4 FOUR

It was a dark and terrible night. Clouds had hidden the moon in their midst. No stars guided desperate travelers that night. The only light came from the fires. And the villages burnt, and the people screamed, and the enemy killed whatever moved. Houses were burnt to the ground, children were snatched from their beds. It was humanity at its worst.

In the midst of all that chaos, no one noticed a horse race ahead, leaving the destruction behind. No one noticed the disheveled girl clinging on to the horse tightly. No one heard her sobbing as she left everything behind. No one heard her scream in pain as if someone was stabbing her over and over again. No one noticed that her cries eventually quietened down as exhaustion finally wearied on her.

And her eyes slid shut into a restless sleep.

No one noticed the rock in the horse's path. It was too late when both she and her horse were knocked to the ground. But the horse was faster on its feet than her.

She could only cry out as it left her behind.

All alone.

She had no idea where she was, it was too dark. A cool breeze was blowing and the screaming was subsiding. She curled up on the ground too exhausted to move.

Someone could come across her. She would surely get killed.

But the thing was, Celeste didn't care.

She couldn't cry any more than she already had. So she let sleep embrace her sprawled on all fours in the middle of nowhere.

Celeste realized she had a terrible headache even before she woke up. As she slowly opened her eyes, she hoped she would see the ceiling of her room, hear Talisa open the door, and have the curtains pulled apart. She knew that was a fantasy. She could feel the sun on her face and the hard ground beneath her. The events of yesterday came crashing back to her.

Her family was dead.

She expected the terrible sadness to find her, the tears to come. But they didn't.

Was she even feeling sad?

Because all she could feel was this cold numbing feeling throughout her body. She was stiff all over as she sat up. Her hair stuck to her face and her stomach churned. She licked her chapped lips with a blank mind.

She slowly stood up. She was in a vast plain. As far as she could see was grass. The ground was uneven and steep. It was deadly calm.

She was deadly calm. She should be freaking out, crying, and sobbing. But she couldn't bring herself to. Instead, she stared at the smoke that seemed to be coming from far off.

Silent pain seemed so much worse than any other kind of pain.

It couldn't be a fire. No, Celeste was sure it was a house. She didn't think more as she slowly began limping towards it.

She had no idea how long she had been walking. Her entire body ached ferociously. She had reached a bit of woods. Trees were far enough from each other to let the sunlight touch them. If it was any other situation, she would have noticed how beautiful it was.

But she only focused on putting one foot in front of the other. She was feeling incredibly dizzy as she leaned on a tree for support. She closed her eyes for a moment, letting it wash over her like a tide.

She was an orphan.

She stood there for quite some time, trying to steady her breathing.

Then she heard it, the snap of twigs.

She opened her eyes to see a boy in front of her.

He was taller than her but looked about her age. His curly blonde hair was in tufts. He was pale with a structured jaw and bright green eyes currently staring incredulously at her. He wore a worn out muddy tunic with shaggy brown pants.

Blue eyes bore into green.

" If you're going to kill me," Celeste said in a frighteningly calm voice.

" Just be done with it".

With that, she felt her consciousness slip away.