Kyngdom Survival Guide
My feet slammed
Chatterbox: KYNGDOM™ RP Board
My feet slammed
My feet slammed into the ground, kicking up mud and dirt as I ran through the heavy jungle foliage, leaves and branches scarping against my arms. I could hear shouting and yells from behind me, getting closer, closer--
I leap over a fallen log and the ground slipped beneath my feet as I landed, and I tumbled, my vision flashing between the green canopy far above and the mud below as I fell, and the moon was blocked by the leaves so I couldn't see where I was going--
And suddenly I hit level ground and the wind was knocked from my chest. I laid there, gapsing for air, listening to the sounds of the soldiers marching through the woods. Their flashlights passed overhead, but thick bushes covered me. After the soldiers finally left, probably on their way to Paralia, I sat up. My body protested in a chorus of pain and aches, so I moved slowly. Carefully, gently, I removed the pack from my back. The instrument inside was undamaged, and I breathed a sigh of relief. At least one thing was going right.
This did mean that seeking refuge in Paralia was no longer an option, though I still felt going to the Resistance was the best option. I could travel north, through the Varie Badlands, sneak across the Crimson Fields, and to the Drifter Outpost--no, that would take far too long and be far too dangerous.
Perhaps Mer, then--the city was still recovering from the events of the Flea Market, but it was the most pro-Resistance city there was. And yet, that would be equally dangerous--Catastrophe's soldiers clogged these woods like a plague in a hospital. Going north would only mean being blown to bits by bombs, or freezing in the night.
There was nowhere, nowhere at all that was safe.
submitted by Kosomi R., Kyngdom
(March 25, 2021 - 7:51 am)
(March 25, 2021 - 7:51 am)
(August 4, 2021 - 10:04 am)
So sorry, I was on a trip but I am back now!
||Asa||
Kit and I make it back eventually. It was starting to get dark and I wanted to get back quickly.
When we arrived Kosomi was waiting at the gate “I see you didn’t buy any weapons or food,” She mutters, inspecting the goods. “When do you plan on getting those? We need to leave.”
I guess they're leaving soon. good.
I hurry off to find Sacha before I hear Kit's response. I have no idea what happened but that was not what I expected. It seemed rushed and informal, not what the Resistance usually deals with.
I finally find her and she's talking to some of the other medics, "Sacha!" I call waving my hand.
She sees me and gives me a "one second" motion like you would give a child. She finishes whatever conversation she had with the medic, who I now recognize as Charles, and briskly walks over to me.
"ah, Asa my little deer! How did it go?" She says the last part hushed.
"Sacha, what was that? I-"
"come with me," She harshly grabs my arm and drags me away to her private office. Her pace is very quick and I stuble often to try and keep up.
We pass Kosomi and I give her a quick wave before I stumble and fall over.
Sacha sighs, "come on! we have to talk privatley."
"sorry," I apologize and hurry after her.
_________________________________
(August 9, 2021 - 5:21 pm)
Kit~~
“I’m beginning to think searching here is a waste of time,” Arche mutters. “There’s nothing here.”
“Maybe we should just call it a day, and try again tomorrow?” I suggest. “I’ll ask around about the murder during the day.”
“Fine.” Arche seems reluctant to abandon his search so soon, but there’s nothing more for him to do. “Tomorrow night, meet me at the Oceanside Inn at midnight.”
“Will do!” I reply. With that, we both silently slip out of the mansion, and go our separate ways.
On my way back to the base, I buy a couple more of the things on the shopping list. I haven’t been gone too long, so hopefully no one will be suspicious. The guards on duty hardly even look at me as I pass by them.
The halls are empty and eerie late at night. I try to get back to my room as fast as possible, but the sound of voices behind a closed door makes me slow down. I know I shouldn’t be eavesdropping, but I’m so curious…
“What’d you think’s in that Aquarian’s bag, Saighduir?” a voice grumbles. The voice is deep, and hoarse--not one I recognize.
“I don’t know, but she’s quite protective of it. Must be something valuable,” a second person says. This voice is higher-pitched, more feminine.
“I saw she’s got a Nocturnal anklet,” a third voice whispers. This voice is somewhere between masculine and feminine--but it definitely belongs to someone younger than the other two. “Do you think it’s…” The next part is said so quietly I only just manage to hear it. “The Power?”
