Army of True Salvation (English) - Chapter 190：Past is Past

Sheloah’s mother died and she never even expected that.

She never wanted to have this experience. No one ever did. It was such a heartbreaking experience and she knew that she will remember this for a long time.

She knew this memory won’t leave her for some time. She knew that this experience would hunt her from time to time.

She knew her mother would risk her life for her but to Sheloah, her death was really a painful experience and a very heartbreaking one at that.

Sheloah stopped sobbing but she was in a daze. She was still clinging on to Kreiss as her head rested on his back.

Now that she’s quiet and in her own thoughts, she was thankful that Kreiss carried her away. If not, she would definitely die and she now reflected that her death won’t make her mother happy.

Sheloah started sobbing again silently, making her eyes dry and tired. Kreiss felt Sheloah’s grip loosen so he talked, worried about her.

“Sheloah, don’t let go.”

It was Sheloah’s first time hearing him call her by her name since he usually called her ‘princess’. This made the girl tighten her grip once more, making Kreiss sigh in relief.

“Mm…”

Veon was driving the car and sitting beside him was Sheloah’s uncle. Isobel, Tyler, and Geof sat at the back while Erick, Shannara, and the sniper team sat together with the groceries. It was cramped at the trunk side, but they don’t have much of a choice.

It was still a quiet and slow drive going back home. They were lucky that there weren’t much zombies on their path, making their travel easy.

Kreiss looked at the sky briefly, then spoke to Sheloah because he was worried about her.

“Are you okay?”

Sheloah was quiet for half a minute before she answered back.

“Mm.”

“Are you hurt, injured or wounded somewhere?”

“No.”

Kreiss went quiet. He did not know what else to say to Sheloah who just witnessed the death of her mother in front of her. He wanted so bad to cheer her up, but what else could he say?

Maybe the only comfort he could offer her is silence.

“Kreiss?”

The boy was stunned for a while when the girl suddenly spoke in her raspy voice.

“Yes?”

“I want water.”

Sheloah felt so tired. Her eyes were dry. Crying too much gave her a headache. Her throat was also feeling dry for shouting and screaming too much a while ago. She felt so fatigued that she just wanted to drink water then go to sleep.

“I’m sorry, I don’t have one at the moment. Later when we get home,” Kreiss said, feeling helpless that he couldn’t give what Sheloah wanted at the moment.

Sheloah only nodded, then nuzzled her head on Kreiss’ back. Afterwards, she felt the gem touching her chest, making her speak more than usual. She held it, curious.

“Kreiss, why did you give me this gem?”

“It’s not the perfect time to talk about this. Rest first and I’ll tell you about it soon,” he answered, feeling concerned about Sheloah.

To Kreiss, the priority now is her rest and how she will cope up emotionally.

Sheloah felt her heart beat for a moment then she closed her eyes. She realized that the playful boy in front of her turned out to be serious and caring towards her. He was actually genuine about his feelings towards her.

‘He’s really sweet…’

They were silent for five minutes and Sheloah already stopped crying when suddenly, Kreiss spoke.

“The gem,” he trailed off, making Sheloah open her eyes. “It’s just a family tradition. All male descendants in our family should give the gem to a girl they like, that’s it.”

When Sheloah heard this, she was quite surprised but she didn’t speak anything about it. She already knew about his feelings towards her since he confessed but she didn’t actually expect him to be so serious about her.

“Now leave that out of your mind. Focus on yourself,” Kreiss said and Sheloah just nodded but what he said lingered a bit in her mind.

‘All male descendants in our family should give the gem to a girl they like, that’s it.’

It took them quite a while for them to reach Dannie’s place but now, they’re finally here. They entered the house and when they did, everyone went silent.

Sheloah stopped walking when she realized that all eyes were on her. One of their classmates approached her then spoke.

“Sheloah, we heard what happened. Our condolences,” she said and the people around her said the same which made Sheloah teary-eyed once more.

“Now I understand what you guys must’ve felt before we left school. I understood why you were so angry at me before and now that I am in this situation, it is indeed heartbreaking,” Sheloah said and her classmates shook their heads.

“Past is past, Sheloah. I know that our parents wanted us to be safe,” one of her classmates said and this made Sheloah nod.

Sheloah walked up the second floor going to their room and bathed herself. She wanted to be with her family at the moment since the others who heard about her mother’s death saddened them as well.