If I Fall Read Online Free

although I know she is only trying to cope, a tiny flicker of anger ignites inside me. I am not yet ready to admit my whole world is changing. To accept that I will never live in this destroyed home again, that I will never again tend to this once beautiful garden, is simply too much to undertake in one day.
    Pursing my lips, I nod my head in agreement nonetheless. Without a word, Dela retreats from the devastation. As though peering through another person’s eyes, I take one more look at the fire’s sorrowing success before following my sister out of the backyard and the burnt remnants of my garden.
    I stand in the middle of the room, afraid to touch anything. I can hear Dela rummaging in the chest to my left. She is not at all shy about going through another’s things, and her lack of decorum worries me. I instantly chide myself. I am beginning to sound just like my marriage-obsessed mother. A woman’s sole purpose is to find a husband, not to whittle away her time soiling her gloves in a garden! she often told me.
    But my gardening was never any competition with Dela’s adventurousness. You will never marry if you do not learn some propriety, Dela Marie Hamilton! Mother would scream at Dela’s back as she ran out the door towards the ocean, her dress slinging through the mud as she went. I smile at the memory.
    “Ew! Look here, El. It’s a pair of Daniel Thompson’s knickers!” I turn my head just in time to see Dela’s face contort into a form of playful disgust. She tosses them at me and I shriek. By now, we are both giggling uncontrollably, the pent up anguish of the recent events finding a short release. “I do hope this was not Daniel’s only pair,” Dela jokes, but the past tense of the statement makes our momentary joy instantly dissipate.
    We thought maybe the Thompsons had escaped since their house is tucked back in the woods on the very edge of town, but there is no way to know for sure. Unsettled, I lean back against the small bed as Dela finds the clothes we need. We agreed that we would be less conspicuous as boys. Being one of us is bad enough, but being a girl is even worse.
    “All right,” she says, attempting to stand with her arms full of clothing. “I think I have the essentials. Should we check the kitchen one last time?”
    I shake my head. “There is no use. If there was food, we would have found it already. Beside, we don’t want to miss the ship. It will be a long walk.”
    Dela’s lips pucker in disappointment. “I suppose you are right.”
    I smile sadly at her, wishing I could give another answer. Relieving her of the clothes, I walk out of the room and down the steps into the parlor. I give the room one more brief inspection, making sure everything is in its place. I nearly laugh aloud at the absurdity of it. The last thing the Thompsons will worry about is two girls breaking into their house and stealing a few articles of clothing. They are Marked, and just like us, they have much bigger problems than theft.
    Besides, if they ever do return, they will be returning to a ghost town. Only one other person was left breathing, and she is standing right next to me. Everyone else is either gone or dead. The only building free from harm is the one we currently stand in. All others have been reduced to ash and rubble. The Radicals destroyed my beautiful little village and everyone inside it, and then simply walked away. I know because I watched them do it. I watched them take the dead’s carriages and flee the scene of their crimes. Knowing for sure they had all fled is the only reason I agreed to return.
    The anger and pain hits me like a sudden upsurge. Dela lays a warm hand against my arm, a reassuring touch. I close my eyes and take a deep breath. Forget it all for now , I tell myself. Let the images from last night and today vanish—at least until we make it onto the ship.
    With this new goal in mind, I walk out of the house and within ten steps, I am standing in the ashy silt