The Prince of Arc - Part II

Chapter 16 - Accept Reality, Never Lose Hope

16.

"We can't leave without him!" I said, shifting myself to be able to see Henry. We couldn't leave without Cam. "Someone go back and look." Neither Henry nor Skylar moved. "Guys! I'll go and look if you don't go yourselves! The rioters would kill me, do you want me to die?! If not, go look!" Still, nothing happened. "Please?!"

"It's too much of a risk, Blake." Skylar began. "None of us should go." She turned her attention to the house, shook her head for a second, and kept talking. "Who knows where the Drakes took him. I doubt that the Drakes are still even in the house, they probably took an escape route, isn't there one here?"

"Yes, there are many. And even if they didn't find one, the house is too dangerous for us to go in. We can't lose anyone else." Henry added. "We will get him back as soon as possible, just not now."

"They could kill him! Don't you understand?!" I was infuriated. "They could torture him! They could force information out of him! We can't forget about him!"

"We aren't forgetting about him," Henry said, attempting to calm me down.

"Yes we are if we are just going to leave him here!" It wasn't going to work. "You guys don't understand how much he means to me! He's like my brother!"

Cam has been the only person who has heard all of my complaints about my terrible family. He's my best friend. He has been the only person who I can tell everything that's on my mind. He's saved my life many times, and I'm not going to let his end because of the Drakes. I would even take my own life for him, I owe him that much.

"I understand," Skylar said, reaching her hand out to rest on my arm, her eyes locked with mine."They took my family too."

As she said this my mind stopped thinking about Cam and began to think of Skylar's situation. I completely forgot about Skylar's family. Her father and brother were not only victims; they were the first two cards. They were taken first too, so she didn't even know what would happen to them. Now she was in the same position I was in. The Drakes took both of our closest friends and family, and we couldn't get them back, at least not yet.

"Oh yeah," I said with a blank mind, looking down at the carpet of the car. "I'm so sorry," I said, looking back at Skylar. I felt a loss of words...

"It's fine, I was the same way with you, if not worse. Don't worry, we will find them." Skylar said, with a small smile on her face. I could tell she still had hope in finding her family."My father always told me something after a bad thing happened. You know, to cheer me up. He'd always say, 'Accept reality but never lose hope.'"

'Accept reality but never lose hope.' Skylar's father's quote stuck in my mind. Cam was gone, just like her family was. That was the reality. Believing we would take them back, that was hope. Reality without hope is a story without a moral, a book without an ending, a life without purpose. We couldn't lose hope. Even when it seems there can't be a happy ending, there is always the possibility. I accepted this, and calmed down.

I exhaled the stress out, paused for a second to think of what to say, and then responded to Skylar's quote.

"I agree with your dad," I said, keeping my answer pleasant and simple. Turning back to look at Henry, I felt the need to apologize. "I'm sorry," I began. "I wasn't thinking straight, and I overreacted." I paused. "If we can't get Cam back here, we will have to get him back later. Along with Skylar's family."

Henry nods in agreement, and we pull out of the burning vacation home. Luckily the riot was loud enough for us to escape unnoticed.

The shouts slowly fade to silence and the sky begins to fill with twinkling stars. Once we were out of the forest and on a road beside the trees, I turned my attention out the window to see where we came from. The usual late night silhouette of the forest surrounding the house began to come alive in the light of increasing flames. And as fuel to the flame, it was engulfing the trees.