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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtgjNsQS2QV
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoZulZvi7Cu
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8s4dleOIsd
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ52Po2CYvhz
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAPaIFi8Fdk
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcvgOUHny1a
When you see the lights up high.
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbU7QKOLBCA
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPiZHT96yeX
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjIaCSPNU7S
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy97APhGuQV
When you see the air in the sky.
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqZw1CjVs8P
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlx7LnM3nM8
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOlQUm7GtlL
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ14w14uPbfF
Only the trees keep us in line.
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7kP47ZIGlA
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHhbhPs0JvZ
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ15wt0NOAhd
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHqsJSARKsv
We'll be gone by the light of day.
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPQVZ1rTlND
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWM0cRp3Z0c
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfek4SbtrQd
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwgNv1iCoLj
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQHroNQeO2r
Leave all our secrets behind.
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjwU23im3nu
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuMVPSjJ58q
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL2U7mWzWkL
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsmpd7spDda
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3MA6aAZofc
When you've gone and lost your way.
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFWvLqQLZaV
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBJIkvhw25d
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA6si2FeMrN
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVtwo1BtQJx
When there's nothing left to say.
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg7pt3lFQm9
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2UClU8xeVQ
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3RNThXKxsK
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDEkjhlSnlG
Meet me in the pines.
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡooNF8Zpj1o
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqgNSlR2l9E
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCXVGUU6cKP
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡetVUYDeGTH
Amora didn't know how long she'd been out when she was jostled awake.
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx2v3ATWJYP
"Amora...Amora, get up...they found us..."
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡasf9998vC4
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzeovHv9znk
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn8hHtfcvc3
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXwT7vSFbTC
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ41fQdbw9dN
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj1lOVYiiW7
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFoDe6UAD4Y
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgjUdTvypZs
