As they walked away from Old Joe’s cottage, Alice let Peter cry into her shoulder.
That night, he refused to eat anything and wouldn’t talk to anyone.
He just stared into the fire.
After Alice’s family was murdered, she spent her first day in captivity like Peter. Just…numb.
She recognized what Peter was going through right now. Denial.
After all, the only words coming out of his mouth were “He’s all I have left… He’s all I have left… He can’t leave me, he’s all I have left…”
It was getting to the point where Alice’s friends were getting worried.
〜
In the morning, Skylar suggested something.
“I know a place where we can go…” she said, although she looked at them with uncertainty. “We’ll be welcomed with open arms, at least, I hope…”
“What do you mean, you hope?” Richard challenged. It seemed he still didn’t trust Skylar.
“Yeah,” Luke agreed, “Why haven’t you told us about this before?”
Skylar looked at them with her bright yellow eyes. Today they seemed to glow in the sunlight. She always looked so brave, but now she was uncertain. Maybe even scared.
“Because they are my people,” she said after almost a minute of silence, “and we have been living in a state of solitude for quite some time now, and prefer others not to know. Especially outsiders,” Now her gaze went over the face of each of her friends, “Some more than others…” Skylar muttered as she looked at Richard.
Richard gave Skylar a look.
So Skylar explained, “Some of the people of Bellona do not like my people, and some of my people do not like the people of Bellona. There was an… incident 7 years ago. A…hunting incident that killed a few of my people.” Alice saw Skylar take a second and swallow. “My-my father was one of them.”
At this point, everyone sat in silence. Tensions were rising in the group. Everyone was from different places with different views and beliefs, and Alice didn’t want another fight to break out between them.
But what else could they do?
“Well…” Alice said to them, “You all accepted me with open arms, I’m willing to let your people decide to let us in.”
“Besides,” Luke shrugged, “What choice do we have?”
They were getting closer and closer to the deadline and were on the run...
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