“You mean Ecio? Naw, that’s ridiculous,” the gruff voice snaps.
“I wouldn’t say that,” the feminine voice says. “Ecio was never resummoned, and was placed into the care of a Nocturnal member. That’s what the generals told us.”
“Yeah, but who told ‘em that? Jaaws, that’s who, and Jaaws is a nasty liar.”
“But shouldn’t we check? Just in case?” the young voice says.
“If we get a good chance? Yes. But if not, don’t try. We’re more valuable to the king if we aren’t caught,” the feminine voice says.
I back away from the door. I have to warn Kosomi. I don’t know who these people are working for, but they sure aren’t normal Resistance members, and they know about the Nocturnal. I should probably tell Angel, too--but first, Kosomi needs to tell me exactly what’s in her pack.
I run down the hallways now, opening the door to our bunk room and shaking Kosomi awake. She groans, sounding annoyed.
“What is it, Kit?” she mumbles, slowly sitting up.
“There are--spies, I think--and they know you’re a Nocturnal member. And they want your bag!”
“Wh-what…?” She’s still half-asleep. I sigh, and tell her the story in full detail. Now she’s totally awake.
“Kit, go get Angel! We can’t stay any longer!” She hisses at me. Already, she’s packing up all our stuff.
“Hold on! Before we do anything, you need to show me what’s in your bag.”
She hesitates. “No.”
“Kosomi. I need to know if I can trust you or not.”
There’s more hesitation from her. “...Well, fine. Only because you’re not working for anyone.”
She lifts up the vine bag and opens it up for me. Inside is… a stone xylophone.
“An instrument? That’s--” But then, I remember. That’s not just an instrument.
That’s a Power.
~~~
(August 11, 2021 - 9:54 am)
TW abusive relationship conversation (not like S/O just like a friendship or mentorship that is extremely toxic.)
||Asa||
"Listen, Asa, you can't tell anyone about what you did. That was illegal! You commited treason against the Resistance! You're a criminal now." Sacha yelled at me in her office.
I couldn't speak. I felt my throat go dry. It was hard to swallow. I'm a criminal now. oh no, Kit. She was there. She isn't necesarily with the Resistence but still. I need to find them.
"Asa, promise me you can't tell anyone, for me." Sacha says. She had sat me down and had bent down to my height. I'm glad that she noticed that I was panicing.
i nod unable to form words.
"Listen, I'm going to leave soon"
wait leave?
"I can take you with me, but you need to join me. The Resistence is not what it seems."
what?
"Think about it okay. I would feel so bad leaving you here. they'll eventually put two and two together and realize you did it."
"I'll go!" I practically shout.
Sacha smiles, "good."
She turns and walks out the door.
I don't know how long I sit there for but when I leave it's dark. There are so many thoughts racing through my brain. I hurry back to my room and I change out of my uniform into a white shirt and cargo pants. That's when it hits me:
Kit
I immeatietly race over to their room and start franticly knocking on the door. I hear muffled voices inside so someones there. I need to tell them.
(August 13, 2021 - 7:21 pm)
Kosomi~~
Someone starts knocking on the door. I quickly stuff Ecio back into my bag. Kit motions for me to hide, and I do, ducking underneath one of the beds.
The door opens to reveal the medic we met earlier. I think their name was Asa? Not that I have time to think about it. Asa has already started speaking, in a rushed, quiet tone, like an eight-year old whispering secrets to their friend.
“You have to leave!” Asa says.
“I was already going to. What’s with the urgency?” Kit’s wonderful at hiding their emotions. Their face seems pleasant, unconcerned, so different from only a minute before.
“That package we delivered earlier--”
“It was treason, wasn’t it?” I wonder what package it was. But if it was secret, that plus the spies makes it easy to guess there’s something shady going on.
“It was,” Asa says. “They’ll find you out soon! The Resistance aren’t good people, I don’t think. You should go away, go as far as you can!”
“What’s so bad about the Resistance?”
Asa pauses, hesitating. “I--they’re...not what they seem! We need to leave. Now.” The hesitation, the faulty reasoning--I wonder if Asa is being tricked by someone. Right now, though, I can’t do anything about it. My chest is starting to hurt from holding in my breath for so long.
“Angel isn’t going to want to leave. Kosomi probably will, though,” Kit says, thinking aloud. “I bet I’ve got enough supplies for us.”
