Please, Don't Break Your Promise

Part I Chapter 3

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Ever awaiting fans,

Jinx

Part I Chapter 3

I crouched beside the bag, slowly pulling it away from beside Christian's head. I reached in; holding my breath with trepidation, hoping the makeshift leader of our group wouldn't wake up. He wouldn't be happy to see that one of us was attempting to take something out of the bag once it was in it.

My hand closed around the music box and I slowly pulled it out. I couldn't seem to stop thinking about it. Its feeling had already been imprinted in my hands from the first time I had held it not more than two hours ago. The feeling of the music box brought comfort where there had been a slight unease before.

I was almost prepared for something bad to happen, but the feeling disappeared as soon as the music box was in my hands, soothing me with the thought that I would be able to hear the melody once again very soon.

Everyone was still asleep. Christian gave a slight snort, and I froze, waiting for him to shoot up and start screaming at me. But he rolled over and went back to sleep. I let out a sigh of relief and placed the bag back beside Christian's head, keeping the music box with me, and crawled back to Ryan's side. I slid back beneath the blankets, gripping the box like my life depended on it.

****

Sunshine woke me, its soothing rays stroking my face softly, bringing me back from the dream realm. I soon realized it wasn't the sunrays but actually Ryan’s fingers stroking my face. I opened my eyes to see his handsome face. He may have been my “brother” but that didn’t mean I couldn’t admire his perfect features. I smiled softly.

"Good morning, bro. Why the soft awakening?" I asked. He froze, looking into my eyes. There was flash of something, like….pain? I mentally shook my head. I wouldn’t worry. He had promised last night that everything would be alright. I wouldn’t doubt him.

In the amount of time it took me to think it through, Ryan had already pulled his hands away. Keeping his eyes averted and rising, he gave me a kick, pulling a yelp out of me.

"Get up," he said. “We're going out for food.”

He walked away to call the others, leaving me to look at his lean back wondering what had made him change his mood so suddenly. I shook my head and slowly looked beneath the blankets at the item in my hand.

So it hadn't been a dream after all. I had taken the music box and now there was no way I could return it without raising suspicions. Not that I was willing to return it anyway, but one could still believe that they were saintly, right?

Putting the box in my pocket, I climbed out from beneath the warmth of the covers and stifled a well developed yawn. My jaw cracked with the effort to stifle it and I stretched, letting out a moan of satisfaction as I felt my muscles strain and finally relax. There was a cough, and I looked to see Christian and Andy staring me. I grinned sheepishly.

“Sorry, guys, it’s just been a long night.” They both nodded and Christian turned away. But Andy gazed at me for a moment longer and looking into his eyes, I felt that he knew something more than what I had been hinting at. I gave him a strained smile and a little wave. He gave a small smile.

“It was wasn’t it?” He turned away, joining the group that had gathered around the table. I shook my head. He had no idea.

“Andy and I will go sell the items,” Christian said. “Tara, stay here and just stay as a lookout.” Tara made a face but didn’t say anything. “Ryan and Rayne will go and buy provisions from the market. Don’t get too carried away in having fun…like last time.” Ryan and I glanced at each other and grinned. Last time. Ah, that brought back memories.

****

We had been the ones to buy provisions the very first time we had done this as a group, and in the process of buying food and clothes for the others, we got it into our heads that maybe playing the part of the poor and mistreated, we would get more, in the form of one of us distracting and the other stealing. It’s kind of needless to say that we got carried away, and had taken one too many things and pissed off one too many shopkeepers before we were caught in action.

It was quite a skeptical, really, the face of that fat man who had owned the fruit stall. I was only taking two apples, five oranges, a bunch of bananas, a box of grapes, and some plums when he turned around from talking to Ryan to find me with a huge crate of his things (now mine, I wanted to say) in my arms. His face had contorted between about ten different expressions in the split second where Ryan had yelled, “Run!”

Being the greedy girl that I am, I didn’t drop the crate, and just ran. We dodged through the market, and the fat man had started yelling drawing more attention and before we knew it, there was a huge horde of people racing after us, at least half of them, people we had stolen from. Well, we weren’t caught, but the story had spread amongst all the market places in the area and we couldn’t show our faces for weeks. That kind of led us to change our base from the north side here to the east side, to this basement, our new temporary home.

****

“Aw, come on Christian, admit it. We got more things for us then than any of you guys have gotten us in the past two months,” I said. Ryan nodded. I smiled at him but Christian just shook his head.

“Just be careful, okay? We don’t need to move from this place too when we just started getting comfortable.” We both bowed our heads guiltily and mumbled a heartfelt apology to the other three. 

Christian and Andy left first, Christian popping his head out the window to see if there were passersby who might see them coming out. When the coast was clear, him and Andy climbed out and headed to the southern parts of the city, where they would find all the stores that bought things like those we had stolen last night. After a couple minutes, Ryan and I also left the base, making sure to check again, before climbing out of the basement into the alleyway. We headed to the market place in this part of the city.

We were alone and that was all the incentive I needed to blurt out all the questions I had inside me.

“Ryan, we need to go. Soon. There has been this feeling in the pit of my stomach that something bad will happen if we don’t leave soon. I don’t want a repeat of the last time, Ryan. Any of the last times.” My brother looked at me, his face blank but worry flashed in his dark grass green eyes.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “Nothing will happen. Not when I’m around. I promise we’ll leave before anything happens this time. Just…give it another couple of days. We can’t just up and abandon the other three.”

“Abandoning them is better than them getting hurt!” I practically yelled. He gave me a quick glare reminding me that we were in the open.

“It’ll be okay,” he said. “We’ll leave. Two days, max, okay?” I nodded reluctantly. The bad feeling inside me grew heavier and darker. Too many things had happened over the last eight years to make that feeling go way.

Way too many things; when I thought about them, pain and fear lanced through me, sure as hot fire and coal sitting in the pit of my stomach. I winced slightly remembering the agony and terror of those encounters. 

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