Somewhere Else

Chapter Three

Ivy and I take turns on Ralph, rarely talking. I think about how I left home with barely enough, how I just left Isabelle alone, thinking Mom would go back, but what if she didn’t? I went over what Ivey told me and how wrong it was. I decided on those long days that I would be a part of his ending of the King. He tricked us.

I remember how Dad would throw away any food that arrived under the name of the King. He claimed it was poisoned and he would rather starve then become a mindless slave. I was young then so I didn’t really understand, I just agreed. Now I know what he meant and wish he would have explained it before we lost him.

Memories always come to me when I walk or ride. One that visits me often is the day we found Dad’s body. He went out, once a month to check and reset the traps he put out in the forest. He would be gone for a few days, but never more than a week. It was winter time and Dad left, saying that he would bring us lots of food for the winter celebrations. We all smiled and waved him off. Two and a half weeks later, Alex and I were playing in the snow, certain that this was the day that Dad would come home and we would be the first ones to see him and the food he caught. We had figured it would take him longer, it usually does during this time of year, with the snow and large animals he always caught. We heard a sound from the edge of the forest, and thinking it was Dad, we ran over.

As we got closer, we hesitated; we weren’t allowed to go into the forest, only Dad and sometimes Mom.  We decided this one time it was okay because if Dad still hadn’t come out, he obviously had a lot and needed help. I still remember what we saw next as if it had been sitting right in front of me only an hour ago.

We saw Dad’s body, bloody and mangled, caught in one of his traps. I could tell it was recent because the blood was still bright red on the ground. Alex stood there and stared with distant eyes as I began to sob. I tried to free his body, to make him come back to life, anything. This couldn’t happen. It was just a bad dream.

Alex grabbed hold of my arms and pulled me away from the corpse. I fought him, refusing to believe that my Dad was gone. It wasn’t possible. He was the one who held us all together. Alex practically drug me back to the house to tell Mom. She refused to believe him and told him to stop playing such nasty tricks. So, he grabbed her arm and showed her. I didn’t go that time. I stayed there with Isabelle and tried to wake myself from that horrible dream.

When Mom and Alex came back, Mom had tears pouring down her face.  I ran to her, hugging her and she stroked my hair, not saying a thing.  We stood in that position for at least ten minutes.

The next day, we burned Dad’s body and Mom scattered his ashes around the house and forest, saying that he would always protect us. There were no winter celebrations that year. 

Not long after that Mom found her shed and would stay there for a day or more at a time.  That was when Alex and I learned to toughen up and how to feed ourselves and Isabelle. Mom was rarely home anymore, after a while, it felt as if Alex and I had become the parents of this household.  It wasn’t easy. But we survived. And now, with Alex gone, I had to get him back so we could still keep our falling apart family together.

Tears welled up in my eyes just thinking about those times. I promised myself that if I ever became a mother, I would never do that to my children. No matter what the situation was. I wouldn’t just run off and leave them to fend for themselves. But then again, my chances of ever being a mother was looking pretty slim at the moment.

I was riding Ralph at the moment and it was pretty painful.  I’ve been up here for a good three hours and was ready to switch. I turned to look for Ivy but she had ran off again. She does that a lot. She’s like a little child sometimes, but I know that she will be back in a bit.

As the sun began to set, Ivy came running back into view. She wore a worried look and motioned at me to move. I directed Ralph to the cover of a nearby rock and had him lay down. Within seconds Ivy sprinted over and swung around the rock, kneeling next to me.

“What is going on?!” I whisper-shouted.

“The.. Army… coming…” she panted. I gave her a minute before giving her the explain everything look.

“I was out looking for food for tonight cause I know we’re low. Suddenly there was this big dust storm looking thing across the horizon. It didn’t take me long to figure out it wasn’t a storm cause it was moving flat across the horizon so I went to see what it was, hoping it was a herd of something I could kill for food.”

I nodded and motioned for her to continue.

“As I drew closer I saw that it was a bunch of men on horses. They had a bunch of young, scared men who were bound by ropes with them. I wish the Last Chance was here so we could ambush them, but with just two of us, we would be dead in seconds.”

“We could follow them thou…”

“NO!” she cut me off, “they would realize it and set a trap. We will let them pass, then continue to the City, and get the Last Chance together and rescue our brothers and everyone else. Then we end this thing. Got it?”

I just nodded.

“Good. Now sleep, I’ll stay guard for a bit.”

As much as I hated being told what to do, I did it anyways, knowing that I would need sleep for whatever it was that laid ahead of me.

So I was going to make this two different chapters, but decided just to combine them. I know it's mainly a filler chapter, but I had fun writing it and even got a little emotional writing the flash back. :P Yes I know, I'm the author, why would I be emotional? I don't have an answer for you. Oh well.

So I really want to know what you guys think of this and what you think will happen. So post your predictions, follow so you know when I upload and vote!

Love ya guys! <3