Hello to good and beautiful people that are reading this. I won't stall, meaning we are jumping right to the point. I just want to thank every single one of you who voted, commented or just read my story. It means a lot. Anyways, there's Nimueh on the side.
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Next few days I stayed home. Why? Well, the only way to explain why I wasn't attending class was that I didn't feel good, so I just went with it.
Layla told me everything that happened while I was gone.
Guess that Cara isn't as smart as I thought, because like Layla told me, she spent a lot of time with Kayden.
Most of my time, I was spending with Luke. On this point I don't know what I would do without him. He is just so bright, funny and cute little boy.
Weekend came and I needed to go to the woods to show Luke the hole on the wall. Layla mentioned that only once and he bugged me to show him ever since.
"Nobody will see you! You don't have to do that ... girly stuff for the whole eternity"- Luke yelled.
"I can't go in my pajamas"- I yelled back.
"Nobody will see you!"- he repeated.
"I won't go if you keep rushing me"
He shut up. After few minutes I came out.
"Well, finally"- he sighed.
I lightly punched him on the back of his head and started walking.
"That hurt"- he pouted. I laughed and hugged him. He wiggled out of my hands and went in front of me.
We quietly talked and laughed all the way to the woods
"Wow, look at that"- he said pointing to the trees.
"You have never been here?"- I asked disbelievingly. He shook his head and pulled me in there. We walked for some time, well, ran, jumped and tripped would be better description.
Suddenly we heard something moving in the bushes. We stopped laughing and looked at each other.
Let's check out what is that - Luke mouthed to me. I nodded and we started going to the place where the noise came from.
I was very careful but still louder than Luke. He was like a ninja.
I giggled at that thought and Luke lightly slapped my hand and gave me death-stare. I put my hand on my mouth to stop myself from bursting of laughter.
I took a deep breath and continued. Luke was few steps in front of me and I didn't like that. Just when I wanted to step closer to him, he ducked and moved branches of the bush.
"Luke"-I called.
"No, no, no. It's okay. We won't hurt you"- he quickly said. I frowned and came closer.
If it is some animal, I swear I won't take it just because he want me to, I thought to myself.
As I came closer I saw...
A little girl?
Suddenly a picture of that girl trapped in the car on the day Ultrrians arrived came to my mind. They were nothing alike; I don't know why I thought of her.
Few times I had dreams with her in them. She would look at me disappointed and just ask me why I lied to her. Every time I remembered her, I felt heavy stinging in my chest. I said I would help and I didn't. She was probably dead for a long time now.
I thought I got over it. Obviously not.
Second thing that caught my eye were her piercing gray eyes.
She was Ultrrian.
Luke took off his sweatshirt and gave it to her. He was standing there just in his t-shirt and it was cold outside.
Girl was soaked and scared. I didn't even notice that. She carefully took his sweatshirt and put it on.
"What are you doing here?"- I asked her slowly.
"I think I'm lost"- she said.
I chuckled and said "Yeah, I think so too"
"How will I get home?"
"You can take her to our place, she can stay there until we figure out what to do with her"- Luke suggested.
"What do you think?"- I asked her.
"I think it's a good idea"- she nodded. She was incredibly cute. She had long dark blonde hair and the prettiest smile. She looked kind of familiar, but I couldn't tell why.
"Come on"- I said as Luke gave her his hand. She took it. Both of them quickly let go of each other.
I chuckled as they rubbed their hands.
"It's nothing, it will pass soon"- I said and started walking with them fallowing closely behind.
"What's your name"- Luke asked her.
"It's Nimueh"- she said quietly.
Luke smiled at her and she smiled at him. They looked adorable. I could see that Luke was cold but he didn't say anything. I stopped and took my jacket of and put it on his shoulders.
"I don't want to hear you complaining"- I said before he could open his mouth.
We continued walking through the woods in silence.
"Fall really is as breathtaking as they were saying"- Nimueh said breaking the silence.
"It is just leafs falling of trees, nothing special about that."- Luke said.
"How can't you see? It is magnificent, so beautiful and unique. Look at the colors for example; they are so special that you can never picture them in all their glory."
Luke looked at her in amazement. Girl was as smart as she was beautiful. She also had a point. I never stopped to appreciate little things in life. Fall came and I didn't even notice.
So, I just stopped walking and looked around. A little path was lit by early morning sun shining through a thin layer of grey cloud. Trees weren't thick balls of green as they were on spring and summer, but scarlet and gold. In just few weeks they will stand naked in the frozen air, bereft of all their glory. Just few centimeters ahead of me, a leaf tumbled from the weary branch, twisting and flipping as it was falling through almost still air. It was indeed the most beautiful thing I've seen in the last few days. It's crazy how just by looking closely, you can find beauty anywhere and everywhere.
