NOAH
“How long do you think we should stay here?” Scarlett asked, peering out of the window for the hundredth time.
“Come away,” I said, tugging on her hand. “We don’t want to be seen.”
“I’m scared.”
“I am too,” I replied. “We have to keep our heads down until light. If we keep going now, we’ll only get lost in the forest.”
“But isn’t it more dangerous to stay? They’ll expect us to be staying somewhere.”
“We don’t have many options, Scarlett. You agreed this is our best chance. Why don’t you try to get some sleep?”
She shook her head. “There’s no way I can sleep.”
“We are leaving at first light and we’ll probably have a whole day of running and hiding. You’re going to need all the strength you can get.”
“What about you?”
“No.”
I could see in her eyes that she didn’t completely trust me. She wanted to, but she couldn’t. I was determined to get her to safety and earn that trust back.
“So you don’t think I’m the key to eternal life now?”
I started to pace again. “No. I think you’re the key to my happiness. As long as you’re okay, I’m okay. There’s nothing in this world I wouldn’t fight against to make sure you’re still breathing.”
“Do you think we’re going to make it out of this?”
“Yes, I do.” They’d be looking, and they wouldn’t stop until they found her, but there was no way I was letting anything happen to her. She was getting out of here. “I need you to think positively.” I ran my hands through my hair. I was starting to sound like my dad. “We’re going to be fine, Scarlett. I need you to trust me.”
“I’m trying but it’s hard.”
I left my post and knelt down in front of her, pulling her arms from around her legs. “I won’t betray you again. I love you, Scarlett.”
Her eyes filled with tears and she opened her mouth to reply, but a knock on the front door had me covering her mouth with my hand.
She looked as terrified as I felt. “Shh,” I whispered. “Get off the bed and follow me.”
Her hand trembled in mine as I led her to the door. The knock, this time harder, echoed through the tiny cottage.
“I’m coming, I’m coming,” Seamus said, heading to the door in his slippers and a threadbare dressing gown.
I picked up the bag and yanked Scarlett’s arm. “Put this on,” I said, putting the strap over her head. “Remember we run straight and don’t stop. In the morning, we’ll see where we are, listen for sounds that we’re near town.”
We made it into the kitchen when Seamus’s guttural scream stopped me in my tracks. Scarlett froze. What was going on? I turned around, heart racing. “Noah!” my dad shouted.
“What’s going on? Who’re you?” Bridget asked. “Seamus!” she screamed next. “No, Seamus. What did you do? What did you do?”
“Go now, Scarlett!” I shoved her toward the door. They were already coming. Their footsteps thudded between Bridget’s wailing. It was so much worse than I could have imagined. I expected a fight, but I never dreamed they’d hurt someone else. What had they done to him?
Scarlett grabbed my arm when I opened the door.
“Go now,” I said, pushing her.
“No, what’re you doing?”
“There’s not enough time. I’ll hold them off. Run, Scarlett, let me do this one thing right. I love you. Run.” I kissed her hard and shoved her out the door.
Her eyes were wild. I closed the door and turned around. They were searching the rooms. I heard doors being opened and lights being switched on. There weren’t too many rooms, so it wasn’t long before the kitchen door was slammed open. Dad and Donald stood in before me.
I straightened my back, having no clue what was about to happen or what to do other than stall them so Scarlett had as much time to get away as possible.
“Where is she?” Dad asked.
“Gone,” I replied.
My dad had never looked disappointed or angry because of me before. But then, I had never done anything to disagree with or disobey him before. Sacrificing—murdering—Scarlett would have been a mistake, one that we could never right.
“I’m sorry,” I said, “but you are wrong about this.”
Donald took a step beyond my dad and held his hands up as if I were dangerous and he had to calm me down. “It is all right, Noah. We don’t blame you. This was a risk, having you on the outside for so long. But you know the truth. Everything we have taught you is the truth, and deep down you still know that.”
I shook my head. “No. You’re just going to kill her. Nothing will happen; she will just be dead.”
“That isn’t true, Noah. Everything they are told is a lie, one to make them conform and fit perfectly into society. I used to be there too, until I realized the truth, until I had my mind unlocked. You’re making a huge mistake here, Noah, but it’s not too late to rectify it. None of us are angry with you. We can help.”
