CHAPTER SEVENTY-NINE.

(Meliora's POV)

They said hope is one of the things that a man must hold, with hope he could do a lot, with hope he could make even the most complex things easy to achieve.

My life and that of Martha was built on hope at this point, this is what we have come to realize. The hope of getting better some day, we knew it wasn't going to be as easy as we thought, but hope was going to draw us closer even if we tried to relent.

Martha made her way out of the door as I followed behind, this was going to be another risk, but now that we had found out that Brian was still somewhere around, I couldn't leave Martha to do this all on her own.

If I decided to leave this night, I was really sure that Martha would face this just on her own and the probability of her finding Brian was really slim.

She had helped me many times, and just now she had just saved me again. I wouldn't be a bad friend who was ungrateful, and I wouldn't want to be ungrateful as well. I was sure the moon goddess was going to be annoyed if I acted just like a coward.

Martha hinted me as I came out of the house, the body of the dead guards was still lying on the floor, it was still late, and I knew a lot of people were still inside their houses.

As we strode out of the house, Martha grabbed one of my hands and stopped me for a moment.

“Where do you have to stay?” she asked, staring into my eyes.

“I would hide in your house for days depending on when we find out Brian's whereabouts” I answered, my voice above a whisper.

“If that keeps you safe, let's go with the plans, you just need to be very careful,” Martha said, giving her all to this.

We hurriedly left the surroundings and headed back to Martha's place, it was risky and nobody needed to see me get into the house, else it was going to cause a lot of issues, and this was the last chance, I could be killed if I was caught this time.

Martha twisted the door knob silently, as she scanned through the room, making sure no one was inside the room while she was away.

“You can come to Liora, it's safe,” Martha said.

I walked into the room, walking towards one of the chairs to sit, I was exhausted already, and though I was tired, and I needed some sleep, but I wasn't sure I could do that at the moment, I needed to be sure that no one came into the room.

“You should lie-down here.” She said pointing to the other part of the bed which was close to the wardrobe, it was a dark part in the room and no one would be able to detect if someone was lying there.

“I will sleep there, when I intend to sleep okay, Thank you so much Martha, you have been perfect to me, you saved me again” I answered as I held one of her hands. 

“It's nothing Liora, you've also helped me, you saved me countless times, and you have helped Brian as well, this time you've been really helpful” she said.

“But this exact one means a lot to me, you really helped, thanks once again Liora” I said as I hugged her tightly 

After a few minutes Martha withdrew herself from me as she stared at my eyes.

“By tomorrow morning, they would know you have escaped” she said.

“Yes, I know, and I know there might be a thorough search, how are we going to scale through?” she said.

“Elder Morris still believes in you, no one suspects you at this point, even if you were the last to go into that room, you aren't a suspect” I replied.

She nodded her head as she sighed. I knew she was a bit scared, but I could see a strong woman in her eyes, she was willing to do anything to survive.

“You should be the first to announce my escape” I suggested as I moved closer to her.

“What do you mean?” Martha asked as she looked at me.

“To be on a safer side, you should be the first to go to that room and announce my escape, imagine you coming to give me some food and then noticing that I was gone, that's the plan” I said 

“Do you think that would make them not come here for a search” she said as the candlelight shone on her face.

“That might not stop them, but it's going to buy you time, and for now, you won't be a suspect as of this moment, before anyone would suspect, we could have gotten Brian and escaped with him" I responded 

“That's fair enough, understand this, you should sleep now, it's late already, you should have some sleep, let's plan ahead on how to get Brian” Martha advised as she hugged me tightly.

“Yeah, I will. Thank you so much Martha, and I promise that we will get Brian out of here if he is still alive.” I promised.

I stood up from the bed and made my way to the other part of the bed which was close to the wardrobe, just where she had told me to sleep. I would definitely be safe there. I laid on the floor as I sighed 

Life just had to deal with one surviving and everyone needed to do everything it took to survive, even if it meant taking dangerous and risky decisions.

I really wanted to have some sleep, but I couldn't, my eyes were wide open as I continued to think about the next step to take. I needed not to fail this time.

I raised my head a bit to check on Martha who was in the bed, she was already fast asleep, I laid back on the ground again as I closed my eyes.

****

Martha and I jolted from the bed, the loud knock on the door was disturbing, if I was right, that was the first knock this morning, Martha and I exchanged glances as my heart began to race.