ATARAXIA • BELLAMY BLAKE

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Murphy's body crashes to the ground, only caught by myself and Finn just time before his hard collision with the muddy soil. He whimpers at the contact as I clumsily rush to loosen the rope around his. At the release, Murphy gasps out loudly and starts to cough uncontrollably. His glossy eyes meet my own as I finally manage to undo the knot of the rope and take it off completely.

"I'm gone for an hour and all hell breaks loose? What the hell happened?" Finn catches my shoulder with his hand to make me look at him.

I'm at a complete loss for words, just sat on the ground by Murphy's side while he continues to gasp for air, completely and utterly shocked by what Bellamy had done.

Clarke sniffles next to us. "Things weren't supposed to go this way," she says lowly.

"Bellamy said this would happen," Octavia mumbles. "He told you not to confront him."

"I'm sorry." We all turn our heads to where Charlotte is standing, shaking.

For the second time during this whole ordeal, I had completely forgotten all about her. But now I allow it to fully sink in that Charlotte, a twelve-year-old little girl, had been the one who killed Wells. The girl I have gone out of my way to take care of in order to protect what I believed to be innocence.

I push aside any feeling of betrayal I may feel towards her and look at Clarke for her reaction. I know she and Charlotte talked too. But she doesn't get a chance to say anything before Murphy sits up next to me, gaining everyone's attention.

"Ch—Charlotte," he croaks out in between coughs as he fails to get back up to his feet. He reaches out for her, which makes Bellamy pull her back.

"Murphy, don't," he threatens.

Everyone in the crowd of people still surrounding us starts to talk amongst themselves, not knowing what to do next. Meanwhile, Murphy finally manages to get back up to his feet, but he doesn't attempt anything towards Bellamy.

"Hand her over," he says.

When Bellamy makes no move to hand over Charlotte, Murphy turns to some of his boys, telling them something I can't quite make out.

"Come on," Clarke says lowly as she takes my arm, helping me up from the ground. I look to my side to see Bellamy and Finn walking away with Charlotte.

We follow the others into a tent as a group of delinquents, including Octavia and Jasper, stop outside of it, all of them having followed Murphy and his guys to see what's going to happen next.

"Bring out the girl, Bellamy," I hear Murphy call from outside of the tent that we're all in. I'm stood in between Finn and Bellamy, very aware that Charlotte's eyes are on me.

"Why Charlotte?" Bellamy asks defeatedly.

"I was just trying to slay my demons like you told me," she says.

"Hey, don't you blame this on anyone but yourself," I say as calmly as I can manage, forcing myself not to raise my voice at her. "You may be a kid, but you're old enough to know that murder wasn't what he meant."

My frustration is only fueled by my own words. Defending Bellamy is the last thing I want to do after what he has just done.

Charlotte looks at the ground. It's obvious that she's ashamed of her actions, which is a good thing, but it won't bring back Wells or unhang Murphy.