x
A/N: I just wanted to clarify that the words in bold are the notes that are mentioned in the story. I tried to use another font but it wouldn't work. Enjoy! :)
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfZJzm8pAET
It was with a sequence of notes that they devised their getaway. Little yellowed scraps of parchment folded up neatly and tucked into pockets in passing, subtly as not to be caught.
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8EVKeQL1bR
They were young, Amora Lauder and Cassian Rhodes, only sixteen, too immature to be in love according to the regulations of society. But they were never the type to care or to heed the rules set before them. Though they preferred to pretend that the relationship carefully strung between them wasn't frowned upon, it was something that simply couldn't go overlooked. The whole rationale behind the painstaking secrecy of their love was the subject of their surnames, the undying vendetta that was shared between their two households.
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAZYzfoTZSt
There was nothing to be done to stop them; they'd made up their minds. They were going to run away. It was precarious and spontaneous and so very criminal; if they were ever caught, they were peeking directly into the countenance of death, for surely, an offense that significant would never end in anything but a verdict of execution. But to them, their love was worth that hefty price.
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfnHiNUdFHS
So a plan was slowly cultivated, scrawled on paper, and carefully coded so as to disorient anyone in the event of a misplaced note.
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV9ldUfe2Pb
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrbwQaovQQF
When you see the lights up high.
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0TIuSzmlpb
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7FgpvL4sVl
When the stars were above their heads, luminous and expansive, they'd leave beneath the veil of darkness, never again to return.
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuVP71NAKIe
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpUCJIWs10f
When you see the air in the sky.
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNEKRjE2fNj
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡITsr0neB4z
October twenty-fourth was the set date; when the evenings curled into the frigid oath of a soon coming winter, cold enough that you could see your breath in plumes of steam fleeing your lips.
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHR77N0KilI
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqhjWrJWQ2v
Only the trees keep us in line.
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc7mLLYwqT9
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3uGNxpl7GY
They'd make a home among the trees and bed upon the fast-dying grass. It was there they'd remain till the end of their days, dead or alive.
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyhkvPIAdKJ
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5zbgMI4OWc
We'll be gone by the light of day.
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtYG9sFSqsP
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnxPoM9KWJ8
When the sun would skim over the horizon, they'd be gone, lost to the pink-stained sky and security of daylight.
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUv8dix0Fof
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKVqzccju3y
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP3dep2Q4h3
Leave all our secrets behind.
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaStmqMZAWB
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWUOI254zRP
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2iDb8AeJ5w
Two knapsacks with food and water, iodine, matches, gauze, gloves, a knife, a compass, and a blanket, that was it. Nothing else was being brought; no reminder of the life they were leaving behind. They wanted nothing less of a fresh beginning without the haunting recollection of the place they once dubbed home.
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1oSajUO8GY
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡimWW1RHbqw
When you've gone and lost your way.
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtIzjuBVUsN
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO0vVh45wU0
Amora concealed her notes in a little leather pouch, which remained folded between her mattress and bedframe, lingering until the faithful day when she'd vacate the room she called her own and burn the memoranda, pouch and all.
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhpFd9uHykg
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdlXe3gWYAn
When there's nothing left to say.
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOTjU748z5D
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSOjiqsTBQp
Their parents were unknowing as to what would transpire that night; while they considered their children to be fast asleep in their beds, they'd really be climbing out their windows and whispering their final goodbyes to the houses they'd known all their lives.
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRzO5AzDwtW
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb9lPYQmZj0
Meet me in the pines.
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHaCWUyYL9V
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHwQ7jw90bK
The night was cold and transparent, the plan operating just a little too smoothly. They assembled at the treeline, beneath the lofty pines, boots crunching atop the needle-laced frozen soil as they left it all behind. The notion was to go north a hundred miles, sure it'd take them months, considering the time to be spent eating and resting, but they now had all the time in the world. The forest was theirs, and they were of the forest; they were surrendering to the unknown, submitting to the potential disarray of their brand-new lives.
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnKK9u5esK0
The hours drifted together slowly as their hometown grew distant behind them, the trees veiling the place where they grew up. As the sun mounted the sky, they settled within a cluster of trees and being absolutely and completely depleted, settled on Cassien being the first to take watch while his girlfriend tried to catch some sleep.
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGE1dxppBOC
Amora didn't know how long she'd been out when she was jostled awake.
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2wNMrbuTdk
"Amora...Amora, get up...they found us..."
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpNsQtwfybs
Everything after that was a blur, the shot at hiding, being seized, handcuffed, and hauled back out of the woods, heads hanging and hearts in their throats.
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3PBaV8Hev3
Apparently, Amora's sister had been wide awake when her sister disappeared and after watching her leave the house, roused her parents, who then alerted the authorities.
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Nby9qgVNz
The following week consisted of trials, interrogation, and the view of nothing but the bars of jail cells. They knew it was over, and though they gave it their best shot, in the end, their love would be the death of them. Perhaps it was better off that way.
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaG3neOQAbg
The day came when the doors were opened; the two star-crossed lovers left the cells that had become their provisional homes and were ushered out into the town square before a gathering mob. The barrel of a gun pointed in their direction, words escaping the mouth of their executioner; they were now a cautionary tale, don't fall in love with your rival.
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFzAB1Rr1VI
Amora squeezed her eyes closed, her fingers lacing with those of her boyfriend's as she recalled the note scratched in charcoal that Cassien had pressed into her palm just the night before when they were told that they would be terminated the following day.
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtgKVPcNNAx
Through the flames, forever we'll stay, hand on heart, heart on mind. We'll be gone by the light of day. Leave all our secrets behind. Meet me in the pines.
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn6WGW54tzN
And it was the beauty of their lives, their love story; though a danger to others, it was never anything but perfect to them. Together forever, even in death, their final thoughts as the gunshots blasted were of each other and the life they could have had out among the pines.
235Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNFU4vOqQMT
