chapter 2

Chapter 2

       “Daughter, open your eyes and look upon your Romeo.” I can feel him smiling, and even though I know I should obey orders; I keep my eyes shut hoping this will all fade away. “Daughter, open your eyes. Meria! Open your eyes at once,” he whispers vehemently, not daring to raise his voice. He knows if people hear he will be forced to ban me forever; never to see me again.  I reluctantly turn and lift my eyes to see my future husband, whose clothes are drenched in blood. I screamed and bolted back towards my safe, boring, room in the shabby looking apartment building. Sobbing into my hands, I did not hear my mother come into the room. “Meria.” She says this in such a calm, soothing manner I feel comfortable enough to lift my face from my hands and look at her. “I know this is hard for you. It was hard for me too. It will be alright you’ll see. He’s your Romeo.” “But I don’t want to be his Juliet.” I say in barely a whisper, not wanting to look at her as I say this. “Run. Go now.” I turn to her, astonished.  I’ve never heard anything so preposterous. “But mother” she cuts me off. “Go tonight. As soon as you can. I don’t want you to make the same mistake I made.” “What mistake mother?” “Marrying your father. He tricked me into marrying him. He told me he would stop this tradition. But I was wrong, I screwed up.  He lied to me.” I’ve never seen her more serious. “Listen to me. Go along with whatever they tell you. Pretend you want this. But at the first chance you must go. Take nothing with you except a basket of food and water.” She clasped my hands between hers. They’re clammy and frail to the touch. “Promise me.” she kisses my forehead and walks out of the room.

          That night I lay awake, my mind plagued by what my mother advised. No, more like warned. I don’t know what to do. I’ll die if I run away, but I’ll be miserable for the rest of my life if I stay.  Well,I’ve got nothing to lose, and everything to gain. I’ve made up my mind. I’m leaving. Tonight. Stepping off from the bed I tiptoe to the kitchen. When I arrive I see a basket on the supper table. Mother is so, well, motherly. With the basket I silently saunter out the door. After about three hours I had an encounter with a cat; a nasty cat I might add. When I reach the end of town I do a little jig. “I did it, I did it, I-” I stop short at the sight of two, bright blue eyes that stand out even at the black of night. “If you’re that nasty cat again I will catch you and make you wish you were dead.” I say in a low hiss. But then I hear something else- somebody stumbled over rock or something. I hear a gasp and I grab for something- anything. I catch some shirt; flannel, it feels like. I hear a girl cry out. “Oh it’s just children” I murmer in relief. I tilt my head a bit and I’m able to see the outlines of a boy and a very young girl. I’ve seen them before, I know I have. Then it hits me. These kids walk in the streets limping or with a fresh injury. The boy steps forward “are you leaving here?” he says this in barely a whisper. “Yes” I reply. “Please take us with you. We won’t be a bother I swear.”  although I'd rather not have the trouble of feeding a few more mouths, they're so small and helpless i have to reach out a hand. “Of course you can come.” I take their hands and start walking. They follow obediently and unquestioningly.

           “Are we almost there?”  “Uhg shut up, we’ll get there when we get there.” God these kids are driving me crazy. They’ve been asking the same question for four hours straight. “Can we stop and rest?” I whip around to face them. I must have seemed very caustic; because the look on their face was enough to make even a man with a heart of stone feel guilty. I take a deep breath and compose myself. “I’m sorry I was mean to you. I know you’re tired, and I am too; but if we don’t find shelter soon, something ill-fated may happen. I don’t want you to get hurt.” I feel kind of bad, not really meaning any of this, but if it will pacify them, then it works. The small boy smiles weakly. “Ok” said the girl in an irritatingly bouncy voice. “Then on we go!” I try to say this in a convincingly enthusiastic voice. About four hours later, we come to a cave. “Guess what kids! We get to rest for the night!” the small girl lets out a high pitched squeal “yaaaaaay!” the small boy says nothing, and pushes me out of the way. I can’t believe someone so small can be so rude. Well I guess he just wasn’t raised right. I make a fire and we settle down for the night. “I’ll watch over guys” I say, ruffling the little girl’s hair.

          I sit there until they fall asleep, and then I lie down for the night and close my eyes. The phrase every man for himself is really starting to make sense. I wake early in the morning, and it’s still dark. The kids are still asleep. Good. My eyes turn wide with shock. The young boy isn’t here! I search frantically for any sign of him. When I see him, I wish I hadn’t. He sat there glaring at me with a loathing so great, I felt as if I were on fire. “I knew you were gonna flake out on us, so I stayed awake.” This kid is a real killjoy. “Umm I was just going out to see if there was any food” I try to make a convincing smile. “There’s still a ton of food left in the basket” he retorts.  I hung my head in shame. He’s right I think to myself. “I’m so sorry.” I was so quiet it’s a wonder how he heard me. He sits there, glaring at me. “What?” I feel somewhat offended, he thinks I’m lying. “If you hurt my sister, in any way, I swear to god I will kill you.” what? He thinks I’m going to hurt him? He walks back to the cave. “When I said you could come with me, I meant that. We’re family now. I won’t hurt you.” He stops, but doesn’t turn around. “You’re not my family.” Ouch. That cut me deep. I thought kids were supposed to be forgiving. I look up and see the sun beginning to rise. Bathed in vivid orange and pink colors, the sun looked beautiful, and for that one moment, everything was perfect.

Author's Note

I admit it, I'm not good with grammer and punctuation. Hopefully I'll get better. I may or may not be writing this right. I'm pretty sure chapters go with books, but I'm pretty confused.