Page 10 of Ablaze

“I just turned nineteen. I was halfway through my year of self-reflection when the disaster happened. Were you away at school when it happened?”

“No.” My answer comes out harder than I mean it to. “I chose work. I didn’t continue into school after my year was over.” I can see the information sinking in. I try to gauge her reaction to this, and I instantly feel like she thinks less of me now. My anger gets the best of me. “Typical Dome brat!” I mumble the words before I even think about it. She hears me and gives me a sharp look. She folds her arms and continues to walk forward in silence. We continue to walk in silence, once again getting closer to the bar.

The bar is in sight when she finally speaks up. “You know, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with choosing the work program. That just wasn’t going to be an option for me. I commend you for the choice, but now it’s a moot point, right?”

In spite of myself I laugh, because she’s right. The disaster changed everything, and it doesn’t matter what we did before. Now it only matters what we do from here on out. I smile at her, and she knows that I’m not mad. We are within a block of the bar when I notice a group of men going into George’s bar. We stop in our tracks and hide behind the end of a building on the end of the block. We peek around the edge to see them. The men are wearing all black, holding large guns, and they have more muscles than they know what to do with. A flash of an orange emblem on their sleeve catches my eye. These aren’t your typical day guards. These guys are from the Dome. I look to Sadie, and she’s seen the same thing.

“Have you ever seen them before?”

“No, never, not while I’ve been here. George doesn’t have any guards of his own. The guy across the street keeps an eye on the place in the day, but he’s not George’s man.”

I don’t like the look of this, and I have a bad feeling about going back into the bar. I’ve got my bag on my back and can cut all ties with this place, but Sadie is another story. If she’s like me then her entire life is in her backpack. I don’t know where it’s at, but it’s not on her back.

“Where’s your bag?” I quickly asked her.

“It’s inside, up in my room. Why?” She gives me a quizzical look.

“You can’t go back inside the bar,” I tell her. This is alarming. These men aren’t here by accident. I haven’t seen a Dome guard since leaving there. If they’re out here, it’s for one reason and one reason alone… Sadie. My parents told me she was important, and they warned me not to take her to the Dome.

“I have to go back in there. I have to get my bag!” she screams at me.

“You don’t get it do you? Those men are from the Dome. They aren’t here to just say hi and chat about your day. They want something, and they’re looking for it in that bar. Have you forgotten what the Dome is like? Whatever it is they want, they won’t stop until they get it.” I have to stop and take a deep breath before I can continue. “You do not cross these people!” I stress the words to her. We stand there in silence, watching the front of the bar together.

I take my eyes off the bar and look at her face. She has tears in her eyes, but she’s fighting to hold them in. The tears start to fall, and she tells me about a man who had chased her. At first, I think the man was probably out to rob her, but when she tells me that he was holding a photo of her, I feel chills spread across my body. I ask her to describe the photo that she found on the man, and it matches the one I carry. It doesn’t make sense that he was trying to harm her when I was given the same one to protect her. Then it hits me. Could it be George?

Sadie

I try to stop crying, but the tears keep coming. I wipe them from my cheeks as quickly as I can. They make me feel weak in front of him and since we’ve just met, it’s also embarrassing. I pull myself together and tell him again.

“I have to get my bag. It has all of my things inside it. I don’t think George would let them hurt me,” I tell him.

He spins around and looks at me. He’s looking at me like I’ve grown a second head. He tries to keep his voice low, but he’s seething, “Are you crazy?” he asks me. “You can’t go in there! I think George is probably the one who told them you were here! He’s the one who sent for them! Wake up and realize that, and you actually might survive through the next day.”

I feel his words hit me like a ton of bricks to my chest. It makes perfect sense. I trusted George from that first night he took me in. I even trusted him enough to consume the food and water he was giving me without question. The more I look back at the past week, the more I realize Jesse’s words are right. I never even questioned George or his motives for being so nice to me. I bet he poisoned me to keep me there. He knew I was planning on leaving town, and that’s how he got me to stay. He had to do something drastic to keep me under his watch.

“We have to find a way to get my bag. It has everything I own in it, and I need those items to make it to the island,” I tell him as I erase the tears from my face using my shirt.

“You really are crazy, aren’t you? George knows we both want to get to the island. If we don’t show up at the bar, he’s going to know that’s where we both went. And if he knows anything about that bag of yours then it’s probably already gone or will be soon with those Dome goons showing up.”

He turns his back on me, and I rest my head against his backpack. I was so stupid to leave my bag behind. I always have it with me. I can’t leave it behind. I just can’t. I must have those items. The diamonds can buy my way into places I need to survive, and I’m so close to the island that it’ll take everything I’ve got to make it inside and survive there even if it’s blocked off. Wait… I bet George was lying about that too. Then I remember the conversation I had with the tradesman; he wouldn’t have any reason to lie, and he didn’t know that I was staying in George’s inn when I met him.

“Hey, do you think George was lying about the island being closed off. trying to keep me here and just telling me that?” I ask Jesse.

“Maybe, I don’t know. I’ve never been there, but I’m willing to take the chance and find out for myself. Let’s blow off your bag and just get out of here. We can go to the island together and see for ourselves. If it’s closed off, I’ll help you get back out of the woods and into safety,” he tells me more calmly. He puts his hand on my arm, and I feel a shiver inside me.

How many times do I have to stress this to him? “I’m not leaving here without my backpack.”

“Tell me something inside it that would make it okay to risk going in there and being caught just to get a backpack,” he says as he stares at me.

I’m just going to have to tell him. “A bag of diamonds!” The look on his face instantly tells me what I need to know. He’s going to help me get my bag. He understands now that it can’t be left behind. I’m going to have to trust someone, and I’m placing it in him. I hope I’m not wrong this time. I can’t afford to be. I trust him with my entire life. That bag holds everything for me to get to the island and survive. If he’s serious about going to the island, then I’ll go with him. There is safety in numbers but first, we must get my bag.

Jesse stands beside me and takes off his backpack. He tells me to hold out my arms to the side, and I do. He puts my arms into the straps and gently lays the bag on to my back. It’s much heavier than mine, but I pull the straps tight and adjust it on my back. The straps are worn and frayed from overuse. He sees me struggling with the weight of the bag and smiles. He smiles as he tells me, “Don’t worry you won’t have to carry it for long. Now I’m the one trusting you with my entire life. That bag has everything I own in it. If something happens, and you have to get out of here quickly, and you can’t make it with the bag then hide it. I’ll come back for it.”

“Where’s your bag inside?” he asks me.

I knew I shouldn’t have left it, but I got comfortable. It’s going to be hard to get. “It’s inside my room upstairs. I’m the last room to the left of the stairs, but there’s one more problem.”

He rolls his eyes at me. “What would that be?” he sarcastically asks.

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