Sakura Eyes

Chapter 13

"Yawn."

"That's your fifth time yawning today," Yuri glanced at me with worry creased into his forehead. "Are you alright? Did you not get enough sleep?"

"I'm fine," I muttered, stifling another yawn as we hiked up a steep hill. It was the third day, but I still couldn't get used to sleeping on the ground yet. I tried to make my movements as limited and quietly as possible but...

"All I heard last night was someone shifting back and forth on the ground. I myself couldn't get any sleep," Justin muttered loud enough for me to hear.

"Sorry, sorry," I half-heartedly apologized.

The traveling had gotten easier, but I still suffered from the heat and the long distances we traveled. I had asked why we couldn't bring a horse along, and Tristan answered with, "Too much work. We barely have enough supplies to support us."

Of course, with the hardships that came along, there were also amazing moments. I got to watch the sky turn from a breathtaking dark blue hue to a redish-orange color that lit up the sky. I never appreciated the smell of the forest before but after some time, I found it relaxing and peaceful.

But then again, I couldn't wait to stop to rest at the village. We could finally stock up on our depleting supplies.

"We're here!" Yuri's voice broke my thoughts. 

I looked up to see Justin and Tristan already standing on the top of the hill we were currently climbing. Yuri and I ran up to where they were standing and looked down. What I saw did not not match up to what I was thinking it would be yesterday. This definitely did not match up with Cardea.

The houses were broken down, and some of the roofs had holes in them. The painting of the walls were already peeling off, and some even had large cracks in them. My eyes traveled down to the houses that looked like farms.

These 'farms' didn't have a single crop or animal in sight. As far as I could see, there seemed to be no people around either. In fact, the whole village seemed to be deserted.

Way too deserted.

But the strange thing was, although there was a beautiful and long river right next to the houses, the land seemed as dry as the desert. The farmers here could easily grow crops since they had such close water source. And even though the houses looked abandoned, the holes and cracks in the houses didn't look like it was done by bad maintenance but rather as if someone were purposely trying to tear the house down.

But who would purposely hurt their own village?

"Let's go check it out," I said, breaking the silence that had fallen among the group and rushed down the hill.

"Hold on," Tristan stepped in front of my path. "That's not safe. We don't know what's going on."

"Tristan," I said. "If we're going to continue on our journey, there'll be a lot of dangerous obstacles for us to pass anyways. If you won't even let me step foot into a broken down village, we can't go on."

Behind Tristan, I saw Justin's lips stretch into a small smirk. He turned around from staring down at the village and met my eyes. I felt the insides of me tremble as I held his gaze; for some reason, I sensed a glimpse of satisfaction from him.

Justin turned his eyes away from me and placed a hand on Tristan's shoulder. "We'll be fine."

Tristan seemed to stop breathing for a few seconds before he sighed and nodded. As Justin passed by me to take the lead, he grabbed my hood and threw it over my head before treading down the downhill.