“So leave without him!” Asa seems to be on the verge of panic. “Kit, we can’t stay! Get Kosomi, and go!”
“Fine. I will. Don’t wait for me, though,” Kit decides.
“I won’t,” Asa says. They quickly leave the room, and I crawl out from under the bed.
“So what’s the plan?” I ask. “Abandon Angel and run for the hills?”
“We can’t leave him behind, can we?” Kit says. “We’ll need him to complete Sitaara’s request. And he deserves to know about the spies.”
“Maybe. But if he won’t leave now, we’re going to have to leave him behind,” I say. “I’ll meet you outside.”
Kit nods, and leaves the room. I finish packing our stuff, then I head out of the base. The guards don’t even bat an eye.
Kit comes out a few moments later, without Angel. “He’s not coming. He said he wanted to stay here and help the Resistance clear out the spies.”
“Hmm. Fine, I guess we’re going to be travelling without him.”
“He says he’s going to try to meet up with us eventually.” Kit looks up at the sky. “It’s going to be morning soon. We should get moving.”
“Right.” We lapse into a tense silence as we walk through the city streets. Asa is nowhere to be found. We make it out of the city, and they aren’t anywhere near the gates--as far as I can tell. The crowds of refugees are still huge, so they could easily be hiding amongst them. Our silence continues as we make it into the woods--and then Kit breaks it.
“So, you’ve been carrying around the Power of Claw this entire time?”
“...Yes.” I will leave my answer short.
“Huh. Where’d you get it?” Kit asks.
“From Lunee.”
“Oh Claaws--really? But isn’t she still… dormant?”
I shake my head. “No. We awakened her, then Jaaws attacked and Ecio was trapped in his instrument again.”
“Are you going to awaken him?”
“Not until it’s safe--Claaws, there’s someone up ahead.” We both fall silent again, and quietly sneak forwards, peering through the bushes. Kit’s much quieter than I--being thinner and shorter--and gets closer.
There’s a fire, and around it, the sleeping bodies of about ten of Catastrophe’s soldiers. Through the trees, I think I can see other fires. Claaws. We must have walked into an entire encampment.
“Oh, Powers, I think they’re going to launch an attack on Mer!” Kit whispers. “We have to do something. Too many innocent civillains will die if we don’t.”
“Okay, but what are we going to do?” I respond. “No offense, but you’re pretty weak, and I can’t fight an entire battalion of soldiers by myself.”
Kit opens their mouth to reply when the sounds of shouting interrupt. A man--no, elf--is being dragged by two soldiers, and is angrily protesting.
“What do you want? The Nocturnal has never done anything to any of you before!” The elf cries out.
“Oh my Claaws, that’s Arche!” Kit and I both whisper at the same time.
“You know him?” I say.
“Yeah. He was poking around Lilith’s mansion, and I told him some lies to get him to go away,” Kit explains. There’s probably more to that story, but I decide to not ask right now.
“He was always one of the more devout priests,” I say. “I bet he thought Lunee would keep him from getting captured. Guess he forgot Catastrophe is working with Jaaws, who is our number one enemy.”
“Should we save him?” Kit asks.
“Ugh. Probably,” I respond.
~~~
(September 4, 2021 - 12:56 pm)
I relaized that I accidentally misgendered Kit so I do apologize!
||Asa||
After speaking with Kit I rushed away. I went back to my room and immediately packed a bag of basic necessities like clothes, medicine, bandages, etc. I hope Sacha hasn't left yet.
I race to her office and she's no where to be found. I realize that I don't know where her room is at all. I don't think it's with the other medics so where could it be? I am so lost in thought that I run straight into Rami.
"Whoa there Asa, where you going?" He asks
"I-" my voice cracks so I try again, "I'm looking for Sacha, have you seen her?" I try to look calm and collected. I am sure that I'm failing at both.
"You good?" He asks, a look of concern flashes through his face.
"mhm, yep. totally fine." I nod my head.
"uh, well I did see her going to the General's quarters but that was a while ago."
My heart sinks. She's going to tell them about me. I rush around quickly and I see Kosomi heading toward the gate and I call her name but she doesn't hear me. I sigh and rush over to the General's room.
I glance to my side and I think I see Kit but it's only for a moment then I get pushed foreward. I reach the general's tent and Sacha is no where to be found.
"Hey, Asa right?" I turn to see a group of soldiers.
