Why We Hide

I saw her face, and that's all i saw before i blacked out.

If my heart was rushing before, it was at a dead sprint now. "No, no no. You are not allowed to die." I said. But he was breathing and had a pulse so I just sat there cradling his head in my lap. It had seemed like years that we'd been separated.

I woke up some time later. The first thing I saw was Shirlee's face.
"Hey," I was able to whisper.

I smiled at him. My ears were still mostly deaf, but I could read his lips. "Missed you" I mouthed.

"Missed you too.:

So we were somehow, miraculously both alive and together.

We rested around for the rest of the day, to get stronger.
The next day we started off again.
"So, where to?"

"Away from here" I whispered. "Somewhere that we'll be safe and together."

"i second that."

"Then we can start walking."

"Lead the way."

I didn't know which way but something instinctive told me where to go, as if I knew I would find safety. We had been walking most of the day when something caught my eyes. Following us about fifteen feet to the right was a girl. She was probably only about nine or ten, with features that made me half expect her to have fairy wings, minus the look of curiosity and pleading in her unmistakably golden eyes.
Two things went through my mind. One was that she was in danger. Two was that I had to help her.

She started running before i knew what she was running at. I saw it soon after, and followed her in charging.

I reached the little one taking a knee to be at her level. "We're here to help, come with us." But then I saw the dark figure about twenty feet behind her.

I saw the figure raise something...something glowing. Then, suddenly, there was a shot of red about 3 feet from where I stood. It burst into flames.
"We gotta get out of here!" I shouted.

I broght her with us as we ran. She kept pretty good pace for being so small and eventually we got somewhere mostly safe. Another forest clearing. Just great. BUt this one had water, and night was falling...

"Is everyone okay?"

I said I was and looked down at the littler one questioningly. "I'm alright, too I guess." she said very quietly.

"Well, I believe that an introduction is in order. Hi, I'm Kyle," I said to the girl.

"Shirlee" I said. Her response once again was very quiet, but I was pretty sure she said her name was Eliza.
Through that evening we discovered some very...unique things about her. Things that made sense why she was more a target than us.

Frankly, I was more freaked out than I had ever been. Not only did I have to keep myself and Shirlee safe, but now I had Eliza to keep safe.

There had to be some way to get her to tone it all down... Looking at her, her coloring was very similar to mine, and if I styled her hair just right...I set to work with the forming plan.

There were two of me in the clearing now, or so it seemed.

"This isn't going to work," I told Shirlee. "You're taller than her."

"True, but she could be my younger sister. Abbie's eyes are pretty light brown anyways."

((hold up, her name's abbie now?))