The door closed softly behind me and I couldn't hear anyone following. Glancing around taking a deep breath resting my eyes for a second, I pulled my bag up on my shoulders.
"Quit your worrying!" I jump to a familiar voice. He slaps my right shoulder with his dry palm.
I turn around to face the medium skinned man with light hazelnut eyes. "What a surprise, Bryan!"
He embraces me, but the doorknob squeaks and I quickly dart behind the house wall. I hear the door open, then close.
"Ah..." Bryan figures, "capital folks!"
Parker rolled his eyes and exclaims, "look another one! This is terrible, we're not suppose to even be known by these residents."
"Calm down," Caleb replies. "We need to go investigate, that girl was acting weird."
Bryan glances at me and distracts, "Who are you folks talking about?" He acts extremely confused grabbing their full attention.
"Ellie, we believe she lives with this elder. Do you by chance know where she would have gone?" Caleb ask without hesitation.
Bryan looks them both up and down, noticing the same thing I seen. They both had fine capital silver swords at their hips. Bryan's eyes hinted at worry, but I shook my head. Although I'm not sure why they are looking for me, it's not safe to just hope for the best.
"Oh... Ellie? She's probably going south, she likes to explore for the time she has left. Really sweet fine lady, why are you guys interested in Ellie?" Bryan lies scratching the back of his head.
Parker confuse ask, "time left?"
"Oh..." Bryan bites his lip, "Ellie has bone cancer. I figured you already knew; that's the reason she's delivers, to explore."
Caleb crosses his arms, "She seemed perfectly fine whenever we saw her. She even had the strength to knock me down onto my butt."
Bryan places his hand on his back pocket, the chilled metal dagger positioned in his hand. "Look man, that's just what I've heard. Her mother died of bone cancer a couple weeks ago, that's why she's with elder Poe now. She refused to go and get tested for it, but elder Poe has been saying she has hard days."
"That's unfortunate," Parker emphasizes, "thank you for your time, but we need to get going."
Parker places his hand onto Caleb's shoulder pulling him away from Bryan. They walk back onto the street and heading south. I turn around the corner to face Bryan again.
"Those two are looking specifically for you, Ellie." Bryan tells me, "They don't know much about you, that's a good thing."
"I know much about them already," I smirk, "Parker is the smart, obedient one, while Caleb is the head-strong, knightly one." I shook my head and took a deep breath. "I need to get going, the sun looks as if it'll set before I thought it would."
I pulled my bag higher up onto my shoulders and went north into the woods. Little people, little worries.
"Don't think I'm letting you go on your own!" Bryan caught up to me, "especially when we don't know what those capitals want from you."
I rolled my eyes, "How can you be this nice to me? Literally, only like two people here even know who I am."
I feel him tracing my steps as we continue on the woods dirt pathway. Bryan has bright blue eyes compared to my faded ice blue in my eyes. Many girls in the village fawn over them; although, he's never showed any real interest in any of them.
"Ellie, you and I have been friends since you've got here. Your like my younger sister, and I don't ever think I'll let you be alone if there are people here poking around." Bryan exclaims.
I step on every leaf I see on the ground, hearing that crunch noise every time. People are mysterious and confusing when they find something unusual. That's something I've picked up on throughout my years here.
"You and me both know the real reason we get along so well..." I paused, "we're both different." I glance back at him, his only half a foot away. "We confided in one another after a rough day because we don't want to feel any ones shame on us."
Bryan grabs my wrist and stops me from walking any further. I look up at him taking a deep breath and put a smile on my face.
Bryan cups my cheeks and kisses my forehead, "We both know that's not the entire truth! You're not selfish, greedy, or mean. You, Ellie, are strong, kind, and would give anything to help whoever you could in whatever way you can."
Snap!
My head whips around and I unintentionally grab a metal dagger from Bryan's hip. I fall onto my right knee throwing the dagger towards the noise.
"Oh my God!" Someone shouts in surprise.
I blink my eyes multiple time before I finally realized what happened. I fall back onto the ground completely, Bryan darts to the person who screamed. My heart is beating a million miles per second, and I can't focus, I'm confused.
"Calm down you idiots! It just got your sleeve; you two need to stop sneaking around like bandits!" Bryan demands. "Ellie! Their fine!"
I feel a tear run down my right cheek, and I cover my mouth trying to hide the whimpers escaping.
"Ellie!" Bryan yells running back to me. The worried look in his eyes are always the same. "Hey... stop that. It's wasn't your fault, he's fine, doesn't even have a scratch."
"Caleb, what the hell?" Parker disturbingly asks.
"Go!" Bryan demands. He pulls up my hood and wipes the black stained tear off my face. He glances back at them both, "Now! Haven't you'd caused enough damage!"
Parker glares at us, but Caleb pushes him back with his arm. "I apologize for his behavior. He doesn't think before he speaks."
Bryan firmly pats my shoulders getting up to face the two capital men. "Yeah! We figured that out!" He put his hands up to shove him.
"Bryan!" I demand, "Just stop... it's fine." I got back up onto my feet, and Bryan backed off.
"Do yourselves a favor and just leave! Go back to your perfect capital living," Bryan exclaims.
Bryan took my hand in his and lead the way. My body was still shaking, and completely on edge. Caleb reaches for my left shoulder, but Bryan harshly smacks it away, my eyes follow the clamor.
"Are you okay?" Caleb questions ignoring what Bryan did, but keeping his distance.
Bryan backs off a bit and responses, "Thanks for your concern, but don't pretend you guys weren't a cause of it."
I reach out to Parker, "Are you okay? Any pain?" I quickly pulled my hand back as I saw him back up a tad. "I apologize," I bow my head.
Bryan sighed and picked me up, "Quit apologizing for something you have no control over!" He glances back at the two men, "What are you guys going to do now?"
Caleb replies, "What do you mean?"
"We know that you guys are some kind of law enforcers. The bracelets and your capital issue swords gave it away," Bryan retorted as I hide my face into his chest.
"Fine you caught us, but we also found what we've been searching for." Parker stated planting his hand onto his weapon.
"Don't you even dare or I swear–
"Put it away and don't touch it again!" Caleb demands. He goes back to Bryan and me, who continues to hide my face. "You understand our orders, we need to bring her back to where she belongs. To her family and home, please just allow us."
I force myself to look at Caleb and whisper, "No!" My body shaking uncontrollably and my vision still burry. "This is my home! I don't have any family, well biologically!"
"Shh..." Bryan rubs my head bringing me tighter to his body. "Look, okay? She is tired and not at her best at the moment, so let's go somewhere she can calm down easier. Then we'll discuss this further, but don't get your hopes up."
I lean into his chest and let the remaining black, cold tears run down my face. This always happens after an episode. Soon enough I'm asleep.