The Land of Sorrow

By the next afternoon, Trinity and Gage finished their packing. They packed warm clothing, food and water, weapons, in case of breakout in war again and for safety; pictures from photo albums, and a small tent. They didn’t bring along any pillows or blankets for warmth or for being comfortable, instead they decided on dressing in layers of clothing.
When Trinity left the house with Gage, she kissed her inside of her hand and pressed it against the front door, closing her eyes. She slowly opened her eyes back up and walked away, taking her bags with her. It felt like they were leaving their parents even though they were searching for them.
Trinity walked deep into the woods walking by her brother’s side. She heard leaves rustling from what could have been just a few feet away. She looked to where the noise came from and seen the man from the day before, the man who she lent out an arrow. The man glanced at her and smiled.
“Hey!” The man exclaimed walking through the large pile of brown, dead leaves. As he walked through them his combat boots making a crunching sound causing them all to break more than what they already were broken. Trinity grabbed Gage by his wrist and squeezed it tight. The man stepped right in front of two grinning like a psychopath. Trinity was stood there stiff as a wooden plank about to walk into the ocean, frozen in her place.
“Remember me from yesterday?” He asked, Trinity nodded, swallowing her saliva. He pulled out an arrow from his sling and handed it to me.
“Here’s the arrow I owe you.” He said, smiling softly at me. I took the arrow and slid it into my slings.
“Thanks.” I said, the corners of my lips folding into a shy smile. The man looked to at my brother who was standing by my side.
“Hey, little man.” He said, kneeling down onto his knee. He extended his hand out to shake Gage’s and Trinity stared down at his hand. It was covered and dirt and had splotches of blood on it. The man looked back up at Trinity and then down at his hand.
“I cut myself when I was shooting my bow and arrow.” He explained. He dugs his hand into the pocket of his pants and pulled out a bandage. He wrapped the band around his cut and tied it off with a knot.
“All better.” He smiled. Trinity stared at him, when he smiled she noticed that he had dimples on his cheeks and his eyes squinted a little. Trinity smiled back at him and shook his other hand, getting a little dirt on her own by shaking it. After they shook hands, the man shook hands with Gage.
“The name’s Taylor.” He said, smiling softly at Gage.
“I’m Gage!” Gage exclaimed, grinning.
“And I’m Trinity.” Trinity said, standing tall with her hands on her curved hips.
“Well, it’s nice to meet you two.” Taylor said standing up from the cold, leave-blanketed ground. “I better get going. I’m from the village next to this one.” He said pointing to Trinity and Gage’s village. “The war is beginning and I need to fight, I’m not young enough to stay at my village with the children.” He explained, frowning.
“Well, maybe you could follow us.” Trinity shrugged, lifting her shoulder a bit. “Well, we’re trying to search for our parents. They never returned home so we are going to go look for them. We plan on searching other villages. Our village has been abandoned, there are dead bodies lying around everywhere and fires lit from explosions. We cannot stay there so we might as well just find our parents while we’re at it.” Trinity explained, frowning as well holding Gage’s hand for comfort.
“Well, I guess I could. I might as well take you back to my village. We have food, supplies, and shelter. Maybe you and your brother could take shelter there for a couple of days.” He suggested.
Trinity nodded, “That would be great.” She smiled. She began walking in the direction in front of her. “Might as well.”
After walking through the woods, Trinity, Gage, and Taylor had reached the other village. It looked similar to her village except all of the houses were painted different colors. At her village they were mainly painted a mossy-green color but at Taylor’s village they were painted a dirt-brown color. Taylor directed Trinity and her brother into one of the houses. Inside, it looked the exactly the one inside of the house as the ones at her village.
“Where should I put my things?” Trinity asked, holding up her heavy suitcases.
“You can just set them down on the floor.” He shrugged. Trinity let go of her heavy suitcases as well as Gage and it made a pounding noise.
“Now there is no one else here because I’m an only child and my parents are gone, fighting.” He explained. “You can also sleep in the extra room. We have another room that’s never been used, my parent’s never had any other kids besides me.” He explained.
“No, it’s fine. Gage can take the bedroom, I’ll take the couch.” She chuckled nervously, shaking her head.
“No, I insist. If not, you can take my parents room and he can have the extra room, just don’t sleep on the couch.” He pleased, a warm breath of air escaping his mouth and floating off into the cool air.
