As the sound of the bell rang Jack managed to just barely get back to the church he was panting and out of breath.

It seemed that he had run back to make it in time.

Scrapes and bruises were on his body it seemed that he fell on his way back. He sighed in relief after seeing that he made it in time.

After he entered Annabelle came running in with Wilson in her arms. Once she got inside she dropped him onto the floor and sat down to rest.

After a brief recap, it seemed that Jack sadly couldn’t find any scraps of food or water.

Annabelle and Wilson had done the same thing as always they played together to keep Wilson distracted.

Surprisingly the albino girl didn’t show up until a few minutes after the bell rang.

She had a concerned look on her face however she seemed to have no desire to explain her worries.

----------------------------------------------------------------

We sat there in silence.

Jack was holding onto Cheryl’s hand and was preoccupied with taking care of her.

Ezra was taken a nap up against the wall and Wilson had tired himself out from running around and fell asleep in Annabelle’s lap.

She was gently stroking his hair.

Letting her fingers gently play with his strands of hair as her wrist moved towards his cheek.

Ending every time with a gentle stop on his cheek before going back to the top of his head.

It was slow and methodical, however, was filled with love and care.

She eventually looked up at me and spoke

“one day I hope to have a kid like this.”

Her unused hand started to touch her pregnant belly.

She then had a gentle appearance on her face for a moment as she looked at her belly and Wilson before pondering a question to me

“Who do you think his parents are? Do you think they are worried for him?”

I was a little surprised at her words.

I assumed that they were family considering how much time they spent together however, it made sense at how different they looked.

Annabelle had blond hair and Wilson had ginger hair. It made me curious.

Wilson never talked about being homesick or wanting to see his mother or father.

Maybe he didn’t like them?

My mother flashed in my mind as I thought about Wilson.

“I think so. I imagine they are quite worried.”

I didn’t know if my answer was the truth and if I was being truthful I didn’t want to know.

After our brief talk Wilson got up and Annabelle put all of her focus onto him.

I thought about Ezra’s words after my conversation with Annabelle.

I couldn’t help but doubt his words. I just couldn’t imagine Annabelle backstabbing everyone.

It just didn’t make sense to me.

I wanted to trust Ezra however, everything felt too strange.

I felt like everyone had a secret except me.

The only people I felt who were truly normal were Jack and Cheryl.

I looked over at them for a moment however a tinge of pain appeared in my heart as I did.

Jack had a somber look on his face.

He was looking at Charyl as she talked and pretended to be fine.

However, it was obvious.

She was sick, very sick.

couldn’t imagine what Jack was feeling seeing his sister like this.

I hoped that they would get through this together however, I had a small doubt in the back of my mind.

I tried to pretend that it wasn’t there however I couldn’t.

A chance that both didn’t make it out alive.

A small corner of my mind hoped that if one died the other went as well so that they wouldn’t have to deal with the loss for the rest of their life.

The night continued on as we had no food and we only had a little amount of water.

We were quite desperate.

I felt like I could see the end however, we weren’t there just yet. The end was dangling in front of me I could almost touch it.

I didn’t want to have to sit in silence anymore and the sun was starting to lower so I decided to head to sleep early.

I laid down however my mind was racing with thousand of different thoughts. I didn’t know how to fall asleep.

I kept twisting and turning.

At some point everyone else was asleep.

Except for Annabelle.

She saw that I was still awake and walked over to me.

She kneeled down next to me and placed my head on her lap and started gently stroking my hair.

I felt a bit old for this however, I couldn’t deny that it was making me feel more relaxed.

“Having trouble sleeping?”

She said. I nodded not speaking a single word.

“When I was younger my mother would gently stroke my hair like this and it never failed to help me fall asleep,” she whispered.

Her voice sounded nice in the silence of the night. I felt at peace. I felt like I could trust her like this.

She felt human.

I felt my eyes grow heavy as she hummed a gentle tune into my ears.

I felt as if I could not keep them open any longer.

Just as I was closing them my eyes must have been playing tricks on me because as my eyes closed.

I saw Annabelle’s eyes change for a moment.

They didn’t look human.