Together With You

Unmasked/Unconcealed

“You’re just kidding, right? You have to be.” whimpered Edric. Though just by looking at Hunter’s face it was clear that this wasn’t a joke. 

“Ed, I’m sorry,” said Hunter with a quiver in his voice. This wasn’t easy for him either. How could he have foreseen that he would be accepted into the scouts at such a young age? This meant that he would have to leave his family and friends. Once someone got accepted into the academy there was no turning back.

“Come on Ed,” I said, trying to keep him from breaking down even if I wasn’t holding up any better. It was too soon. We all knew one day he would have to leave but we thought we would all be adults by then. 

“No! Em, you can’t be okay with this either. Right? This is wrong he can’t…” tears started rolling down his face as he looked at me with a pleading look. Of course, I wasn’t okay with this but there wasn’t anything we could do. 

I put my arm around Ed and guided him away from Hunter. “Come on Ed, we should go. Hunter needs to get ready.” Truth be told I just wanted to run away from the situation as if that would make it all go away. 

“No please, don’t go…” pleaded Hunter. Hearing him say that broke something in me. I heard it snap and the words just started to flow. 

“We aren’t the ones leaving. You are!” I said coolly looking back at him. I saw the pain in his eyes but I didn’t care. I wanted him to hurt as much as we were hurting. “You made your choice, and it wasn’t us. Just go already and forget about us.”

I tried staying strong but even I could feel tears starting to pour down. I didn’t want him to see me cry. So I walked away, taking Edric with me and leaving Hunter behind. 

The screaming of my alarm clock pulled me out of my nightmare. I sat up in bed and silenced the alarm on my bedside. I brought a hand to my face and then looked back down at my pillow. They were both wet. That memory had been playing back in my head for years yet it still made me cry. It was the memory of the last time I saw my best friend. It’s been four years since then and not a day goes by that I don’t regret what I said that day. I tried apologizing but by then it was too late. Hunter had done exactly what I told him and left the very next morning to go to the academy. Ed and I tried finding him several times but we never had any luck. I even tried talking to his mom but she ignored me. I think Hunter told her what happened and she was mad. I didn’t blame her though. I was pretty mad at myself too. 

A knock at the door pulled me out of my thoughts. It was followed by Edric’s voice “Come on Em mom is going to kill us if we’re late to school again.” he shouted. As if she would do anything to her precious baby boy. I don’t know why he worries so much. If anyone would get in trouble it would be me for being the oldest. 

“Yeah, I’m up,” I got out of bed and walked over to the mirror. My hair was a matted mess of green and my eyes were so puffy that there was no way I could hide the fact that I had been crying all night. My skin had even started to break out. No matter what I did I was going to look like a mess today. Luckily for me, I had my concealment stone so I wouldn’t have to worry about that. “ I’ll meet you downstairs in a bit.”

I got myself ready and then headed downstairs to eat breakfast. When I got there both Ed and Amity were already well into eating breakfast. Both of them were silent. More so than usual and I knew why. Today is the anniversary of when Hunter left. It really has become a rather sad day in Blight manor. Amity had been just as close to Hunte as Ed and I. I’m pretty sure she saw him more like her sibling than she does us. She had also been really upset at me after learning what my last words to Hunter were. To this day she hasn’t forgiven me. Though I wouldn’t expect her to since I still haven’t forgiven myself.