x
A/N: I just wanted to clarify that the words in bold are the notes that are mentioned in the story. I tried to use another font but it wouldn't work. Enjoy! :)
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpIzUAQNOG5
It was with a sequence of notes that they devised their getaway. Little yellowed scraps of parchment folded up neatly and tucked into pockets in passing, subtly as not to be caught.
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgOfZZm2UJD
They were young, Amora Lauder and Cassian Rhodes, only sixteen, too immature to be in love according to the regulations of society. But they were never the type to care or to heed the rules set before them. Though they preferred to pretend that the relationship carefully strung between them wasn't frowned upon, it was something that simply couldn't go overlooked. The whole rationale behind the painstaking secrecy of their love was the subject of their surnames, the undying vendetta that was shared between their two households.
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUD6clASS5E
There was nothing to be done to stop them; they'd made up their minds. They were going to run away. It was precarious and spontaneous and so very criminal; if they were ever caught, they were peeking directly into the countenance of death, for surely, an offense that significant would never end in anything but a verdict of execution. But to them, their love was worth that hefty price.
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHTRqu4JWIF
So a plan was slowly cultivated, scrawled on paper, and carefully coded so as to disorient anyone in the event of a misplaced note.
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEUoYUUQSvQ
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEFBcmXn02S
When you see the lights up high.
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5hCWCjdnZy
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzBbtR6ZNkx
When the stars were above their heads, luminous and expansive, they'd leave beneath the veil of darkness, never again to return.
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZg5Bhm8xQd
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSlfUT7N3Ww
When you see the air in the sky.
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUj5BeYRDmy
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHrKFCiPiWj
October twenty-fourth was the set date; when the evenings curled into the frigid oath of a soon coming winter, cold enough that you could see your breath in plumes of steam fleeing your lips.
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq2CtQ91oQa
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhNGC6q5PEy
Only the trees keep us in line.
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡldHXUOY06w
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY7Zl5KJuOo
They'd make a home among the trees and bed upon the fast-dying grass. It was there they'd remain till the end of their days, dead or alive.
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUfIZ1FfuCM
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOG96b0yd1a
We'll be gone by the light of day.
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcOJgWnqwoZ
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEoqbJqHOG8
When the sun would skim over the horizon, they'd be gone, lost to the pink-stained sky and security of daylight.
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlt5mSNCdp2
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyDgN68I9HY
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ83zCYbLeEB
Leave all our secrets behind.
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsS7w7VNK3b
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8ZInQbSCvx
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLq1oBVlNny
Two knapsacks with food and water, iodine, matches, gauze, gloves, a knife, a compass, and a blanket, that was it. Nothing else was being brought; no reminder of the life they were leaving behind. They wanted nothing less of a fresh beginning without the haunting recollection of the place they once dubbed home.
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnkZeP2zFfx
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK78EOP88MC
When you've gone and lost your way.
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLfFppJ14qf
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyRlkVicj1R
Amora concealed her notes in a little leather pouch, which remained folded between her mattress and bedframe, lingering until the faithful day when she'd vacate the room she called her own and burn the memoranda, pouch and all.
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUuAN7G6UEJ
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4fHBbQN8s3
When there's nothing left to say.
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHb3IF18U0c
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4T7m8fTH8x
Their parents were unknowing as to what would transpire that night; while they considered their children to be fast asleep in their beds, they'd really be climbing out their windows and whispering their final goodbyes to the houses they'd known all their lives.
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2nIVyxMfXw
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlUOSDDAVDj
Meet me in the pines.
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3unpFCCVe7
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9K5WgwCXN1
The night was cold and transparent, the plan operating just a little too smoothly. They assembled at the treeline, beneath the lofty pines, boots crunching atop the needle-laced frozen soil as they left it all behind. The notion was to go north a hundred miles, sure it'd take them months, considering the time to be spent eating and resting, but they now had all the time in the world. The forest was theirs, and they were of the forest; they were surrendering to the unknown, submitting to the potential disarray of their brand-new lives.
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdxwuwhsN1B
The hours drifted together slowly as their hometown grew distant behind them, the trees veiling the place where they grew up. As the sun mounted the sky, they settled within a cluster of trees and being absolutely and completely depleted, settled on Cassien being the first to take watch while his girlfriend tried to catch some sleep.
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrpqNMyWfpc
Amora didn't know how long she'd been out when she was jostled awake.
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOXwP3eQYRF
"Amora...Amora, get up...they found us..."
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvSbtYKVNRG
Everything after that was a blur, the shot at hiding, being seized, handcuffed, and hauled back out of the woods, heads hanging and hearts in their throats.
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyTs3mRLj4z
Apparently, Amora's sister had been wide awake when her sister disappeared and after watching her leave the house, roused her parents, who then alerted the authorities.
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5v19l90Rrl
The following week consisted of trials, interrogation, and the view of nothing but the bars of jail cells. They knew it was over, and though they gave it their best shot, in the end, their love would be the death of them. Perhaps it was better off that way.
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3u0LdzrLDE
The day came when the doors were opened; the two star-crossed lovers left the cells that had become their provisional homes and were ushered out into the town square before a gathering mob. The barrel of a gun pointed in their direction, words escaping the mouth of their executioner; they were now a cautionary tale, don't fall in love with your rival.
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNXB1dBhnMn
Amora squeezed her eyes closed, her fingers lacing with those of her boyfriend's as she recalled the note scratched in charcoal that Cassien had pressed into her palm just the night before when they were told that they would be terminated the following day.
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNdHceYTrED
Through the flames, forever we'll stay, hand on heart, heart on mind. We'll be gone by the light of day. Leave all our secrets behind. Meet me in the pines.
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVGdNaukOVG
And it was the beauty of their lives, their love story; though a danger to others, it was never anything but perfect to them. Together forever, even in death, their final thoughts as the gunshots blasted were of each other and the life they could have had out among the pines.
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf5o9PPl0Og
