One chance for salvation

Chapter 9

I   wake  up  to  see  the  pink  sky  from  the  cabin  window.  The  soft  sounds  of  sleep  fills  the  otherwise  silent  air.  I  shift  to  lay  on  my  side,  wincing  slightly  at  the  pain  from  the  bruises.  I  close  my  eyes  to  try  to  go  back  to  sleep  when  I  hear  Amarok  disturb  the  silence.

"Good  morning!  Did   you  sleep  well?"   Amarok  is  an  agonizingly  energetic  person  in  the  morning.  I  open  my  eyes  to  see  a  shadow  looming  over  me.  I  tilt  my  head  so  that  I  can  see  what's  causing  the  shadow.  Standing  above  me  is a  wide  eyed  Amarok,  sporting  the  biggest  grin  I've  ever  seen. I take the pillow from under my head and throw it at him. He ducks and the pillow smacks into the wall with a soft thud.

"Ugggh do you have to be so loud? It's too earlyy!!"  I  groan.  The  morning  hates  me  more  than  I  hate  it.

"You're  the  one  who  decided  to  say  that  you  wanted  to  leave  at  dawn.  It's  dawn  so  let's  go."  I  sit  up  reluctantly.  I  rub  the  sleep  from  my  eyes  and  stand up.  Amarok  looks  down  at  me  and  starts  to  chuckle.  I  look  up  at  him,  utterly  unamused.   "Sorry  but  your  hair looks worse than a lion's mane."

I sigh and start to run my fingers through my hair. They get stuck frequently and I stop trying after about the third knot. I pull my back into a messy bun to get it out of my way and to disguise the fact that it's a mess. I give Amarok a tired smile because what else am I supposed to do in this situation?

"Are we going to leave soon?" Amarok nods excitedly.

"Yeah, we've just gotta wake up our dads, so we can say goodbye." I nod, understanding that Amarok actually has a good relationship with his dad. Amarok runs out of the room, presumably to wake up his dad. While he does that, I start to prep for the journey, silently contemplating whether or not it's actually worth it to do this, saying as I have no one left to go back to. I'll have nothing to go back to when this is done. I have no friends, my siblings are dead, I can't just keep piggybacking off of Hugo's kindness, and at this point, death looks kinda nice. Because I have no friends or family, no one would even care that I died.

"Zenny, are you alright?" Amarok's concerned voice snaps me out of my thoughts. I turn so that I am facing him. He's standing in the doorway to the living room with Hugo and my dad in tow.

"Yeah, I'm alright, I was just making sure we were all set to leave." Amarok nods. I sling my backpack onto my back and Amarok comes and puts his  satchels  on,  one  across  his chest,  and  the  other  tied  like a  belt  around  his  waist.

After  securing  his  satchels,  Amarok  runs  over  to  his  dad  and  hugs  him  tightly.  I  can  see  Hugo  tear  up  slightly  as  the  two  hug  like  they  won't  see  each  other  again.  I  feel  my  heart  throb  a  bit  because  I  very  well  may  be  the  reason  that  they  don't  see  each  other,  because  I  might  tear  apart  this  actually  happy  family.  My  dad  flies  over  and  lands  on  my  shoulder.   I  tense  up  slightly,  as  I  personally  can't  tell  if  this  is  a murder  attempt  or  a  hug.  With  my  dad,  either  one  is  a  very  distinct  possibility. 

"Zenny,  please  keep  vigilant,  we  don't  know  what's  gonna  happen  out  there."  I  scoff  and  roll  my  eyes.

"Shut  up  old  man,  why  don't  you  go  fuck  your  boyfriend  over  there?  Stop  pretending  like  you  care  for  me,  because  you  don't."  Hugo  and  Amarok  immediately look  up  at  me  with  shock  on  their  faces.  I  refuse  to  take  back  anything  I  said.  "You  have  spent  every  day  of  my  life,  tormenting  me  and  my  siblings.  It  didn't  effect  you  before.  You  can  blame  my  mother  until  you  asphyxiate  but  I'm  done.  Stop  pretending  like  you  actually  love  me!"  My  dad  flies  off  without  another  word,  like  the  moody  ass  teenager  he  is.   Hugo  clears  his  throat.

"I  don't  wish  to  suffer  your  wrath,  but  I  also  bid  you  adieu.  May  I  hug  you, please?"  I  take  a  deep  breath  and  accept  Hugo's  hug.  It  feels  safe,  like  nothing  bad  has  happened  and  nothing  bad  will  happen.  We  break  the  hug  after  about  30  seconds.

  "Be  safe  you  two,  trust  no  one.  Not  every  god  is  going  to  be  as  nice  as  they  appear  to  be.  The higher  up  you  go,  the  worse  they  are  going  to  be.  I  trust  that  you  two  can  do  this.  Amarok  and  I  nod,  understanding  his  warnings.  Amarok  leads  me  outside  and  with  one  final  glance  back,  we're  off,  to  see  if  we  can  save  me.  Or  die  trying...