"Come on Rose"- Luke called me.
"Your name is Rose, like a flower?"- Nimueh asked when I came to them.
"Yes, kind of, it is short from Rosemarie"
She smiled and moved lock of hair from her face. Soon smile fell of her face.
"What's wrong?"- I asked.
"Well, when I came here there was some man and he looked really angry at me, and he started running after me saying all kinds of not nice things"- she explained.
I frowned.
"How did you end up here?"- Luke asked.
"I fought with my brothers. I was really angry and I'm never angry, so I ran and saw this wall. It has hole in it, but there was water and I thought that it was good idea to go in there so they can't find me. It obviously isn't the good idea, I know that now. But at least I saw humans. You aren't selvedges as everyone is saying"- she said.
"You know that you need to go back, you can't..."- I started saying when I heard voices somewhere behind us. I shushed Nimueh and Luke that started talking and listened to what they were saying.
"I swear...a girl...eyes...Ultrrian...kill...danger...make ...pay"- was all I heard.
I quickly took their hands, ignoring tickling, and started speed walking.
"What is it?"- both of them asked.
"Shh, we need to go, fast"- I said dragging them. What kind of man would want to hurt her? She looked like an angel. She couldn't do any harm to anyone.
Heavy footsteps followed us. I cursed under my breath. I needed to think, but it seemed that the cold air froze my brain. I knew that in here lived all kinds of people. Some were good and compassionate, but the others not so much. The hard reality changed them into something to be feared of.
"Stop right there!"- a man yelled. I stopped. I let go off their hands.
"Rose they can't see her"- Luke said.
"I know"
"Your eyes are glowing"- Nimueh stated.
"I know"- I repeated.
"What will we do?"- Luke asked.
"You two go to our house. Be careful"- I said.
"What about you?"- Nimueh asked.
"Don't worry, I can handle them"
"But your eyes..."
"They will stop glowing in a sec, now go"- I ordered.
They nodded and ran.
I sighed and turned around hoping that my eyes got back to normal.
"Who were those two with you?"- asked the man as he walked to me.
"Brother and sister I was babysitting for my neighbor"
"Why did the runaway?"
"You know kids... they don't like to stay in one place for long"- I said. He eyed me suspiciously and after a moment nodded. He turned around and left. When he disappeared from my eyesight, I sighed in relief. I started walking towards my place thinking what to do with Nimueh. I needed to return her to her brothers... but how?
I couldn't just tell them that I found her in the woods. They would blame us for kidnapping her and cancel the experiment and we would never be free.
I needed help and someone came to my mind. Someone I could trust... kind of.
I walked in the apartment to see Luke and Nimueh laughing. They were so cute together. They smiled at me when they saw me. It made me feel warm around my heart.
"Nimueh said that she will be my girlfriend"- Luke said smiling.
"Really?"- I asked with a big grin on my face.
"Yes! And we will get married like all humans do"- Nimueh said excited.
"Yeah"- Luke confirmed.
I chuckled at their cuteness. They seemed like they really like each other.
"Will you invite me to your wedding?"-I asked deciding to play along.
"Of course"- Luke said.
"You and my brother will be our... hmm... how are they called?"
"You will be our bridesmaid and he will be our best man"-Luke finished for her.
"And my older brother will bring us a lot of presents, and my uncle will make everyone laugh"
"Where will we live?"- Luke asked suddenly very worried.
"You can come to my place, it is very big and there are a lot of empty rooms"
"Can Rose come with me?"
"Obviously"- she answered.
"I guess that you planned everything"- I said and they laughed.
"We won't merry just yet", Luke said, "We are too young now"
"Maybe in five years"- Nimueh suggested.
"I think that that would be perfect"- he said and I laughed at their seriousness.
"Now that we finished that, we can eat"- I said.
I went to the kitchen and left them to play. There wasn't a lot of food in there, but I managed to make something eatable.
I noticed that we were running out of water so I told kids to stay in the house and went out to get it.
Just when finished taking water from the well, the clock started making that annoying beeping sound. I joined the group that was heading there wondering what was going on. And then it came to me.
Nimueh.
Shit.
I stood with the rest of the people hoping that I was wrong.
Doors opened, heavy footsteps could be heard, men with guns and helmets came to the sight, king followed. The exact same scene from the last time repeated. Only this time king didn't seem so friendly.
"I won't be long", he started in a calm tone that was getting the hell lot angrier by the second, "My sister is missing and if I find out that any of you rats have had anything with it, the hell will be relished upon you and you will beg for your death"
He stared at us for few seconds and then left. I could see that even the bravest were scared.
I realized that I was playing with fire that is going to get me burned.