These Girls Are Inglorious

Before The War

The footsteps of someone running through the mud were all that could be heard in the murky forest. The person that was running was a girl called Astrid, she had three bags full of stolen goods, not gold or jewelry, but medicine, bread and some small rations of meat. She ran towards a cottage, covered in ivy leaves, branches and vines, it was a beautiful cottage.

" Guys! Guys! Let me in!" Astrid pounded on the door looking around nervously, her very dark blonde hair was covered in rain and the tiniest bit of blood.

Astrid was let in and she ran in and locked the door. Mariah was stood by the door and she took the bags and ripped them open.

" Did you get it?" Mariah asked her friend, looking deeply into her green eyes.

" I got all that I could take without getting my hand sliced off, is she getting any better?" Astrid asked, catching her breath.

A taller pale girl entered the room, her hands stained with blood and bags under her bright blue eyes.

" Sezes is fine, she's lost a large amount of blood though, but I managed to stop it" Anabelle reassured Astrid, a sigh leaving Astrid's lips.

The three girls walked into a small room, a girl with air tied up in braids was lying on the bed, her leg covered in a bandage which was stained red. Sezes was checking the perimeter of the cottage, and while checking she stepped in a rust old bear trap. That was 2 days ago but they days had gone so quickly for the four orphan girls it seemed as it happened 4 minutes ago.

" Only you can get your god-damn leg caught in a bear trap" Astrid mumbled bitterly.

" I heard that." Sezes coughed, sitting up and wincing at the pain that shot through her body.

Astrid mimicked her voice and sighed. Anabelle gave Astrid a slap around the back of the head, getting her to shut up successfully. Mariah sighed and handed some pain-killers over to Sezes and told her to take a few. Sezes popped 2 pills out and grabbed the water on the bedside table and chugged the pills and water at the same time.

" Did anyone see you when you were coming back Astrid?" Anabelle asked the slightly shorter girl.

" I don't think they did, I was chased from the bread shop by the owner, he didn't see my face but when I got into the forest, he went back" Astrid replied still a bit out of breath from running so much.

" We can't keep living like this..." Mariah said quietly.

" How else can we live? We're orphans, no one will adopt us and if they did we'd be split apart, and we can't be apart" Astrid informed Mariah.

" But we weren't raised to be theives!" Mariah yelled.

" I know we weren't but our parents aren't here are they!?" Astrid shouted back

" Guys! Stop it! It's no use arguing! We are alive and together that's all the matters, we're sisters and we'll stay like that!" Anabelle yelled at both of them, silencing them effectively.

" Maybe we could just, run away to Paris and start a new life there" Sezes laughed slightly.

The four orphans shared a light giggle, they always joked about running to Paris when they were at Astrid's house just to annoy her dad. The four girls had all lost everything, their family, their innocence, their childhoods, but they didn't lose their will to live, they didn't lose each other. Anabelle was the one who found the cottage a few years back when they were about eight years old and it became their little "clubhouse". Every friday they'd meet up and fix it up, when they were 13 is when their families started to die out. First was Sezes, losing her mother, Mariah's family took Sezes in and they treated her as their own daughter. Second was Anabelle, her mother and father were in a tragic car accident, she decided to live in the clubhouse, Mariah, Astrid and Sezes brought her food whenever they could. Third was Mariah, her parents had both died of sickness, they also moved into the clubhouse. Lastly was Astrid, her parents and two siblings had died in a fire, she moved into the clubhouse with the rest of her little friendship group and since then, they became sisters, bound in sadness and pain. They promised to protect each other no matter what.

" Hey maybe one day it could happen, Anabelle could fall in love for the 16th time and he could take us to Paris" Mariah said, an evil smile gracing her face.

Astrid burst out laughing and stepped back, letting Anabelle charge at Mariah and attempt to punch her in the face.

" I've only been with a boy two times!!!" Anabelle screeched, ignoring the laughter.

They were all sisters.

That's all that mattered.

That's all that will ever matter.