Running With the Wave

Chapter 28

The chapters may be kind of short from now on, sorry about that. I'll try to get them to at least two pages but I have good endings in mind and it's hard to find things in between those. Anyways, enjoy! There's not many chapters left.

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Era:

When I left Hunter I felt like a piece of me had been torn out and ripped to shreds. I want to feel him beside me and know that he'll always be there, but instead I have to do the right thing.

Is there even such thing as the 'right thng'?

No, I decide as I walk along the borderline of the field, hidden in the trees. There isn't such thing as the 'right thing' to do because it all depends on how you look at it and what happens.

For example, if I die before I free the women than it won't have been the right thing to do because it'll have been pointless.

I slink along the edge of the forest, thankful for the cover that the trees give. I've been walking for entire day and in the dimming light I can see the prison in the distance.

I'm going back to what was my home for fourteen years. To a place that I escaped from to avoid certain death.

Am I insane?

"This is for you, Keara and Moa." I mutter.

I heft the pack farther up my shoulder than break into a sprint. I want to try and get to the prison early tomorrow when most of the Keepers are too tired to really notice what's going on. It's my best shot, but I need to get fairly close tonight first so that I can actually make it there tomorrow morning. I try to block out the thought of Hunter, but I can't. I made the hardest choice anyone can: choosing between love and my friends, and my choice could have dire consequences that I didn't think of. I had to do this, I tell myself over and over again. It doesn't take long for me to discover that it's easier to convince others than yourself.

The prison is only about twenty yards away and I'm terrified to be this close but I swallow my fear. I have to do this, but first I have to sleep. I scamper up into a huge willow nearby and lie down on one of the thick branches. I strap the pack around me and the tree so that I have less of a chance of losing my stuff or losing myself if I drop the huge height down to the ground. I place the gun beside me on the branch so that it will be close within reach if I have to use it. Sighing, I close my eyes and try to fall asleep. Images of my night on the branch with Hunter pop into my mind. It may have been only two days ago but it feels like another life time. A sudden pang of longing runs through my and I push against the on coming tears. I will never see Hunter again. Despite my efforts, tears slide down my dark cheeks. The wave is cruel, I understand that now. It has no respect for lives, broken hearts or feelings and we all just have to live with it because we have no other choice. Do we really have any choice at all? No, we don't. If I had a choice, I would've chosen to run away with Hunter and never turn back, but I can't. I can't because I live in this sick world where people I love are always in danger and women are in prison for doing nothing wrong. I live in a world where I'm barren and should be one of the Disposed now, and I can't run off with Hunter because I have to save Keara, Moa, and all the other women. I tricked myself into believing I had something that was never mine or anyone's, and the consequence is that my heart is breaking. I cry myself to sleep that night, my last dream before I fall asleep being Hunter waving at me and me standing there as I watch the boy that changed my life walk away from me.