Promises, Broken

Chapter 11

You awake with a start. The world around you is in flames. You shake Laurance awake. He's sweating with the heat of the forest fire. Nina is still asleep in your arms. You scoop her up, taking Laurance by the groggy hand. You pull them away. We run to a part of the woods that hasn't caught yet. Laurance offers to take Nina, but you insist on holding the young girl. She's now awake and sobbing quietly. She probably thought you were going on a picnic or something. You wish... "We should keep moving," Laurance says interrupting my thoughts. "Okay," you reply. Laurance pulls you along this time. You had only gotten a few hours of sleep. Laurance probably got less. Finally, we reach a clearing with no grass. Laurance stops by the stream in the center of the clearing. I walk over to him, panting as I go. I splash water on my face, removing the smell of smoke from my hair and clothes. Nina curls up in her father's arms. He pulls out a map, blowing of all of the ashes and embers on it so it won't catch. "We're 7 miles off coarse because of the fire. We should head South West," he retorts. I look to the sky as the smell of smoke retreats into the night. I pick up a weeping Nina who buries her head in my shoulder. "We should keep moving then," I say. LAURANCE looks me in the eye. I see aggression, hurt, longing but most surprisingly, fear. He's afraid. I think the only time I've seen him afraid was when he was telling me about Aphmau. He was deathly afraid. Yet, now he has someone to protect. That'll keep him going. Before we run, he takes my hand, guiding my body closer to his. Our lips meet. I smile into the kiss. It's been 5 years... Nina squirms between us and we part -after what feels like an eternity. We begin to run again. To New Meteli!