We continued to stand outside as rain began to pour down on us. The streets were empty, but she wouldn’t take her eyes off me for even a second. Thunder continued to roar throughout the skies of Torn as the downpour intensified.

"Come on, we shouldn’t stand out here; let’s find someplace to stay for the night," I said to her as I held my hand out.

She took hold, and I walked her to the nearest abandoned cabin.

Once inside, I wanted to dry my clothes, which were soaking wet from all the rain. I sat down and took off my sweater in order to heat dry it.

"We can stay here for the time being. It doesn’t seem like this will stop any time soon." I said to her as I placed my freshly dried sweater around her.

"Can I ask you something?" She took a seat next to me as she gave me a cold gaze.

"Uhh... Yeah, sure," I nervously responded, "What’s on your mind?"

"Sigil told me what happened last time we spoke." Her calm, almost monotone voice left me speechless. “You’ve been avoiding me all this time, haven’t you?”

I knew this question would be coming eventually. I couldn't run away from the truth now.

"I was… scared…" I finally locked eyes with her. "Scared of what happened that day. It would haunt me, every waking moment. Anytime I would close my eyes, the same scene from that day would appear… you would appear. Eventually I just couldn’t bring myself to see you after what had happened.

Any time I would picture Hope in my mind, or anything so much as reminded me of her traumatic memories would flood my mind. As time went on, my guilt did continue to grow, but I still wasn’t able to muster up the courage to face her.

"I didn’t know it took that much of a toll on you. I’m sorry,"

"It... it’s not your fault, none of this is…" I clenched my fist as I responded. “The blame is all on me, for being such a coward. If anything, I’m the one who should be sorry, for leaving you alone all those years without so much as saying goodbye.”

“I’m glad.” She gave me a slight smile as she leaned her head on my shoulder. “Also… please don’t call yourself a coward.”

“You’re… glad?” I asked, dumbfounded.

“I’m glad you don’t hate me. I thought I might’ve done something wrong all these years,” she said to me.

“What?” I said in shock. “I could never hate you.” I wanted to reach out for her hand but stopped short.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

"I’ve been wanting to see you for a while now," she said to me as her still monotone voice carried a faint aura of sincerity.

"Yeah...I know. I’m sorry," I said to her. "Sigil tried to tell me, many times, but I just wouldn’t listen."

"There’s no need to apologize any more. I’m just happy I finally get to see you again."

"I see you’ve kept the scarf I made you all those years ago," I laughed. "I can’t tell you how many times I stabbed myself trying to make it."

She held the scarf up to her face and covered her mouth. "I always wear this; it helps keep me calm."

My childhood was nothing to brag about. I may have been the prince, but due to that fact, I was never able to make any friends. No one would even approach me without permission for fear of being looked down upon. So when I met Hope, all of that changed; she was the first person I could actually call my friend.

She didn’t treat me like any of the others had in the past; she wanted to talk to me about subjects we were both interested in, we spent time together chatting and goofing off, not caring about what others thought of it. People of nobility put me on such a high pedestal that none of them would even approach me without any ulterior motives; this in turn, also caused many commoners to be scared away and intimidated.

Hope came from a very wealthy family, treading the line between a commoner and a noble, which might’ve explained why she acted the way she did.

"I had a gift for you as well, but I didn’t have the chance to give it to you back then," she said to me.

"Oh no, you didn’t have to..."

"I think you’ll like it." She gave a very faint smile, one that felt almost forced in a way.

As the night went on, I started to notice that she had begun shivering.

"Are you cold?" I asked, "Here, let me start up a fire."

I got up to look around the cabin for any loose pieces of wood, but the only ones I could find had been completely soaked from the rain.

"These will never light up," I said to myself.

"It’s okay, really," she said to me. “I’ll be fine…”

I ignited a small flame on the palm of my hand and slowly sat back next to her.

"This is probably all I can muster for now," I chuckled.

"Thank you," she whispered as she leaned against me once again and began to clutch my arm, leaving me tense. “This should be more than enough.”

After a few minutes of complete silence had gone by, I decided to finally break the awkward silence.

"Is everything alright?" I asked her.

"What do you mean?" she responded in a much quieter tone of voice.

"I mean… You’re not angry with me; that’s a surprise."

She shook her head. "I was just worried that you had forgotten about me," she said to me quietly as her voice slowly started drifting away. "I could never be mad at you..."

I placed the sweater I had given her over her body as she fell asleep on my lap.

Hope had definitely changed since the last time I saw her; I couldn’t quite put my finger on exactly how, though. She just seemed different somehow—darker and colder.

I couldn’t help but worry. However, I couldn’t bring myself to ask her about it since, in doing so, I would be forced to reveal what truly happened that day. Many events from that day were strange and horrific. My memory is still a bit hazy to this day, but from what I recall, there was a huge massacre at one of her family gatherings. Bodies were piled up everywhere, and I found Hope, surrounded by bodies and covered in blood. She was crying as she reached out to me calling my name. A scene that would permanently be etched into my memory. Hope was the sole survivor that day.

"Rest up," I whispered. "I’ll never leave your side again. I promise."