"Uh, yea. Do you guys need anything?" I ask feeling uncomfortable.
"There's a rumor going around sayin' you're a traitor."
I gulp. They're now backing me into a corner.
"Hey!"
I turn to see my savior. It's Colonel Hildebrande.
"I need to talk with you."
(September 10, 2021 - 5:30 pm)
Angel~~
(September 15, 2021 - 10:28 am)
||Asa||
"I'll have you thrown in the dungeons."
My breath hitches. Kit betrayed me. I thought I could trust them. They went behind my back and-
"Asa." Colonel Hildenbrande has his hand on my shoulder. I'm backed into the wall. I can't escape.
"I-"
"Just a name. That's all I need. Help me find a name." He says
I nod. My words aren't going to come out right. I need to find Sacha. I need to tell her.
"I uh, just need to, uh, stop by my room quickly." I say motioning to the bag in my hands.
"You were going to run weren't you," He nods at my bag.
"I'm sorry sir," I say.
He sighs, "Well run along then. Meet me in my office when you're done."
I nod and race off toward my room. Once I'm out of sight I head to Sacha's office again. I see the light on and run even faster.
I see her.
She's rapidly putting things in a bag, her entire office is a mess. and she doesn't even notice me walk in until I say,
"He knows."
She jumps about 10 feet in the air and turns to me, "What?"
"He knows," I repeat, "Hildebrande knows."
"Little deer, of course he knows." She says.
"...what?" I ask. Why would he know? Did she know that Kit told him?
"Listen, little deer," she comes over to me, "I need to leave. They already know about you I can't take you with me anymore."
She's abandoning me. She can't we've been through too much. She made me go with her.
"And you know too much." I gasp as I feel the cold end of a gun up against my stomach.
"Sahca-"
"HEY!" The gun goes off and I feel pain in my arm. She missed my stomach.
It's Rami. He's there.
He charges at Sacha and I try to get the bandages out of my bag to wrap my bleeding arm. The bullet seems to have gone through.
BANG
I gasp and look up. Rami collapses onto the floor. Sacha is holding the gun.
"NO!" I scream and try to get to Rami. He's not moving. Sacha is on the floor too. There's so much blood.
Soldiers are outside the door watching the scene. Their weapons are out "Everyone put your hands up!"
I groan loudly as I let go of my right hand.
The one in front looks at me "you too traitor,"
I put my hand in the air but I am incapable of putting the other one up.
Sacha is standing now, looking terrified. She has dropped the gun and her hands are up and she is shaking.
"Someone get them medical attention immediately!" I recognize the voice. Colonel Hildebrande, "Thank you Lieutenant, I will take over from here. Arrest her!"
Someone comes to my aid and the I see Sacha being thrown on the ground. Rami still has not moved.
"Asa, Asa!" Hildebrande shouts, "Asa! Can you hear me?"
I'm not even sure what happened next but next thing I knew, I was sitting in a medical bed.
(September 18, 2021 - 3:07 pm)
(September 20, 2021 - 10:30 am)
I'm just going to apologize for falling off of the earth again. I probably will not be here frequently but I will try!
||Asa||
I can't think straight right now. I'm focused on two things:
Sacha and an amputation.
I know Skylar and now that she's the new head nurse everything becomes more efficient. I had to convince her to focus on the other patients though.
Grey, the nurse attending to me, was just a little older than me. I never really interacted with him but we knew each other in passing.
"Asa, We need to amputate your arm as soon as possible. It's going to get infected." He says rushing around, collecting bandages and different medicines.
I just sit there and nod.
"Unfortunately we don't have any prothetics so you'll have to figure that out. The bullet went just above your elbow so you will have no right arm. At least it's not your dominant arm?" He says kind of joking.
I give him a small forced smile.
"Well, let's get on with it."
The amputation process is painful but i refused to be put under. Other people are in greater pain, and besides, I'm a nurse. I know all about pain. It ended up being a closed amputation because I can't wait any longer.
As Grey finishes wrapping my stump arm, another nurse comes back with a bag that gets secured around my back.
"There's bandages, money, some clothes, food, a waterskin, and medicine in there. You need to regularly change the bandage and wash the stump. I feel terrible about sending you out there but it's Hildebrande's orders. Try to be safe." He says.
"I'll try. Thank you." I gesture to the stump with the other hand.
