make me stay.

twelve

♜

as i turned my back to the castle, i realized what i had to do now. start running. 

but where? i had never been this high up the mountain before. i didn't know the terrain, and what i had grown up learning was to use my memory. it was what everyone living here survived on. their memory. knowing how your life was planned out as. knowing the place you lived, knowing the people, knowing everything about your bubble. 

but this bubble wasn't mine. i was just momentarily stuck in it. 

i was standing on the top of the staircase that led down to the ground, to the courtyard. i looked down, wondering if the steps would be slippery with ice. 

snow covered every inch of ground visible, and it was still falling. 

"where do you think she'll go?" a voice sounded from my right. i snapped my head in the exact direction, seeing how a man came walking towards me with his hand in his pockets. he stopped far from me, however, his eyes directed forward like hadn't he noticed the person he was talking about. 

i frowned, pulling some hair behind my ear as the wind hit my face sideways, blowing the hair in front of my view. 

he was far away, but i close enough for me to take in his figure. his hair was a dark brown colour and quite wavy. it danced in the slight breeze. he was tall, his overall frame slim, but strong. 

"probably head for the gates," another man appeared behind him, both of them watching me while they carried on their own conversation about me. "that's what i would do." 

they almost seemed to mock me. they both wore a slight frown, and looked serious enough, but what they were saying was no-doubt meant for me to hear. to make me doubt my next move. 

this other man had pitch black hair, his frame broader than the other. his skin was darker as well, fitting well with his hair colour. 

"and that's why you wouldn't last an hour outside of the castle walls, maverick." from the opposite side of the staircase a third person showed, currently speaking. his hair almost had the same colour as the first one, but it was darker, perhaps even a mix between the black and dark brown. "you would get no further than the gates, realizing that they are locked," 

"then where would you go? she can't just stay there," the second one, whom had been called maverick, replied back, not even as much as offering me a glance, exactly like on the staircase. they hadn't noticed me the slighest, and i had been an arms length from them all. 

oh, and the exact person they were rushing around searching for. 

"she would need help, obviously." he replies. 

"which she doesn't have. she has locked everyone inside by closing the front doors," 

well, clearly not everyone. 

at this point, i lose count of how many men are standing at the bottom of the stairs, all coming from different directions. they all seem to jump into the conversation concerning just how i would escape, but none of them even looked my way. 

"well, clearly, not everyone." suddenly, a familiar face shows up from the front. i have no clue how he showed up there, but he is walking towards the stairs as he speaks the words i had thought myself. "but you are right. she has no help. no forks, no anything." nathaniel looks up, meeting my eyes before smilling at me.