There's No Me Without Us

Cherry's POV

Abbey threw open the door to our home, still clutching my hand. She almost had to drag me down the streets; for some reason my legs had been left back in front of the screen. I fell into a nearby chair, speechless.

"I don't know what to say." I said, surprised to find my voice was broken and quiet.

"There's nothing to say. I'm coming with you." Abbey said, sounding as if she was trying to inject some confidence into her voice.

"Are- are you serious?" I said. "That's impossible. You heard what they said."

"Cherry, I'm not going to let them take you away from me. Not ever." She whispered, sitting beside me and staring at me with dark, serious eyes.

There was an eerie silence to the house that day. Usually, it was full of talking and laughter, but today there was nothing to talk or laugh about. Abbey cooked some eggs for us both; scrambled, the way I liked them best. We were lucky to get eggs, times were hard enough for two kids without parents.

We ate in silence, both waiting for the other to come up with a miraculous idea of how we could stay with each other.

After hours of silent frustration, I burst into tears.

"There's no way we can do this! There's only two of us and there are hundreds of troops. This is a death wish!" I said, letting my head fall into my hands. "I don't want to die. I'm not ready yet. I'm not ready for you to die either."

"I don't want to live in a world without you." Abbey said.

"Neither do I, but what other choice do we have?" I said, tears sparkling in my eyes. "If you think two teenage girls can fool all those soldiers, then you're fooling yourself."

"We don't know if we don't try." Abbey said carefully. "I'm not going down without a fight, and I'm sure I'm not the only one."

"All right." I said; Abbey's eyes brightened slighty. "We'll try it. Do you have a plan?"

"No." Abbey said. "But we'll figure out something."

"We'll have to." I said, determined. "Or else we're both as good as gone."

-

Tension was running high over the next couple of days. You had to be careful what you said to other people, especially since troops were all over our village, watching us like hawks.

Abbey and I were walking down to the market, watching the ground to avoid the harsh stare of every troop.

"She's all I have, I won't let her go!" I heard a young girl scream. Abbey and I picked up the pace to see the girl, around nineteen years old, being dragged away by troops.

She was screaming and thrashing as her twin was being held to the spot, forced to watch her twin disappear. I clutched Abbey's hand tightly.

"Sarah! Sarah!" The girl screamed in terror as her twin was dragged out of sight.

"Promise me we'll get out of here." I whispered. "Not like that."

"I'll try." Abbey whispered back.