The Unholy Trinity

8

"We'll see you at the house, then," Neil forces out, still skeptically eyeing Harrison.

"Okay. Goodbye?" Milan says when he doesn't make a move to leave.

Aurora groans, throwing her hands up in exasperation. "I'm always the mediator." She grabs Neil's arm and pulls him away from the balcony and together they descend the grand stairs.

Milan and Harrison are struck in silence for a few moments once their left alone. For Milan, it's better to push everything away, including Harrison. But he wants, no, needs to confront it. He needs to let all of his secrets go. He needs Milan to know he didn't want to leave her.

"Is there somewhere we can sit?" He asks, wringing his hands out.

She bites her lip, flickering her tongue to her cheek. Glancing around the balcony, she points to a loft area with couches and chairs circled around a window that stretches the full length of the opposite wall.

He nods in agreement and starts walking. She follows robotically.

Harrison finds a seat in one of the larger couches and Milan sits at the one opposite. He sighs at that and picks himself up and moves to sit beside her.

She cracks her neck in annoyance, rolling her eyes. "Okay. Talk."

He slowly takes a deep breath, readying himself for this talk. Figuring out where to start and exactly how to form these events he has faced into sentences.

"That day I left—it wasn't my choice,  that you need to know." He folds his hands together on his lap to stop them from shaking. "I was a orphan, Mil. You know what they do to orphans. What they did." He swallows and she finds herself not blinking. "They were gonna recruit me for the war. They came to school that day. I saw two soldiers talking to the dean on the way to the bathroom. I heard my father's name," his lips tremble. "I knew they wanted me. I couldn't. I was young. So young. I couldn't stay. I didn't even have time to say goodbye or anything, Mil. I had to leave right away."

"They were going to recruit you?" She asks calmly, even though inside she can feel her heart melting with sadness for him. 

He nods, running a hand through his hair. Resulting in the strands peeking up from every direction.

"I'm sorry I didn't come to you before I left. To be honest I didn't even think. I-I just left. I didn't want to die. I was a coward, I know that."

"Hey," she starts, grabbing his hand. A move that shocks her and him. "You were not a coward. You were a child. A child that should've never been put in that situation."

"No, I-" his voice wavers, "I shouldn't of ran. I should've faced the war like every other little kid was."

She clenches his palm. "Where'd you go, Harrison?"

His name sounds so foreign rolling off her tongue, his neck feels whiplash from whipping back at her.

"I didn't know where to go, at first. I just took all the money my dad left, got on the first bus out of the village and kept moving. Just kept going. Buses, trains, a plane once. Ended up in Oxford."

"England?" He nods. "Why?

He nods again. "I just needed to keep low from Linq. England was the only country not effected by the war. You know this."

Linq. Also known as the old Iceland. After the disharmony of European country leaders broke out into war, countries began parting into their own self island. Linq. Three major cities in Linq; Isles, where the royals live. Witzen, the slums with dregs. Nobak, the middle class lifestyle.