I can't believe what just happened.

I press to the wall as my body shakes from the encounter. I am panting, my chest rising and falling with the tremors that shake me.

I didn't even have the time to think for a second but now that I am calming down I notice that we are at a dead point, Oreana is pressed in a corner near the wired fence.

She has a gun in her hand.

I eye her carefully, she has both of her hands clasping the gun beside her head, I take another shuddering breath to console myself.

She is on our side.

But seeing her with a ready gun felt like a slap of reality, the brutal reality that brought the realization, that she may have had to use the gun.

The realization stings me like a needle. It is dangerous here and the more time we spend here the deeper we dig our hole. The fact that Oreana has a gun ready at her disposal says a lot. The officers chasing us has a gun too then. My thoughts do nothing to calm me, it only makes my skin crawl at the stench of crime in this town.

Urydale is not a place where I want my family to be. Nor Mom neither Ash are going to coming here, ever. Not as long as I breathe and I want my grandparents out of here.

I want Zane and his family out of here.

I don't want those kids walking with a gun aimed at their heads any longer.

I twist my neck sideways to inspect Skye, making sure that my brother is still by my side. Skye is breathing heavily too, his eyes shut close as he comes to terms with what just occurred.

We play in AceCrest, hell Skye is a trainer we are use to taking risques and being chased. I do that every chance I get with my friends. But getting chased by officers with a loaded gun...

I blink my eyes, shaking my head. Now is not the time to get overwhelmed, I cannot become distracted.

Zane releases a breath, visibly relaxing as his shoulders loosen the tension. " It is clear now" He breaths out, eerily calm for what just happened as if it was just a common day.

" Has this happened before?" Skye asks through clenched teeth.

Zane hesitates, he refuses to give a simple yes or no.

" Yes, that is why we sent the kids early." Oreana's clear voice rings in the alley followed by silence.

" You are telling this now, when we almost got chased by officers with real guns" Skye growled in a hiss, turning to face her with a burning glare.

" I am telling you this because I want you to understand the severity of the situation. To make you understand why what we are planing is so important." Oreana replied, emphasizing each word with a hard tone.

" Come on we should go" Zane suggested moving out of the alley.

" I-, just drop me at my grandparent's house" I whispered with another shaking breath. This is all too much for me, too much in just two weeks and I need some comfort. I want to be with my Nanna and Nanu.

I don't know if I sounded like a little girl scared because of the monsters under her bed, I don't care.

" Ok" Zane whispered lowly and the soft wind carried his voice to me.

Skye took my hand and gave it a small squeeze, I nodded back.

During the journey I tried to invest all my concentration in admiring the sunrise, hoping the sun might chase my demons like it cases the darkness. The darkness that I am so desperately trying to fight.

The sky changed colors, from red to pink to clear blue. I raised my chin to feel the cool morning breeze on my face. Zane drove at a steady pace, letting me calm down before he has to drop me off.

I really admired how much he understood what I wanted, how willing he is to offer me any form of comfort. He could have just raced down at full speed and shrugged me off to go back to his house to take a nap. But he didn't hurry. He let me have my time.

I placed my head on Nanu's shoulder. We had come knocking at the door at 5:30 in the morning. Nana had opened the door and she had immediately led us inside.

Skye was bothered by what had happened, I am too but we have different coping mechanisms. While I craved support he likes to be left alone to deal on his own. And Nanu is my support mechanism now. We are sitting on the sofa in the living room, his arm wrapped around my shoulder hugging me sideways.

" What did you do here all alone" I mumbled as Nanu continued to stroke my head.

" I-, I was alone when they brought me here. I dreamt of your grandma and Lillian. Sometimes when I grew desperate I even thought about running from here. But I held myself back" Nanu responded, his voice calm and serene.

Comforting and his arm around me felt like home.

" Slowly I started to adjust. I joined the school here as a teacher. Although I had a degree of a researcher that was the only alternative I could find. I also utilized my time by writing a book, autobiography of sorts but now it is collecting dust in my bookshelf" he continued. I remember mom used to talk a lot about Nanu, how he was a learned man, wise, and understanding. She had no memories of him, just what her aunts and Uncle told her.

" And then I waited. I waited a lot for anything to change. But it didn't and I couldn't hold myself any longer. I wrote your grandma a letter, I had to bribe an officer to let me send the mail" he chuckled at it but I only frowned in confusion.

" Why did you had to bribe him to send an email, you could have done it yourself?" He gave a long sigh at that.

" That was never possible my sweet, we can't contact anyone outside this town. The routers block any network." I still didn't understand but I nodded at him to continue.

" I wrote her a three-page essay to convince her. I just had one chance and she believed" He whispered, a distant look in his eyes.

Grandma came out of the kitchen, a tray of mugs in her hand with a bowl of cookies. Nanu didn't continue, he let her sit beside him on his other side. She smiled gently, passing his steamy cup of dark tea. Her wrinkles have become more prominent but her smile looked immortal sitting beside her husband.

" And she came here for me. " Nanu ended his story, looping an arm around Nana, pulling her to him.

" Family time without me" Skye exclaimed dramatically. He speed-walked to the sofa and jumped beside me, pushing at me to make space for him.

I narrowed my eyes at him, prepared to push him off the sofa but he smiled and pecked at my temple. I smiled sticking my tongue at him and welcomed him in the family hug.