Into the light

... a friend

     The rest of the day went by like any other. It was only inside Aileen's head that different things were going on. Her attention span was growing littler by the second, and soon all she could think about was the little boy and the Outside. All she wanted to do was go back. But she wouldn't. She looked around at her family; the reason to stay. Imogen was sitting on the ground, pretending to read a book, at which Esme could not stop laughing. Her mother and father were sitting at the dinner table, both reading a book and occasionally reading out bits of it to each other. Aibek was staring out of a window; probably waiting until it was night so that he could go outside. He always did love the outside, just like Aileen did. She loved her family so much, she could never leave them.

Despite this, Aileen spent the day planning her next trip to the Outside. She wrote down things to look out for next time, like animals and special ways the stars would align. She didn't want to miss anything this time, in case it was the last time she could leave. She eventually decided to go outside at 1 am, because that would be a time when everyone was asleep, even Aibek. She thought about her big brother with a bit of regret. He must also crave a way out of here. After all, he had been here even longer than she had. She almost wanted to tell him about her little secret, but decided against it.

The rest of the day seemed to go by even slower than usual for Aileen. She spent most of her time just lying down, hoping that the time would go by faster if she closed her eyes for a bit.

It didn't.

She tried to keep herself distracted, which seemed to help a little. Eventually, the time was finally there: it was night time. She went to bed along with the others, even though she couldn't sleep, her mind bubbling with excitement. After waiting for what felt like ages, she knew it was safe to go. She jumped out of her bed and sneaked out of the cave.

To her relief, the hole hadn't been patched up yet. She belly-crawled through, making her completely covered in dirt. But she didn't mind. With skills she didn't know she had, she managed to pull herself out fairly quickly. In front of her, she could see the forest that she had so longed to see again. But there was also something new. She walked over to the strange black silhouette, trying not to make any sound in case it was an animal that she could startle.

Suddenly, the figure turned around, startling her instead. She stumbled backward, and let out a little squeal of surprise.

"Aileen?" a familiar voice sounded. The figure rushed to her side, and finally, Aileen was able to see the face more clearly. It was her brother Aibek.

"Aibek?" she brought out. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," he answered while helping her up.

"I discovered this hole yesterday! I went through it and discovered the outside, there was also this boy and-" she rambled before Aibek interrupted her: "You went Outside?! On your own?! Do you have any IDEA how dangerous that is?"

Aileen cringed at her brother's wrath. Had it been stupid what she did? She didn't notice anything dangerous...

"I'm sorry," she said honestly. "But, weren't you also outside on your own? What were you doing, anyway?"

She saw her brother look away in thought. He didn't want to tell her. Eventually, he looked back at her and seemed like he made his decision.

"I went to visit... a friend."

"A friend?" Aileen exclaimed in surprise, to which Aibek signaled her to be quieter. Aileen went on in a whisper and said: "None of us have ever had friends. Oh! Can I meet them?" she suddenly got excited. A friend! Perhaps they could be her friend as well!

"No, Aileen... You can't meet him. It's dangerous anyway. Why on earth would you think I would even consider taking you with me?"

"Because if you don't, I'll wander through the forest on my own, without any protection from danger," she answered spryly.

He stared at her for a moment, thinking of his options, before he grudgingly agreed to take her with him.

"Yay! I can't wait to meet them!" Aileen kept saying throughout the duration of the walk. Her childlike excitement made her think of her little sisters.

"Can Esme and Imogen visit your friend sometime?" she asked.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm already risking a lot bringing you with me. Now please, be silent. Before I personally bring you back to the cave," he mumbled after it.

So Aileen kept quiet for the rest of the walk.

"We're here," Aibek simply stated after walking for about half an hour.

They had stopped in front of a three-story house made of bricks and stone. It was a lot larger than the only house Aileen had ever seen, therefore huge.

"Wow," she whispered.

Aibek chuckled. "Exactly my reaction when I first saw it." He walked over to the front door waited shortly until Aileen had followed. But instead of knocking on the door, he grabbed the drainpipe next to it and started climbing it.

"What. On earth. Are you doing?" Aileen silently yelled after him. When he didn't respond, she shrugged and started climbing as well.

It looked easy when Aibek did it, but that was in fact a misperception. Aileen was struggling to keep herself from falling down, let alone climbing up. While her brother was already perched upon a window sill, she was still climbing up inch after inch, almost reaching the window but then scooting down the pipe again. Aibek couldn't help but chuckle at this, but quickly helped her sister when he noticed her deadly stare.

They were now balanced on top of the windowsill next to each other, and while Aileen wondered what the heck they were doing there, her question got answered. Aibek must have knocked on the window earlier because someone on the inside was now busy opening it. The window opened and a face poked out of it.

"Hi," they said.