I didn’t even need to arrive at the town circle of Athea to know it was all gone.
A once lively, beautiful, quaint village diminished to ashes.
The embers were burnt out. Nothing my broken stone and singed trash littered the cobblestone streets. The skulls—the bones of the people crunched below my horses feet and spread as far out as the eye could see.
I flew myself from the horse and fell to my knees.
Miles instantly rushed to my side holding my shaking body to his chest. My screams pierced through the wind, but I couldn’t hear them over the sharp ringing of my ears.
Arlo joined us on the ground soon after my voice gave out from screaming. He knelt beside me, simply resting a hand on my back.
Once I had gotten to my senses, I pushed myself up, dragging myself toward where Theo’s mother shop used to be. The building now was nothing but a pile of rubble. I kicked away at it.
A small blue bear broke free from behind a wooden board.
I lip quivered as I picked it up and hugged it to my chest. It was the bear Theo’s mother had sewed him for his fifth birthday. He was always embarrassed by it, but he never got rid of it. Even when he was much too old to keep it.
“Is he dead?” my dry and gravelly voice asked no one in particular.
Miles shot a look at Arlo. “Who, Violet?”
“Theo. Is he dead?” I repeated.
“I-I don’t know, Vi,” Arlo answered. He pulled me into his side. “We have to go check on Rose, okay?”
“Is she dead?” I could barely recognize my own voice.
Arlo looked at me, his expression broken. “That’s what we’re going to find out.”
Tears spilled from my face as we crossed the bridge. The one that held such vibrant memories, was all reduced to black ash.
When I saw it appear in the distance, Arlo had to hold me so I wouldn’t fall to the floor once more. My hand shot from my mouth as a series of strangled cries erupted from me.
It was gone.
All gone.
The cottage burnt to a crisp. The livestock decomposed and dead. The small greenhouse collapsed and burned.
My whole life—the only thing I called home…
Gone.
I rushed forward, still clinging to the little blue bear like at any moment if it slipped from my grip the life I used to know would completely vanish from my reality.
It already had.
My heart quickened as I began digging. “Everyone spread out. Look for bones.”
“Violet…”
“No!” I barked at Arlo. “If my sister was here during the fire her bones would be here. I will not stop until I know for sure.”
Miles and Arlo, as well as all the trusting guards who followed close behind us, looked at me longingly as I viciously swatted away blackened bits of the house.
“Are you just going to stand there?” I shouted at them.
This seemed to kick-start them into motion.
We dug for hours. The sun had set by the time we had searched every inch of the rubble.
I laughed almost manically. “See? She wasn’t here. She wasn’t here and that means she isn’t dead and she got out in time. She-”
I gasped when my mind went back to what seemed like ages ago. To the beginning of the whole thing.
Dad’s shed.
The hideout.
“I know where she is,” is the only thing I say before I take off into the woods.
“Violet, It’s getting late. We need to head back,” Arlo shouted after me.
“Then go back. I’m not leaving until I find her.”
Arlo muttered something to the other guards and they began to retreat to the horses.
He and Miles, on the other hand, stayed close behind me.
Once we arrived at the shed, I practically flung myself through the door.
I scanned the room with a wide smile, eager to see her after all this time.
“Violet…” Miles said softly.
The room was empty.
“Shut up,” I hissed. “Shut up. Just shut up. Just shut the fuck up.”
“I’m so sorry,” Arlo whispered.
“No.” I jabbed a finger at him. “You don’t get to be sorry because that means she’s gone and if she’s gone that means I have nothing. I have nothing and none of this meant anything anyway. There was no point. To any of it. I ruined myself just for her to die anyway.” I completely lost it. Wailing and slamming to the ground. Thrashing and clawing at the wooden floors. Pounding my feet and kicking anyone threatening to touch me. “I could’ve… If I would’ve just… let her… be banished… she’d be alive!” I wailed between sobs.
I kicked and screamed until my lungs gave out and my feet went numb and my tears ran dry and my world stopped rotating and my life stopped seeming worth living.
And then the world finally went dark.