The time has come. Even though she didn't know a detail of this destination, her heart had been pounding all this time whenever she'd think of this place.
This time, when she is somewhat a quarter of a mile away from that very place, she had managed to keep herself calm "since worrying won't make a difference" Martha thought. They were approaching the end and Martha had noticed the lights kept on blowing off as they moved.
The fire torches have been carrying them to this very place and they are going to come to a halt now. "Once we reach there, there won't be any light from the fire torch then. We are all by ourselves there.
But I promise to remain strong and pass this strength of mine to both of my parents in whichever way possible.
In this need of the hour, all three of us crave for nothing but love and support of each other and that's just what we need to sail through these tough times" Martha thought.
As few fire torches remain ahead of them, Cindy asked, "How are we going to deal with this Benjamin?" Benjamin looked at Cindy and then looked back to the path ahead.
"We deal with it by backing off from the deal" Cindy conveyed an expression of consensus but after a couple of seconds, she spoke, "But how can we? This is not possible since we have come too far and this thing shall not to be dealt emotionally but pragmatically. We need to look at our future selves and look after the people who will be surrounding us" Cindy conveyed her concern in the way to impart to Benjamin to make an informed decision.
Likewise, this made Benjamin ponder a bit.
"Let us see what they have to say about this. We two cannot take decisions alone here.
There are many parties involved here whom we should seek approval for." To this, Cindy responded, "We cannot Benjamin. We cannot wait for everybody's approval to make this work out.
It is hard to digest yet apparent that this will go against the will of some people" Cindy's eyes moved slightly to her side to gain a view of the back or precisely, the person sitting on the back which was Martha.
Her surreptitious look at Martha was well noticed by Benjamin and promptly understood that what her wife was saying was valid and well-thought upon.
"We must make a decision that would be beneficial in the long run and do not just drift along with our emotions. Cindy is right" Benjamin thought.
Martha, on the other hand, didn't even seem to pay attention to her parents' conversation. She was busy, busy with her inner self.
She was preparing for what was about to come.
She had already had an intuition that something bad is going to confront her soon, whether she likes it or not, whether she want to have it or not.
There's no escape now. Her preoccupation with her own self broke when the last fire torch was blown out.
The narrow path in between the forest has now come to a halt and it had brought them to an open space.
There were not many trees encompassing this area. Martha's eyes traversed through the area besides her and didn't focus on what was ahead.
There were shrubs present scarcely throughout this land which gave the impression to someone that the land has not been looked after properly. There was no proper well built road that the car could travel upon. In fact, the land was just like the entire forest trail they have just appeared out of.
The car stopped and Martha turned her head from the window to the windshield of the car to finally see where they have arrived after this miserable trip.
Since the fire torches were out of light, there was little to no visibility for someone to ascertain what is there.
Only the motor car's headlights were of help to spot what was in front of them.
Martha had to narrow her eyes and focus to figure out the scene in front. "It's a house" she thought. She still struggled to discover the particulars of this house through her eyes.
Another thing she was able to make out of the dark about this house is that it was vast, traversing her eyes from the left end and going as much into the right direction as her eyes could move.
The house did not just stop getting vaster as her eyes kept scanning its size.
"This is a mansion" she thought. For once, she looked at her parents who, unlike Martha, weren't really amazed upon seeing such a big house. Their expressions, in fact, communicated regret, regret to have not begun the journey from their house only. "It is too late to think about that now" Benjamin thought, so would Cindy presumably.
Neither of the three has stepped out of the now.
It is pitch dark outside and there is no source of light except the headlights of the motor car that took care of the visibility of the area within a few meters of it.
The moon on the other hand, which was not at its best at providing sufficient light to perceive the objects around them, had managed to give a very basic idea of their surroundings.
"Let us get over with whatever it is" Martha said, bringing about confidence in her tone so to encourage her parents who seemed uncertain for what shall be done ahead. "We can get though this together" continued Martha.
Both Cindy and Benjamin turned behind to look at their daughter's efforts to bring about courage in them yet at almost the same time, both of them felt guilty of the offence they were going to commit.
They both perceived guilt into each other's eyes when their eyes met with each other. It was unbearable for them to look into each other's eyes when they knew that the other person is able to perceive the guilt in them. Neither they were able to face Martha because of that nor could they muster up to see the house in front of them. Both of them preferred to keep their head lower.