Divided

Chapter 20

                                               CAT's P.O.V.

Finally a familiar face. I'm on the verge of tears. Is this it? Am I really going to find my family now?

Harry's in the dark and I can barely see him, but I know that's him. I know that red hair is his. It must be him, I have to find my family now.

"Harry?! Is that you?"- I asked.

"Cat?"- he came out of shadow.

"It is really you."- I put my hand over my mouth.

"Cat, we were so worried about you."- he said pulling me up for a hug.

"Who's that?"- he asked dragging me away from Max.

"It's Max. Don't worry, he's a friend."- I said.

"Hi, I'm Max."- Max raised his hand for a handshake.

"I'm Harry."- Harry said but didn't take his hand -"So what do you want?"

"To help you."- Max said.

"Yes, Harry, he's going to help us."- I smiled.

"How can we trust him?"- Harry looked me in the eyes.

"He saved my life."- I said.

Harry was curious about the plan, but Max and I agreed to tell the plan to everyone when we get to the shelter they're hiding in. Harry said we have to be quiet and try not to be seen by anyone. He said that the survivors are hiding there, and that my brother is one of them. I wanted to ask about my mother, but Harry said we need to be quiet. We walked more than a mile and could barely see anything, but Harry knew the way. Sometimes we had to go trough small passages between bushes and trees. Then we finally arrived. It was something similar to cave covered with a lot of trees and grass. It's a good disguise. When we came closer, Harry just removed some grass off the stone and knocked on the well hidden wooden door. There was a tiny window that someone opened after the knock.

"Password."- a male voice whispered.

"Anneheg."- Harry said.

It took me a while to figure out it's just 'Gehenna' backwards. The door opened and then I could see it was James that asked for a password. He let me and Harry in, but for a moment he stopped to take a look at Max. Then he let him in too, possibly thinking he's from other Region. I walked in and looked at the interior. A lot of wooden tables and chairs were organized in one row where the most of people sat. Around were also organized mattresses and sheets. I looked around for my mom or brother. Then I saw him sitting on one of chairs. He couldn't see me, but then he raised his head and smiled. He rushed to meet me.

"Sis, we were so worried about you!"- he grabbed me in a hug.

"I was in good hands."- I smiled -"I missed you so much!"

"I missed you too sis. Where have you been?"- he asked me.

"Well, that's a long story. Where's mom?"- I took a glance around.

"Um... Mom, she's not... She's not here."- Trevor stopped smiling.

"What do you mean, she's not here? You didn't find her?"- I was disturbed.

"We did... She's gone... She's... dead."- Trevor said.

"No! No, that's not true!"- I started screaming -"You're lying! You two are joking and she's somewhere hiding!"

"I'm sorry, Cat, but our mom's gone."- he was trying to hold his tears.

"No, that can't be! She can't be dead!"- I fell on floor.

Trevor sat next to me. I could see that Max wanted to approach me, but he probably thought that it would be good to stay on distance because of my brother.

"Mom... Why?! How?!"- I wanted to know.

"She got shot when we were running away."- Trevor hugged me.

"No, don't hug me!"- I pushed him away -"It's your fault! Why didn't you take care about her?!"

Trevor kept quiet. He didn't know what to say.

"No, it's not... It's not your fault."- I cried -"It's my fault. I was so stupid to run away on my own. I should've stuck to her. I could save her!"

"It's not your fault Cat. You couldn't save her, like you couldn't save Mandy, or anyone else."- Trevor said.

"I need to.... I have to be alone."- I said.

I went to sit on a free mattress in the corner. I looked around. Almost everyone was sitting at the table. They were opening cans filled with some kind of food. They all listened to what Max was telling them. This time Harry was the one who guaranteed that Max's okay. I used to do that before, but I'm really not ready to do that now.

I just can't believe that mom's dead. I feel the same pain that I felt when I was an eleven year old finding out that her father is dead. I feel something so tough and hard in my heart just above my stomach. I feel like the whole world is falling apart and my body is also tearing down. I want to cry, to get that pain out of my throat and belly. Out of my heart. But I can't, because I cry and it just keeps getting worse. I keep telling myself how awful I am, and how much is it my fault, not only for my mom's death but for the death of them all. And it's not helping. It's just making me feel worse. I want to hide my sobs and crying from them all, but I can't because every two seconds my sob breaks through the air in the room and it's louder than anyone's voice. I can tell that once in a while a few people just turns their head back and look at me huddled in the corner. I can feel a little bit of pain in my old shot wound, but I don't care. Even if it's open again, I don't care. I'd love to bleed out to the death and stop feeling this sorrow.

After a while I can feel someone's hand touching my shoulder.

"Trevor go away."- I say keeping my head down.

"It's not Trevor."- a familiar voice said.

I raised my head and saw Max. He looked at me again with his dark brown eyes like I'm a wounded deer. Well, I guess I was, a helpless deer wounded deep in my heart.

"What do you want?"- I asked.

"I want to help you, but I know I can't." - he said.

"Then go away."- I just wanted to be alone.

"I know how you feel, trust me. I've lost parents myself. It hurts bad, and it's going to hurt bad. But you just have to keep living with it."- I could feel he's on the verge of tears.

"How can I live with this guilt?"- I cried.

"It's not your fault and you're not guilty."- he said.

"How can you tell? I started this all. This horrible plan to escape. I believed in it so hard, and look where we are now. We eat food out of cans and cry for the dead loved ones."- I covered my face with my hands.

"You'd still do that back at Gehenna. You still had the same potential to die there."- he brought me closed and embraced me.

"I just want this to go away..."- I said.

"I know. You have to be patient."- he said.

I fell asleep in his arms. Tomorrow I woke up with a major headache. The others were up too, and so was Max. I went out and just washed my face and mouth with the spring water. This is really a luxury. I got back and sat at the table. As soon as I saw bread I took a piece and started eating. A lot of the people were talking and as I heard, they've been talking about Max's plan. What was really his plan? I wanted to ask but then, James brought in a few of people I never saw.

"These are some of the Caelum people. They want to help."- James said.

I looked at them and then saw a familiar face. It was a girl with dark brown hair and brown eyes, just like mine. I wasn't sure one hundred percent, but something inside could tell me it was her.

"Sarah?!"- Max jumped of his chair and approached the girl.