Arc II — Echoes in the Snow

  Chapter 9 — Interrupted Confession

  After I had eaten the food, I was calm and sat there drinking the water.

  “So how do you feel now?”

  I stopped drinking water as Phil asked me that question.

  I myself didn’t know how to answer this, so I used the basic thing that all people say:

  “I’m good now.”

  I knew deep in my heart that it was a lie, but it was all I could say in that moment because it was the easiest thing to say.

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  Phil looked at me. He knew what I said was just words and nothing else.

  I put the bottle down and tried to think about the question they asked me yesterday.

  I knew I couldn’t hide anything for long.

  But saying something that I had lived through and was trying to hide felt like it would come to life if I said it out loud.

  I looked around myself, looking at all the things around me once again.

  The same carriage that I woke up in, the hole still in the fabric, and also the people who gave me food and saved me.

  The weight had shifted after I had a single realization.

  It was that:

  “I’m safe now.”

  The thought dropped into my mind and made a home there.

  It was not because of any big gesture of love or anything like that. It was the kindness they showed even when they themselves were in pain.

  “I will have to tell them,” was the only thought that remained in my mind.

  It was not because I was asked, but I knew running was useless, and I didn’t want to run once again after what happened.

  “About yesterday,” I said in the smallest voice I could.

  But I was not able to say anything more before Phil stopped me from talking.

  He had a weird expression on his face that I couldn’t understand, but he was determined to stop me.

  “Auuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!”

  The sound echoed inside the forest, and then heavy footsteps started to come closer.

  The sound became clear as it moved fast — and a little familiar to me.

  Fear started to settle in my heart, freezing cold to the touch.

  “Niki, stop the carriage and get your weapon!”

  Phil shouted at the top of his lungs, and the carriage suddenly stopped, the sound of the horse filling the forest.