After one of the longest nights of my life, I woke up in a stormy mood. I had spent the night trying to secure our makeshift house- a dried up creek, and failing to get comfortable on our makeshift bed- a pile of leaves. Sophie, on the other hand, had a deep, peaceful sleep and was in a happy, chirpy and completely irritating mood.
"'Morning Keo!" She grinned.
"Yes. Good observation. Shut up."
"How are you feeling?" She persisted.
"Suicidal." I replied, hoping to silence her.
"What's that?"
"Unghhh" This sound had been unintentional, and only occurred due to the unfortunate fact that I was being choked.
Two rough, brutal hands were squeezing my neck, blocking my airway.
"Run," I gasped and Sophielle immediately took off, unnaturally fast. I could've sworn I saw her flash a smile at me before she disappeared from view. I breathed a sigh of relief. I mean I wanted to, but then realized I couldn't breathe at all.
I kicked my legs back frantically, in a blind panic, but I did not hit my target. Instead, I made it angrier. My aggressors grip tightened and black spots appeared, obstructing my vision.
'When I said I felt suicidal, I didn't mean I wanted to die right now..' was my last thought before I inevitably blacked out.
I woke up in exactly the same spot as where I had blacked out. My head hurt a bit, but besides that I felt fine.
"Sophielle!" I yelled, all of a sudden remembering. I jumped to my feet.
"I'm right here," she replied softly. "I'm okay,"
"Who was that? Did you see them? Where did they go? What did they want? Did they take anything?"
"It was a lady, she wore a mask, and I don't know where she went."
"Soph." I gripped her shoulders. "Did she take anything?"
She bit her lip. "Soph, tell me."
"The coin," She said finally. "She took the coin, and also the paper."
A wave of dread crashed over me, and I sunk to the floor.
"We lost the coin. We lost the coin. We lost the coin."
I wanted to go back in time, back to sleep, and start the day again. I felt a lump growing in my throat. For the second time that day, I felt suicidal.
"It's okay, Keo. it's okay, look what I've got."
Sophielle gently held my clenched hand, and opened it. "Look Keo, I found another coin."
I looked down at the coin and forced a smile to my lips.
"Wow," I managed. "Thanks Sophie. This is good." Although our situation was nothing more than terrible, I kept what I hoped was a bright smile on my face.
"Soph? Did you.. smile when I was being choked?"
Sophielle's eyes twinkled. "I can't help it, I just love the vencha"
"The what?"
"The vencha!"
"Oh, the adventure," I chuckled.
"You're one crazy kid, Soph."
I had lost the most important thing I had, after Sophielle, of course. This new coin was nothing, just a piece of metal, completely worthless compared to the coin we had lost.
But at least it will get us breakfast.
