” he scoffed. “But I want to find you when I’m out. Give me your number.”

I lifted a pen off of Codie’s side-table and scribbled my number directly onto his hand in lieu of a piece of paper, then I gave him a quick hug and ran off back towards the girls’ room. My faithful watchwoman was still in her spot, and furrowed her brow at me when she saw I was alone.

“He’s not coming,” I whispered. “Thank you.”

“Of course.”

We re-entered the girls’ rooms, and I gave her a hug, and then scanned the room. No one seemed angry or upset, only happy for me, so I whispered a “Thanks,” to them as well, and walked back to the window.

Someone jumped up and pulled the nightstand away and helped hoist me up into the window. Hannah backed up, but held her arms out as if to catch me. With very little hesitation, I leapt forward, missing Hannah entirely, and landed hard on my ankle. If I wasn’t so weakened, it would have been fine, but in my still exhausted state, I immediately lost my footing and collapsed, falling to the ground.

“Hey,” one of the other campers called down. “Arden is weaker because of the isolation chamber. Be careful okay?”

Hannah crouched down next to me, her voice shaking. “What is the isolation chamber?”

I shook my head. “I’ll tell you later. We gotta go.”

Hannah looped her arm under me and helped me to my feet, but the second I stood on the ankle I’d landed hard on, it screamed with pain.

“Ah!” I tripped a little bit, the only reason I didn’t fall was because Hannah was holding me up. “Fuck, that hurts.”

“You must have twisted it or something,” Hannah said.

“I’ll be okay.” I fought against the pain to get to my feet. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”

Holding my weight like her life depended on it, Hannah and I started to limp our way away from the camp. Though Hannah kept pushing me forward, I couldn't help but look back over my shoulder to see if there was any indicator that someone was coming, but the small, dark wood campsite was totally dark apart from a few safety lights outside. There was a warped quality to the night sky behind the cabin, and I knew I still hadn't recovered my mental fortitude either, but I wouldn't tell Hannah that.

Not until we were much further away from the camp.

“Did you really hitchhike?” I called out against the pouring rain.

Hannah nodded, her blond hair glued to her face. “Yep!”

"How did you know where I was?"

Hannah's strained expression turned into one of anger. “How else? Your mom told mine. She tried to convince my mom to send me too, but they agreed they'd wait until you weren't here anymore… Just in case.”

“Did you tell her you’re… Ya know… Not gay?” I asked.

Hannah looked over at me briefly before turning away. “N-no.”

I couldn’t help but wear a small smile. “Oh.”

The conversion camp was nestled pretty far from society, in the heart of a wooded area far north of the city Hannah and I were from. There was a road that led from the front of the cabin, through the woods, and down to the road, but Hannah didn’t take me that way. Instead, she dragged me to the West of the cabin and clear into the woods. It was dark, and getting darker as we walked in, but she moved with more confidence than she had ever done anything in her life.

“Uh.” I dug my good foot into the mud to stop. “We’ll get lost this way for sure. Or eaten. Or both.”

“The road has security gates,” Hannah replied. “Just trust me. I marked the path.”

Even if I didn’t already trust Hannah with my life, it wasn’t like I had much choice. Going back wasn’t just stupid, but it was uphill and totally out of the question physically. I nodded at her, and she repositioned a bit, hoisting me up her side to bear my weight, and we started to limp into the forest.

The scent of the earth was exceptionally potent due to the rain and the trees shielded us a bit from the downpour. We didn’t rush, carefully stepping around and over the foliage, outcropping of rocks, and crooked up roots. It almost seemed like Hannah was moving from memory, taking very specific turns based on something I couldn’t see, but then we reached a point and she stopped and looked around. I followed her gaze until it landed on something.

She leaned me up against a tree and walked around a bit, then brushed some leaves away and let out a satisfied, “Ah.”

Barely visible through the dark and the rain and the wind was a large stick that had been stuck in the ground and then snapped in the middle, with the broken piece pointing in a specific direction. I glanced backwards and