Secrets Intertwined

VII

Opening her eyes after what felt like no time at all, the sun had begun to set across the fields. From the glance at the open scenery, the emptiness, Aislyn knew they were in between Communities, nearing her own. 

A balmy, country air blew into the carriage. Earth, manure, heat. The only noise she could hear was coming from the carriage she was sitting in and the chirping birds. It was peaceful.

Her attention was drawn to the other side of the carriage where Logan slept, light snores coming from his slightly parted mouth. Without moving from where she lay, Aislyn scanned him with her eyes taking in his appearance.

Blonde locks, bleached from hours of being in the sun, were pushed back behind his ears, the longest of them reaching the collar of his rumpled shirt. Even though he was only a year younger than Jackson, three years older than her, Aislyn had always pictured him to be her age. His high cheekbones seemed to give him a more boyish appearance paired with his brown eyes that always seemed to be twinkling with mischief.

She could see the small bump on his nose from where she had broken it by accident in an aggressive game of hide and seek back when they were children. His skin was darker than she remembered, probably from more outdoor labour she assumed he had taken charge of. Despite her only have been gone for five years, he held himself differently- as if he carried an aged weight, beyond his years, on his young shoulders.

"Aislyn?"

Her eyes darted to Jackson, who was sitting with his arms crossed staring at her. She slowly sat up, rearranging her scarf, she stretched her arms above her head and stared back at him, waiting for him to say something. But he didn't. Instead, he averted his eyes and stared at the floor, his knee jumping up and down. Sitting there, she studied him.

He was exactly as she remembered, he had never grown into the twenty-seven-year-old man he was now- he had always been like that. Even from a young age, he was always the responsible one, always watching over her, Tamani and Logan. But it amused her how different they looked: He had tanned skin where she had pearly white skin, he had crystal blue eyes and she had black ones- had had amber ones.

She nudged him lightly with her foot, "What?" she whispered.

"I thought you were dead."

"I know," she sighed, running a hand through her hair.

"I thought you were dead but instead you're running around the Council House looking happy and relaxed with three big trunks filled with your possessions that you what? Gathered in the five years we searched for you and mourned you? I just can't wrap my head around it."

"I couldn't come back until now," she argued, "I had stuff to do and-"

"Stuff to do? What about us? You couldn't have sent us some message to let us know that you were okay? To let us know you were alive?"

"No."

Jackson let out a deep sigh and slouched against the bench, staring intently at Aislyn.

"The day you disappeared I didn't even realize you were gone until Tamani asked me where you were. I just assumed you were with him. Then I panicked. Tam, Logan and anyone else we could gather were running around the Community looking for you. The first two weeks were the hardest. You had disappeared without a trace and we had searched everywhere we could think of. We eventually were granted entrance to any Community within a days riding distance but found nothing. Tam picked up a bag and left for a year to search for you. He only came back because of the elections. With us three being chosen as the Leaders, we had to take on the safety of the rest of the town so we had to cut back the search. Eventually, everyone thought that-", he swallowed, " that you had been killed. We paid some on to see if they could track you down, are still paying, but he found nothing. It just makes no sense. I don't understand."