Hold On--Epilogue

There’s a constant stabbing pain in my head that can’t be ignored which tells me I’m alive. I let out a low moan. A hand strokes my hair. I don’t have to look to know that it’s Dillon. The tumbling sensation sticks with me, but when I open my eyes, I find that I’m actually moving. Marcus, Olivia, Dillon, and I are crammed in the backseat of a car.

My cheek is pressed against Dillon’s shoulder. When I sit up, he leans closer to me and kisses me on my cheek. His lips linger by my face until he whispers,

“I’m sorry.” Something in me knows that that is what he mouthed to me before. I pull him into a hug, and for the first time in a while, I see him smile.

Olivia is encased in Marcus’s arms next to me. Her eyes flicker open as he gently shakes her awake.

“Skye,” she whispers. “You’re okay.” The relief in her voice makes my heart throb. She grasps me in her arms.

“What happened?” I ask.

“Well some officials came,” Marcus begins.

“And they somehow knew or figured out we were orphans,” Dillon says. “They shoved us in here about half an hour ago.”

“What about the men?” I ask, trying to hide the fear in my voice.

“They disappeared when they heard the sirens,” Olivia explains.

“Where are we going?” I question. No one answers. No one knows.

I open my backpack which rests at my feet, but my bow and arrows are nowhere to be found. The officials probably confiscated our weapons. An empty canteen, a still full sack of coins, and my father’s tie. I rub the material against my cheek and think of my father. Teaching me how to hunt, gazing at the sky with me. His laugh, his strong arms, his blue eyes so similar to mine. I clench my mother’s necklace, thinking of her. Packing picnic baskets full of stew and baked goods and berries, trying to coax me to learn how to sew. Her smile, her nimble fingers, her long golden hair that I shared with her.

I steal a look at Marcus and he holds my gaze. He shakes his head. I know what he means. It wasn’t okay.

My eyes fill with tears as I fill my head with memories that I want to hold on to. Talking with Olivia on the train. That morning with Marcus. Rose’s birthday. The dance with Dillon.

I’m many miles from the village, which has been attacked, and my home, which has been destroyed. My mother and father and Rose are dead, but I’m not alone. The men are still out there though, searching for us. Hunting us down.

Wherever we end up, I can’t let go of the memories of the past nor those who are the closest thing to family I have. I have to hold on.

The End