Chapter 43
Chapter 43
Rhea
88%
My eyes flicker at the feeling of a cold touch on my cheek. A breath hitches in my throat. All of a sudden, the darkness falls apart. My shoulder presses against the ground as I’m lying on my side, unaware of when I fell asleep.
There’s a presence next to me. I’m half asleep for a minute, confused at what’s happening, until I open my eyes and look.
He looks down at me with amusement on his face. “Looks like reality hit you pretty hard. How’s life outside your little fantasy bubble?” He pauses and withdraws his hand from my face. “Tough, isn’t it?”
His expression darkens when I can’t respond to anything he says, and I just look at him instead with panic blaring in my eyes. I stare at him, stupefied. A million words spill into my mind, yet no sound emerges from my lips. I scramble backward, and the chains over my ankles make some sound that fills the silence.
What am I seeing right now? It can’t be–he can’t be here.
And yet his hands go over my ankles, and he snaps the chains off before turning to me.
“Can you walk?”
I rise on my elbows, looking down at my feet first and then at him before giving him a little nod.
“We should head out. It’s not looking pretty outside.” A man emerges from the door far up the stairs and announces.
“Just a moment.”
Aron gets off the ground and extends his hand toward me. I–completely confounded, grab his hand and get off the ground. There are a hundred thoughts in my head, a hundred.
How did he get here? Why was he here? What was he doing? Could it all be a dream? No, I’ve already woken up.
This can’t be a dream.
“Walk in front of me,” he says, pressing his hands on my shoulder before bringing me toward the stairs.
“Where are you-”
I don’t complete my sentence before he interrupts me. “You’re coming with me.”
I don’t look back at him. I don’t do anything or say anything. Instead, I go up the stairs and out from the cellar that I had been confided in. It feels good to breathe fresh air, but the air is sharp, cold, and somewhat annoying because I could taste the fresh rain pouring down the skies.
When I look around, I don’t see anyone except for the man just by the cellar door, the one with Aron. There’s no one else here–no one to kill me or burn me alive.
What is happening?
My eyes quickly wander around, looking for any face, and in a far distance, near the back door of the pack house, I see two figures standing under the roof, far into the shadow.
Ethel and Tony.
A hand presses against my back, urging me to move forward. I glance back at Aron. There is a second where we meet gazes.
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11:19 Tue, 15 Apr
Chapter 43
And something tells me–gives me a feeling that whatever it is that is happening right now. 1 benter keep try eyes hent instead of looking back.
I swallow the bile in my throat and start to walk away, away from the cellar, from the pack house from everything
There’s a car far in the front, where I believe I’m meant to go. When I reach it. Aron pulls the door open and motions the hand. I hesitate for a second before dipping my head and going inside the car.
The other man gets in the front, and Aron to my left.
I take in a sharp breath and look outside.
Rain pours heavier at the exact moment the car begins to move. Whatever is left in my mind starts to blank one. 1-1 for know what’s going on. Is he really saving me? If he is, why would he want to save me? Or–why is he bend
I shift, uncomfortable in my seat. My eyes remain outside, at the pack house fading farther and farther from the I don’t dare ask Aron any questions as I fear the response. Because just a moment ago, I was meant to be killed
And now? I’m with him.
And?
“It’s getting worse,” the man in the front says while changing car gears. “Should we perhaps stop somewhere for a while?
The skies are getting darker. The full moon is covered in heavy clouds, becoming nothing but a faint silver glow. The sty lightens for a moment, seconds before a massive flash of lightning hits just as close as a tree far up a hill
“Is it necessary?”
“I think it’s better if we do. It’s a long way.”
I hear Aron grunt under his breath, “Fine. But at least get out of this territory. There’s a cabin by the route heading north. In comes between the campsite and Lakewood forest. We’ll stop there for a while.”
Whoever is driving nods, changes the gear and speed again, and continues driving the car onto the road that takes us out of the Blackfang territory.
My heart races as we leave the town. There’s a moment of dread and fear within me that rises. I’ve never left town before. Never. My parents, my family, everything and everyone is behind me. It’s all gone.
Isn’t it?
I can only try to understand what happened while I was in the cellar. That Aron came here to take me away after becoming aware. But why would he do that? I can’t be any more grateful for it, but for it to happen so suddenly and out of the bine, it confuses me.
I watch the trees pass by my eyes, trying to catch a glimpse of anything recognizable as we enter another world.
The car keeps moving, moving through the storm. And when I look behind, I see another car in the distance that’s been following the vehicle I’m in–all the way from the pack house. I take another deep breath and sit back, my eyes still out the window.
It takes a long time, very long before the man in front gets off the highway and heads into the forest.
We drive into a clearing with a small gate hanging on rusty hinges. When I squint my eyes, I can vaguely see a wooden cabin far into the dark. It’s old and dark.
The driver stops, killing the engine.
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11:19 Tue, 15 Apr
Chapter 43
“The wind is coming out in gusts. Should I think about the other choices to get home if it starts hailing? The man asks. worriedly. He turns back to look at Aron.
“We’ll see about that later.”
The door opens and then shuts. Another door opens and shuts. I remain seated where I am, still confused and staring ahead to the gates. A few moments later, someone comes out of the gates, and I see them talking with each other. I can’t hear them as my hearing isn’t good; nothing in me is well.
All I do is sit and watch until the door next to me opens.
“I hope you’re still not thinking of going back home,” Aron says to me while leaning over the car with his one arm on the hood. He continues when I don’t say anything, “I’m impressed with the level of your own denial How worse would it have been if you hadn’t been so stubborn? If you had just accepted fate instead of building castles out of hope and security that wasn’t ever yours to have?”
I remain quiet, speechless again.
What does he even know?
I look up at him before getting out of the car. Droplets of rain fall over my cheek and my eyes. I lower my gaze to the ground, refusing to look at him when his words cut a little too close to home.
With a sigh, he moves away from the car and his hand returns to my back before taking me along with him toward the gate.
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