Midnight Shades

Chapter 1

"Run, run!" I laugh while yelling; my feet are running faster than an angry cheetah. I follow Wren and Esme into the familiar woods, breathing heavily as we continue running back to our homes.

The old man who is running after us is a huge maniac, he keeps screaming, shouting and following us, but I can't say that I blame him. I mean, we stole from him after all, it is a miracle he didn't kill us so far. We stop right after we see the fourth gate of our small village. The Midnight gate.

As we walk closer to it more, we stop to catch our breath, all while hysterically laughing from the events that took place only minutes ago.

"I would like to think that our Goddess is mad at us at this moment." Esme starts, her both hands are on her knees as she keeps wiping away the sweat from her forehead.

"Along with our parents if they found out." Wren rolls her eyes as she says.

"Let us not think about the following consequences of our actions and let us just enjoy this moment." I breathe, sitting down on the dirt next to a tree.

"Why did you rest? Get up, it's past midnight, they will start noticing that we are not there." Wren claps her hands as she says and I mentally groan but force myself to get up anyway.

We continue our path towards the Midnight gate, though we do not pass it, we climb the walls and jump, in fear we would get caught if we use the gate. While walking to our cottages, we keep talking about what happened tonight at the city, and of course my mind wanders to the blue eyed guy I always see every time.

"How old do you think he is?" Esme asks, taking my hand in hers as we keep walking.

"I don't know," I shrug. "Maybe nineteen or twenty?"

"No, he looks older, maybe in his early twenties." Wren speaks, throwing her arm around my shoulder as we near our cottages.

"Whatever, it is not like we are going to investigate about him." I say, rolling my eyes. They laugh a little and shrug it off until I reach my cottage. "I will see you in the early morning, bye!"

My voice is low and a bit hushed, in fear that my parents or theirs would wake up, seeing as their cottages are right next to mine. They wave me goodbye and every one of them dashes off to her own cottage. My own cottage is the one with the blue wing, as my father is our tribe's protector.

The tribe's protector is the person who is in control of our war issues and our small amount of soldiers. The chieftain of our tribe is Esme's father, who has the cottage with the red wing. He is a very generous, kind and fair man, and that is why he is our chieftain. Wren's father is the head of our small soldiers, that is the highest place after the chieftain and the tribe's protector, and that is why he has the cottage with the green wing.

I unlock the wooden door to our cottage as quietly as I can, and then tiptoe inside our home. The insides are dark and awfully quiet, which relaxes me. I don't want to get caught by my parents at one in the morning. As I pass our living and dining area, and continue walking towards my small bed room, a low muffled voice makes me jump in my place.

"Tallulah!"

I turn around quickly, but relax as soon as I see my little brother standing in front of me, rubbing his eyes with his blue dragon toy in his hand. "Cronan, why are you up?"

Our voices are so quiet and hushed, as we both know that if one of our parents woke up, we would be probably punished for staying up so late.

"Where were you?" He asks sleepily.

"I was in the bathroom. Now, let's get you back to your room." I quickly lie and take his hand in mine, leading him towards his own bed room.

After tucking him in bed and telling him a short story, I successfully get back to my beloved bed room. It isn't a big room or a small one, it is decent. The walls are in dark purple colour, so dark that you can almost see it black; my bed is in the furthest corner of the room, with my blue covers on it, a night stand is right next to the bed with a small lamp on it, while the wardrobe is in the opposite wall. My desk consists of a rectangular shaped wood coming out of the wall, and I really love it that way.