Chronicles of Araxx - Forever Broken

Lee was daydreaming about running along the rooftops and how fun it had been with Vaughan yesterday. It was hard to believe it was only a hologram.

In front of her, another leaf floated from the sky.

Strange, there were no trees around.

A flash of the bright red on the leaf caught her eye, it was redder than the previous one.

The leaf landed on Lee’s face, and she brushed it off as she stepped around the corner.

“Sorry.” She smiled at the stranger she bumped into.

Her heart skipped a beat as she looked into his eyes. It was a colour she would never forget, and his scent brought back so many memories.

Jacob.

Lee’s fight or flight instincts kicked in and she dropped the plastic bottle of orange juice on the floor, causing its contents to splatter all over the place.

She turned on her heel and ran.

Jacob ran after her, but he was alone.

Briefly, Lee wondered where his betas were but didn’t stop to question.

Jacob held his phone to his ear. “I’ve found her. You know what to do, and where to meet me.” Then he pushed his phone back into his pocket.

Lee turned a corner into a familiar street which she knew led straight into Camden Market but as she did she felt her foot slip out from under her and she landed hard on her knees but forced herself to get back up straight away.

As she stood up, Jacob caught hold of her cardigan and pulled hard.

Her clothes were an issue, and she had to lose them. The same way as she had done before, although it still baffled her how she did it.

She felt the moment Jacob was not holding her back any more by the firm hold he had on her cardigan and looked down, seeing she was wearing her gym clothes and shoes. Lee sprinted away as fast as she could

Jacob shouted in anger and took off after her again.

Adz and the other two set off after the girl as well.

She was in real danger, and they were the only ones who could help her now. If they waited for Simons to turn up with his team, it might be too late.

Lee glanced over her shoulder and noticed Jacob was dangerously close. He was fast, faster than she was, and she was going to struggle to get away from him.

She darted into an alleyway and before Jacob managed to get around the corner, Lee spotted a fire escape. She grabbed hold of the bottom rung of the ladder and pulled herself up and out of sight, but only just.

Jacob rounded the corner and looked down the alleyway. “Come on, Annaleah baby, I just want you to come home,” Jacob said as he walked slowly down the narrow passage.

Lee held her breath. She was trapped with nowhere to go, and if Jacob found her… She didn’t even want to think about it.

“It upsets me, Annaleah, that you don’t want to be with me. I thought we were made for each other.”

That hurt.

Jacob was using Lee’s own words against her. There was a time, even through everything she’d endured when she thought she loved Jacob. She did love Jacob, and she thought he loved her. He was sweet to her and there was something about his kiss. The way his lips felt when they touched hers.

Her heart hurt.

She’d said those words to Jacob, and now he was using them to hurt her.

“Nice trick with the way you changed your clothes. You’ve learnt a lot since you’ve run away, haven’t you?” He said as he searched the alleyway. “I know you’re here, Annaleah. You might as well come out now.”

Lee hated the name, Annaleah. She hated how it sounded when he said it.

“This alley is a dead-end. I’ll find you,” he screamed in rage.

Lee looked up and saw the ladder went all the way up to the roof.

Slowly she put her foot on the next rung then looked down.

Jacob still hadn’t spotted her.

She lifted her other foot onto the next rung and looked down to make sure she was still unseen. Then another. She was going to get up the ladder without him seeing her. She was going to get away.

Then the ladder creaked.

“Aha!” He smirked, then he too was on the fire escape.

It was hard to follow the drone, but Gray knew the streets of Camden well and was able to direct them exactly to where she was.

They reached the entrance to the alleyway just as Jacob started climbing onto the fire escape.

The ladder creaked loudly as both Lee and Jacob climbed it.

“We should follow from down here,” Gray said.

“How will we know which way they’re going?” Adz panted, then remembered the drone.

With the drone hanging in the sky above the girl and the werewolf, they were able to see everything that was happening on the roof.

Lee got to the top of the building and started running for the other side.

The roofs in this part of town had flat roofs, and the buildings were all built close together, with about a meter gap between each one. These jumps were easy to make for Lee, but Jacob wasn’t giving up.

After jumping a few rooftops, Lee spotted a tube station and her next possible escape. She thrust her hand into her pocket hoping that even if her clothes changed mysteriously, she still had her Oyster card. Pulling it from her pocket, she sighed relieved.

She spotted a big green dustbin on the other side of the next alleyway and decided that would have to be her way down off the second story building she was on. The gap between this building and the next was further than the others, but Lee was confident she could do it.

Peeked behind her, she saw Jacob had slowed his run assuming the gap was too great and Lee would have to stop.

He started laughing. “Dead end, sweetheart.”

Lee got to the edge of the roof and leapt without pausing. The jump was far, but she caught it just right, grabbing the edge of the next building with her hands, where she hung from the ledge for a second before she dropped to the dustbin below, denting the lid as she landed.

Lee quickly ran for the end of the alleyway and towards the road.

Jacob, using his werewolf abilities, leapt from the building roof straight down to the ground in front of Lee.

She ducked around him, narrowly missing his outstretched arms, and crossed the road quickly towards the entrance of the tube station, almost getting hit by a car.

The driver of the car braked, but not fast enough and the car slammed into Jacob, knocking him to the ground.

Lee glanced to her left and saw three figures she recognised but she didn’t slow down as she darted down into the station.

Jacob was only meters behind her after regaining his footing.