Island Rush by Marien Dore Page B

have a life worth living!” My words were automatic; I meant everything I said.  Including wanting to stay here.  Because though I was scared, I had to admit to myself that this was better than home. However, I would never condemn him here with me.
    He shook his head as if he didn’t hear a word I said. “Your life is that screwed up that you would want to stay here, struggling to live.  The pathetic thing is you can’t be the only one here.  You need someone to leech off of just so you aren’t alone and scared.  You are so desperate and selfish that you would have me rot here with you. You would take down my chance to go home to my family.”
    That was it. No matter how weak I felt here, I would not drag him down. I would never intentionally keep him here if there was a chance he could get out. And for him to think that I was heartless enough to do that... it sent me over.
    I wound my arm back, balled it up, and swung with all my weight put into it.  I punched his face without another thought.  I didn’t think it through, but it felt good to have my hand collide with his jaw.  It made him stagger back, surprised by the power I put behind it.  I felt the need to shake my hand with how much it stung. I have punched before; punched my dad once and learned that would be the last time I did that. This was different. He didn’t hold power over me.
    He looked stunned.  Waiting to see what else crossed his face wasn’t an option.  I sprinted off after that, grabbing my shirt that was still on the ground as I went.  I ran into the woods with a scowl on my face. I didn’t want to deal with him, and that was that.  I don’t know why he affected me so much, but he did. He knew how to get under my skin.  Accusing me and disrespecting me like that was something I wasn’t going to take.  
    At first, I thought I heard him following behind me, but I was faster and soon lost him if that was the case.  I kept going and drove all my anger out through my feet as I picked up and went faster. I flew through the trees without a thought and soon, I knew I was far away from him.  When I couldn’t run anymore, I could feel that I exhausted that anger, making it fade away.
    I stopped, breathing hard and quick, sweat spilling over me at this point.  I considered pulling my shirt back on but decided against it for that reason.  The trees gave me a little shade but that didn’t stop me from sweating like a pig.
    Standing there for a moment, I caught my breath.  My mind wandered back to Mr. Rush.  I could see how he might think I hid the phone from him, waiting for it to die. Because, really, how could I have not remembered my phone during all this?  Even more, how could I not feel it in my pocket?  I mean, my back was a lot of the distraction and so was everything else we had to go through. But the whole time, I wore these black shorts, not changing them like I did the shirts for my back. I honestly forgot about it.
    Forgot about it.  Man… it really was pathetic considering it could have saved both our lives.  Forgetting wasn’t a good enough excuse. I didn’t want to go home but I would if it meant saving Mr. Rush from this fate too. He had a woman waiting to marry him, he had a future with her.  A future no doubt with kids and a good life.  I might have just taken away all of that from him.
    I felt sick for more than one reason now and regretted my actions. This was only our second day here. It was foolish to run. It put both of us more and more at risk and now, I had to go back.  Not because I needed him but because he didn’t deserve that.
    But I stopped myself.  He didn’t deserve my actions towards him, but he didn’t deserve me tagging along like a little, lost puppy.  That’s what he even said.  That I was a leech that would use him.  Was he right?  This whole time, he was concerned about me and my health.  I was dragging him down without thinking. He mended my back, lost time because of