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AMYRA
Three days, that's all they gave her. Three days to say goodbye to her loved ones, three days to get ready for the university, three days before she has to catch the train to the university, and those three days passed by in a jiffy.
It was Amyra's last night at the town before she had to leve everyone and everything behind. The healer was sitting near the window, gazing out at the field with longing. Her eyes took in the scenery outside through the window in front of her. She wondered when will be the next time she would see this scenery again, outside her new home, her little cottage with Jamal.
The soft creaking of the bed behind Amyra made her realize that she wasn't the only one awake. After quickly wiping her tears away, the healer turned to Jamal who was sitting on the bed cross legged. He was in his grey pajamas, his usually combed back hair all messy. She glanced at the clock on the bedside which displayed three forty in bright neon green. Looks like she had woken him up with her soft cries.
Jamal silently made his way across the bed to sit beside sniffling Amyra. "Hey," his warm and sturdy hand on her shoulder calmed her hammering heart. Amyra could feel her anxiety and worry wash away as if those negative emotions never existed in the first place.
"I am scared," Amyra said suddenly, turning her face towards Jamal. "But I can't figure out what exactly am I scared of."
Was she scared of being alone, of being crushed like an insect by the harsh world outside her small world? Or was she scared of ending with the same fate as her biological parents? Maybe neither or maybe both, Amyra didn't knew for sure.
"You don't need to do this if you don't want to," Jamal started, taking her hand into his. "We can move away from Acadris, we can go to Machco or Warenna, heck, even Magham would do."
A hoarse chuckle left Amyra's throat before she replied, "I thought you were the rational one Jamal. How are we supposed to get past the borders? And, I know that look. No, we are not going to do anything illegal."
"B-but—"
"No, it will get us in more trouble Jamal." Amyra said sternly, taking her hand back from Jamal's hold. The sudden loss of warmth made her disappointed, but she needed to make her point clear.
Jamal opened his mouth to say something, but decided against it, leaving the room silent and tense.
"Will you write to me?" Amyra asked after sometime, peaking at Jamal through the curtain of her hair.
The said man didn't reply straight away, but rather enveloped her into an embrace.
"Everyday," he replied, running a hand through Amyra's black and white curls that reached her waist. She had a very peculiar hairstyle, half white and the other half black. "I will write to you everyday. I will try to come and visit too. Hopefully frequently."
"If you wouldn't have finished your university early just to brag about it to me, we both could have gone together," Amyra said with a laugh, melting into the embrace as she wrapped her arms around her husband.
"I would've, but I thought bragging about finishing university at a young age to you would be much more fun," Jamal caressed Amyra's right cheek with his free hand before adding, "but to be honest, I think all those years of annoying you were worth it."
Just like that, the tension was gone, now replaced by laughs and warmth.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
"E-eat well, and d-don't eat outside food—" snif, "—y-you never know what they put in it, and d-don't ever-r leave the school—"
"University," Kareem coughed.
"—premise alone. Alright?" Lilah had Amyra trapped in a bone crushing hug as she sobbed silently on the latter's shoulder.
"I promise, Lilah." Amyra whispered, her hand rubbing comforting circles on the former's back.
"If anyone upsets you or bullies you, just let me know and I will personally take care of it," Nasir said as Lilah let go of Amyra and leaned on her husband's shoulder with teary eyes.
Amyra could only manage a nod and a small smile in reply for she feared that her eyes would betray her and would spill the tears that she had been holding back.
Next was her brother, Kareem, who knocked air out of her when he jumped into the older girl's arms.
"I will miss you," he cried, his tears staining Amyra's cream cardigan.
"I will too. I promise to write you."
Then were the twins, who stood silently like a statue with beads like tears trailing down their cheeks.
"We are sorry," Diana whispered while Dahlia cried on Amyra's shoulder, her glasses foggy. "It's our fault."
"You have to go—" hic "because of us," Dahlia cried.
"No," Amyra said sternly, backing a little so she could see Dahlia in the eyes. "No one could have avoided this. What happened is no one's fault. The king already planned for me to work as a medic in the army, he is just using this situation as an excuse."
"I knew this the second the guard told me about the army. I will be fine, don't you two worry. Just take care of yourselves and the clinic. I know you two would do a great job."
And so went on the sad cycle of embraces and tears as her friends, her neighbors, people she knew bid their goodbyes, and when the arms of the grandfather clock in the living room shifted to nine, Jamal pulled out his hover car from the parking.
The living room started emptying as people one by one stepped outside in the morning sun. Amyra was halfway out of the archway of the living room when an ominous wave of emotions caught up to her. It was so sudden and overwhelming that Amyra stumbled a little and dots danced in front of her eyes, but she quickly recovered and looked around the room, trying to find the source of such overwhelming emotions.
Her mouth went dry as her eyes found the Agathonion in the corner, the area where the emotions were most concentrated. Her heart tumped faster and fear overpowered her sense of thinking as the healer fled the cottage in great urgency, praying under her breath for protection of her family and friends.
During the ride to the train station, Amyra couldn't help but think about the flower, its aura and what she heard before she left the cottage. She wasn't sure if someone or something whispered it, or it was her imagination, but Amyra could clearly remember hearing a hushed whisper saying, 'run healer, as fast as you can, once I catch you, you will meet the same fate as the gingerbread man'.
