"There," he says, pointing up to the sky. "It's right there."

**

 I look to the spot where he is pointing. The duck-lion Is right above him, it's great head pointing in the direction I assume is north. I rise slowly, and so does Augustin. We walk side by side in the direction the stars have shown us. We don't move over for anything, not a rock, not a road. Every once in a while we encounter a tree, we go around that, but always turn back so we are walking the same straight line.  

"I'm sorry," Augustin says putting his hand behind his neck, just like he does whenever he gets nervous. "I'm not really used to getting so close to people you know, it kind of scared me a bit." 

Although I don't believe his reason, I believe his apology. He really is sorry for drifting away, but he didn't drift away because he was afraid of getting too close to me. I stop walking. And he turns his head to look at me. 

"Tell me why you really pulled away," I say.  He shakes his head and shrugs .

"I did, that's the reason." His hand rises up to his neck again. "Look if you don't believe me that's fine and all but just know I'm sorry. Also, after this is over, we most likely won't ever speak to each other again so, " my heart drops to my stomach, these were the words I didn't want to hear, yet I knew all along that these words would be the truth. " let's just break it off quickly, like a bandaid. Both our friendship and our little romance thing, if we can even call it that,  need to go."

Those words felt like a band-aid. A band-aid wrapped around my heart. No, a million band-aids around my heart, being torn off slowly one at a time. I fought the tears, he wouldn't see me cry, not again. I knew that the kiss wasn't enough to even be called a romance, but it our friendship had stayed strong for the many years he was gone. If it hadn't, I would've never agreed to help him, and he never would've asked me to. 

"I'm  sorry," the words come out reluctantly as if he wants to take it all back. The whispered words fly through the air, coming back and forth in the wind, entering my ears each time they pass by. "I just think it would be better for both of us you know?" He asks. I nod, I don't think it actually would be any better but I'll take his word for it. 

The dusty road sends sand flying up as we walk, I can't help but notice this as I avoid eye contact with Augustin. I watch carefully and try to make out the individual grains of sand, but I am walking too fast, and the sand is too small. Those grains of sand are too small to be noticed alone although they are still there, they still exist, they just need to be together to actually have an impact on the world. 

Bored with my thoughts on sand I look up to the sky. Clouds cover the stars, good thing we didn't change directions, we know that we have to walk straight. 

"I think it's gonna rain." He says with his mouth pressed up to my ear, the sudden noise makes me jump. He laughs and keeps walking forwards. "Don't worry, I still know where we are going. The sea is up there, if you stand on your toes you can see it, just over the hill." I stood on my toes and sure enough i saw the sea, 'just over the hill' made it seem closer than it really was. It looked like a good half- hour to and hour of walking was left on this journey. Small drops of rain fell from the sky. Those small drops slowly grew in size and speed. Soon we were both drenched, but we kept walking. My wet clothes stuck to my skin and my hair was plastered to my face. I was shivering despite the warm air, but so was he. He sees me looking at him and cracks a grin. "Your lips are blue." he says. 

I laugh and reply "So are yours." 

He puts an arm around my shoulders in an attempt to keep us warm. Although we were both wet and cold, walking closer to him made me feel warmer, and from the lack of shivering, it made him feel warmer to be walking closer to me.

" Look."  I say as we come closer to the sea. The pouring rain makes the water look like it in all part of a big water fall. The water wasn't what I was showing him though, I wanted him to see the small town a bit to the left of us. When I say small I mean tiny, this town had one street, maybe five or six houses lined up on each side. From afar details were hard to make out but in the darkness I could tell that no lights were on, at least not above ground. He nods curtly and we quicken our pace, I can tell he is anxious to get in there and get his brother back. 

Slowly we find ourselves coming closer to the small town. Most of the buildings seem abandoned. One of them has new wooden boards and a fresh coat of paint. This is of course the one that was spoken of in the note. Out of all the buildings here this one looked the most welcoming. Well, maybe not welcoming. Maybe it was because I knew who lived there but there was a sort of forbidden essence about the building, but it was the only one that looked as if someone lived there. 

"If they aren't in there," he says slowly, as if thinking about what he wants to say, "Let's stay there overnight just t dry off and get our strength back, we'll need it."

I nod my head, we may need some food too but i kept that thought to myself. I shouldn't be raining on his parade. He had a plan going, it was better than what I had. 

We walk slowly up the creaking steps to the front door the house is an off white color and looks to be about three floors high. Since there aren't any visible lights on I am assuming there is also a basement. This of course is based on my thought that bad people do bad things during the night. Augustin turns the handle and pulls the door towards us. The door makes a subtle squeaking noise and we walk in. The room is warmer than outside, which is obviously better for us. The lights are off on the main floor but lights  from the basement are on and are faintly illuminating the floor we are standing on. The floor has no rooms but small bumps on the floor lead me to believe that there were once many walls that were pulled down. Augustin motions for me to stop. We can hear talking in the basement. We are at the right house, I think to myself.

***

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