The Long Way Home

Part 2, Chapter 3: Run

We were told they died peacefully in their sleep. Nyx bawled her eyes out, sad about our deceased parents. There. I said it. We stayed with Mrs. Varga until the funeral. The priest said a few words as did Nyx and I, basically saying how great they were. Elizabeth and Robert DeMarco were gone forever. I kept fingering the hilt of the knife in its sheath strapped around my waist, hidden by my shirt and pants. After the funeral, I snuck back to the house before everyone and grabbed anything I would need. I was planning to run away. I grabbed food, water, clothes and a cloak to sleep in. I jammed them in a backpack and set on my way.

I managed to sneak out of our village, until a voice stopped me.

"Avis! Where are you going?" It was Nyx. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying. I was jealous. I decided to tell her, I mean, she is my twin.

"I'm running. We have no place here anymore. We'll be shipped away to another village or something worse. Better to run from everything, and who knows, something good might come out of it." She looked at me like I was crazy. I couldn't resist a jibe at her. "Besides, why do you care? You didn't even care about Mother and Father. You didn't help take care of them. I did." It felt good to get that off my chest. Besides, our arguing gave me a feel of normalcy.

"Avis, did you think about how I felt? I couldn't bear it, so I chose to shut it out completely. Besides, at this point, I don't want to get separated. I'm coming with you." I didn't argue. I would rather have her than anyone else, because at this point, she was all I have. We quickly grabbed more supplies and snuck out of town. As we left, a woman was heard calling our names. People knew we were missing. Nyx and I quickened our pace and left our home behind us.

We wandered for 2 hours before Nyx asked the question I was dreading.

"Where are you planning on going?" I sighed. I didn't want to go to any nearby villages, as they would take us back. I wanted to get as far away as possible.

"I don't know yet. I plan to get as far away as possible and hopefully find something." I had know idea where we were going. For all I know, we had left the country.

About 3 hours later, the sun started to set and we decided to make camp. We laid our cloaks out on the ground behind a bush. Being summer, it was very warm out so we didn't start a fire. I decided that one of us should keep watch for anything or anyone to come near. We decided to rotate in 3 hour shifts until morning. I offered to take the first watch.

I sat quietly on the rock, scanning the area. At one point, my eyes landed on Nyx, who was curled in her cloak, snoring softly. I wanted to laugh. If someone had told me last week that a week from then Nyx would be sleeping on the ground in the wild, I would have laughed and been convinced you were lying.