At Dusk

3

"I can't take this anymore," I say sitting down beside the others at the bonfire.

It's been two days since everything went down and my parents have gotten way worse which I didn't even know could be possible. They drink twice as much as they did before, my wounds started to heel only to be replaced by new ones. The only good thing is with the more drinking they crash for longer.

Hayes, Weston, and Oliver have been walking on eggshells around me scared that I am going to snap but at the same time trying to set me up with every guy I talk to in the hope we fall in love and the second I turn 18 I can get married and move out of my house, away from my parents.

I'm also pretty sure Milo now has a crush on me after seeing me in my bra, he's like a little puppy following me around.

"There must be more out there this can't be the only town that survived," I utter.

"I wouldn't call this surviving, would you?" Hayes asks drawing something in the dirt with a stick.

"I just need to get out of here, I have to before I crack, don't you think we owe it to ourselves to try?" I proclaim.

"Don't you think after six hundred years we would know if there was more out there," Oliver notes.

"Not if no one went looking," I exclaim, "Come on you can't really believe that there is nothing else out there."

"I don't know," Hayes shrugs.

"Come on Hayes you love discovering new things, imagine discovering a whole new town," I encourage.

"I guess that would be kind of cool," Hayes admits.

"And Oliver you love nature and we would see so much of it, remember that month you lived in a tent in your back garden, you loved it, you didn't smell so good, but you loved it," I convince.

"Yeah, I did didn't I," Oliver smiles remembering the good times.

"Wes, you love adventures, you're like me in that way, you said you will always be there for me and I need you to do this for me because I can't stay here, we need to find help to overthrow the Dawners or people like me will never get the help they deserve," I beg.

"What's the plan?" Weston smirks.

"Thank you," I grin giving him a huge hug.

"I'm just happy to have my friend back," Weston smiles.

We start talking about what we are going to do and when we are going to do it. Something green and shiny flickers in the corner of my eye and I turn my head to see a guy laughing with some people with bright shiny green eyes. As I watch him I know I haven't ever seen him before, he's too beautiful to forget. He rustles his floppy dark brown hair as he laughs revealing dimples. I am snapped back into reality by Hayes continuing the plan.

"So Saturday at dusk we head east to where I have heard stories of a town of warriors, I always thought they were that, stories, but they could have some truth to it, and be prepared, we don't know what we are going to have to face out there," Hayes tells us, "We tell no one and if we find another town."

"When we find another town," I interrupt.

"Fine, when we find a new town we can't just forget about Saint Laclade, we have to come back and fight for it no matter how tempting it is to just stay there, we also can't get our hopes up, in the small chance that we find a town out there, it's an even smaller chance that they will want to help some teenagers from the wrong part of town," Hayes rants.

We all agree and I look back at the guy, the people who he was sitting with on the other side of the bonfire have disappeared and he's just sitting there by himself. He turns his head spotting me looking at him and he smiles the most beautiful smile making his eyes shimmer even more. I quickly look away but I feel the blood rushing to my head making me look all frazzled. I try to listen to what my friends are saying but all I can think about is that guy.