Violet

6| Ruins of Sunmaw

The path widens, so Arietta goes alongside Laurie, and Emmett comes up next to me. Now and again, I take little glances at him out of curiosity.

"I did not expect to be doing this at all today, but here we are," Emmett says to my right. For some reason, this floods me with déjà vu. Then it all hits me, the memories immediately come flooding back in.

The first time I saw Emmett, was the first day back at school for the year. It was winter and it was snowing. I do not remember ever being colder than I was on that day, but the importance of that is slim.

Emmett was new, it was his first year at our school.

The school is small, with barely 50 students attending. Some of whom were at home due to the snow.

During roll mark, Emmett was asked to read the morning scriptures. Now that I think back to this in my head, I remember him speaking so comfortably as if he were never nervous in the first place. But the first thing he said once standing up the front was just that. I did not expect to be doing this today, but here we are.

I do not think that I would arrive on the first day at school and not be nervous. So, if he were nervous at all, I could not tell in the slightest.

What I cannot believe is that that same person, whom I did not know whatsoever, yet saw every day, is now riding a horse next to me, down an incredibly dangerous-looking path, to perhaps our inevitable deaths. To be completely honest, Emmett is one of the last people on my list whom I thought I was going to meet during my stay here.

Though of course, it was only natural to assume the worst.

Arietta's voice then brings me back to the present. "Hey Laurie, we have never gone this way before," she calls up to him, "where are we going?" Emmett and I give each other a side look.

"Not sure, I came across this path the other day," Laurie replies from next to her, "thought I might check it out." Laurie looks behind both of us. "Is that okay with you guys?"

"Right," Emmett replies, "how much further do you think it will be?"

"Well, I do need to get to work around midday, so we will probably head back soon anyway."

The deeper we go into the forest the darker, damper, and colder it gets. For a while, Laurie talks to Arietta, and I keep talking to Emmett. While we keep riding and talking, there is a lingering sensation getting stronger and stronger within my stomach, just like the nervous butterflies. Or should I say moths?

A couple of hundred meters away and to the right, I spot something up ahead, perhaps a house in the distance.

I whisper to Emmett as silently as I can. "Hey, do you see that up there?" I notion my eyes towards the block of a building. He follows my eyes and as soon as he spots it, he squints, and mouths back, what is that? I shrug.

Coming up ahead to the right is a building of some sort, well hidden in the bush. Everyone stops talking and watches, waiting to catch a good glimpse. When we get closer, I realise it looks more like a broken-up set of stones. We get even closer and see that there are more stones, enormous ones. No, they are shaped differently. It looks like an abandoned town.

"No way!" Laurie calls from the front then turns to Arietta, "Do you think that these are the ruins of Sunmaw?"

Arietta responds quietly, "I do not know." All the horses stop, once seeing Laurie's horse stop.

We stay stationary on the path and stare down through a gap in the trees. Sure enough, there is another side of a building, darkened with age and crumbling drastically around the edges. Behind it are more houses and buildings, some have completely collapsed.