Halo | 18+

chapter fifty one

- AURELIA JONES -

"...Aurelia! Lia, wake up!" Lyza's frantic voice woke me up in an instant.

"What? What is it?" I gasped, untangling myself from Shoju's arms.

Lyza's big eyes were full of tears, "What's wrong? Lyza?" I reached for her, she climbed into my arms willingly.

"Chickens gone!" She said, "I went to
check on him and he's gone!"

"What do you mean he's gone? Why'd you go and check on him?" I asked. "You know you're not supposed to go outside at night by yourself." I said sternly.

Her lip quivered and she put her head down, "I didn't mean to raise my voice, I'm sorry. Just- why did you go outside?"

"I heard chicken making noise."

My worst fears came true when I peeked out the window and saw the chicken coop the boys had made, was completely torn open with no chicken inside.

"Fuck." I mumbled.

"What's happened?" A sleepy Angel pondered, rubbing her eyes. I looked to Lyza, nodding my head to where I was looking.

Angel followed my eyes, shoulders sagging in defeat as she saw what I saw.

"I'll go get Rez." She sighed.

"Go back to bed, we'll find chicken, I promise." I said.

"But what if you can't!" She said, "We will. Just go to bed okay?"

She nodded, walking back to her room. I ran a hand through my hair, stressed as I peered through the window again.

It doesn't look like anything human could've done that. It was a stupid idea to keep that stupid chicken outside anyway.

Hands came down on my shoulders, rubbing them in a circular motion, "It's okay Lia, don't beat yourself up."

Ollie's comforting voice was like music to my ears, "What do we do, Ol. I feel so defeated."

"I know. But we're doing the best we can. We've made it this long, so what we don't have fresh eggs for breakfast, we have each other and we're still alive. That's enough."

I knew he was right, but I couldn't help feel responsible.

"Go to bed. Rez and I will sort this out okay?"

He was still limping and as much as I wanted to disagree with him, I was tired. "Okay. I love you."

Walking back to my room, I was more wide awake then ever.

+ + +

I didn't fall back asleep after that.

I kept listening out for any movement or sounds coming from outside. I didn't hear anything though, which disappointed me even more considering I lost sleep over it.

However, the weather seemed to match my mood this morning as grey clouds threatened rain, thundering over the sky with thick, black clouds.

I stared out the window in deep though, my breathing turning manual as I was consumed by fatigue and confusion. "We need to do something about that rain, the shutters won't hold for very long and if they come off, we're exposed to anything from the outside."