Brielle quickened her pace when the abandoned shelter finally came into view.
She broke into a hurried run, her short, frantic steps carrying her toward the door.
She knocked incessantly, struggling to catch her uneven breath.
Who’s there?’, a panicked voice came from the inside.
It was a feminine voice, soft but clear and clearly petrified.
It’s…it’s me Adira.
Please, open up.’ Brielle managed to say while catching her uneven breath.
The key turned in the lock with a soft click , and the door creaked open.
Adira peered through the opening, trying to confirm if it was really her.
Once she was certain, she opened the door for her to enter.
‘Where’s grandma?’ She asked as she checked outside to see if anyone had followed her.
Brielle remained silent.
‘Tell me, where’s she!’ Adira demanded desperately with a trembling voice.
Brielle sighed then looked up to her face, their eyes locking almost immediately.
‘She’s gone.’ The words came out raw and unfiltered and Adira felt the world shift beneath her feet.
‘Go…gone?’ She asked.
‘What is that supposed to mean?
She…she can’t be gone.
She must come back.’ Tears started streaming down her face as Brielle’s silence deepened.
‘But Brielle…’ she whispered,struggling to compose herself.’She can’t die like this!’ She said, her voice suddenly firm.
Brielle turned slowly to look at her, amusement and confusion flickering across her face.
‘What?’ She muttered.
‘What do you mean?’ ‘Grandma can’t be gone like that.
Have you forgotten our roots, where we come from?
Have you forgotten she is a wi…’ ‘Enough already ,Adira!’ Brielle snapped.
‘What nonsense are you talking about?
We both know such things don’t exist and if you and grandma had accepted this way back, she…she might have been alive today.’ Tears rolled down her cheeks as she said so.
Her body slumped into one of the old wooden chairs beside her.
‘Please, stop this!’ She cried in her hands.
Adira wanted to say a lot but seeing her sister’s broken condition, she decided to leave well enough alone, knowing that meddling would only make matters worse.
‘Very well, if you say so.’ She agreed.
‘But sister, what about the kids?
What will happen to them.’ Brielle straightened up in her chair, wiping her tears with the back of her hand as realization dawned on her.
She had managed to bring the kids safely to their hideout before they caught up with her and her grandmother.
.
If the people of the town found them, they wouldn’t spare them—not even because of their young age or innocence.
And Dreadmore would be the worst of them all.
He would end their lives without a second thought, terrified that they might one day continue what their great-grandmother had started.
‘Where are they?’she asked Adira.
She pointed to the stairs leading up.
Without a word, Brielle rushed upstairs.
The wooden floorboards creaked, each groan loud enough to wake the dead.
She twisted the knob as quietly as she could.
Inside were two little girls, lying side by side sleeping soundly.
Her steps became lighter as she approached them, tears filling her eyes.
She perched on the edge of the bed, fighting desperately to hold back her tears.
In her mind, she wondered, how could nature be so cruel.
How could it decide the fate of two young girls who had no idea what was happening around them.
It had already torn their families apart, taken some lives already and now it wanted the one thing they could have- their own lives.
Her hands moved shakily as she caressed them.
‘Still sleeping aren’t they?
Sleepy heads!’ Adira joked but Brielle barely looked at her.
She moved with gentle strides towards her sister, bending on her haunches close to speak to her.
‘Sister.’ She called out but there was no response.
‘Sister,’ she called again.
‘Please, don’t make a noise and wake them up.
Who knows when next they’re going to sleep so soundly again.’ Brielle requested, her voice was pleading, yet there was a firmness beneath it.
Adira’s eyes filled with tears but she blinked them away quickly.
‘Don’t worry.
I won’t disrupt their sleep but I need to speak with you urgently.’ When she realized Brielle would still not reply, she continued anyways.
‘I don’t know how long we can keep on hiding here with Vaughn and his men on the hunt for us.
We need to leave- not just this place, but the town as well.
As long as we’re out of here, out of their territory, we will be free from their wrath.
Until then, we’re still in their hands and our lives remain in danger.
We must leave here now.
‘She insisted.
‘And where do you suppose we go from here?’ The question came after a long silence had stretched between them.
Brielle now turned towards her, her attention fully centered on her.
‘Tell me Adira, even if we run away from here, where are we to go?’ She questioned.
‘Are you then saying we should allow them to hunt us down and kill us?
Are you already giving up sister?’ ‘Who says I am giving up ?’ Brielle demanded, her face twisted between surprise and disappointment.
‘I am just thinking of where next to go after here yet your constant interruptions doesn’t give me room to think for a second!’ She stated flatly.
Adira’s eyes widened.
She was hurt by her words, but she knew this wasn’t time to get emotional .
They needed to find help.She stood up silently as she marched out of the room.
Brielle watched her sister’s retreating figure, hurt by the exchange.
But she needed room to think.
If she was going to get them all out safely, she had to come up with a plan—and quickly.
Her eyes turned to the girls and suddenly, an idea struck her.
Thirty minutes later, Brielle finally descended the stairs.
The uncertainty in her eyes was gone, replaced by a look of quiet determination.
Adira was pacing around the room, her mind still trying to figure out where they could be safe from all this.
‘I know where we’re going next.’ Brielle’s statement caused her to stop in her tracks.
She turned towards her with renewed hope.
‘Where?’ She asked.
‘New York.
We’re going to New York.’ Brielle proposed.
‘New York?’ Adira wondered aloud.
‘But we don’t know anyone there nor have we even been there before.’ ‘I know but all that doesn’t matter now.
What matters is the life of the kids and ourselves.
I did some studying and realized that unlike here,where Vaughn makes all the rules,they live under a democratic system.
Their laws are governed by something called a constitution.
Anyone who breaks those laws can be punished.
Once we’re there, we will have the protection of the law.
Dreadmore won’t be able to touch us- not there.’ She affirmed.
Adira smiled at her words and they hugged.
‘I’m so happy, sister.
We will be out of here for good.
Yes!
We’re going to New York!’ She exclaimed with joy.
‘Start preparing.
We will leave by morn….’ ‘THUD!’ The heavy dull sound came.
The sisters froze in shock.
The door of the shelter was being slammed.
‘CRACK!’ The wood splintered against the door as another blow landed.
‘Breille!
Adira!
You both won’t escape here alive!’ A deep masculine voice with threatening words came from the other end.
They knew .
Vaughn had found them.
Panic seized them as they desperately searched the room for a way out.
But there was nowhere to run.
Then, slowly, the battered door began to creak open.
And standing on the other side was the last person they ever wanted to see.