"What should I do, Rose?"
I hugged her trench closer to my body. Even though I still washed it and dried it, I hadn't touched it much besides that since I got back from Doveport. It had taken me a long time to look at the large trench coat and picture the happy memories I had with my family rather than the ones of them being massacred. Once I finally managed to get over that phase of my grief, I kept Rose's trench safely in her closet. This was the first time I had taken it out in three years.
I never managed to go back to sleep after hearing what I heard, so I had to rub ice under my eyes to cover the dark circles. It was ten in the morning, so I had changed into a ankle length dress that had a floral pattern on it. I had learned to see the beauty in both my scars and my femininity. I had put Rose's trench over it as a source of comfort. As I sat on the edge of the Safe Place's roof, I reminded myself that I couldn't keep her trench coat on for too long, or all that time spent on trying to move on from her death would be futile.
What I had heard earlier this morning... it was the hope I had been looking for all this time.
The solutions to my problems. The peace to my irritation. The light to my darkness. The very way to eliminate the one person that caused Lucella nearly four years of endless loss, pain, and suffering. It was all in my head. I had the answer. I knew how to save Lucella. I knew how to restore my home to its former glory. I knew how to avenge my family, my friends, and everyone else who lost their lives to his hands. I knew how to find the closure I had been looking for all this time.
But the price that needed to be paid was more severe than anything I had ever seen.
That was why I was out here. I needed Rose's advice. I needed her to send me a sign. A sign on what I was supposed to do next. Before the infection, she was always there when I needed her the most. She had sacrificed so much for me, even before she put her life on the line for me and lost it. She sacrificed her sleep when stayed up late with me when I had pneumonia. When I had thrown up at school, suddenly her work came second. She never hesitated to cancel plans with friends if I needed her. She always had the best advice for me if I needed it.
Now, I needed her, and she wasn't here.
I let out a sigh and stood up before turning around and walking back to the door that went downstairs. Once I was back inside, I allowed for thoughts to consume my head once more as I walked down the hall. I knew what needed to be done, and it wasn't a hard task to complete, but it wasn't something I could do right now. That was the reason why I had asked my sister for advice. Maybe somehow she could send me a sign on what to do next.
The adults were out on a supply run, so Zee and Zuzy were most likely snooping through said adults' rooms. Georgie was in the shower, so I was the only one inside of our shared bedroom. I didn't think much of it when I pushed the door behind me in order to close it. I must've accidentally pushed it too hard, because the sound of it slamming made me flinch while causing something to fall off one of my shelves and land on my bed. I had gotten bored during the night, so I had taken out an old map of Lucella I found in a random store and laid it out on my bed. The closest place to us was Doveport, and even that was far away. However, the island made up for its distance with its size.
I turned to my bed to see that the thing that had actually fallen from underneath my shelf and landed on my map was a circular dream catcher I had hanging over my bed. I let out a sigh before walking over to my bed to pick it up and put it back where it belonged. However, my hand stopped in its tracks when I realized where it had landed. When I leaned over the map, I noticed that the circular part of the dream catcher had landed on the coast of the North Sea. It seemed to be only a few miles away from where the port was. Thanks to Willow, I knew how to get there by heart.
However, the journey from here to the factory took a long time. Adding the time it took to get from there to the port gave me a total of nearly three hours. Even though it was possible for me to walk or run all the way over there, it wasn't something I was willing to do. There were many things that could happen while I would be out there. I could get attacked by the infected, I could die of starvation or anger, I could even die of exhaustion.
Then again... my dream catcher couldn't have fallen there coincidentally. I went from asking my older sister for advice on the rooftop to staring down at a specific location on my map in less than ten minutes. That had to mean something. I reached for the nearest pen that sat on my bedside table and circled the area where the dream catcher landed. A shiver went down my spine at the thought of me asking my sister for a sign on what I was supposed to do.
And I had gotten it.
"Thank you, Rose."
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
Pony was the one who falls asleep last, and Zizzy was the one who wakes up first.
