Safe

Chapter 3:

"Although it would be nice to finally be free from life... I still have a dream to live. I want adventure and to see places other than the same things I see and read about in textbooks. My decision is... to go with you." I told him. I felt like my heart was going to explode from all of the nerves and big decisions that were being made all at one time. The man, who was around the age of twenty, stood back from me and then released me from my restraint.

"We leave at dawn." He said as he turned around to drop his bag for a pillow. I nodded not knowing where we were going. "Although, we might move earlier. Your father must be worried about you, so we need a trick to make him think that you're dead." He said. I thought about it before remembering one of my powers.

"My powers are really good at creating illusions and making people hallucinate. I could fake my death by making it look like you stabbed me." I suggested to him. He shook his head.

"We need to kill me off too, just so my name is cleared from this kingdom." He said. "Could you set a house on fire for me?" He asked. I nodded in response. We sat in the cave with myself having nothing to do or read. I leaned back against the cave wall and sat down. I then realized that I didn't even know this guy's name. I hesitated on whether I should ask him or not. He did seem a little bit threatening to me, but I wasn't going to let him see that I was slightly afraid of him. The man started a fire in front of me, since he noticed that I was cold and it was getting really dark out. I scooted a tad bit closer to the fire, but then I looked into the flames and had a flashback of my mother's burning face and body as she screamed in pain. I scooted back away from the fire and just sat against the wall again. I guess the guy didn't notice because he kept poking at the fire with a stick to get the wood to burn. I didn't look at it. I closed my eyes because I didn't want to remember. I remembered what Luka would do to calm me down and I calmed down a little bit, although, it wasn't the same without him here.

The man came over to me with a torch that was lit on fire. He held it out to me and I flinched and sat away from it's flames. He looked at me with utter confusion. He grabbed my arm and pulled me up roughly and then handed me the torch before walking back over to where he was sitting by the fire. I didn't like being so close to the fire. The torch was triggering memories by itself. I just put the torch down on the ground and then sat away from it. The man noticed my actions and looked at me confused.

"Are you afraid of the torch?" He asked with a hint of laughter in his voice. I glared at him and hid my legs in my dress as I pulled them closer to me. I rested my head on my knees and hugged my legs with my arms.

"I'm not afraid of the torch, just the fire." I told him. He shook his head and smirked as he warmed his hands by the fire. Suddenly, he got up and walked towards me. I flinched when he held his hand out to me and when I didn't take his hand, he grabbed my wrist and pulled me up and to where he was sitting, which was too close to the fire for me. I tried to move back from the fire, but the man sat me down in front of it, forcing me to feel the heat of the flames. I held my breath and closed my eyes, trying to convince myself that it's not that bad. It didn't work, but I tried. My hands were shaking from fear but I put them in my pockets to hide them.

"Why are you so afraid of the fire?" He asked, not looking at me, but straight ahead at the flames. I sighed and looked at him a little bit.

"Why do you want to know?" I responded. He looked over at me as if he couldn't believe that I was questioning his question, and then back at the fire. He growled under his breath and tried to keep himself from yelling.

"If you tell me, I will let you back away from the fire." He said. That was the deal. I looked over at him and pouted.

"Fine." I said. "My mother was burned alive in front of my brother and I when I was seven. People called her a witch because she was a Devlios and never told anyone about it... not even my father." I said to him. The man sighed and then brushed his hair back with his fingers. It was pretty quiet for the next few minutes before I finally decided to ask what I wanted to.