To live a life of Love (complete)

Chapter 16: Nick

Christine and I had been on the move for two days when the storm hit. At first we had thought it was nothing – a little rain couldn't hurt us – and then it began to flood the path so we were basically walking in a stream. We were soaked and cold and had no shelter which was not fun at all!

Just over an hour ago we had passed a town but it had no inn in it so we had moved on and now we wished we hadn't.

"W-We should s-stop." Christine stuttered and once again I was proud of myself for coming up with the perfect name for her. She would never be 'Matilda' again because she was more than just a maid and we both knew it.

"G-Good idea." I chattered back "But there's n-no shelter anywhere."

And so we trudged onwards, not even bothering to try and protect our food from the rain anymore.

Finally, just as we could hardly put one foot in front of the other – I finally spotted a cave up ahead.

"Look at that! A cave!" I shouted over the roar of the rain.

"Let's go inside." Christine said and we ran into the opening.

"Thank god. I thought I would surely turn into a fish after being exposed to so much water!" I joked halfheartedly.

"Yeah. Really." Christine agreed and squeezed out her sopping hair.

Soon Christine had a roaring fire going – we had brought some wood with us just in case and it wasn't too wet to burn – and I had set out some food.

"Where did you learn to make a fire?" I asked her as we gulped down our dinner.

Christine sighed and frowned slightly before answering "I figured if I was ever on the run from the rebels I would need to know how to look after myself. Fire building and fighting were on my list and so I learned how. It's no big deal."

I nodded but inside my head was roaring with thoughts. Christine had really been worried about getting caught and now we were heading back to the place she had run away from. Was she really okay with this?

I decided to drop the subject and we ate on in silence once again.

"Why did you pick the name Christine?" Christine asked quietly, breaking the silence.

I shrugged but frowned slightly when a memory came rushing back to me.

A boy ran along the street being chased by Emma. It was a few weeks before they would be separated for four years but neither knew that yet. They were playing Robbers and right now the boy was winning... as usual.

"Why do you always win?" Emma complained when the boy had won once again.

"Because I'm awesome." He bragged.

"I should just hang out with Christina instead of you. You're no fun anymore." Emma complained.

"But Christina's sick, remember? You have to deal with me!" The boy said.

"She'll get better and when she does you'll have to say goodbye to me!" Emma huffed.

"You say that now but I doubt that will ever actually happen." He said, smiling happily. Emma would never abandon him, he was sure of it. He was a great friend and they both knew it. Unfortunately, that was not to be...

Two weeks later the accident occurred and Emma and the boy were separated. And a week after that, Christina died from the flu leaving both Emma and the boy alone with no friends at all...

I jerked back from the memory and shook my head to clear my thoughts. I hadn't thought about my old friend Christina in a long time but when I had been coming up with a name for Matilda, I realized that she was a lot like Christina used to be and that the name 'Christine' was perfect for her.