The former usually goes to bed at around ten at night, while the latter wakes up bright and early at six sharp. That gave me about an eight hour time slot in between for what I was going to do. I had spent the rest of the day planning out my next steps. It would be hard to convince the adults to let me go all the way over there on my own, so I had to go on my own without their knowledge. It was risky, but I couldn't ignore the calling I was hearing.
I waited until it was half past ten to get up from my bed. Georgie was too deep into his slumber to wake up, so I didn't have to worry about him. I grabbed my cellphone from my bedside table before quietly climbing out of my bed. Once I was on my feet, I crept towards the door, putting my hand on the handle and twisting it as slowly as I could. I opened the door wide enough for me to slip by before going through it and closing it behind me. I stayed by it to make sure Georgie was still asleep, and once I made sure that I was in the clear, I made my way down the hall.
The elevator would be too noisy, so I opted to go down the stairs instead. As I left the floor where my room was, I made my way to the stairs as the moon's light poured in through the windows. I repeated my plan over and over as I walked down the numerous flights of stairs, stopping once I reached the bottom. Earlier today, I had hidden my clothes and weapons underneath the cushions of the couches on the first floor. Additionally, I had eaten a lot of food, so the others would think I was in the bathroom if I wasn't asleep.
I took the couch cushion out and put it aside before taking the things I had hidden inside out of it. Once I had everything out, I put the cushion back in its place. The first thing I did afterwards was change out of my pajamas and into my black hunting outfit; shirt, leggings, belt, and boots. I attached the holsters that stored my sword, knife, and pistol and lifted the sling of my rifle over my head. I quickly braided a strand of my hair to do my usual braided headband hairstyle.
After I had fully prepared myself, I grabbed a few key essentials that I thought could prove useful, such as my flashlight, and my first aid kit before standing back up and turning to face the door. Once I took one final glance up the stairs to make sure I was alone, I took a deep breath before walking towards the exit, opening it slowly, and sneaking out of it before closing it behind me. The sounds of crickets and owls immediately filled my ears as the warm spring air surrounded me.
I always knew that I would sneak out as a teenager, but I never thought it would be like this.
I walked towards the chain linked fence gate before wrapping my fingers around the cold steel. With a grunt, I used any upper body strength I had to lift myself up and climb over the gate, landing safely on the other side. As soon as I pulled myself together once more, I pulled my pistol out from its holster, making sure it was loaded and turning off the safety. Then, I began to walk down the sidewalk, my destination as clear as day in my head. I wondered if The Silver Paw was still at the factory. If they were, I was curious to see how they were doing after Willow and Tigry had gone off on their own.
As I walked down the same path I was forced to take three years ago, I thought about what could be waiting for me at the North Sea's coast. It had been a long time since I've seen its black, ink-like waters. I remembered Budgey mentioning that she and her crew were forced to throw some of their members overboard because they couldn't risk getting infected while being out at sea. "Can the infected even swim?" I asked myself. After thinking about it for a while, I accepted the fact that I probably didn't want to know the answer to that question.
I was about to walk past the auto dealership on my right without giving it much thought, but the moon's light poured onto one of the vehicles inside, and curiosity got the better of me once more. The dealership's glass was broken, and few cars were missing from their displays, so I assumed that people used them to escape the infected when the world first fell into chaos. The ones that were still inside mostly consisted of older, slower models. Except for one.
I carefully stepped over the shards of glass before turning on my flashlight and shining its light on the dealership's floors. I couldn't help but wonder what it must've been like for the people in here. Maybe there were families buying their children their first cars. Maybe there were those who had finally saved up for the car of their dreams. Maybe there were people who were looking for a challenge. No matter why they were there, they were gone now, so it didn't really matter. My eye was too busy being fixated on a particular vehicle.
A matte black motorcycle that seemed to be just my size.
Dad had told Rose and I about how he used to ride a motorcyle back in his younger years. He had stopped after marrying Mom and giving birth to my sister. Much my Mom's dismay, he took the time out of his day to teach us how to ride it. Rose had been putting some of her money aside to buy her own, even though she already had her car. She had been so close to having enough for her dream motorcycle, but now she would never get the chance to ride it.
However, that didn't mean I couldn't do it in her honor.