Chapter Text
It was miday in Roland small town, around midday of his 18th birthday, and he was sitting in a small room of his church for a while now, wearing a new bright white garment, with his blond hair cut short to just above his ear. Roland was on an old church bench with his hands together, on the verge of tears, breathing in and out like how Mr.Kelly taught him, which felt so long ago to him now, even if it's only been two years since he graduated. 2 years since he's seen any of his friends or been outside of his town, but he tryed his best to steady his breathing, wiping any tears which escaped. A full length mirror sat opposite of him, Roland was constantly looking up at it to look at himself, but his new clothes and hair made him look alien, like he couldn't recognise himself.
Then his reflection started to move on it's own, showing Roland with yellow glowing eyes, but when Roland looked up at this reflection, expecting to see a look of anger or disgust, he saw himself looking back, with pitty.
"Try your best to dry you eyes dear Roland." The voice said, speaking through the reflection. "I imagine someone will be coming to get us soon for your ceremony."
"I'm trying it's just... There's a lot to think about today." Roland finally squeaked out. "We're still doing the plan! I'm just, thinking about if it goes wrong. What will happen to-"
"The plan is going to work Roland. We have thought of every possibility, so the escape will be seamless." The lord's voice was both stern and comforting at the same time, at least alot more comforting than it used to be before and during his time at school. Roland felt his hand move without his input, with it being moved to his other arm and being squeezed gently. "Plus you won't be alone in your escape, I shall be there every step of the way." Roland exhailed as he said this, moving his hand back into his lap, holding it in place.
"Thank you."
As he said that, an older man comes through a door to the side of the room, and Rolands reflection snaps back to normal.
"Alright champ! You ready?" The man's voice was cheery but there was a hint of fakness to it. Roland looked away from the mirror towards the man.
"Yes dad. I'm ready." Roland tried to force a smile for his dad but it was weak.
"I'm guessing you're nervous about the ceremony?" Roland nods. "That's alright! I did the same thing for the sunset dawn when I was your age and it all went swimmingly! It's a tiny bit different for you as your becoming a prophet, but I'm sure everything will go smoothly!" Roland looked at his dad as he said this, he could tell his words were a bit more sincere than what he said before, but it still felt fake.
"But... What if when I become a profit, I have to do something which could disappoint you? Because it's what the lord wants."
"Well... If it's what the lord wants then you can't really go against it, but nothing you could do would disappoint me and no matter what, I will always love you." Roland's dad pulled him into a side hug as his dad's words spun in his mind. "Now come on, the quicker we get the ceremony done, the faster we can get to the food your mum made!"
His dad guided Roland out of the room and into the hallway of the church, and opened a set of big doors into the main hall where his whole town were sitting, with his mum and brothers sitting at the front. as he walked down the isle and listened to the leader of the sunset dawn speak about how Roland was going to become a honoured prophet, and how those 5 dreadful years were worthcit in the end, his mind started to race again, about his plan to run away and how it could go wrong, until he felt his hand move again to hold his other hand which snapped him out of it. Once the main ceremony was over, it felt more like a normal party, with gifts, food and people celebrating Roland's birthday, not mentioning how he's a "profit" which put Roland at ease even if it was only for a moment. Roland was actually enjoying himself in the celebration. but as people slowly stated to leave the party to go home he knew that soon he would have to act on his plan.
"I should probably head to my room now." Roland said to the crowd of small people left in his living room. "Don't want to be tired for my first day as a profit now do we!" Roland forced a smile and cheery tone to sound like he usually does, to try and hide the fact that he was trembling.
"Ok Roland... Oh Roland, how you grow up so fast" his mum said with tears forming in her eyes, hugging him tightly. Roland held onto his mum and that hug for a long time before finally heading up to his room. As he shut the door his smile dropped, and he stood at the foot of his door for a moment, before getting dressed into his pyjamas, climbed into his bed and tryed to go to sleep.
It took him a while to fall asleep, as his brain was racing a mile a minute, thinking about the plain, his family, and if he was actually going to do this?
But he knew he had to, as he knew he didn't want to be stuck in his small town forever, he didn't want to be stuck in his cult for the rest of his life, and maybe, once he gets out, maybe he could find his friends, wherever they are, and he could talk to and hang out with them again, like they used to at st.churleys. But Roland knew that it seemed a bit realistic, so as he thought about the plan, eventually he fell asleep.
"Roland!" The lord's voice broke through the silent which now filled the house. "Everyone's asleep, now's the best chance to escape!" Roland quietly jumped out of his bed to grab a stuffed, black backpack from under his bed and put it on top of it. "Last chance to back out of this. You ready to do this?"
