𝙽𝚘𝚝 𝙰𝚕𝚕 𝙶𝚕𝚊𝚜𝚜 𝚂𝚑𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜: 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙵𝚕𝚊𝚜𝚑𝚋𝚊𝚌𝚔 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝙵𝚒𝚟𝚎

I woke up with a start, immediately unwelcomed by the freezing cold. I huddled farther into my brother's arms, shivering.

It had been five days since our father had abandoned us in the middle of the woods. He had left us only with a box of matches and a knife.

Luckily, we were both wearing pants and jackets, but the jackets were not nearly enough to keep us warm.

Aaron was fast asleep at the moment. His arm had been broken, so he could only wrap one around me to keep us warm.

"Aaron," I whispered, nudging him. The eleven-year-old's eyes fluttered open and he looked down at me.

"Yes?" he asked me, his words shuddering as he shivered.

"The fire's out," I said, pointing to it.

We'd set up camp right next to a spring so we would have access to water. A lot of animals went there to drink as well, so we had things to hunt. We'd set up a small shelter with sticks and leaves and started a fire.

"We only have one box of matches," he reminded me. "We have to pace ourselves."

I groaned, nuzzling my face against him to warm myself up. My nose felt like it was going to fall off, and my ears hurt from the biting cold.

He'd said the same thing about the food. We had two squirrels but he wouldn't let me eat any more because we had to pace ourselves.

I'd gotten myself bitten by a squirrel while I was trying to kill it, and the wound was now swelling. Aaron said it looked infected, which wasn't good. I'd tried cleaning it in the spring.

"Is he going to leave us out here?" I questioned, my face still pressed against him.

"No," Aaron replied simply. "This is part of our training. He'll be back for us."

"What if he can't find us?" I wondered, pulling away to look up at him.

He sighed, taking his arm off of me to reach into his pocket. He pulled something out and showed it to me.

"Do you know what this is?" he quizzed. I shook my head. "It's a tracking device. And it stays with me at all times. He knows where we are."

"When will he be back?" I questioned.

"I'm not sure," he admitted, wrapping his arm around me again.

I burrowed closer to him, and I could tell he needed the warmth just as much as I did. He took a shuddering breath.

His broken arm was hanging limply by his side. Our father had broken it just before he abandoned us. Probably to give him a disadvantage.

He didn't hurt me, but that was most likely because I already had a disadvantage, being only eight years old.

"We're going to freeze to death before he ever finds us," I complained. He chuckled, though there was no heart behind it.

"Go back to sleep," he instructed. "Then you won't be able to feel it."

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

    Aaron and Bianca were playing a round of chess, and I was watching curiously. I had never learned to play, and the rules always confused me.

"Checkmate," Aaron said, smiling proudly.

      The twelve-year-old girl promptly knocked the chess board over and I jumped. Aaron rolled his eyes, though both of us were used to this. She was a sore loser.