Memorable Chapter 5

The next time I open my blue eyes, a knock is the reason behind my awakening. Nickolas opens my door as quietly as he can, but he still wakes me up and he knows it. He shuts the door behind him and sits next to me on the bed. “Alex, Marianne says we got to go. We have five minutes at the most. We really have to start getting ready.” He rises from beside me. He gets on his hands and knees to retrieve my hidden bag. I sit up to look at him. He has a worried look on his face and it pushes a lot of that worry into my heart. I get out of my comfortable bed to walk over to him. Standing close in front of him, I stare up into his emerald eyes. I have a soft spot for those eyes. “If you do not feel like we should do this, then we do not have to go through with it, Nickolas.” He rolls those eyes at me. He raises his hand to brush back a strand of hair that was partially covering my face. He hand lingers on my cheek. “It’s not myself that I’m worried about, Alex. I still need to keep you safe, whether you remember me or not. I feel like I made a promise to your parents that I would protect you until the moment I stop breathing.”
My face begins to heat up from both his hand and the fact that I am blushing does not help. My hearts beats a little faster. “We really need to get going, Nickolas. We do not have much time left.” His hand finally returns to his side. He nods his head. He grabs my hand again, kissing the knuckles. He tugs gently and leads me to the closet yet again. I give him a confusing look…he just smiles. Nickolas pushes aside some of the hanging clothes revealing a small wooden door that was just small enough for someone to crawl through.
“Go through there and I’ll meet you in a few minutes. Okay?”
I nod my head; agreeing with him. He opens the door for me and I get on my hands and knees to crawl. He shoves the bag in after me then shuts the miniature door. There was only a small hallway that I had to work my way through. It was not that difficult. A whole room was beyond my closet! This room had many beds placed around it. The meaning behind this room confused me some more, but Nickolas was in after me. He had the same black bag hanging off his shoulder.
“The explanation of this room is that if there were to be an attack the sick and the elderly would be able to escape harm.” He explains to me. That was pretty much a long story short. I clutch the bag to my chest; it seems to hold some meaning to me. Nickolas’s smile drives me absolutely crazy! How can someone so distant make an easy change within my heart?
“Alex, don’t worry. We’ll survive this.” His body presses against my bag. His hand removes the bag from my grip so that nothing is blocking our bodies from touching. He leans down, but he only whispers in my ear. “It kills me that you don’t remember anything from our past, but I promise you that I will do as much as my abilities will allow me to do to help you.” He leans his forehead against mine. “I promise you, Alex.” I tilt my head up. The right side of his mouth rises into a crooked grin. His lips are just inches from mine, when a knock from another entry interrupts us.
“Children, please, keep the interactions to a minimum until you leave.” She laughs quietly. She grabs my wrist and pulls me along to the other side of the room. “Listen sweetheart. No matter what you hear, always trust Nickolas. He will protect you until the day he dies. His heart is in the right place. I highly suggest that you never leave his side child. Promise me?” Her grip on my wrist tightens. I turn my head ever so slightly to face Nickolas. He had a look in his eyes saying that we had to leave now. I turn back to Marianne and nod my head. “Of course.”
She releases my wrist. “Go, child. Everything will be fine.”
I rush back to Nickolas, picking up my bag. He places an arm around my waist leading me to a staircase.
“It leads to a back door that no one ever uses. It’s an easy escape route.” Once downstairs and in the sunlight, we start to run toward the north gates. I take one last look at this building, to see Matt staring out the window at us. My heart drops to my stomach. Nickolas refuses to slow down…not that it’s all that hard for me to keep up anyway.
“Alex, don’t look back. Just keep going.”
I stay as close to Nickolas as I can; trying not to stray too far away from him. When we finally reach the alley market, we decide it’s safe to slow down and breathe for it. Though it’s never safe in this world. Sitting down on the curb, I rest my head on his shoulder. Nickolas rubs small soothing circles on the back of my wrist, as people nod their hellos to him.
“Everyone seems to know you here.”
He laughs as he replies, “With Marianne having her own little store, I was the one stuck carrying the market worker’s heavy boxes. If I didn’t Marianne would have tortured me at home.” I couldn’t help but laugh with him. He has the most amazing laugh. I know it’ll always bring a smile to my lips. Suddenly, he stops laughing and becomes extremely tense. “Alex, we should move along. Are you okay to leave?” I nod in response to his question. He stands up, pulling me up with him. We don’t run though. His grip is tight on my wrist, but we only walk casually with our bags in tow. When we reach the north gate of the town, Nickolas takes a quick look around. A young man dressed in the typical brown guard uniform saunters over. “Hey Nick! How have you been?!” He gave Nickolas a big hug with a slap on the back. This guard has the goofiest grin on his face. Nickolas returns his hug. “It’s the same as always, William.”
“It’s been a long time without seeing you. Damn this job, and damn Matt for always keeping you busy.” This William person laughs and Nickolas joins in hesitantly. When the joyous reunions ended, Nickolas introduces me. “William this is Alex, Alex...Willie.” William embraces me in an enormous bear hug. My face turns slightly red from lack of oxygen as he continued to squeeze me.
“Relax there, Willie. Not everyone is as strongly built as you are.”
He immediately releases me and I stagger backwards into Nickolas’s arms. My cheeks flush from his delicate touch. “Sorry, Miss. Alex. I didn’t mean to hurt you.” William scratched the back of his head as he apologizes to me. Nickolas hold me up right again, but he does not remove his hand from around my waist. “Enough small talk. What has the Old Man done now?” William’s face turns from apologetic to deadly serious as he eyes Nickolas. “He’s gone too far this time.” Nickolas replies to the question. “He’s gone too far, or your heart’s taking over?” Nickolas looks away to avoid Williams stare. “That’s not the point, Willie. We need to leave now, before something truly dangerous happens. She’s the key to everything; the Old Man realized that and tried to take advantage of her.” I step in between the boys. “You know, I’m right here. I can talk for myself.” William smiles a little, “Okay anything you’d like to add?”
“No, but thanks for asking.” We all laugh, but not obnoxiously loud. William nods his head toward the gate. “I saw nothing.” Nickolas lets go of me to hug him friend. “Be safe Willie. I’ll see you soon.” William smiles as they release each other. Nickolas comes back and my side. William walks away to allow Nickolas and I to escape unseen.