The path I walked on, calculating the time, my parents should have noticed that my brother and I were gone.

The village must have sent people to look for us.

I hid in a cave in the mountains.

Then I picked up the herbs and clothes inside and started wiping and applying medicine to my brother.

My brother looked at me tenderly and said, "Xiaoyi, it's useless."

"I know you can run away alone tonight, right?"

But I suddenly shouted, "Brother, I don't understand. Isn't it better for both of us to leave? I'll take you with me, I'll take care of you!"

"We were already halfway there. Why... why..."

As I said this, I couldn't articulate my sobbing, my mind was in chaos.

My brother sighed and hugged me. "I know, I know Xiaoyi loves her brother. But Xiaoyi, I won't live past tonight."

"Today, our parents are in such a hurry to make bricks because Mom owes gambling debts. The reason we can escape now is that Mom took half of the money to pay off the debts. That's why no one is there."

He said, his shoulder wet with tears, "And the reason I can make bricks today is that Mom gave me a dose of brick-making water, it's also my life-shortening water. This is the only day I'll live..."

I suddenly pulled away from my brother and found bloodstains at the corner of his mouth.

And what was on my shoulder... was blood!

"Brother! Brother!"

I cried loudly, and my sadness turned into a physical collision within me. The world turned black.

My brother coughed up blood while shaking his head gently at me.

"So, don't worry about me anymore. Promise me, you have to leave! Take the money and do what you want..."

Before he could finish his words, my brother took his last breath right in front of me. It was the first time I witnessed someone taking their last breath.

Just like that, a living person was gone in an instant, leaving only a lifeless body.

Before I could cry again, I suddenly heard voices outside. Without time to grieve, I could only put my brother back into the hiding place.

In fact, we could have left together. After so many hunting trips, I discovered a small path, an escape route left by the hunters. It also became the path for me to escape the darkness.

I continued to carry my brother on my back, stepping on the ground step by step, stepping onto the path of the future.

The wild grass on both sides of the road grows beautifully, swaying like a gentle brother. I turned back to my brother and said,

"Look, it's the scent of freedom."