Mum had never been the same since Dad died; she would just sit at the kitchen table and stare out into space, not knowing whether she was alive, dead, or somewhere in-between. Everytime I asked her what happened to Dad, she would always reply with the same string of words over and over.
"He went to far. He went to far. He went to far."
That was a I could get out of her so in the end I gave up. School was over for the summer, not that the ai noticed, ever since my mum had changed she had stopped sending me to school, so I had stopped going. These days I spent most of I time in the woods just exploring - although I'd already seen most of it at least twice, when you spend most of your days in the same woods, not much can surprise you; not much, but I never said nothing.
As I was meandering through the woods, caressing trees with the tips of my fingers as I passed; trees that were, really, more my friends than the people I shared a town with. They whispered their secrets to me as I passed, begging me for attention I could not give, attention that I needed to devote to not getting lost. Even when you know something like the palm of your hand, you can still loose your way. Everytime placed my foot on the floor, it was pushed back skyward by a carpet of thick, springy moss. The thing I loved most about the wood was the smell: the aroma of freshly crushed pine needles from the trees towering above me, the smell of flowers faintly permeated the air around me - just the overall fresh smell that shadowed nature, a smell that was murdered in the city. It had rained that morning, giving the atmosphere a damp scent; one of my favourite smells of all time. I always lost track of time until my brain said.
"Calypso, time to check the time."
I had grown somewhat of a master at telling the time via the sun. It was a skill my mother would have called an impractical waste of time. But it was something my father would have been proud, he was the one who carefully nurtured my love of nature and the outdoors. He would take me out as a small child and play with me in a calm, shallow pool where the river spread out and became placid. I had never gone further than that pool on my father's instruction, he had never told me why for he died before he got the chance. I suppose there was a reason but I was to lost in my own thoughts to notice I was nearing the spot which I sought; the pool of which I have just spoken. I was only brought back to my senses when I heard a small splash and felt the water around my feet.
"Shit!"
I cursed and backpedaled until I was a safe distance from the water. Dropping heavily onto a newly downed tree trunk by my feet. As I looked towards the ground and silently cursed, a glint of light flashed in my peripheral vision. The reflective object sparked a curiosity I didn't know existed in my mind until it was kindled by this mysterious culprit. Only one problem, it was situated on the other side of the lake, the place I promised my dad I would never go; a moment of indecision held my damp feet in place.
"Ah, oh well, not like he's here to stop me. Mum won't care either, I could break an arm and she would still turn a blind eye!"
The frigid water pooled around my feet as I traversed the diameter of the pool, anxious to reach the other side. As I stepped onto the solid ground, I realized the offending object was a small leather bound book with a silver buckle holding a strip of leather that encircled the book in place. I had originally planned to take the book back to the other side of the river and read it there but the curiosity that raged inside me like a fire burning up my insides was to much to bare. I got comfortable (well, as comfortable as one can be while leaning up against a tree) and began to read...
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𝙳𝚊𝚢 𝚏𝚒𝚏𝚝𝚢. ☢︎︎
𝚂𝚘 𝚏𝚊𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚗𝚎𝚠 𝙰𝚙𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚘-𝚇 𝚒𝚜 𝚐𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚜𝚕𝚘𝚠 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚒𝚝 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚠𝚜 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚎. 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚘𝚜𝚜 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚊𝚋𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚓𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚘𝚐𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚊 𝚏𝚎𝚠 𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚖𝚢 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚏𝚏 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙸 𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚊𝚐𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚑𝚒𝚖 𝚝𝚘 𝚕𝚎𝚝 𝚒𝚝 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚞𝚎 𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚘𝚛𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚒𝚏 𝚜𝚘 𝚖𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚊𝚜 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚐𝚘𝚎𝚜 𝚠𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚐, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚓𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝚒𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚜𝚑𝚞𝚝 𝚍𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚕𝚢. 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚘𝚜𝚜 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚜𝚞𝚙𝚙𝚘𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚠𝚊𝚢 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚘𝚋𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚝𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚘𝚠 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚑𝚊𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚍 𝚞𝚙 𝚒𝚗 𝚊 𝚖𝚎𝚎𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚠𝚎 𝚌𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚑𝚊𝚌𝚎 𝚑𝚒𝚖 𝚐𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚜𝚞𝚜𝚙𝚒𝚌𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚠𝚑𝚘𝚕𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐! 𝚆𝚎 𝚌𝚊𝚗𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚗! 𝙸𝚏 𝚠𝚎 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚘𝚜𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙰𝚙𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚘-𝚇 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚖𝚒𝚍𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚠𝚎𝚊𝚙𝚘𝚗 𝚒𝚗 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚊𝚛𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚊𝚢 𝚕𝚎𝚝 𝚞𝚜 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚞𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚌𝚑 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚔 𝚘𝚗 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚡 𝚖𝚊𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚌𝚑 𝚝𝚘 𝚊𝚌𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚑 𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗. 𝙽𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝙸 𝚜𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚑𝚒𝚖 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚎𝚡𝚌𝚒𝚝𝚎𝚍; 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚙𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚗𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚋𝚎 𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚑𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚑𝚘𝚕𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚕𝚍 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙸 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚝 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚊𝚜 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚎𝚏 𝚜𝚌𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚜𝚝. 𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚜 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚜𝚘𝚘𝚗 𝚐𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚘𝚛𝚍𝚎𝚛: 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚜 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚞𝚛𝚐𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚜𝚘𝚘𝚗 𝚋𝚎𝚐𝚒𝚗...
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Panic began to build up behind my eyes. As I frantically flipped through the book, that word - purge - appeared everywhere.
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𝙳𝚊𝚢 𝚜𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚢 ☢︎︎
...𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚞𝚛𝚐𝚎 𝚒𝚜 𝚖𝚢 𝚕𝚒𝚏𝚎'𝚜 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚔: 𝚒𝚝 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚏𝚊𝚒𝚕.
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𝙳𝚊𝚢 𝚎𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚢-𝚝𝚠𝚘 ☢︎︎
...𝚙𝚎𝚘𝚙𝚕𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚠𝚘 𝚘𝚙𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚊𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚞𝚛𝚐𝚎: 𝚜𝚞𝚙𝚙𝚘𝚛𝚝 𝚞𝚜, 𝚘𝚛 𝚍𝚒𝚎.
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𝙳𝚊𝚢 𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚢-𝚏𝚘𝚞𝚛
...𝙻𝙾𝙽𝙶 𝙻𝙸𝚅𝙴 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙿𝚄𝚁𝙶𝙴!
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I didn't know what the purge was but I could tell that it was bad. It sent a tingly feeling up my spine like someone had just caressed my back with a taser. Suddenly I heard the sound of heavy boots on the ground and voices on the other side of the lake. So, I did what any self-preservation driven teen would do in this totally normal situation: jumped into a bush.
YOU ARE READING
Outlaw
Adventure2. That moment when you realize you saw something that could cost you your life. Now all you can do is try and outrun them. I never thought there was a reason for my father's rule: Never cross the lake I never believed that a terrible secret that co...