"Don't forget about phantom pain. I'm willing to bet that'll happen very frequently." He nods at me and helps me get up.
I begin to head out and hear more gunshots. I guess the rebels are still here. I wonder how many there are.
I see Colonel Hildebrande at the entrance to the healing center.
I step up to him, "Sir,"
"Asa, drop the Sir. Just call me Angel." He says
"of course, uh, Angel," I say. This feels very unfamiliar and strange. I am not a fan of it.
"I wish we had a prosthetic we could give you. At least take this," He hands me a pistol and a belt.
He helps me secure the pistol because one can only do so much with one hand, and I put the pistol on the left side.
"Your record will say MIA. Do me a favor and don't get spotted anywhere. Your record is a little messy right now and I want to fix it up."
"Of course, sir."
He sighs, "I hope you find Kit and Kosomi. Tell them that I have to stay."
"I will, sir"
"I'll see you on the other side, Asa"
"Be safe, sir." I run towards the exit of the base. There's an explosion and the gate is covered in rubble. I have to find another way out.
I draw my pistol and scramble to get along the wall surrounding the base. I load it and keep my back to the wall. My breath is shakey and I know I won't be able to hit anything.
BOOM
Something goes off, blowing a hole in the wall around the base. I race toward it, trying to keep my head low.
BOOM
I get thrown back, my head hits the wall. That was wayyy closer than I expected it to be. I hold my head and I feel something liquidy. I'm willing to bet that it's blood. My face hurts too but the adrenaline quickly kicks in and I get up and race to the hole in the wall.
The hole is big enough for me to get through but not by much. I squeeze through it and as I do another explosion goes off. I smell a fire. I glance back and I can see some flames and the glow they give off but it doesn't look bad. I hope that Colonel Hildebrande is okay.
I race off toward the woods.
(October 10, 2021 - 7:45 pm)
Kosomi~~
(October 15, 2021 - 9:36 pm)
||Asa||
It's very dark. My head is filled with a ringing that keeps getting louder. Then my eyes shoot open.
In front of me is, Kosomi? and Kit? How did i get here...
"What...?" I ask.
"What happened?" Kit asked. They looked very concerned.
I then remember my arm and it's uh lack of existence. And I feel, is that bandages? on my head. The ringing in my head has not stopped and Oh my Kyngdom my head hurts.
"That's what I was going to ask you" I groan.
"Where were you?" Kosomi asks
"I was still at the base. It's uh, it got attacked."
They look shocked.
"Sacha shot me and, well... you know," I gesture to the lack of arm, "Oh, Colonel Hildebrande, or Angel he stayed. He said that he had to,"
"Of course he did," Kosomi says,
"How did your head, uh, yea?" Kit asks
I reach back to feel my head, speifically where it hurts. It's covered in bandages, "There was an explosion," I flinch as I think of the memory.
Kit comes to my left side and tries to adjust a bandage and they say something.
"What did you say?" I ask. The ringing in my ear on the left seems to get worse. way worse.
"They said to stop touching the bandage," Kosomi says.
"I, I couldn't hear..." I trail off, touching my ear. I snap next to it and I hear a faint sound. I attempt to cover my right ear with the other hand but a pain goes through what should be my right hand. It's not there but it hurts, so bad. Am I deaf in an ear?
I hiss in pain and curl into myself. That's when I notice him. I immediately reach for my pistol and aim it at him.
It's a man and he's tied up.
"Who?" I don't know why i can't form sentences right now but thankfully Kit understands me.
"That's Arche, he's with the nocturnal and he was captured by Catastrophe," They reply coming to my right side so i can hear.
"He's tied up because he's an idiot." Kosomi says glancing back at him.
I feel my eyelids getting heavy, "I think I'm gonna sleep" I say.
"How do you feel?" Kit asks
"It hurts," I say sleepily, "But I'm tired."
I lay down with help from Kit and Kosomi and the last thing I hear before I fall asleep is Kit:
"They're going to need a prosthetic,"
(October 17, 2021 - 7:37 pm)
Kit~~
(October 22, 2021 - 10:41 am)
....
hi
I'm so sorry
I didn't mean to leave you like this again
Here we go
~Asa~
I wake up in a panic. I'm in my room, in fact I'm not in a building. I'm on the floor of the forest. I sit up quickly and immeatietly go back down as the events of the previous night play through my head.
