The Marked

Chapter 5: Safe

Today Lisa was sick so she stayed in her room. It is just Aaron and I. We walked for what seemed like an eternity but we eventually reached it. We climbed into our cave. Once we were inside it was safe to talk.

"How have you been?" asks Aaron.

"Good." Which is a lie. I haven't been good at all. I have not seen Aaron for two weeks. This is because he is 18 now and is required to work. He has been working for the past two weeks in the field. The field is in the main room. It is our food source, besides fish. We grow strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, bananas, tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, and wheat. The hole at the top of the volcano allows light to shine down onto our crops. I haven't seen Aaron and I miss him, Lisa and I both miss him. I also have been dreading this day. It's scary that you know that on one particular day one thing could go wrong and you could die.

"Don't lie to me," he says in a soft voice.

"I am not--"

"What's wrong?" he interrupts.

I can't lie to him anymore. He is the one person I am supposed to trust and talk to about anything, besides Lisa. I do trust him, but not with these kind of things. I can never talk about my feelings for him, or anyone for that matter. Suddenly, I feel a large lump in my throat and I try to speak but I can't. Nothing comes out. I am choking back tears so he can't see. He wouldn't be able to see anything anyways. But he could sense something was wrong so he just scoots over next to me and puts his arms around me.

I don't want to say anything and I don't think he does either. We just sit there in silence. Listening to the rush of the river. It is so loud that we hear every move it makes. We can hear the water crashing into rocks, splashing around every corner. For the first time in forever, I feel safe on patrol day. Wrapped in his arms I finally feel safe and I don't know why.