"Well— I'm not certain, of course." Esmond was pacing around the living room, an edge to his voice that was almost covered up completely by the restlessness in it. Though, he sounded excited for the first time in— ever.

My mother had her arm tightly wrapped around my shoulder, eyes steadily on him but her hand absentmindedly brushing through my dark hair every now and then.

"My father had—" Esmond cut himself off, eyes darting through the room only to fall onto Arley, linger on the blond for a moment before he gave him an encouraging smile. "He suggested a possibility of something like this—" His hand lifted to show his bare wrist. "I honestly thought it wasn't more than a bedtime story, and I might be reaching for something that isn't there—"

"What is it?" It was my mother's voice beaming through the room, an uneasiness in her voice as she shifted in her seat beside me, arm lifting from my shoulder to fidget with her hands in her lap. "I'm sorry, just— what is it your father told you, dear?"

His eyes darted over to us. Instead of landing on her, though, he looked at me. And his eyes stayed connected with mine until he scrunched up his nose and cocked his head to the side with a small smile on his lips.

"Of course," He said, quickly nodding. "He had always said to me, 'Fall in love with the right person, Esmond, and it'll be your one true freedom.' I always thought it sounded cheesy." He took a deep breath, taking the time to think of his next words. "And then, he'd tell me this story, over and over again."

"The one you used to tell me?" Ellis' voice was timid, the girl seated in between Arley and my sister and her head resting on the blond's shoulder.

Esmond nodded, eyes on her before they flickered through the room once more. "The one about a man and a woman, both so deeply in love with one another; assigned by the universe to be together— truly meant to be together." The tone in his voice calmed as he recalled the story. "Bear in mind; my father never mentioned the word soulmate or The System. Seeing as him and my mother weren't—" He cut himself off to take a deep breath. "It doesn't make sense to go with that interpretation— as a child, I did, of course."

"And?" Aude asked.

"And when they realised— realised they were meant to be together — instead of boasting and gloating about it, instead of showing each other off to their friends and family; instead of doing all the things other people did, and instead of caring what other people thought— they ran."

"Ran?" The words slipped out of my mouth before I could stop them, brows knitted together tightly in confusion and hesitance. "Ran where?"

Esmond shrugged. "Away." He sounded uncertain now, tongue flicking over his lips.

"That doesn't sound right—" My eyes flew through the room to see if anyone else shared my sentiment, but instead, my mother interrupted me softly.

"It is," She all but muttered, gaze glued to the ceiling as her hand held the other tightly.

"What?" My own hand went to cover hers, a reassuring gesture that was supposed to stop her from shaking lightly. "Mom— are you alright?" An edge of concern was prominent in my voice; even when she nodded, the feeling lingered.

"Your father—" The words got stuck in her throat as soon as they tried to escape her mouth, swallowing thickly before she went on. "He's talked about this so many times. I still remember how he'd go on and on about theory after theory and meanings about that stupid story— I got so tired of it, I banned the topic in the house." A dry laugh rattled through her chest at the memory that immediately turned into a shaky breath. "An old friend of his planted the seat; a nice man, around your father's age—"

"An old friend of his?"

My mother's head shot up to level her eyes with Esmond's, a slight furrow in her brows as she took a closer look at the boy opposite her.

"Yeah," She breathed. "Yeah, Chris—"

"Christopher—"

My eyes widened as soon as the realisation hit me. So did my mother's, and so did Esmond's. "You're Chris' boy?" She asked, utter disbelief in her voice as she shot up and walked over to him, hands on his shoulders only seconds later. "Of course you are— look at you." There was a lightheartedness in her voice as she embraced the perplexed boy in a tight hug.

"I'm sorry about what happened—"

The words made Esmond shake his head lightly, bringing some distance between the two. "I don't think we fully know what happened," Esmond explained. "Amidelle said The System thinks he's alive." A small smile tugged in the corners of his lips, one of relief and disbelief alike.

And my mother's breath audibly hitched as she twirled around to face me, tears brimming at her eyes and her brows raised in nothing but hope that the words Esmond said could hold any truth to it.

"That means your father might still—" Her eyes diverted to search for Aude in the room, my sister unsure of how to process the piece of information just like I was. I figured a hug would do for now, and I threw my arms around her to hear a singular, low sob as my mom mirrored my gesture.

The world felt like it was spinning, too many things to process all at once to know what was really going on anymore. At this point, it was more likely to be a fever dream rather than real life.

One in which my father was alive; One in which I didn't have a countdown on my wrist.

A singular tear rolled down my cheek, and the lights of Arcan City turned back on.

I never realised they were still noticeable all the way back here. But they definitely were— and the sight of them made a kind of panic break out in everyone's face.

As everyone fell into a light panic, chatting amongst themselves and probably figuring out what to do, Esmond came up to me, and I asked him the exact same question.

"So now what?" I asked, swallowing thickly. "We're supposed to run? Where? And for what?"

"I don't know."

It was the first time Esmond Terran genuinely and honestly did not know. His eyes darted behind me, and my gaze followed his only to fall on his sister.

