Three weeks. Three weeks since Kellin had seen his mother, his town. Three weeks since the rabid mob stormed his house, flinging him into the street and hurling stones and curses. Murderer, they’d called him. Killer, Rapist, Monster. Forced to leave, never to come back. They’d beaten his mother unconscious, threatened to kill her if he ever came back.
He couldn’t even say goodbye.
Since then, it’d been three weeks of hardship, of starvation and wandering. Ailish wasn’t there to save him; Maris wasn’t there to guide him. Alone. Completely, totally, eternally alone.
He followed a stream, walking as long as his legs held out, sleeping when he could fight slumber no longer. Things were no better in his dreams. Nightmares, really. Nightmares that reached into the day. For Kellin, there was no escape.
It was in this wretched state, that someone found him.