"We come this far haven't we? So let's go for it." Roland opened the back of his bag revealing some clothes stuffed in there, he took them out, to reveal lots of neatly folded clothes and other things like a note book, some pen and pencils, and a small pouch of money. He zipped up the back of the bag, got dressed into a black t-shirt, hoodie and leggings, and put on black some trainers at the side of his bed. Before leaving, Roland opened the fount of the bag, rummaging around in there looking for something. He paused for a moment when his hand touched a blue,green,and yellow bracelet before pulling out a letter titled "to mum and dad" on the front and put it on his pillow. He then zipped up his bag, opened his window, and climbed out.
As Roland jumped from his window to the ground and started walking through the field next to his house, he weirdly felt calm, his pase was normal but he was looking back to his house as it was getting smaller and smaller the further he walked.
"You shouldn't be looking back so often." The voice said, finally braking the silents. "It's slowing you down."
"I know, I know. I'm just so worried our cover will be blown." Roland's voice was more convenient now, still a bit of panic in his voice but definitely not as bad as before the ceremony.
"The further we get form the sunset dawn, the better chance that we got for our escape plan to actually work. I have eyes on the house so you just focus on walking."
"Ok."
"And put your hood up, it'll stop people from recognising you." Roland's paste slowly picked up once he reached the street,
with only the street lighting his way as he walked further into the night. Roland stayed on guard as he walked through his town, with the voice telling him where to go and when to turn, constantly paranoid that a car he recognises would drive past him, always looking for a place to duck for cover, in the case of that happening. But eventually Roland and the voice reach the edge of the town, making them one step closer to escape.
Roland paused at the border, looking back at his town, hesitating on which way to go next. Then in the light of a lamp post, Roland's shaddow started to warped and shifted into another being, one with a singular eye and a sun for a head but still in the form of a dark shaddow, it leaned on Roland shoulder as it looked around at the different paths they could take. "Ok, keep walking straight up this road, once we get far enough, we can stop to think about our next move." The voice said, creating a long, shaddowy arm and finger to pointed straight up towards a dark, country lane, which contrasted the two other paths which were paved with concrete. Roland looked at the voice now on his shoulder and nodded with a smirk on his face, and started to confidently walk into the darkness. Roland and the voice walked in silence for what felt like hours, with the voice keeping his focus on behind Roland, only occasionally glancing to the front, with Roland keeping his eye focused on where he's going next.
"There's a lamppost and bench coming up, we can rest there for a moment." The voice finally said.
As soon as Roland reached the bench, he put his bag next to him and slumped down onto the bench,
not realising how tired he actually was and how long he had actually been walking for. Then after a moment of silent, Roland put his hand on his forehead, running his fingers through his short hair, and started to laugh.
"I can't believe we actually escaped! I mean, we've been planning this since we left st.churleys, but I never thought the day would come! I never thought we could actually do this!" Roland was giddy as he spoke, looking at the voice who he could tell was happy too.
"We still got a long way to go dear Roland, but we have definitely past the hardest hurdle of our journey" he spoke to Roland with pride in his voice, proud of him for making this move to leave the sunset dawn and coming up this plain, with only a little help from himself, even if at first he didn't want to leave the sunset dawn, leave his people, but when he realized that Roland was his biggest priority, he knew he had to help in whatever way he could to make him happy.
"Your right, I'm just glad that the first part of the plan is complete" as he spoke, Roland unzipped the front of his bag and pulled out the bracelet he found earlier and put it on his wrist, inspecting it and making sure it was on tight enough. He then pulled out a watch from his bag to check the time. 4:15am. He put the watch on his other wrist and went to hold his necklace in his hand, just out of habit which made him freeze in place.
He has had this necklace for almost 7 years now, as it was a gift from his dad on his 10th birthday, he remembered that fact as a little after he put it on for the first time was when his voice entered his head. He unclipped the chain from around his neck and held it in his hand. Apart of him wanted to chuck it into the nearby bushes in that moment, to get rid of the last thing linking him back to the sunset dawn, the reason he couldn't see his friends ever again, but another part of him wanted to keep it on, wanting to have at least one thing to remind him of his family, as apart of him still believed in the teaching of the sunset dawn and maybe it was just the execution of them? Which made him rethink his whole plain even if it was just for a second.
"Roland, we can't hang about for too long. We may be in the clear for now, but the closer it gets to morning, our chances of escape lessons."
"Your right, we just need to keep moving forward in this moment!" Roland stuffed his neckless into the front pocket and zipped up his bag.
"There should be a train station about 2 and a half miles in the next town, you ready to start moving again?" Roland springed up from the bench, buzzing with excitement.
"Bring it on!" Roland exclaimed loudly, scaring a few birds behind him, and Roland moved thurther down the country road.
As they continued to walk, the sun started to rise behind them, something which should of worried Roland, filled him with confidence, the sun which once represented the sunset dawn for him and the control his cult had over him, now represents his new beginning in life, he didn't know what was going to happen next, neither did the voice, which made them both feel nervous, but it also filled them with hope, and at least, for now, escaping the sunset dawn was enough reason for them to celebrate.