Safe

Chapter 5

About two weeks later, Kovit had softened up a very little bit. I still didn't completely trust him. Especially because he still gave me the death look whenever I spoke to him. We finally made it to a small part of the woods with a big cave to park the wagon in for the night. I was nearly asleep in the back of the wagon until Kovit told me that we were stopping for the night. He let me stay in the wagon and he decided to sleep on the ground. After I woke up, I couldn't fall asleep again. In that case, I went to sit against the wall by the fire to get at least some warmth. I noticed that Kovit wasn't asleep, he was just laying too close for my comfort to the fire. I just played with my magic and made little whimsical creatures made of blue and red fire that I made myself, knowing it can't hurt me. I was bored out of my mind.

    "Can't sleep?" I finally asked Kovit. He just groaned and turned the other way. I sighed and then stood up and went over to him. I crouched down by him and tilted my head to look at him. "Why do you hate me so much?" I asked him. No answer. "Did I do something?" I asked again. Once more, no answer came from him. I rolled my eyes and sat next to him, waiting for an answer. "I'll just sit here until you say something." I told him. He rolled his eyes and then sat up and looked at me.

    "I don't hate you." Kovit said. He laid back and propped himself up on his hands behind him. "I'm just not used to having someone there with me all the time." He said.

    "Is that seriously the only thing? You always push me around and leave me behind sometimes which makes me the one who always comes running back to you." I told him.

    "You didn't have to come back to me though! I could have left you somewhere and you could have been free. So why do you keep following me?" He snapped. I looked at him and bowed my head to my chest.

    "You're the only person since my brother was kicked out to ever take care of me. The only person who has ever treated me like a person. Like I matter in some unknown and weird way. How could I not come back to you? I may never find that again with my luck!" I yelled at him. He looked a bit taken back about what I had just said. "I want to be free, but I don't want to be free alone." I said to him. I stood up and headed back to the wagon. I laid back down in the hay and put a blanket over myself. A few minutes later, I felt a heavy weight on the wagon. I looked up and Kovit was sitting in the back of the wagon with me. I sat up and looked at him with an annoyed look. "Why didn't you just kill me?" I asked. It was silent for a few moments.

    "I don't know." He said in a low and quiet voice.

    "Why? I need to know why I am still alive and why my life is still worth living. Please! I need to know!" I yelled while tears fell down my face and I began to sob. "Why haven't I died yet?" I asked under my breath. I was desperate to know why my life hadn't been freed from this hell that they call Earth. It was silent and nothing happened for the longest time until Kovit finally said something. He took my arm and brought me into the light of the fire so that he could see. He took the cloak off of my shoulders and then looked me in the eyes.

    "Tell me what happened? Why do you keep hiding these from me? Why do you flinch every time I touch you or just put up with me every time I yell or snap at you?" Kovit said in a tone of voice that I had never heard from him before... he sounded worried.

    "I don't want to think about it!" I yelled and tried to get out of his reach, but he held onto me with a grip that I could not get out of. He was using magic to keep me in his sight.

    "Too bad! It's better to let things out than to keep them bottled up." Kovit told me. I fell to the ground and he sat down with me while I cried. It took me a while, but I finally got the nerves to tell him what had happened and why I hid my scars and what they were from. He looked so extremely guilty for ever yelling at me or pushing me. I didn't blame him for anything since I was the one who didn't tell him anything. He pointed to the one scar on my chest that my brother and I shared. The one that was a circle with a sloppy "WC" burned into our collarbones. I looked at it and remembered the pain from it. "What is that one from?" he asked calmly. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to..." He trailed.

    "My brother and I share this one... the letter's stand for 'witch's child'. That was what my father called us after he killed our mother. He reminded us of that every single day when he beat us. One day, he caught my brother using magic and kicked him out. I haven't seen him since." I said to him. Kovit looked down in pity and then put his hand on my shoulder.

    "Sorry isn't enough... I wish I would have known what you had been through before I snapped at you." He said. I looked at him and shook my head.

    "It's not your fault, I didn't tell you my past because I didn't want you to think that I was weak... It's my fault that I didn't say anything." I told him. Without warning, he hugged me and didn't say anything. I could tell that he was feeling really guilty. I hugged him back, telling him that I forgive him. Eventually, Kovit fell asleep in my arms and I couldn't get up. I was a little bit flustered by the fact that Kovit, who was pretty good looking to be completely honest, and didn't have his bandana to push back his unevenly cut hair, was laying in my lap, asleep. I hesitantly petted his hair and then I ended up falling asleep, feeling safe for the first time in a really long time, by the fire without worry.

    The next morning, I woke up with the sun shining directly in my eyes. I whined at the pain from the sun's rays and then I got up to realize that Kovit was gone. He left a note for me.

Riverlyn,
I just went to get some more wood to make breakfast before getting back on the road again. I should be back soon. I put a protection spell on the cave and over you while you were sleeping. Again, I'm sorry about last night.
-Kovit

I noticed how nice his handwriting was and it made me a little jealous because I had never been good at writing or reading. It took me about five minutes to read the note, but I got the point. I decided to look around the cave which wasn't very big, but I ended up finding some pretty cool rocks and shells from the beach nearby. I found myself petting the horses and feeding them an apple each. Eventually, Kovit came back with an arm full of wood. I helped him put it down since he was struggling, and we loaded some of it into the wagon. I stood back while Kovit started the fire back up again. Within a couple minutes, Kovit had the fire up and flaming again. We made our breakfast which ended up being eggs from the market. I happily ate the eggs and then after we finished eating, we got into the carriage and we were off.

Kovit let me sit in the front with him this time, since my ankle was hurt and I didn't need to sit in the back of the wagon where something could make it worse. I hummed to myself to keep me busy while I was bored out of my mind. I started to count every pine tree that I saw and then switched to counting every bird I saw. Kovit smirked at me and then looked back at the road before stopping. I looked up and at him.
"Kovit why'd we s-" I was hushed by Kovit's hand and he told me to be quiet because he sensed something. I used my powers and I sensed it too, so I kept quiet. It was a familiar feeling of home that I sensed. I looked at Kovit and told him that I didn't think that the person was bad. We sat in the carriage until we heard the bushes rattle. Kovit grabbed his black-bladed sword and then got out of the wagon, telling me to stay put.

"Who goes there?" Kovit yelled. That was when a boy that looked a few years older than me, with dark, untamed hair and burgundy eyes like mine were. His skin was tan and he wore brown and black clothing. I stared at the boy and Kovit was ready to kill. The boy had his sword ready to fight and they both were ready to kill each other. Suddenly, I saw something on the boy's neck and my eyes became wide.
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Cliffhanger!! Who could it be???? Although it's probably obvious at this point in the story...
-bldysketcher