It has been one and a half days and two nights since we left our old house. There were times that we took a break and we all took turns driving the carriage, but we were all mostly tired. Sleep was one of the things that were difficult. It wasn't easy sleeping on a moving carriage. I looked around to see most of us slowly trying to sleep and then when a bump came they all woke up startled. It's been like this since morning. Mom has been struggling with sleep too.
The carriage stopped. It was dad and Aston that was driving the carriage. Everyone got off and started to stretch. It was already sunset.
"Why did we stop?"
"There is a cave here. We can catch up on some sleep. It was Aston's idea and I thought that would be great."
Everyone lightened up from the sound of 'sleep'.
Galtero tied up the horses as Jeremy and Aston went to check if the cave was safe to sleep in. Anna and dad went hunting some food. Mom and Diana stayed here with me and Arthur. They were talking and giggling about their past life and Arthur was trying to play with sticks with me.
Arthur slashed the air with the stick, taking it as a sword. He picked something and came over to me. Arthur gave me a thin, but strong stick. I took it and pointed it towards him. I didn't know what I was doing, but it felt natural. Arthur tried to slash at me like a sword, but slow. I dodged it and blocked it with my tiny stick. Arthur slashed at me and blocked that one too. I looked back to see my mom and Diana still chattering away. I used my chance to slash at Arthur. He didn't dodge it in time, so the stick slapped him right in his face.
At first, he was shocked, then slowly his eyes started to tear up and began to cry loudly. It was when mom looked over here. She came over here and picked me up. She also got rid of the stick.
"What happened, Arthur?"
He started to cry even louder. I wouldn't have slashed back if he was going to be a baby about it. Arthur tried to calm down and looked at me.
"I fell on my face and it hurt. I'm okay now!"
That got me. Was he trying to cover up for me or was trying to protect his pride?
"Okay, but be careful next time. Okay, right?" Arthur nodded and gave her a small smile.
Not long after, Dad and Anna came back with a deer in their hands and Jeremy and Aston came back saying 'it was safe'. I didn't even realize that Galtero had already made a fire.
Mom made some delicious deer stew, well according to others. I was stuck drinking milk again.
"You know, I am happy that we finally got out of that carriage. We finally do not have to smell those diaper bombs."
Everyone laughed as Aston made a gross face. Well, it technically isn't my fault you know. I didn't even know when I was going to soil my diapers. The night time breeze was cooling the strong heat from the fire, so it felt nice.
"Help."
The small, fragile whisper made its way into my ear. The voice sounded sad and hurried as if it was urgent. I looked around to see who it was, but nothing. I waited for some time to hear the voice again, but it never came. The other might not have heard it too judging by the way they kept on talking.
I guess it was just a figment of my imagination.
When the laughter and chatter died down, I knew it was time to go to the cave and sleep. Mom came and picked me up. As we walked towards the cave, Diana and Anna came up to us and walked beside. Anna started to fidget.
"What do you both want?"
"Well, I wanted to ask if Alex could sleep with us?"
"What about Arthur?"
"We asked, but he said he wanted to sleep with the big guys like Aston and Galtero." Mom chuckled when she heard what Arthur said. She turned to me.
"Do you want to go?" Mom was a light sleeper so I couldn't sneak away if I needed to train my mana, so it would be best to sleep with Diana and Anna. They looked like heavy sleepers. I nodded and smiled with my hands reaching towards them. Their faces brightened as I did that. Diana came to pick me up, but Anna got to me faster than her. Anna quickly picked me up and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek.
Dad and Jeremy checked one more time before we went inside the cave. When it was all clear, we all went inside the cave. We went really deep, so we wouldn't get any surprise attacks coming our way when we were asleep. We swept up a lot of the tiny and big rocks, so our beds wouldn't be bumpy.
Mom gave me a little bit of milk before handing me to Diana and Anna completely. When we got our little bed, I saw the middle part of the blanket all fluffed up and soft. They carefully laid me there. It was softer than the crib back home and it was comfy too. Anna and Diana laid down on either side of me. They both smiled at me as I smiled at them.
It was kind of really crowded since Diana's chest was so big. I leaned closer to Anna, so I had a little bit of space to myself.
I don't know when I fell asleep, but I did.
"-elp."
My eyes slowly opened up from the voice.
"Help. Please."
It was the same voice as before. It was trembling and had a sad tone to it, almost as if she was crying. I slowly sat up, trying my best not to wake Anna and Dianna up. I slowly crawled out of the bed.
"Help my child, please."
Child?
The voice was coming from the deeper end of the cave. The voice got stronger and louder as I crawled towards the deeper end of the cave. Even if it got louder and stronger, the voice still sounded so sad. What must have happened to her to make her this sad?
I crawled towards the wall of the cave, so I could try to stand up and start walking. My knees were starting to hurt from crawling on all the rocks. I put a hand on the wall and tried standing up. It was hard, but I was able to stand up. My legs were wobbly, but I could manage walking just a bit.
This is when I took my first step.