"Do you think they're alive? If we... run— would we find them eventually?" No matter how hard I tried to say the words in a tone that sounded calm and collected, my voice was shaky and more of a whisper.

"I can't—" His eyes flickered over to me just for a moment before landing back on Ellis. "I can't leave her—" Ellis' brows furrowed hearing her brothers words, even from a distance.

"Don't," She warned, her finger in the air as she rushed over to us. "Isn't this what you always wanted?" She grabbed his wrist harshly, making sure his eyes were steady on his wrist. "Heaven knows I've tried to get rid of it." A weak laugh escaped her mouth, followed by an equally weak smile on her lips as her eyes flickered in the direction of her own wrist.

"You're sixteen, Ellis. I'm not just gonna up and leave you by yourself—"

"I have Arley," She protested quickly, looking at the blond on the opposite side of the room involved in a conversation with Eniola and — more so — Aiden. And for a second, Esmond's grim demeanour cracked, and his brows relaxed slightly.

And while they continued to argue, my gaze flew through the room, noticing my mother no longer in it and seeing her walk back into it just a split second later. She rushed over to me, a troubled expression on her face as she came to a halt before me.

"Amidelle, dear. you have to go." Her tone was urgent; she was begging, almost. "Someone is coming; I don't know who it is— but they're walking up the path right now." Her words alerted Esmond, too, and his head turned to listen further. "If they see you two without a countdown, they'll kill you— plain and simple."

My breath hitched at her words, not quite sure I wanted to understand what she was saying but knowing I had to.

A forceful bang on the front door made all of us still in our movement, eyes darting through the room in a panic.

"We know you're in there, Esmond—" Monroe's voice was like a ringing in my ear; like a tinnitus I couldn't get rid of. "—Amidelle." I felt sick.

And then everything went by too fast to properly grasp. It was Arley who hushed Esmond and me out of the living room and down the corridor towards his room— tiptoeing to be as quiet as possible.

"They're here for you. And if you're not here, chances they'll just leave again are higher." My mother had whispered across the room, tears in her eyes as she held my sister tightly, gesturing for me to move quicker.

I'm sure there would've been a better way to get out of this situation if we just had time to think about it all. But we didn't. And so, next thing I knew, Arley pushed the both of us out onto Esmond's terrace that gave us easy access into the woods.

And just for a second, Esmond held onto his arm, brows furrowed tightly, conflicted as to what he should think of it all and unsure whether it was the right thing to do in the first place.

"We're coming back for you. All of you." His voice was stern; Esmond Terran, always so sure of his own words. It made Arley smile.

"Don't forget to bring your old man with you, then," He joked and hurled him into a tight embrace, holding him just for a few seconds. I watched them a little restlessly — the banging on the door like a distant rumble of an oncoming storm — before I found myself in his arms for the second time that night.

And before I managed to say anything to him, it was Esmond who dragged me by my hand, down the few steps leading into the forest as we disappeared into the night.

I tripped at least four times, the brunette grasping my hand so tightly in fear I'd split my head open, and he'd have to stop just for that.

We ran, and we ran; past the lake he had pushed me in — the moonlight glistening in the water beautifully. We ran until we couldn't anymore. More so, and longer than we did through Arcan City.

My entire body was running on adrenalin. I thought as soon as he'd let go of my hand, I'd pass out right then and there; My chest rising and falling rapidly, heaving as I tried to take a breath without my lungs feeling like they were on fire.

Esmond didn't dare stop. Instead tightened his hand in mine and kept on going; He was the only reason I did, too. He didn't look back, and though it hurt, neither did I.

And the sun rose, and birds around us started chirping even before it did. And we didn't stop running until we were forced to by a cliff several hundreds of feet above the ground.

Though, what caught our attention wasn't the unnerving depths right by our feet. It wasn't the way we'd die if we took another step. Neither was it the beautiful sunset dipping our surrounding in a calm, pale shade of orange.

It was the gigantic, alarmingly white wall running in a wide circle around us, and it was the small buildings of a village just a few miles behind it that made our lips part in confusion and drew all our attention on it.

Perplexed, chest still heaving, I squeezed his hand a little tighter, and the gesture made his head snap in my direction as he mirrored it. For a moment, we just looked at each other— gaze lowering simultaneously to inspect our bare wrists once more.

As my attention snapped back onto the colossal structure below us, separating Esmond and me from whatever was on the other side, I found it almost laughable.

For someone who wanted nothing more than to be ordinary, this was far from it— far from over.

-

Far from over, ay?

First of all, thank you so much for reading the entirety of Moira. I'm truly proud of it and kind of amazed I finished it as quickly as I did.

Honestly, the comments in this book are probably my safe space (just so much more intimate than on bigger books of mine) so thank you for that.

I love u all endlessly and I can't wait to see you in the future... perhaps? I have big things planned <3

Until then!

-

Moira.

Completed on the 27th of April 2021 with 19.274 reads ; 2317 Votes ; 2500 Comments