Traveling Star, Wandering Chaos

Escape

"First it was them trying to kill us, now they're not only trying to kill us, but possibly thousands of people!?" I said to myself, pacing around the room. Just wonderful, just fantastic, seems the gods have decided that we must die today! I looked at Phuong's panicking face turning back as I felt a headache coming to bite me. I noticed the open door and promptly closed it. The last thing we want is for someone to hear us. Well shit, we're fucked, aren't we? I turned around again, seeing that Phuong had huddled back into her presumably hidey-hole of fear and anxiety. I walked over and huddled beside her- for brainstorming purposes of course.

After a while, I turned to her, "Are you just going to wallow in your misery, or are you going to help me?"

"Wallow in misery."

"Wrong. Now get up. I have a plan."

"Fine."

We come out from under the desk, Phuong stretching out her limbs. "So what's the plan?"

"We're leaving."

"What?!" Phuong gasped, "Aren't we going to tell Althea? What about her?!"

God, not this again.

"Phuong, after everything that's been happening, you still trust her!?"

"Of course I do! Althea wouldn't try to hurt us; she's our friend!"

"She's your friend!" I argued, "We haven't seen her at all in the past week, we have no idea if she's actually helping us! For all we know, she could be ratting us out!"

"And maybe she's not. Come on, let's stay positive!"

"People are dying, Phuong! Being positive isn't really an option right now!" I countered.

"I..." Phuong started, clenching her fists as her eyes welled up with tears, "She's the only friend I have left... the least you could do is let me believe she wouldn't," tears rolled down Phuong's face; She stood there crying in silence. I messed up, didn't I? I came closer to her and wiped her tears. She pushed me away, rubbing away her tears with her sleeve. She crosses her arms, her face scrunched up into an angry frown, her eyes puffy and red from her little cry a moment ago. Sigh. Sometimes I feel like I give her too much power over me. I closed my eyes and silently sighed, "You can leave a letter or note for her, but that's all," I said, opening my eyes to a Phuong less angry and sad, and more content. At least this made her happy.

I made my way to the door and opened it, "Are you coming or not?"

"I'm coming, just a sec," Phuong said, grabbing something before leaving the room.

-------------------------------------------------------

I lugged our school bags onto the bed and took out anything we didn't need. Minh came over and piled a bunch of clothes in them, "Clothes are checked, food is the next priority."

"I'll go to the kitchen then," I replied, leaving the room.

I power-walked down the hall. I'm not getting lost this time. My directions may be stupidly bad, but I know where food is when I smell it. I turned the corridor and made my way to the kitchen, bumping into a few servants along the way. After a few minutes, I arrived at the kitchen and went up to a chef there. "Excuse me, sir."

"Whaddaya want? Can't you see I'm busy?"

"I know mister, but can I ask you something?"

"A'ight, spit it out so I can get back to work."

"Okay, so, do you know where the pantry is? I wanna get some ingredients from there," I asked. The chef rolled his eyes, pointing to the back of the kitchen.