“Get down here right this second you headache of a person!”

I rubbed my eyes, immediately grumpy with my mother’s tone of voice.

I felt weak, not wanting to get up for Sunday school.

Though I heard the church bells ringing and the birds harmonizing, The day felt as if something was going to crumble under my feet, right as I know it.

I felt heavy as I rolled over to see if Campbell -my older sister- had returned the night before.

Her bed was empty, leaving me to ponder on the thought of if she was ever coming home.

I sat up, turning to my bed headrest where a large window sat, to look out the window towards the clock tower like Campbell had always declared that I was lucky to do this.

A feeling of shock and horror hit me at I realized it was only seven in the morning, leaving a whopping amount of three hours until Sunday school.

My feet immediately dropped to the floor as I went bolting down the stairs.

Ignoring the fact that I was still in my nightgown, I flew toward my mother.

“What's going on?!”

My mother shook her head.

“Campbell hasn't been back here for seven days, that's exactly one week. You are going to proceed to look for her, and if you don't find her by Sunday school time we will ask the local guards.”

I froze, knowing that the punishment for children who run away is a beating.

“Mum! Why would we turn her in!? Are you mad?”

Mother looked at me disapprovingly, her hands on her hips and her lips pursed.

“You will do as I say, or you will be disowned from this family immediately!”

Rage and wrath boiled inside of me, making my fists clench and my stomach twists into knots of sickness.

“What family?! All you do is yell at me and drink cheap alcohol while you threaten me and Campbell! We have no father, and right now I have no sister! What is wrong with you?!”

Mum looked at me, a dangerous glisten in her eyes.

“Get out. Right. Now.”

I didn't waste a second debating her request. I grabbed the old rusted doorknob and gave it a hard twist.

The moment it shot open, I stumbled out the door.

I walked for a long time, not stopping for anyone. Hours passed, and black-colored clouds fell across the atmosphere.

Soon, water fell from the sky, dropping onto my face.

There was no use In going home, so I kept walking.

My feet bled as I tried to find a warm place to shelter since the rain refused to cease.

It must have been hours before I fell to the ground under a shop roof.

I couldn't help but sob. My shoulders quacked as hot, scorching tears rolled down my face.

It took a lot of crying to happen, but soon the tears stopped, and my body stopped trembling.

I was there, under that roof just like that for hours, until I felt a gentle hand on my back.

When I looked up, shock rambled threw my body when I saw two gorgeous green eyes staring back at me.

Those eyes were the same ones that claimed my complexion.

A wave of tears started once more at a flung myself into the person's arms.

“It's okay baby sister, I got you.”

The voice was one of my dreams, and I immediately felt at home.

It took a lot of coaxing and pleading to get Campbell to tell me where she left, and why, but she told me everything.

She informed me that our mother had tried to send her to a housewife training camp, and the specific camp was approximately one hundred leagues away. This meant that there was no way that Campbell would have been able to defend me against anything mother tried to throw at me.

The story of how Campbell found me wasn't too far off from her suspicions.

Campbell had gone to sneak back into her room when she saw mother interacting with a local guard.

She had overheard that mother told him that I had run off and that if he saw me, to tell her so that she could watch my beating.

Campbell immediately tried to find me, and when she did, she tried to avoid this conversation.

Campbell and I ran away, making a home in the woods. And that's how I found peace.