Divided

“Where do you think they went?”
The sight of an ant crawling beside me became blurry as I blinked away unwanted tears. “I don’t
know. Uncle Travis was never the same after Aunt Grace died. Natasha is all he has left.”
“No, he still has your family, too.” Wes’s hand touched my arm causing me to meet his gaze.
“How is your mom taking it?”
I grunted at the thought. “As if they were going on a weekend trip. It’s like she’s not seeing the
world for what it is. She even packed them a lunch. We may never see Travis or Natasha again,
and she packed them a lunch.”
“Maybe that’s her way of coping, pretending. Or maybe she just has faith that everything will
work out,” Wes replied.
I turned back to our neighborhood trying to hide my inner bitterness. Or maybe it’s just a
weakness.
“You worried?” Wes asked at my continued silence.
His hand gripped mine, our fingers interwoven. And once again, I wondered how cloth could
shield the demon within me. I wondered how such thin material could stop me from seeing
cursed visions, could halt premonitions of death. And for the millionth time since this morning, I
thought of how I let fear stop me from taking my cousin’s hand. I thought of how I let fear allow
me to say goodbye without being certain if this would be our last one.
Then again, maybe it was better not to know…
“Hard not to be worried. According to Dad, Derrick, hell even the soldiers, the world outside of
here is dangerous, and yet...”
“Yet what?”
I shrugged. “What if it’s a lie?”
His hand left mine, his fingers gently turning my face until I looked at him fully. “We’ve seen the
news. The break-ins, the murders, everything that happened before the military came in. You
saw what happened before the wall went up. What are you talking about?”
“Not that it’s safe out there, Wes. But what if it’s a lie that it’s safe in here?”
He sighed, his head already shaking in denial. “Cassie—”
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