Never Go Home

Chapter 2 - The Crossroads

Sleep didn't come easy. Tomorrow I would say goodbye to my best friend. The rules of The Offering were clear. The crossroads were a four-way split, and we could only travel alone past this point.

One direction pointed back home to Chernibden, which left three others. Today Eluena, Maggie, and Edith would leave, one in each direction. Mindy, Becka, and I would wait five days. Then it was our turn. This year was rare. Chernibden had only two or three girls leave as Offerings for the past couple of years. Lucky me to go on a year that there were enough of us to force us to use that rule.

All night I tossed in my bedroll, an idea kindling in my mind. With my thoughts racing, I couldn't rest. As it always was with me, once an idea grabbed me it wouldn't let go until I had thought about it from every direction.

Giving up on rest, I left my bedroll and watched the sunrise from a large outcropping of rocks near our shelter. The warmth intensified along my body as the sun rose over the mountains to the east, painting the landscape around me in shades of amber.

Bits of broken glass glinted in the morning light. Crumbled buildings speckled the view around me. It was prime peddler-work, though I had heard exploration of these buildings was dangerous. Collapses could happen with little warning. So much black rock, heaved and broken, now overgrown with grass and shrubs. Mother Earth was reaching up from the depths of her being to enfold these anomalies and bring them back to her bosom, back into the dirt.

My body and mind relaxed under the soothing heat, and my plans crystallized in my mind. I had no intention of finding a husband, so why play by the Elder's rules? I couldn't suppress the grin that spread across my face as both my heart and mind accepted my decision. The Offering always struck me as just another way the Elders tried to control and dictate our lives, but now I savored the unanticipated feeling of freedom.

There were no Elders to stop me. I had said my goodbyes.

Committed to my new plan, I focused on the task ahead, to bide my time until everyone was asleep tonight, to not attract any attention during the day, and then to find Eluena and convince her to break the rules with me.

Convincing Eluena would not be as easy. She was, by nature, someone who did not like to stir the pot. While I knew some of her more rebellious thoughts, I also knew she wanted to find a husband and settle down. Yes, convincing her would be no easy task, but I'd have at least an entire day's worth of travel to think about that.

And then there was my mother's advice: find a husband in the first village. She only wanted me to stay nearby. Since I was no longer following rules, I could go back to my village and visit my parents at any time I wished. I pushed that issue to the back of my mind. My mother's strange behavior bothered me, but I didn't have time to puzzle it out. My focus needed to be on stealing away and Eluena.

As the sun rose higher, I heard rustling inside the house. Someone was awake. I slid off my rock, warm from the sun, and made my way back to the shelter. The crossroads were the center of a bygone city. I could still make out the outlines of the old road hidden beneath the growth. It was much wider than what the traders needed today.

Eluena was the only one awake and outside of the bedding area as I entered the small, ramshackle building, maintained by travelers and peddlers. Her nerves always bested her. She gave me a shy, nervous smile as I walked in, busying herself with folding clothes to pack for her day's travel.

Eluena had her bag on the long, wooden table centered in the room. The room was for eating and sitting. No kitchen, only the table with six chairs and a trunk. Cooking was outside in the fire pit. As much as we rejoiced in the rain, I don't think I would enjoy being stuck in a cabin with Mindy and Becka in the torrential downpour of one of our storms.