Escape Artists

Chapter 17 • Return

Evelyn stared onto the ground, not daring to raise her head.

"Fuck..." Lennon cursed and Evelyn heard how something was being dragged over the ground. She didn't dare to look up. There was a thud some meters away from her. "You can look, there aren't any dead bodies here. As long as you don't look behind those trees."

Evelyn slowly lifted her head and looked around a little. There was blood on the ground and she quickly looked to the other side.

This was horrible. Evelyn didn't want all this to happen. Couldn't she have just lived a normal life? She could be sitting by the river but instead she was standing between an assassin and someones blood. All this would've never happend if Evelyn hadn't become Lennon's assassination target.

It started to rain. Evelyn stood still. Lennon looked around. "Leave."

Evelyn carefully looked up to him. Then she turned to look at her village. Was he serious? She could return to her home? Continue her life like how it was before? Evelyn turned around. Lennon was gone.

Evelyn looked around but Lennon wasn't to be seen. She turned to her village. After all that had happend? She was home?

Evelyn walked along the pathway towards her village. She stopped. She wasn't ready to return yet. She walked along a small hidden pathway that led to the river.

Evelyn reached the river and sat down on a dry stone. She wrapped her arms around her legs and put her head on her knees. She thought. She had so many questions. Raindrops fell onto her, but she didn't care.

This didn't feel the same. It didn't feel like home. Everything felt so different even tho it was the same. Maybe if all this would've never happend, she could've had a normal life.

Evelyn got up. She didn't even realize that the sun had already started to set. She turned around to leave the river but stopped. She put her hand in the water and closed her eyes. This felt like home.

Evelyn was walking along the pathway. The rain had gotten stronger and she hurried through the bushes. She hadn't been walking for long but the rain kept becoming stronger. It's called Rainlands for a reason.

A thorn caught Evelyn's long skirt. It was already torn and dirty anyway but Evelyn had to stop to remove it. She tried to remove the thorn, but all that happend was new ones getting stuck too.

She sighed. She was completely wet, and couldn't get going because of the many thorns that clung to her skirt. The sun had almost disappeared too.

After trying to remove the thorns from her skirt for several minutes, she finally managed. She continued walking along the pathway, keeping distance from any thorns.

Evelyn reached the main pathway. She would go back to the river tomorrow. The river still gave her joy.

Evelyn reached the village. It was dark, since the sun had disappeared behind the mountains fully now. Evelyn went straight to her house. She didn't want to think about what happend anymore. Leave it all behind.

Evelyn reached her house and knocked. There was no answer. "Fool..." she thought to herself and opened the door.
Of course, how could she forget. Her mother was gone...

The rain hit the windows. She felt so lonely. Evelyn tried to sleep, but couldn't. Usually she loved listening to the rain. But thus time, it was different. It wasn't a chilly night rain. It was an ice cold, strong rain. It never rained like this. Even with Azalea Forest, the forest that healed eveything around and inside it, surrounding Azalea. The village felt so different.

After a long time, Evelyn fell asleep.
In her home, that had lost its meaning.