°Forty•Moon and Stars°

We continued our journey after I collected the apples. While walking with Rhea, I've noticed her behavior and the more I watch how she is, the more I think there's a lot in the mystery than I know of. This is because she said she ran away from the orphanage she was at. If that was the case, I would surely know which it was because I knew the towns all around this large portion of the world. However, there wasn't an orphanage in the last two towns I was at. The closest orphanage would be a few towns away and if she came here all by herself, how did she survive until the time I found her?

Maybe it was just me underestimating her. I don't know her well enough to judge but I can't help but think about it. "Hey, you've been walking slower than usual, what are you thinking about?" She asked turning around to turn to me. I just gave her a dry smile and shook my head indicating to not worry about it. "It's already the evening, we should take a rest after the sun sets and it gets dark," I suggested.

"Okay, sounds good to me," she said and continued walking. I've been watching the path closely ever since I set out the other day and one thing I've noticed is that the path is carved out and it's easier to navigate from town to town. That's good I guess. I told Rhea earlier about which path we are going to take. As long as she remembers, I'm not worried to let her walk ahead of me.

On the horizon, I watched as the sun began to set. Slowly it dips down and disappears from the horizon. "The sunset today is beautiful, isn't it?" Rhea asked, falling back to my side. I raised my hand to give her a pat on her head, "Yeah, this will be our final sun set on this journey, we should be there tomorrow if we don't go slow."

"Oh..." she said sadly. I gave her a side glance, "What's wrong? You may be able to look for a job or something and live your life like a normal human when you're able to be cured," I said to her. She nodded slowly, "Yeah but I would like to follow you and help you."

I stopped in my tracks and stared at her, stunned by what she had said. I've been doing things alone and no one offered to help me out with what I do as a living. She stopped walking too and turn to me when she realized I wasn't walking with her anymore. "Are you okay?" she asked. I nodded, "We'll see how things go before we decide you come with me or not."

She nodded and continued walking. "I think we should stop walking for now," I suggested. She jogged over to a rather large tree and sat down. "I totally agree, I am exhausted!" She exclaimed. I walked to her and took a seat beside her. I pulled a bread from my bag and breaks it in half. I handed one of the halves to her, "You should eat something."

She took it from my hand and whispered a small thank you to me. I looked into the sky and watched the stars. They blink in the sky and brightens up the dark night. "Y'know Rhea, the stars play really important roles," I said. She gave me a sideways look, "What do you mean?"

"Every single one of them helps make the sky a little brighter at night. They all surround the moon and lend a hand. They shine our darkness," I concluded. She giggled, "That's a cute way to look at it."

"To me, stars are just there because they want to be seen. No matter how bright they shine, they will never be like the moon. Even if there is a sea of stars, the moon will always outshine them," Rhea said sadly. I pat her head a few times, causing her to look at me. She heaved a small sigh and finished her piece of bread. "Get some sleep, Rhea," I ordered to which she nodded.

I put the last bits of bread in my mouth and decided to catch some closed eyes as well. As darkness was all I saw, I felt a head on my shoulder and I turned over to see the girl beside me, having her head on my shoulder. I smiled and put my head on hers as well. My eyes closed and sleep consumed me shortly after.

"Hang in there Arran, just a little bit more."

+++

"...Arran, Arran. Wake up, we're going to be late," A hand on both my shoulders, shaking them lightly. My eyes forces to open to be greeted by the bright shine of the sun. I jolted awake moments after, "Oh my God! We need to get going already," I said. I rushed to get everything and took out some bread and shared it with Rhea, "I'm so sorry, let's start moving."

We ate as we walked. I remembered someone telling me 'just a little more' but just a little more what? Who is the one who told me that? It didn't sound like Rhea and I'm pretty sure there's only the both of us in the area.

"Rhea, a quick question. Did you hear anyone last night?" I asked. She gave it a thought, "No, I didn't hear anyone, why?" She asked, I then shook my head. If she didn't hear anyone then it's best that I don't drag her into this, whatever that is.

We walked in silence after that. We walked past trees after trees. The sun glares brightly at us but not so as the previous days. I feel something in my stomach, I have a bad feeling about today. "Rhea, let's run, I don't feel so good about this," I said to Rhea. She gave me a weird look but nodded anyway. I start to jog because if I ran, I would run out of energy really quickly.

She jogged up behind me and hit my shoulder, "Tag! You're it!"