"The tide is high it's sink or swim, my only rival is within."
-Ruelle "Rival"
"Run!"
The wind blows softly, but biting in its nipping temperature. My breaths blow out, the only source of heat apparent on this long stretch of road.
Trudging forwards is the only way to go now, my family is gone, shot down like the animals they thought we were. My legs burn and ache. I've been walking since Portland, where the last of my meager gas ran out. I had to ditch the stolen car about a mile outside Oregon.
"Don't stop, do you hear me, you don't stop till you make it over the state lines"
I look to the horizon, watching the sun begin to rise. Colors fading from a dark desolate night sky, shades of blue and white; to hues of morning light, perhaps a good omen for the days to come.
I haven't had a moment of rest since that night in the woods of Washington, since that nightmare hidden in reality.
Mom, Dad, Jane, and Allen. They're all gone.
It's in these moments of lonely peace, that my memories have the ability to almost break me. It's in these moments that I lose sight of why I'm running in the first place.
"Do you understand?" She looks at me desperately, but I'm too busy staring at the blood dripping from her head, like little rivets of crimson glistening in the dark of this harvest moon.
"Ashlynn!" I snap to attention as well as I could, but how can I when she's staring at me like it's the last time she's going to see me; her hand raises to cup my face, thumb wiping under one of my eyes, exact replicas of her own; glowing a spirit blue.
"Ash, babygirl, you need to listen to me," she moves her other hand to my face so that it's cradled in her palms, everything is blurry through my sheen of tears, "You don't stop until you're out of Washington. Find the Nematon. You find that, you find safety." She sniffs quietly, face blotchy with tears of pain and heartache.
"I need you to be safe, promise me," I'm shaking my head, and my body begins to quake vehemently in agreement with my refusal. She nods her head determinedly and says forcefully, "Yes, Ash, yes. I need to hear you promise me."
Sounds of multiple sets of foot steps get louder, the echoes of voices yelling and barking orders are less distant. "Promise me!" She whispers harshly.
"I promise, Mom"
"I promise" my voice fades in and out, cracking in between the nowhere left to go but forwards, I trudge on, leaving my demons behind.
"Welcome to Beacon Hills"
I never break my promises.
"Kingdoms rise and kingdoms end, my only rival is within, this is where it all begins, my only rival is within."
-Ruelle "Rival"