11 A Rising Rebellion - Final (2/2)

”I don't know if it's a curse or a blessing to have this weapon inside me, to begin with,” I said.

”I'll help you,” suggested Hope.

”What do you mean?”

”I'll help you find out how you even have this power. Of course, finding your parents is something that I wanted to do from the start. Not trying to brag here, but I'm the only one who thinks that way back in the hideout.”

”Hope. . .”

For some reason, I cried right then and there.

After the few days that I'd been separated from my parents, everyone treated me with unfairness and contempt. They hurt me, and I killed them. No one loved me, and I thought I'd accepted that fact. But that feeling was fake.

It was just to a.s.sure myself everything would be fine. I didn't know that having Hope there was capable of my emotions to pour out like that. Perhaps I was waiting for someone to say those exact words for a long time.

”Ava, I promise you, about everything that I said. I mean, Boss just shot me. Ha, there's no way I'm going back to that group.”

Hope patted my head in a weird way. My only guess was that it was the first time he had done something like that. It was strange, but his hand felt warm, just like when my mother used to do the same thing. My long, straggly dark hair shuffled slightly under his right palm. After he stopped, I realized I was not crying anymore.

”Hey! Come out, come out!” Grandpa's voice echoed from outside my dome. However, something was different.

The dome was crimson in color instead of its usual red.

I heard someone kicking and hitting the dome. Despite that, it remained in its place proudly, refusing to budge.

”What if we run?” I told Hope.

He nodded. The piece of blue scarf that he used to wrap around his shoulder began to show blemishes of dark red.

I took a deep breath. I was glad my Aegis was capable to heal wounds, to begin with, even though I did not know how it was done.

”Yeah. I think that's the only way to go about this,” concluded Hope.

I got rid of my tears using my dress's sleeve and desired the dome guarding us to disappear. It dissolved and seeped into my back in liquid form.

Grandpa and Jeremy were waiting for us when they came into view. Inghild stood beside the glossy, black supply vehicle with the same Plasma Radiant Gun he used to shoot me.

With only a thought in mind, red, slender blades from my back swirled around me and Hope.

We ran in the direction heading towards the town's center, away from the people that betrayed my trust. They were shooting at me but the blades deflected it perfectly.

We took a turn to the right when we arrived at the plaza. I ceased the blades back into me and looked over my shoulder.

They were not chasing us.

We kept running before we took shelter in an abandoned brick house.

Its walls were pale white both outside and in. The wooden door creaked when we entered. Inside of it, the furniture and belongings left were untouched. They appeared to be in a great state before I took a glance at the kitchen. The utensils were all over the cement, and the cupboards that I thought were supposed to be screwed into the wall were on the floor. It was shattered into different pieces. Other than that, the whole house was fine.

”We can stay here for the night. There's still about. . . seven more hours before dawn,” said Hope, looking at a green, round clock hanging on the wall.

I was sitting on a single bed, contemplating whether it was appropriate to sleep on someone's bed without asking the owner's permission.

”Maybe this bed belongs to the son or daughter,” I said under my breath.

Hope frowned at me. He had opened a cupboard in the bedroom. ”It's a daughter all right. And these clothes looked like they would fit you well. I mean, if you don't mind oversized clothes.”

He closed the cupboard. ”You should sleep, Ava. I'll be tonight's lookout. Don't worry, I'll wake you up if the army or the group shows up.” With just that, he left the bedroom.

I put down my tattered blue scarf on a small table at the side of the bed. The hole in my thin dress made me uncomfortable, so I changed into a plain, pink dress from inside the cupboard. 'I was only borrowing. I'll give it back after this,' I thought.

”I'm not sleepy.”

I was convincing myself, but it was no good.

”Maybe I'll just. . . lie down for a bit.”

I looked at the white ceiling. The family just loved the color white if they had painted their whole house with just that one color. The bed was soft. Too soft for my liking. The bed I had at home was a bit stiffer. I turned to one side and looked at the scarf.

”Mommy. . . Daddy.”

I was reminiscing when Hope said all those things to me. It was the only happy memory in a while that I could play over and over in my head without having to feel bad.

It was nice.

Unknowingly, I grinned a couple of times.

'For the time being, maybe Hope can be my parent before I find Mommy and Daddy back.' I thought. Thinking about him becoming one actually allowed me to relax.

The memories of dead soldiers and people were shoved back into the far side of my head. I could only saw Mommy and Daddy in my mind right then.

I closed my eyes and the darkness embraced me in the cold night. There was no dream the whole time I was sleeping. It was indeed a good night's rest.

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