“Okay, fine. Show me the way.” She cooed rolling her eyes. Taylor laughed and walked out of the living room going down a long hall. Trinity’s eyes ran over the framed pictures that covered the walls. Most of the pictures hung up were Taylor standing next to two other people, two older people, a man and a woman. She assumed they were his parents except he didn’t like either of them. Trinity followed Taylor into one of the rooms in the hall and walked inside, looking around the room. It looked like how any other normal bedroom would look like. It had a bed covered with a beige comforter, the bed had taken up most of the space in the room; there were two wooden bedside tables each with three drawers, on top of each of the bedside tables were a small alarm clock and a small book that was labeled with the word “Bible,” there was also two wooden chairs next to the window where a bright sun ray of light shined out from the crack in the curtains that covered it, and there was a large wardrobe in the corner of the room.
Taylor grabbed Trinity’s heavy suitcases from her hand and set them on the bed for her.
“What do you have in there a bunch of rocks?” He joked, turning to her. On his face was the same sweet beaming smile he had smiled in the woods.
“No!” Trinity exclaimed, her cheeks dusting red. She covered her face with her small hands and felt the warmth come off from her face.
“Do any of you need a shower?” He asked, his voice becoming serious once again. He looked at each individual, first Gage, then Trinity. Trinity nodded while Gage shook his head.
Taylor nodded, “I’ll get you a towel.” He said after leaving the room. Trinity stayed in the bedroom and stared at Gage with an unsure look on her face. She could hear a door squeaking open in another room. She assumed it was a closet door. Taylor quickly came back with a towel and then led Trinity into the bathroom.
After a quick, exhilarating shower Trinity walked out of the bathroom after wrapping her hair into the towel and walked into the living room to where all of the commotion had been coming from. She stopped in her tracks and she seen her brother playing a board game at the coffee table that sat in the middle of the room. There was a candle flickering light causing their moving shadows to be seen. Trinity stayed hiding in the corner, smiling to herself. Her brother rarely made interaction with anyone besides herself. At school, Gage was bullied since he was so small for his age. He had absolutely no friends or any social interaction at school.
Trinity took one step into the living room so she was noticeable. Then all eyes were on her. “I’m sorry to interrupt your guy’s game but I was wondering what the time was.” She said after taking a glance out from the window, all she could see was the darkness.
Taylor stood up from the floor and walked into the kitchen, his body created a breeze as his body swayed swiftly into the kitchen.
“It’s nine o’ clock!” Taylor’s voice yelled loudly coming from the kitchen.
“I think you should get going to bed.” Trinity said calmly.
Gage stood up from the floor and ran to her causing a gush of wind to fly by them in the air. He attacked his older sister with a bear hug, wrapping his small arms around her waist.
“I love you, Trinity.” He smiled, closing his eyes.
“I love you too, Gage.” She smiled, rubbing his back.
“Good night!” He exclaimed, letting go of her. He quickly disappeared into the hall.
Taylor walked in and stood behind Trinity.
Taylor cleared his voice, “Nice kid.” He smiled.
Alarmed, Trinity turned to him. “Didn’t see you there.”
Taylor walked to the couch and sat down, laying back.
“Take a seat.” He said patting the spot on the couch next to him, gesturing for her to sit next to him. Trinity shyly walked across the room and sat in the empty spot next to him.
“Thanks for letting us stay here.” She muttered, looking down into her lap staring at her blistered hands. She rubbed at the dry bumps that covered the inside of her hands.
“Don’t mention it.” He yawned.
“How come when you saw us in the woods, you didn’t try to eliminate us?” Trinity asked, turning and looking up at him.
“Because I’m not like everyone else, Trinity.” Taylor began. “I’m going against the kingdom.” He admitted, shutting his eyes to rest. Trinity widened her eyes in confusion.
“Why would you be going against the kingdom?” She exclaimed. “The kingdom, the kingdom are the ones who have provided us with the things we have needed our entire lives.” Trinity explained. Her head pulsed along with her heartbeat.
“Trinity, I know more secrets about the kingdom than any other average citizen.”
“Like what?” Trinity asked, squinting her eyes, cockily.
“Like the fact that it’s not the other villages that are going against us, it’s the kingdom. They are doing this to eliminate all who still have angel inside of them.”