Aurora

Chapter 6

Aurora and Jack walked through the woods for what felt like hours, they kept walking deeper into the woods and soon it was sunrise and Aurora's legs began to hurt; she wasn't used to walking long distances, unlike Jack.

She stopped.

"I'm tired." She uttered.

Jack stopped on his tracks on the hills and turned to her, "If you want to survive, you need to learn how to walk and run."

"But I don't want to survive, I just want to go home." She spat, her voice almost teary.

He sighed and made his way down to her,

"We can rest here for an hour and then we continue, we have a long run ahead."

Aurora looked over and found a large tree, making her way to it, she sat under it and rubbed her aching feet,

"Where are we going?" She asked and immediately wondered why she hadn't asked him before.

Dropping the sack off his back, he settles himself next to her, "I know someone who can answer your questions." Aurora became suddenly hopeful, "They call her Zara, she's a seer, and she lives in the next villages, two miles away from here."

She stared down her aching feet, "I don't think I could walk that far~"

"You would manage~," He tells her and she sighs, before laying back under the tree and looking up at the bright morning sky, She thought of Mia and worried of what she might think on finding her absence,

She didn't want her to assume she abandoned her.

"You hungry?" Jack chirped in, extending her an apple. She shook her head.

He shrugs and then pulling out his dagger, he busied himself with the apple, "When you said I couldn't get home, what did you mean?" She asked,

"I meant there's no road out, nothing but small neighboring villages and woods."

A tear fell down Aurora's cheek at the thought of being stuck here forever, more tears rolled up her eyes and she curled up under the tree and whimpered silently.

Jack just sat there chewing onto his apple and watching her, "Look." he hesitated for a while and then asked, "What's your name again?"

She took a moment before whispering,

"Aurora."

"Right." he paused, "Look Aurora, crying will solve nothing, it would only make you weak and you would end up getting killed or worse captured by domix."

Aurora stared at him confused, "What is a domix?"

"Right, I forgot you're not from around here." he sighed, and began to choose his words carefully, he didn't want to scare her more than she already is, "Domix's are half human, half animal, they survive by eating human fear and eventually eat them."

For the first time Aurora found herself laughing, but then she looked at his expression and realized he wasn't joking,

"You're serious?"

"You think I would joke with a thing like that," he replied and fear filled her eyes, then it hit her.

"The thing that tried to attack me that was a Domix?"

He nodded,

"The villagers call him Gram because he roams around at night and then disappears without a trace the next morning."

Aurora looked dead shocked, she knew there was a lot he was holding back, but she wasn't ready to know so she didn't ask, "Rest, we would continue walking in a few minutes."

Aurora said nothing else, she just laid back under the tree and looked up at the sky, she stared at it, until her eyelids became too heavy and she fell asleep.

She wakes up sometime later to a shake on her shoulder; She blinked her lids open to see Jack staring down at her,

"It's time to go."

Aurora took his hand, and he lifted her to her feet, "Thanks." She mumbled quickly pulling her hands out of his, there were a lot of things that made little sense around here, but there was one mystery that remained a puzzle in her mind since she met Jack,

"Why are you helping me?" She blurted out and Jack took a moment, throwing the sack on his back before answering,

"Because I need to find Sarah."

"You believe me?" Aurora asked in a hopeful tone, she needed someone to assure her she wasn't going crazy or losing her mind.

"Yes." He answered and Aurora smiled weakly, "Besides you can't be Sarah." he added as they began their journey further into the woods.

"Why is that?"

"Let's just say, If you were Sarah we won't be doing much of walking right now." He smirked.

Aurora stared at him confused, she didn't understand what he meant and she was too overwhelmed and exhausted to ponder on it or ask, so she just let it slide.