I gripped my hair, closing my eyes. No, he was lying. I thought about Scarlett, her smile, her soft, musical voice, the way her hair naturally curled just a little bit, her bright eyes. Opening my eyes again, I said, “But she’ll be dead.”
“Only in this life, Noah. There is so much beyond this,” Donald replied.
“Why now? Why not when she’s sixty or sixty-five?”
Donald tilted his head. “If we want our community as it is now to achieve eternal life, then it has to be now. You know that if we waited that long I, Fiona, your parents, the rest of the elders would be dead and it would be over for us.”
Selfish. That was all this was. He was willing to sacrifice his own daughter so he could live in eternal happiness while he was still fit and healthy. Never mind Scarlett wanting to grow up and have a family of her own.
“What about what Scarlett wants?” I asked. “Does it not matter that she has things she wants to achieve?”
“This life won’t matter in the next,” Dad said. “We’ll be reunited. We’ll see Scarlett again for eternity. Now, stop this, Noah, you know what is true.”
I stood taller. “I won’t give her up.”
Dad took a step closer. “You either step aside right now so we can find her and you can return home, or this is it. Either way, we’ll get her back, but this the only chance you’ll get to make the right choice.”
“I won’t give her up,” I repeated.
Dad’s face sobered. “All right. Remember that you have made your choice, Noah. There is nothing we can do for you now.”
Fear clawed its way up my throat. His eyes hollowed. There was nothing that looked at me like I was his son, his blood. He was choosing Eternal Light. He pulled a blade out of his pocket.
I looked between him and the knife, too shocked that my dad had pulled a knife on me.
“Dad, what’re you doing?”
“Shh,” he said, moving closer. Donald stood behind him, watching. The order would have come from Donald, but the fact that my own father could go ahead with stabbing his child made me sick.
“Dad, don’t.” I backed up again, taking a sweeping look around the room to see if there was anything I could use to fight him off—an umbrella and an old wooden walking stick that looked like it would break if I picked it up. “You’ll regret this for the rest of your life. I’m your son. Think about it for a second. How can you believe in Eternal Light and everything Donald’s told you if he’s asking you to kill? Love, peace, respect, and harmony. Does that sound like what’s happening right now?”
My heart thumped against my chest, beating too fast and too hard.
“Dad, please. You know this isn’t right.”
“Stop talking, Noah. You made your choice, and you have to live with the consequences. You are a loose cannon now, a risk to us all and one we are not willing to leave.”
I lurched forward, grabbing the arm that held the blade and shoving it away from me. Dad cried out and spun around, trying to shake me off. I held on, fighting for my life, knowing that if I gave him the chance, it could be all over for me.
He stopped being my dad in that moment. When I knew I had to fight against my father to keep him from murdering me, he became nothing but an enemy.
He flung us forward, and my back cracked against the concrete wall, knocking the air from my lungs. Gritting my teeth, I tightened my grip on his wrist and tried to turn the knife back on him.
Donald did nothing but stand and watch. I had expected him to dart after Scarlett.
He must have had other people out there looking for her.
The muscles in my arms ached from the struggle, and I didn’t know how much longer I could hold him off. I kicked my leg out, and he grunted as it came in contact with his shin.
“What will Mum think?” I said. “Or Finn?”
“They’ll understand because they haven’t been poisoned,” he said through clenched teeth, straining to get the upper hand. Growling, he slammed me back again, and my head hit the wall with a loud thud. My vision blurred, and I saw black dots float in front of my face.
Dad used it to his full advantage, punching me in the stomach hard enough that I doubled over and felt like I was going to throw up all over the floor. He pushed his whole body weight against me, forcing me to stand up straight. I was pinned against the wall, my abdomen in agony, and I could barely see properly from hitting my head so hard. But I didn’t need sight to feel the pinch of the knife against my skin and then the hot, blistering pain as he shoved it into my gut.
I was frozen, suspended in time as he stepped back, retracting the knife. It hurt so badly, but the shock kept me from crumbling to the floor and screaming.
“Likeliness is she went out that door,” Donald said. “Let’s go.”
Neither of them looked back at me as I slowly slid down the wall. I tried to breathe evenly, but I couldn’t. I was cold, shivering, and already felt dead.