The Runaway Huntress

CHAPTER 16

'WELCOME TO FARDEN CITY'

     Melisca read the sign engraved to the large boulder in between of the two-way road. So, now they had finally entered the city boundary.

     Home bloody home, Melisca. She greeted herself in her mind. Right from the moment they passed through the sign, the lump in her throat started building. She felt like the single drop of lava had spread the burning liquid in her lungs. Her face remained stoic. The air she breathes from the place was like poison gas, that every time she inhales, the more her chest constricted.

     She felt like entering into her nightmares again. The same place where she lost both her parents. The same place that made her who she is now and what she seeks.

     The cold night air added to what her body already felt. Her system went numb of how familiar the pain.

      "We should rest. Before heading to the capital of the town." Lorna suggested, her eyes felt tired, almost droopy.

      "What time is it?"

     "It' almost 9 in the evening, I guess. Oh, there's a sub-urban hotel just a few minutes drive from here. We should check-in there to stay for the night."

      Melisca silently agreed to the girl. But a thought bothered her. "Have you been here before?" She asked to answer her confusion.

      "Yes, my family stays in the city. It's just me going on a mission more often that I rarely get home."

     "Mission?"

     "Yeah, for the purpose I just told you." She can sense Lorna giving her an eye roll for she should have an idea of what the girl was talking about.

    The forest by the side of the road now ended, tiny houses occupied the space. They were at a village of the city boundary. As she continued on driving, more bungalows appear, then turned to two-story buildings. The street lamps all working giving the road a clear view for driving. A few people roaming around the sidewalks, some girls standing at the sides with their close to nothing outfits.

     There were some food and accessories stalls by the sidewalks. She hasn't remembered any of these. That such night can be so calm and normal from where she was.

    She almost laughed at herself for how ridiculous it could be. That all those normal memories had vanished the moment her real nightmares came true. How she wanted to step back and not touch where her tragic past had occurred.

     The name of the place itself haunts her. The air she breathes makes her stomach upside down. She wanted to puke her guts out. The unbearable suffering inside her was just too much for now that she sharply turned at the side of the road and stopped.

    She kicked the stand on so Lorna won't fall carelessly. Then she unlocked the girl's arms around her waist and almost jumped out of the motorcycle.

    "Where are you going?" Lorna questioned, confused about her behaviour. But she continue running, not even a glance back.

     Melisca got to the nearest alley which the light of the lamp post didn't reach the area. When she found a perfect spot, just beside a small building, she then gave in to what she was pushing down inside.

     As her one hand braced herself to the wall, she had let out all her guts, vomiting.

    Her cold sweat trickling down the forehead along with hot tears that she hadn't noticed had come out from her eyes. Heaving up to contain herself but not enough for another gut round of disgust that wanted to come out.