Passages

Chapter 6

Baylee ran.

Her footprints were clear on the snow. It would be really easy to track her down.

But she thought she found the boy. And the boy was her aim.

It was hard to move quickly through the thick layer of snow, yet she ran.

"Coming! Hey, what's your name?"

"Kaspar! I'm like you, ten."

"Why are you here?"

"Nobody would want to save me."

"Well, I do. Why do you think I sneaked out of my Passage wearing just a random dress?"

"Sorry for being the reason for your problems. I always am though. If you wanna make friends, which I'm sure you don't, you gotta get used."

"Listen, I'm here to try. Can you stop sassing over things and let me?"

Kaspar ran out. He was a short boy, with small eyes.

"So... hi."

"Hi."

"How in the world are we going to do... what we're trying to do?"

"If we can, sneak back to the Passage."

"And?" He seemed skeptical about the whole idea. Baylee hesitated.

"Well, we must get out of here, anyway. We can't stay here."

"Genius."

Kaspar rolled his eyes.

"Fine then, what would you prefer to do?" Baylee snapped back.

He shrugged his shoulders.

"Let's just find someone on our side."

"We're the only ones stuck here. Impossible."

"I don't mean kids. Some people."

"What people?"

"Warriors."

"Maybe we could."

Baylee found herself playing with her hands. Everything felt so strange to her. Kaspar raised an eyebrow.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she smiled. It got even worse.

"Something is wrong."

"Oh, it's just a bit awkward."

"Okay, forget it. We're allies now, gotta find the others. But are you sure you're ready?"

Baylee cracked up.

"Why, that's a question for you to answer."

"Okay then, I am. Just that it's a war, not a game. It's real."

"I know, right."

"So... We should really start getting somewhere."

"True."

It got awkward again.

Silence.