Us Against The World

Chapter 41

"It's getting dark." Halten says and ducks under the window, then crawls away from it. I nod and brush my hand across the dusty floor of the hand made tree house. Worry threatens to overthrow my body, but I fight against it as best as I can. I should not be worrying. Compared to the things Jexton and I have been through this is nothing compared. He is strong. 

But what if he and Ren were spotted? What if they were captured or even worse: what if they were killed? 

I shake my head free of the disturbing thought. I should not be thinking this way. I do it too often. I need to stay strong; not only for me, but for Halten as well. He is as worried about his sister as I am about Jexton.

"What if something happened to them?" Halten asks and I look up at him. I shake my head and lean forward to place my hand on his shoulder. "No. We can't think like that, okay? They're fine. They'll be back soon." I assure him and he stares at me expressionless for many moments. I remove my hand and lean back. "Everything will be fine, Halten. I promise." I say quietly and close my eyes. I hadn't realized how tired I was until I felt that the hard wall holding me up became comfortable.

"Farrah, did you hear me calling for you?" 

"Why did you wake me, mom?"  She stops walking and waits for me to catch up to her. She grabs my hand and stays silent. "Mom?"

 She warningly squeezes my hand.  "In the chest, Farrah. They'll be here any minute now."

I hear the front door burst open. I bring my fingers to my ears to drown out the sound of yelling.

"My husband died two years ago, and my daughter was taken already!" my mother's muffled voice pleads.

"Alright, allow us to look around then." a man with a deep voice interjects rudely.

I slowly remove my fingers from my ears and look through the tiny key hole of the chest in which I am hidden. I flinch at the sound of a slap and my mother wincing. My heart pounds against my chest as I hear heavy boots pound against the hardwood floor of my father's office. My eyes widen as they walk toward the chest I'm in.

I flinch and snap my eyes open. I inhale and exhale deeply out of fear from the nightmare. The memory. The night the soldiers invaded our house had certainly been the scariest night of my life... or so I thought at the time.

I look around the small, one-room tree house and find Halten sleeping in a fetal position. We remain the only two present.

I look up and out the window. Moonlight shines through it very brightly, right in my direction. The part of the sky that I can see from where I am sitting is littered with white orbs. I never acknowledged how beautiful something could be in such an ugly world.

I sigh and stand to a kneeling position. I walk over to the window and rest my forearms on the sill. I lie my chin on my arms and peer out of the small window. I look down, up, left and right. The cool, night breeze caresses my rough skin and I close my eyes. "Please, be okay." I whisper and exhale slowly. "Please, be okay."

"Ren?" Halten's sleepy voice yanks me from my trance. I turn around and his face falls at the sight of me. I sit cross legged under the window.

"They're still not back?" he asks and I shake my head at the ground. He sniffles and I look up. 

I hate seeing young children cry. I know they are a lot more sensitive than older kids or adults and I know he's worried about his sister. I know he told me that I'm not his sister and that I will never be his sister, but at a time and situation like this, I need to be the big sister figure. Halten will always need someone there for him, and I know he's used to that someone being Ren, but I'm the only one here with him right now. 

I crawl over to the young child and sit next to him. I try wrapping my arm around his shoulder, but he yells and shoves me away. "Halten," 

"Don't." he warns. I scoot away from him and lean against the wall again. "Look, I know you're worried about her. I'm worried about Jexton. And I know we don't know each other, but we have to be okay with each other. We're all we have right now. Please, just trust me." 

Halten shakes his head again and crosses his arms. "I'm going to find her." he says, crawling over to the trap door and fiddling with the handle to open it. "Halten, no." I warn but he ignores me. He opens the door all the way and dangles his feet down the hole. He moves to lower himself down, but I quickly crawl over and yank him back up. He screams and I cover his mouth. He struggles and I shush him. 

"Listen to me. Halten, Halten, shh. Listen." I repeat myself over and over until he finally calms down. "I'll let you go." I say and he nods. I slowly remove my hand from the small child's mouth and he sits up. He rubs his cheek and sits cross-legged in front of me.

"It's really late, and they're still not back yet." Halten says after a few moments of silence between the two of us. I nod in agreement. I can't keep working against him. He needs closure.

"We should go find them." he suggests and my head snaps up. My eyes search his concerned face and I shake my head. "You know how dangerous that is," I begin and he looks down, then back up. "they said they'll be back, they'll be back." I finish and Halten shakes his head again. "Then you go." he says and I roll my eyes at the floor. I look up at him again.

"I can't just leave you here by yourself. And I can't risk getting caught. I don't even know why Jexton in his right mind would go back out there after we just got away." I finish the rest of my sentence by mumbling. I hadn't intended on saying the words but they just fell out of my mouth without warning. I didn't want Halten to hear them either, but by the look on his face, I know he did.

"Please," Halten begs. "it's really, really late. We have to go find them." 

"No, we have to stay here." 

"What if something happened to them?" 

"And what if we leave and they come back?" Halten throws himself back and pouts in defeat. My arguement has surely won, and I am proud of that. 

As I sit back and close my eyes in another attempt to sleep, the trap door latch clicks and the door creaks. My eyes snap open just as Halten's head slips below the floor level. "Halten!" I yell in a whisper. I cannot take any chances by yelling.

I quickly crawl over to the small door and push myself through. I almost fall, as my foot missed the branch that is a built in stair to climb into the tree house. 

I make my way down and chase after the five-or-so-year-old boy that is running toward the small, abandoned neighborhood. I want to scream for him, but I know that it is too dangerous, so I continue to follow him. 

Halten runs to decent sized red house. The paint is chipped like most of the other houses and weeds litter the front yard and cover the sides of the house. He taps on the door a couple times before it opens and he's guided inside. I see the face of an older kid; not old enough to be a father, but young enough to be an older brother. 

The door closes and I look through the window. I walk up to the house to get a better look and find Ren, the man that had answered the door and Halten. I see another person, but I cannot make out the face or even the color of their skin. I walk over to the door and cautiously knock on it. My pulse races as footsteps inch toward the door from the other side. 

A young woman opens the brown metal door and I look around the inside of the house. I gape when I recognize the unknown person with Ren and Halten's family in the house.

Ander. 

And next to him: Jexton.

(Guys, I'm so sorry for such a late update. I haven't had internet connection but I wrote when I could. I made this chapter extra long. {or tried, at least} I hope you guys like this chapter {and the story so far} and don't forget to vote and comment! <3)