Ellie's POV

Today is Friday. Yay!

Elliott and I made it through our first week back. I hated it.

It was filled with pity. People asked us if we were ok, that they are here for us, if we need to talk about anything, what we went through. Some of these people were people who hated me.

The only person who doesn't even mention that is Max. He's our best friend and he respects that we don't want to talk about it.

Me and Elliott are back to regular weight and we are healthy again.

But all that aside, the week is over. Ashley or mom, wants to take us to the movies. We don't know which one yet, but I'm pretty excited.

That's another thing. I don't really call Ashley by her name anymore. Only when she acts like a kid and I act like her mom. Same thing with Elliott. And she considers us her children which really brings us closer together. So from now on, she's our mom.

We are waiting for mom to pick us up and then Max comes up to us.

"Hey you guys wanna come to the football game tonight?" he asked.

Elliott and I looked at each other skeptical. The last time we went to a school game, we went through hell.

But Blake is dead. I can't let this torment me for the rest of my life.

"Sounds cool. But only if Elliott want to come also" I said and looked at my twin brother for a response.

"Sure" he said. But he didn't seem happy about it.

"Alright see you tonight then" he said getting in his ride.

"Bye" Elliott and I said waving.

"Hey you ok?" I asked.

"Not really. I don't want to go to the game" he said. I shook my head laughing lightly.

"Then why did you say 'sure'. I said I would go if you would go" I said.

"Well you seemed like you really wanted to see the game so I didn't want to keep you from that" he told me.

"Oh Elliott" I said hugging him, which is kinda hard when you have a backpack on.

A car honk made us pull apart. It's mom.

We raced to her car. I win. I get shotgun.

"Ha!" I said.

Elliott just rolled his eyes at me and I just laughed.

I got inside and put on my seatbelt.

"Hey mom" we both said.

"Hey darlings. How was school?" she asked us.

"It was fine. Finally Friday" Elliott answered.

"Also Max invited us to come see the football game. Can we go?" I asked.

Mom put on a fake sad face.

"But I don't feel like going out tonight" she said.

"Come on mom please" Elliott asked.

"I don't wanna"

"Ashley!" we said. This is what I meant when I said we sometimes call her by her first name.

"Oh all right" she said.

"Yes!" me and my brother high fived each other and mom just shook her head laughing slightly.

When we got home, Elliott and I quickly did our homework so we could get ready for the game.

I decided to put on a tie dye shirt with a sweatshirt on top and leggings. Elliott did the same as me only he wore jeans.

"Hey El?" I heard Elliott call.

"Yeah" I answered.

"Aren't you afraid of... you know?" he asked.

I knew exactly what he was talking about. That someone might harm us again after the game.

"A little. But don't worry. I mean, Blake is dead and he can't harm us anymore. And cheer up man. Next week is our anniversary with life" I said.

He laughed.

"Yeah. Ugh I'm getting old" he said.

"Ok. Its 6 o'clock. Lets go grandpa" I said laughing.

We got in the car and drove to school.

"Bye guys call me when the game is almost over. Have fun" mom said as we got out if the car.

"Alright. Bye mom" we both said walking to the stadium.

I hated the game.

For starters we lost. 47...

To 0.

Second the whole game I was getting nacho cheese thrown at me. Now my hair is sticky and nasty. Elliott almost got into a fight with someone at the restroom over something stupid.

I'm just glad its over.

Me and Elliott are waiting for mom. I called her to pick us up a while ago. She's late. Its just me and Elliott waiting for her outside of the school. I pulled out my phone and called mom again.

It rings but it sends me to voicemail.

"Hey Elliott, mom's not answering her phone" I said.

"That's odd. Here I'll try calling her" he said. It rings and it also sends him to voicemail.

"Ok that's weird. She normally picks up at the first ring" he says.

"I know. Here I'll try one more time. If she doesn't answer, something's up" I say nervously dialing her.

After a couple rings she answers and we sighed of relief.

"Hey mom we called you a couple time but you didn't answer. Where are you?" I asked.

"Sorry about that honey I had my phone on silent and there's traffic so I'll be there in a while" she said.

"Ok see you later, love you" I say.

