Ré's Sacrifice

Chapter 11 The truth

Charlié and I ran. We ran until we reached a safe place away from all of the war and BAT's. We found an old cottage and knocked on the door. A young man aged around 18 to 20 opened it and immediately invited us in. We told him we ran away from the pub and our two best friends were missing. We needed help finding them. The man said he would help us. His name was Edward and he lived alone. He let us stay as long as we wished. He fed us and let us sleep in his spare room with two beds.

We were scared and wanted to know were our friends were. Hopefully safe in a house like us. We were about two miles away from the town square. Ebony and Evan couldn't be too far away.

We decided to stay at Edward's house for a week before continuing our search for our friends. We hadn't seen them in two weeks and we were so nervous without them. We were anxious to know where they were. We decided to travel to the meadow where we buried Amélie. Then hopefully we will find Ebony and Evan.

We stayed by Amélie's grave for most of that day, pulling up weeds and flowers around her grave and putting them on her. I missed her so much, but all I could think about was finding Evan and Ebony alive.

We slept by Amélie that night. It was hard to get sleep because it was cold, but after a while we eventually drifted off huddled together to keep warm.

Six years ago, I would have done anything to see my Parents. Then I found out they were fighting in the English war. They may have come here. Now I am afraid of seeing them, because they could kill me without knowing I am their own daughter. They probably think I am dead. I am better off dead.

I woke up early the next morning. I watched the brilliant colours of the sunrise. I woke Charlié so he could see it too. Who knows when we would next see something so beautiful. We cuddled close and leaned our heads together. I hoped Amélie could see it too. She was laying peacefully underneath the earth. Unaware of what was happening to the world. "The earth is a wretched place" Charlié said suddenly, breaking me away from my thoughts. I nodded my agreement. "Sometimes I just wish I was never even born" I sighed "Nobody deserves a life like this". "I know.." Charlié said quietly. I didn't say much else.

I have no idea how long we stayed on the hill. By the time we left, the sun was high up in the sky. We decided to take a walk in the woods. It was far too dangerous to return to the town.
The woods were peaceful and I wished to stay forever. The trees were tall. The waterfall splashed into the lake. We sat on a log and watched two birds playing together. I didn't want the Army Troops to find us. We stayed as quiet as we could. We talked silently and kept a close look for any soldiers around. "Charlié?" I asked. Charlié looked at me. "Yeah?". "What did you think of me when you first saw me?" I wondered. He laughed. "All I saw were two grubby starving street urchins who I didn't think had anything in common with me, then I saw you and how smart you were and I liked you from the start". "I'm not that smart" I replied with a smile. "Yeah I know, I am smarter than you but you are the prettiest street urchin I have ever seen" He smiled back at me. I blushed and looked down. "Have you ever kissed a boy before?" He asked "before you? no" I told him. "Did you like kissing me?" He asked. I looked at him "This isn't the best time". "Come on, I'm serious" Charlié insisted. "Yes I did" I replied. "Would you do it again?" He whispered. I nodded. He smiled at me and slowly leaned forward and pressed his lips against mine. Then I pulled back. "Are you okay?" Charlié asked. I nodded "yes, I'm sorry"I was finding it hard to breathe". "You have to breathe while you kiss someone! You silly goose!" He joked. "Would you marry me one day?" Charlié asked. "Yes I'll marry you" I told him. "And would we have children?" He asked. I nodded. "Yes, 2 children, a boy named Jack and a girl named Rose" I told him. He smiled and leaned in for another kiss.

Suddenly we heard sticks crack and voices. We stood up quickly and I started to panic. "We have nowhere to hide!" I whispered. "Behind the waterfall!" Charlié whispered. I hesitated. I didn't like water, but the voices were getting closer and we had little time. We both jumped into the lake and hid underwater. The water was surprisingly cool and delicious. We swam to the waterfall and hid behind it so we could come up for air when we needed to.

Four soldiers walked past. Two were carrying ropes attached to street urchins hands. They were two boys aged around 10 to 12 years. The oldest boy had a bloody gash on the side of his head. Possibly by an iron rod. They walked past, unaware of the two children hiding in the lake. "Ow, could you like, please let go of me now" I jumped at Charlié's voice. I realised I had been holding his hand so tightly, it had started to turn blue. "Sorry" I whispered and we swam towards land. It was only a small lake but it concealed us.

It was starting to get dark and we still hadn't found our friends. It took a long time for our clothes to dry and the weather had started to get windy and cold. I wished we had a warm bed to sleep in. Edward's beds were so soft and comfy, it made me tired just thinking about them. We hadn't eaten since that morning when we gathered a few berries in the woods.

Wild animals had started to come out and we knew we couldn't stay. So we walked back to the meadow.
When it came into our view we stopped in our tracks. About 40 BAT's were gathered around Amélie's gravesite, looking for clues to where we could be. It looked like the BAT's who had passed us while we were in the lake had seen us and told the others we were around the wood area. We decided to go back into the woods and climb a tree.
It took a while but soon we were up in a tree with many many branches all twisted together to make a sort of cradle to hold us.

We took turns keeping watch so we could both get enough sleep. Charlié kept the watch first and I was so grateful as I was so tired. It seemed like the second I drifted off, I was woken again by Charlié telling me it was my turn to keep watch. I climbed up onto the high lookout branch so I could see everything that happened down below.

I watched Charlié go to sleep and when he did, I looked around. I was so high up, I could see almost the whole forest. In the distance, I saw the town square. Only BAT's and dead bodies were around. Dead bodies were still hanging from the posts, but they were different people than when I last saw the posts.
After a while I started to feel sleepy so I picked off a few leaves and rubbed them on my face. They worked a little and I woke up a bit.
Then after two hours I decided, nobody was going to see us up here and decided to sleep. I climbed down from the branch and laid down next to Charlié. Soon I fell fast asleep.