I'm Just A Kid

Chapter 14: Breaking Free

Two days passed after the hurricane, and thankfully, Finn was doing better.

The antidote had worked. He was still recovering, and every time I looked at him, I could see how much the past few days had taken out of him. He looked more exhausted than usual, his face pale and his movements slower, but he was alive. Awake. Slowly getting stronger.

That was enough.

For the first time in days, the camp was not completely consumed by another disaster. There was no immediate threat demanding everyone's attention. No one was screaming for help. No one was running through camp with terrible news.

It was strange.

I had almost forgotten what normal was supposed to feel like.

I had been keeping a relatively low profile.

Mostly, I stuck with Harper. She was easy to be around, and more importantly, she never pushed me to talk about things I did not want to discuss. She never gave me that careful look people sometimes gave me when they knew something was wrong but were too afraid to ask.

Somehow, though, I had also gotten closer to Jasper.

And, naturally, Monty.

I was not entirely sure how it had happened.

One minute, Jasper had been making fun of me for something ridiculous, and the next, I was spending half my day sitting with him and Monty while they argued about things that absolutely did not matter.

Seriously, they could turn anything into an argument.

Food.

Shelter.

Who was better at hunting.

Whether Jasper had actually cheated during some stupid game.

I usually did not even know what they were talking about.

But I liked listening.

They gave me a break.

When I was with them, nobody expected me to constantly worry about the Ark or my dad. Nobody looked at me like they were waiting for me to lose my temper again. Jasper made stupid comments, Monty quietly added to them, and somehow, despite everything happening around us, they made me laugh.

Real laughter, too.

Not the kind where I smiled because I thought I was supposed to.

They made me feel like a kid again.

And maybe that was why I kept finding excuses to be around them.

Because for a little while, I could forget.

That afternoon, I managed to find Finn some food. It was not anything particularly exciting, and calling it a meal was probably generous, but it was something. After everything he had been through, I figured food was important.

Also, if Finn had enough energy to complain about it, then that probably meant he was doing better.

That was how I was choosing to look at it, anyway.

I pushed aside the entrance to his tent before immediately stopping.

Raven was already there.

Of course she was.

I stood there for a second, still holding the food, and immediately felt like I had walked into something I was not supposed to see.

She and Finn were sitting apart from each other, and the tent felt strangely tense. Neither of them looked angry exactly, but something was definitely wrong. The silence between them seemed too deliberate.