"Love you to" she says.

I hang up.

Elliott's POV

I stare at Ellie after she makes the call.

"So what did she say?" I asked.

"Um she had her phone on silent so that's why she didn't answer-"

"Why was it on silent?" I asked interrupting her.

"Huh. I don't know. Didn't ask. Anyways she is stuck in traffic so she'll be here in a little while" she said.

Part of me was relieved that mom was ok. But the other part of me was terrified.

Its dark. We are the only ones outside of the school. What if something happens like last time? I sat on the bench behind us and started to breath heavily. I put my head in my hands an tried to calm down. It wasn't working.

I guess my sister noticed because Ellie came, sat down next to me and started to rub my back.

"Elliott its ok. Don't be scared" she said leaning on me.

"Ellie its just hard. I mean, we suffered so much and we were dying and-" she cut me off.

"I know. But when can't let this beat us the rest of our lives" she said.

I guess she's right.

"Yeah. I'm sorry I've been such a party pooper" I told her.

"Don't worry about it. By the way, why did you almost get into a fight at the restroom?" she asked me.

I just laughed.

"Its stupid" I told her.

"I don't care I want to know" she said.

I sighed

"Well I accidently tripped this guy and he wanted to fight" I said.

"That's it?"

"Yep. That's it" I said.

"That's sad" she said. And we laughed.

Suddenly we heard a vehicle coming.

"I guess that's mom" she said going towards the street.

I saw the vehicle. It looked similar to mom's but I can't see who's inside. Once it got closer I noticed it was two men.

"Ellie come back!" I yelled.

She turned around but they we're already out.

She started to run back and I was running towards her. Once I got to her we turned around and saw the two men just standing there.

"What the..." we both said.

"Você tem certeza que essas são as crianças?" they said. Or asked? What were they speaking?

"It sounds like portuguese" El said.

It hit me. These are the guys Blake had called when he planned on taking us to Brazil. We just stood there shocked.

"Sim, tenho certeza. Agora vamos pagar um bom dinheiro para essas crianças" after they said that, they were coming towards us and we started to run.

We were tired and our stomachs were hurting. Worst of all they were catching up.

"Você não pode nos escapar!" they yelled.

I looked back to see how close they were. Big mistake.

I tripped and hurt my arm on a couple rocks.

"Ah!" I screamed in pain.

"Elliott!" Ellis screamed. She started to run back. She knelt over me and held my hurt arm.

"El go!" I yelled at her. We were both crying.

"No! We're a team" she said whispering that last part

"Você cometeu um grande erro tentando fugir" they said. I don't know what they said but by the tone in their voices it couldn't be good.

I was right.

They grabbed Ellie by her hair and started to beat her.

I heard her cries of pain.

Hell no! I couldn't let them hurt her.

I stood up grabbing my arm. I took the largest rock near me and hit one of them in the head. He fell to the ground.

I could now see Ellie. She was bleeding by her lip and had purple bruises. I could tell she was shocked.

"Você vai se arrepender!" the other one yelled.

He started to come towards me. I didn't see it coming but he punched me in my face. I fell to the ground and felt my lip. Its busted.

He kept kicking me in my stomach over and over. I felt like throwing up.

"Stop it!" El yelled and jumped on him.

I took a moment to catch my breath and suddenly Ellie got thrown on top of me.

"Ah!" we both exclaimed.

"Sorry" I whispered.

"Don't apologize" she said getting next to me on the ground.

I don't know what the other guy was doing but he was getting something out of the car.

We found the strength to sit up and we held on to eachothers shoulders to stand up. He was still looking for something.

Suddenly we felt a light behind us.

"What the..." I said.

We couldn't believe our eyes.

We saw 2 important people in our lives holding hands.

"Mom" I said.

"Dad" El said.

Translation

Você tem certeza que essas são as crianças?

Are you sure these are the kids?

Sim, tenho certeza. Agora vamos pagar um bom dinheiro para essas crianças

Yes in sure. Now come on we paid good money for these kids

Você não pode nos escapar!

You can't escape.

Você cometeu um grande erro tentando fugir

You made a big mistake trying to escape

Você vai se arrepender

You're going to regret that