"I'm scared, Gode." Ella pointed out her concern to her friend. She was on the verge of crying but was holding back.

How she wish she was never this vulnerable and weak!

She wished she was carefree and strong like others.

"Scared? Why?" Gode asked in a feigning confusion while she was trying to conceal the twitch at the corner of her lips.

"The town." Ella looked out of the small window of her cabin and sighed helplessly. "They are keeping a close eye on me from the past few days. It was as if they are making certain I cannot leave anywhere from here." Ella was getting anxious with the behavior of the villagers.

Why were they suddenly so conscious about her? She knew that whenever the villagers were being careful, she was trouble.

Were they planning something for her again?

"Do you think they are going to do something again like they did five years ago?" Tears rolled down her eyes and drenched her heart with immense panic.

Ella doesn't know what to perceive the situation as. The question of what if she was forced to do something again was piercing her heart. The villagers being cruel and selfish can easily make her submit to their wishes.

What would happen to her then?

No, she cannot be a patsy again and be a part of their sins but she cannot run away from there even if she wished too. She always wanted to run away far and lead a life of peace but she couldn't with the villagers having her in close watch.

This is not what she wished her life to be. She might as well lead her life in this cabin with her husband's grave until natural death embrace her than get butchered by the selfish people again and again.

Why couldn't they realize that she was a human too and she feels pain too? From whatever they were doing, they might not kill her physically or hurt her bodily but they were pricking her with pain every moment of her living.

Can't they understand a simple thing that she could feel hurt too? Are they that blind to notice anything other than their own motives?

"Do not fret. The villager's temporary shelter was just on the other side of the hill so it is not odd to find them loitering here and there. They must be looking for place to make another hut possibly." What Gode said was true. She knew what her friend said was not completely incorrect but somehow she could feel the danger closing in towards her.

She could feel the threat making its way into her life in shadows. Was she just fretting with no good sense?

"Do not imagine notions, Ella. You are safe and I don't think you have anything else to offer to the town if the need arise." Gode convinced Ella with a nonchalant pat on her shoulder and smirked once she turned away from her.

"Gode, you should go to your aunt's and live there." Ella said suddenly holding Gode's hands in hers. Her hands were shivering in unease.

"Are you throwing me out of your cabin, now?" Gode asked playfully.

"No dear friend. I would like nothing more than you staying here with me but what if the town is really trying something against me then you will be in danger." Tears rolled Ella's cheeks and pain was clear in her eyes.

"Last time they killed my family and if there is really something against me then - I don't want to lose you, Gode. Please go and stay with your aunt, I beg you." Ella could not forget the way her family was burned alive in their hut. Her little brother was just eight years old and the town burned him too without any hesitation. Her brother was her life.

Though they were poor, her family was wealthy in love and affection. How could they do that to her? How could they take her family away from her? Didn't they not once put themselves in her place and see how excruciating it is? She was dying once every moment from the horrendous night.

"There is nothing going to happen that way. I will be safe with you here so stop worrying about gibberish." Gode convinced her and walked out of the cabin wrapping a shawl around her. "I will go around to the villager's shelter and see if I can find out something regarding your worry." Gode walked out with the lantern without hearing the response from Ella.

Ella sighed and tucked herself in her hard bed soon drowning into a sleep.

Gode walked through the woods faraway and stopped when she found the person she was looking for waiting for her near the cave.

"I did what I was told to. Now it is your turn to complete what I started." Gode said to the person standing before her.

The person's hooded eyes gleamed with excitement when heard the awaiting good news.

"Good. Now it is my turn to complete the other half of the plan. You made my work easy. I love it that you betrayed your best friend for me." The person's smirk brought a sly smile on Gode's lips.

"But what if –" Gode concern was cut off by the person.

"This is what you and I wished for. It is a necessary now to on the sacrificial phase. This is her life now and we can defy what her fate is willing." Gode nodded her head slowly taking in everything the person was telling.

"Are you certain Ella would agree to another sacrifice?" Gode question was answered with an amused laugh from the person. Gode did not understand the meaning behind the amusement but she trusted the person.

"Agree? Do you think she has any power of accepting or not? She will not be given a chance she will be ordered like the previous time. She will be the scapegoat again and no power can stop it from taking place." The person's eyes gleamed in cruelty and shrewdness. Gode nodded her head understanding everything.

This time too she will be forced by the villagers and Gode prayed that Ella get forced and overpowered by the villagers this time too.

"Alright. I will be away from there when the villagers prison Ella so I will not be suspected by her." Gode said and smiled at the person before leaving from there in thoughts.

~*~*~*~

The next morning was dull and calm. There was no chirping of birds or the chimes of wind. It was calm. Too calm. Ella woke up with a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. She was feeling the way from few days and couldn't put finger on the apprehensive feeling she was experiencing.

The stillness unnerved her. But it was too late for her to realize that it was calm before the storm.

Gode was not in the hut from the early hours of the morning and Ella took it upon herself to clean the stalling rain water from her husband's grave. She was hoping that the work help her from the bad sensation she was going through.

It took her some time to clean the muddy grave and the water around it. There were many poisonous weeds around the grave that took good amount of energy for her to clean them.

She felt better when she was near her husband's grave. It gave her a sense of safety though her faceless husband was buried six feet under and possibly almost one with the soil by now.

"Ella." She heard a familiar male voice and the sinking feeling was back. She knew whose voice it was. She was well aware of the tone and voice. Ella's body stiffened.

She does not wish to turn back and look at the person when she all the well knew that he was always a carrier of bad news for her.

"You are ordered to be present by the town shelter right this instant." Byron, Town head's subordinate, said in a clipped tone.

Tears rolled down her face when she turned around and noticed few more men standing few steps away from them.

Oh no no. this could not be happening again. No this is not happening with her again.

Oh Lord, please help her!