Recycling Bin :)

Chapter Four: Far Cry from a Fairytale

"Then we won't get caught. Simple as that," I replied with a teasing grin. He shrugged and we continued our way down the path I had taken just yesterday.

You see, if a man and woman were caught together in public by themselves and they weren't married or engaged to be married, they were thrown in the dungeons beneath the castle. Internally I prayed I wouldn't be seeing the inside of that dungeon very soon.

"Lovely morning," Peter commented as we strolled at a leisurely pace. His boots crunched dry grass every few steps, making it believable that someone was actually around at this time. Besides that sound, I would've felt as if I was completely alone.

"Yes, I guess." We both laughed at my rhyme but then fell into silence as we walked changed paths and headed down one that took you away from the town square. It led to the town market or up the path to the dark forest. We both stopped and stared at the fork in the road.

"Which way?" I asked while turning towards him. His gaze was fixated on the top of the hill by the dark forest.

"I want to see it," he mumbled before blinking and moving his gaze back to me. "Is it okay if we go up there? I-I have a feeling I want to discourage."

I nodded my understanding as I too needed to dispel the pit in my stomach.

We began our long trek uphill in a quiet lull for the first few steps. Our footsteps were the only thing providing us with any noise at all. The silence was captivating but I needed to break it. I needed to talk to him.

"Peter," I started. I felt his eyes flicker to me but I kept my own forward. "If you know you're going to be unhappy, why don't you defy your mother?"

He stayed quiet for a moment and I wondered if I had offended him.

"Because, Caroline, if I defy my mother," he began before I could say anything, "I defy the laws of Tehall. Respect your elders and their wishes. What of-of-" His hands clenched tightly into fists as he spat out his words angrily.

"Calm down," I whispered, placing my hand lightly on his arm. He looked at me and shut his eyes, his fists slowly unclenching. "Let's just walk, alright? I'm sorry I brought it up. It's just different where I came from. I forgot," I continued, my words unusually true.

"It's fine. Let's go," he said after a quick clear of his throat. Once he began walking again the tense moment had passed. My hand dropped from his arm and a moment later our footsteps became in time with each other.

The silence was comfortable. It was easy and normal. A silence shared between two friends who have known each other for a long time.

My eyes drifted along the path, catching onto the wooden homes as we passed. I trailed my hand along the side one of them, my fingers catching on slingers every few steps. It was so odd. All the time I had been here, the houses have stayed the same. No new homes had been built. Everything had stayed the same over the past nine years. It was just that only now I was noticing the greater and minor details of the town. Like how when I woke up here on Sundays, there was a man who lived just down the street from us named Harry. He delivered the news of the week to Micah on Sundays, along with a loaf of bread from the bakery. Micah traded that for eggs.

"Caroline?"

Peter's voice broke into my absorbing thoughts and I looked away from the path in front of me with a raised eyebrow. In the back of my mind, I registered the light movement coming from the town behind us, but I was focused on Peter and what he had to say. He had his hands folded into each at his waist where a rope belt was tied around his baggy trousers.

After a moment of pause, he asked, “Where are you from?”

“Um... Look, I don’t really remember my past all that well Peter. I just know the place was very different from here,” I rushed out quickly, stumbling on my words slightly. Every time he asked or mentioned my past, or where I was from, it caused a little bit of a dilemma.