I glance over and see Kosomi sitting up sharpening some tool of some sort. Kit is still sleeping and Arche is still passed out on the ground. Or is he sleeping? I can't tell.
Kosomi seems to have noticed my sudden movement, "Whoa, hold on," She gets up and runs over to me, "How are you doing?" She helps me stand up.
"I-oh wow, everything hurts," I wince.
"Cool it hot-shot, don't move so fast,"
"What...?"
We turn and see Kit waking up.
"Why are they standing..?" They get up running their eyes.
"Because I want to," I answer Kit's question which was not directed toward me. I probably sound snappy.
"What, Ah! you! You're up!" We all turn to see Arche, "Wait, who are you?" He asks me
"I'm Asa, and we should probably get moving," I have a nagging feeling that Arche is going to be the death of me.
"That's true, there's a Catastrophe camp not far from here, but you're in no shape to travel. For the record I'm not even sure how you got here," Kosomi says, Kit nods in agreement
"I was just running off of pure adreneline. It's worn off,"
"Uh, yea. that's as clear as day," Arche says, "say, were you always missing an arm?"
Kit throws a stick at him.
"Ow,"
"I'll uh, need an arm, won't I?" I gesture to the absense of an arm.
Kit goes over on my left and begins packing up a bag of supplies. There isn't much. I hear them say something, but I don't know what it is, "What did you say?" I ask turning toward them
"I said, that we need to get more bandages and stuff like that at the next town. We used most of ours on you." They yell at me.
I nod sliently. This sucks.
"I guess we should head northeast," Kosomi says.
"Are we taking him with us?" I point at Arche
"I'm right here?!"
"Unfortunatly," Kit responds
I sigh. This is going to be an unfortuante trip
(November 17, 2021 - 10:10 pm)
Kit~~
We’re moving again, but slowly. Asa is far too injured to walk for very long at a time, so we have to take short breaks every couple of minutes. Arche hasn’t stopped complaining for even a second, and Kosomi is short-tempered and argues with him constantly. Stress is eating away at her, I can tell. We’re supposed to be finding the heirs of the Keteque household, but once we find them we need Angel to guide us to the cave where he fought alongside Sitaara–and Angel still hasn’t come back.
And then, on top of everything, Kosomi has a literal Power with her, and Asa still doesn’t know. I don’t even know what we’re supposed to do in this situation. On one hand, Asa is our friend and they deserve to know, but on the other, knowing where a Power is located is deadly information to have. Having the Power with us already puts everyone in danger, but if Asa knew there was a Power involved–who knows what people like Catastrophe would do to them to learn more about it?
Who knows what Catastrophe would do to me to learn more about the Power?
Eventually, the thick jungle begins to thin and I can hear the sounds of waves crashing in the distance. We manage to find an actual trail as well, which soon connects to a real, stone-paved road. Even if it means we might run into other people, it’s much easier for us to walk on. Arche’s complaints even lessen.
“Where exactly are we going?” Arche asks.
“Sapphire Cove. It’s a small fishing town. We’re going to restock on supplies and spend the night there, then we’ll keep going north,” Kosomi replies. She sounds so tired.
“Have you been there before?” I ask.
Kosomi seems to stiffen for a moment. “No. I met someone from there once.”
“Ah.” I don’t want to press her anymore. Something about this topic is making her uncomfortable, and she’s already so stressed.
“Who exactly was this person?” Leave it to Arche to ignore people’s feelings.
“...Old friend. From the labs.”
Now even Arche has the decency to shut up.
—
The sun begins to set just as we arrive at the town. A long, winding path takes down the side of the cliffs, where the town sits in a hidden cove of trees, against a pale beach of white sand. The town is unusually quiet–few houses have lights inside of them, and as we enter the town I see that most of the shops are closed and many buildings seem vacant.
“What happened here?” Asa asks quietly.
Kosomi sighs. “A majority of the children used in the Homo Aquarian experiments came from here. Most people moved away after they found out what happened to the kids. They couldn’t bear to be here anymore.”
“You lied earlier, didn’t you?” I say. “You’ve been here.”
Kosomi doesn’t react for several seconds, but then she finally nods. “Yes. I was born here.”
“Oh…” I trail off.
“It’s fine. We won’t be here long, and I doubt anyone will even be able to recognize me anymore. Let’s just get new supplies and find somewhere to stay.”
~~~~
(January 23, 2022 - 2:24 pm)