Chapter 19
Elliot didn’t say much, just silently bandaged her wound, tying a knot on the bandage with rough fingertips.
“It’s better not to go out alone in the future.”
His voice was low, as I suppressing something
Victoria nodded, looking at the darkening sky outside the window, knowing in her heart that things wouldn’t end so simply.
Sure enough, the next morning, the noisy voices broke the tranquility of the courtyard.
“Get out!”
“Our village does not welcome you!”
Victoria pushed open the window and say that Use yard was already crowded with villagers, holding torches and farming tools, their faces filled with anger and fear.
The leader was the thin woman from yesterday, her eyes swollen, tightly clutching a piece of blood–stained cloth in her hand.
The woman screamed shrilly.
“How long do you still have to protect her?”
Elliot stood in front of the door, his back as steady as a mountain.
“Auntie, things are
How was that?”
are not as you think.”
An old fisherman with a face full of wrinkles stepped forward, trembling as he pointed to Victoria.
“She was Howard’s person! Howard burned our village ten years ago, killed our people! Now his woman is hiding here, is she trying to harm us again?” The crowd erupted in angry roars.
Victoria stood by the window, the sea breeze blowing her long hair, revealing the unhealed scar on her neck. She looked at those eyes full of hatred and suddenly remembered what Howard had said.
“These people are not worthy of sympathy.”
But at this moment, she felt that their hatred was so justified.
“She saved my grandmother.”
Elliot’s voice was not loud, but it quieted the noisy crowd for a moment.
“So what?”
“Can she give me back my pon? Can she bring our deceased loved ones back to life?”
Her crying was like a knife, piercing into everyone’s heart, the villagers began to stir, some threw stones at the house, smashing the windows. “Enough!” Elliot roared
“We left
Victoria was stunned
He got up and went into the house, starting to pack up his simple belongings. Victoria stood by, watching as he stuffed a few pieces of clothing, a dagger, and some salted fish that his grandmother had pickled into his backpack, his movements swift and decisive, as it he had anticipated this day long ago.
“You don’t have to do this,” Η
She said in a low voice.
Kibor stopped and looked up at he
“What do your think I should do? Watch them tie you up.
w up and burn
burn you to death?”
His gaze was too dirt, and Victoria was momentarily speechless.
The shooting outside grew louder, and someone started banging on the door. Elliat quickly picked up the luggage and grabbed Victoria’s hand.
They sneaked out of the yard with their grandmother, ran along the path to the back hill, and heard the villagers” angry shouts behind them. Victor’s heart felt like it was being tightly gripped by an invisible hand.
Elliot didn’t look back, he just held her hand tightly.
She couldn’t remember when she saved her grandmother’s life, but Elliot was many years ago, she couldn’t remember that was normal.
Elbet didn’t want to say, and she didn’t continue to ask.
Watching her grandmother walking tiredly beside her, Victoria pursed her lips, feeling somewhat grateful that she had saved her grandmother’s life.
On the seventh day after leaving the village, they stayed temporarily in an abandoned fishing but by the sea
Every morning, Victoria would wrap a coarse cloth around her head, covering hall of her face tightly, before daring to follow Elliot to the market in town. She always kept her head down, walked hurriedly, and glanced warily at every person in uniform.
“You don’t have to do this, no one here knows you”
Victoria frowned.
“Being careful is always right.”
Elliot didn’t care, and even deliberately stopped in front of the patrolling police officers, picking out the fattest fish. Melina understood her worries, gently squeezing her hand and giving her a piece of candy each time.
Days passed by in a dull manner until that night when Victoria was awakened by thick smoke.
village they had just left not long ago
She sat up suddenly, and the sky in the distance outside the window was dyed blood red by the flames. The fishing vi was now being engulfed by raging fire.
“She woke up Elliot sleeping in the next room with the words ‘Fire!‘:
Elliot almost instantly jumped up, grabbed his coat, and rushed outside.
Melina also woke up, tremblingly pointing at the cabinet.
“Ellat, bring the wet blanket!”
Victoria grabbed him.
“Are you crazy? It’s too dangerous to go back now!”
Elliot turned to look at her, the firelight reflected in his eyes like two flickering flames.
“That was our home.”
A simple sentence, but it made Victoria let go.
The fire was fiercer than they had imagined. When they arrived, half of the village had already been engulfed in flames. The heat wave hit them in the face, cries for help mixed with the sound of wood exploding, piercing their eardturns.
“Save my son! He’s still inside!
“Water Fetch water
er quickly!”
Elliot didn’t hesitate and grabbed the wet blanket, mashing in. Victoria gritted her teeth and followed suit.
Ty the thick senike, she saw Elliot luck open a crambling door, and carry out a shocked child from inside. She saw him tear off charred planks with his tute hand, and pill cut the trapped old man. She saw him rush into the tire scene time and tune again, his back determined like a warrior marching to
Victoria was alu bany be beljed with carrying water, evacuating the crowd, and even used her basic first aid knowledge from her organizational studies
“Thank you… thank you…”
A woman with a face full of ash grabbed her hand and suddenly froze.
“You, you are
Victoria unconsciously wanted to pull her hand back, but it was held even tighter.
“It’s you!
The woman suddenly burst into tears,
“You saved Marlon! Last year when the pier collapsed, you pulled him out of the water!”
Victoria was stunned.
She didn’t remember the incident at all. Following Howard around all those ye
se years, saving and killing people, it was all just a mission to her.
But now, this unfamiliar woman was holding her hand tightly, as if holding onto a Ille–saving straw.
When the fire was dying down, the sky was already getting light.
Victoria sat exhausted on the beach, looking at the village burned to ruins. Elliot walked over and handed her a cup of hot water, his face covered in soot and his arms bearing a few burns.
“Why?”
Victoria was a little confused.
“Why did you come back to save them when they treated us like that?”
Elliot looked at the sunrise rising above the sea level, his voice very soft.
“Hate cannot solve any problems.”
“Just like you, you could have left, but you stayed to help me.”
Victoria lowered her head and looked at her burned hand from fighting the fire.
She suddenly realized that these hands could also be used to save lives
“Victoria!”
She instinctively turned her head and saw a woman running over in a hurry
“Howard suddenly came to our
