He Says He's From The East

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:CHAPTER TWO:

I was still sitting by the river by nighttime came. The searchers were probably eyeing around the area for anyone who was out after curfew. That meant me.

I didn’t want to stay near the river anymore. I didn’t even want to come here anymore. Instead of putting roses onto her proper grave, I would be dropping sympathy flowers into the running water. Long when I’m dead, no one would know who Marina Floret was, no one would know they’re touching the water she died in.

A white light flashed by me and I gasped and stood up quickly. Another glinted onto my black leather boots.

“Someone’s over there,” I heard a deep male voice say. Frightened, I trudged across the water, grasping large rocks for support. Once I reached the other side of the river, I ran towards the forest. My stiff legs felt like bricks, I felt slower with my legs numb.

“Hey! You there, stop!” The same deep voice shouted. I kept running, not looking back at the man, who was getting across the river.

One thing you never wanted to show a Searcher when running away from them was your face. Not only will it bring disappointment to your family and infamy to yourself, you’ll be brought to the Nuns who would ‘make you better,’ if you’re a girl. If you were a boy, you would probably get a warning.

I kept running until the Searcher was way past behind me. I stopped at a tree, and slid down to sit, being careful to hide myself behind the large trunk, shielding myself from the flashing lights. I quavered trying to slow my breathing. “Don’t make a sound,” I told myself. “Don’t let them catch you.” I started to chant to myself, saying the words as low as I could. “Don’t make a sound, don’t make a sound, don’t make a sound.”

I shivered involuntarily. I always followed the rules, I never asked questions, never said what if, or but. I never did anything like this, until now.

I slowly turned my head to the side, straining to look around the tree without showing myself. It would’ve been pure darkness in the forest it weren’t for the moonlight, it’s radiance bounced off the rosy petals. The Searchers weren’t far from me, but they weren’t close either. They were looking around the area.

“What do you think you’re doing out?” someone whispered near me. I tensed and removed my gaze from the Searchers, twisting my neck towards the speaker.

“I said what-,” I lifted my hand up, to tell him to stop. I thought for a moment. What was I doing here? Why didn’t I just let myself get caught, and go back to the village? I was about to tell him to mind his business, but other words got out of my mouth instead.

“I don’t know.”

“Well you might as well get out of here, before they do find you.” I knew he was smiling, though I barely saw him in the darkness. He pointed back towards the Searchers, and I looked back only to see them coming closer.

“You mind going for a run?” I opened my mouth, about to say ‘I’d rather get caught’, but he didn’t wait for my answer and instead pulled me up from my feet and started running, me tumbling after. Apparently, we were making too much noise, because the Searchers, started running in our direction.

“Stop!” One of them shouted. They were fast, but the friendly stranger clutching my hand was faster. When we were far from the Searches, he suddenly picked me up.

“God, you’re so slow!” He didn’t sound as out of breath as I was, I was heaving, almost as if I were having an asthma attack. We finally reached what seemed like a small cave. He slowed to a jog, still carrying me into the cave. When he set me down, he bent over, his hands on his knees, and turned to me.

I thought he would say something me and my wellness, but it was almost the exact opposite.

“You’re not as light as you look, what do you eat?” He said jokingly. A faint blush rose up my cheeks, annoyance bubbling in my stomach.

“Excuse me! Who are you to say something about my weight?” He ignored me, and took a small box out of his pocket. He lighted a match and threw it into an already built fire in front of him.

“I’m Jason. And why don’t you calm down at bit, and be civilized?” He obviously wanted to annoy me.

“Civilized? You wouldn’t know-“

“Civilized if it kicked me in the face. I’ve the line many times.” He sat down next to me, and closed his eyes. I started to calm down, and took in his features. He was a dirty blonde, something I never saw before since we have almost no blondes in our village. The only blonde I knew of was Mary, and I wasn’t very fond of her.

Jason slowly opened his eyes, they were a light brown, almost gold, a color I’ve never seen before. And strangely, his eyes made my heart flutter, and my palms sweaty.

“Stop staring, it’s not polite.” I frowned, turning my head away.

“Where are you from?” I asked. He looked in my eyes, and opened his mouth, but then closed it abruptly.

“I’m from the East,” he pointed. “And you’re from the North.” When my grandfather was alive he used to tell me what it was like when there were countries, many known areas of land instead of just four. “Why were you really out late?”

I hesitated. I didn’t think it was sensible to tell a stranger your business. So I just shook my head, refusing to answer him. He grinned at my stubbornness.

“At least tell me your name?” He tried. I shook my head again, and he laughed. I leaned my head back onto the cold cave walls. I could feel sleep beginning to engulf me.

“Anais. My name’s Anais.” I didn’t really hear what Jason said then. But I could’ve sworn I heard him say beautiful.

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I finally posted this after a long writer's block! I'm deticating this chapter to AllNaturalDancer2013 for telling me to not stop writing. Hope everyone enjoys this one, the third might be posted next week! (Maybe :])

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