Safe and Sound

Escape

The girls were all packed and ready to leave in half an hour. In her left hand Petra held a worn leather suitcase with her clothes and other essentials such as a toothbrush, hair comb, mirror, travel stick of deodorant, bottle of lotion, lip balm, bottled water, rope, among other items. A backpack slung over her right shoulder, causing the sleeve of her white long-sleeve shirt to fall just slightly past her shoulder. The pockets of her jean shorts were stuffed to the brim with odds and ends including a flashlight, a framed picture of her mother, and (ironically) matches and a lighter. Standing beside Petra was her sister Primrose still wearing the knee-length gray short-sleeved dress but this time a worn gray wool shawl was wrapped around her shoulders  while a mauve sweater slung around her waist. Her and her sister both wore matching scuffed up gray converse. Primrose had her own leather backpack slung over her shoulder with the pink skirt sticking out of the drawstrings tied closed in a loose bow. Peep was tucked under her left arm. Her right hand was carrying a burlap sack that contained the blue primrosed tea-set her sister gave her as a present along with her toiletries.

"Guess we are going on a new adventure!" Petra said giving Prim a weak smiled as she tied up her long blonde hair into a messy bun at the top of her head.

But Primrose didn't smile back. How can she talk like that? Primrose wondered staring up at Petra. She just went through all the trouble of finding this safe place for me and now we have to leave right when we were getting settled into a familiar friendly routine among the other girls. Prim looked down at the ground and slowly turned away from her sister towards the woods that were still ablaze in orange fire. She could hear the flames fierce roar as they flickered in and out among the scarred trees. Even though she was some ways away, Primrose could still feel the heat which emanated from the forest fire causing a trickle of sweat to run down her neck to her back falling into a pool of sweat which caused her dress to stick damply to the small of her back. The wool shawl wrapped around her neck felt suffocating against the heat.

"Darling don't look out your window, the whole world's on fire." Primrose said.

"We should've paid closer attention to your dream. Mom was trying to warn us." Petra replied to Prim's echo of her mother's words.

"How could we have known?" Prim sighed this time she turned to stare at the cool crisp water flowing down the stream--a sharp contrast against the heat emanating from the woods.

Just then Flora and Ella came scampering outside--colorful ribboned blonde and brown pigtails flying as they bounced down the porch steps. Rue and Heather were right behind them. All four girls carried their own luggage in an array of suitcases, satchels, and backpacks. Rue held a picnic basket in her right elbow, the contents of which were covered with a white cotton cloth. Just like Petra, she was dressed in jeans and a long-sleeve--except her shirt was black. Heather, was still wearing the olive dress that complemented her copper-colored skin with an olive undertone. She was helping Miss Willow haul her luggage and food out the cabin door. She brushed the brown bangs falling over her green eyes and tripped out the front door.

"Careful!" Rue held her upright keeping her from falling completely flat on her face.

"Need Help?" Prim offered, shifting Peep to another arm.

"I'm alright!" she said trotting down the front steps just as Miss Willow stepped out of the cabin locking the front door behind her.