Chapter 19. Devotion

DOVE

The guards didn’t leave me alone for a minute, making it so that when Clarisa arrived, she couldn’t say anything to me.

“Please,” she said, begging with tears welling up in her eyes. “I need to tell her something before she leaves…”

One of the guards made an incredulous face and then let out a laugh. “You can go see her in the meadow; you’ll have her there all week,” the man joked with dark humor that made the other two laugh. “You can’t pass; nobody can pass.”

“Yeah, she’ll have plenty of time there,” the other added, making it clear he wouldn’t give in to her pleas.

Clarisa looked at me with deep disappointment and stayed there long enough for them to lose sight of her for a few seconds. There, she discreetly showed me her thumb up so they wouldn’t see. She left respectfully without looking back. I thought to myself that perhaps this could be the last time I would see her. I shouldn’t lose faith; the thumbs-up showed me the light in that tunnel.<