The Slowest Burn - Bellarke

The Tutor- Part 4

*Clarke has a decision to make*
***

"Clarke?"

There was a ringing in Clarke's ears so loud she feared they may begin to bleed.

"Clarke, are you okay?" She could hear Bellamy's frantic voice, see his worried face in front of her, but she couldn't make herself move.

"Clarke!" His hands were on the sides of her face then.

She blinked, trying desperately to snap herself back into reality. It all felt like a strange dream, or a nightmare, one which she couldn't wake herself up from.

"Is he dead?" Her voice was barley a whisper.

"What?"

"Is he dead?" She said, more firmly this time. She felt the air filling her lungs once more, the feeling returning back to her hands and feet.

She watched Bellamy look down the stairwell, perhaps realising what had happened for the very first time.

"I don't- I don't know." His voice wavered.

"I'll check." She told him, moving tentatively down the staircase.

Brad or his body rather lay on the landing, splayed out across the carpet, his eyes fixed and wide.

She knew before she even touched him that he was gone, but with Bellamy watching her, she knew she needed to be certain.

She stretched out her hand, only now fully aware of how much she was shaking, she could feel her teeth chattering against one another. She clenched her jaw, pressing two fingers to Brad's neck in an attempt to feel his carotid pulse.

Nothing.

She turned back to Bellamy, who was looking at her expectantly.

She didn't even need to say a word. He knew.

"Fuck!" He cried, putting his fist through the nearest wall.

Clarke felt like she couldn't move, her hand still against the neck of a dead man, who had been alive just minutes ago.

"He's dead." Clarke gasped, taking in a shaky breath.

"He's dead and it's my fault." Air evaded her lungs once more. It felt like the walls were caving in on her.

"I have to get out of here." She whispered to no one in particular.

Without alerting Bellamy she took off down the stairs then, into the foyer.

Before she could make it to the door however she fell to her knees, too overcome with grief to continue.

"Why!" Her scream echoed off of the walls of the empty house. Luckily no one else was home yet, but she knew Octavia would be back soon.

"Clarke?" Bellamy's worried voice filled the hall. Clarke watched him step over the other man tentatively, as though he may wake him, before rushing down the remaining stairs.

The look on his face, the fear, the heartbreak, the relief. It brought Clarke to tears.

"Hey, hey." Bellamy rushed over, pulling the girl up and into his arms.