in which a girl with a heavy burden tries to find her way through the trials and torments of the earth they've come home to.
OR
in which she must rebuild.
EMBERS
JOHN MURPHY
DEATHLIES 2016
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN T...
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N I N E
Octavia didn't hang around long beside the girl who had little to say. But when she stood, so did Althea, wordlessly. As Octavia walked away, Althea turned to the trees and lifted her hand up to touch the delicate green leaves.
The screech from the crows grew agonizingly loud in her ears. Her head pounded, swirling with volume and her ears rung with the intensity of the violent noise.
Her hand smacks against the tree for support as air rushes into her lungs, the image of a large spear being thrown with pin-point accuracy into Jasper Jordan's chest. His eyes were wide with shock and blood swelled around the wound as he lay on the ground.
The image was intense. The sweat that beaded on Jasper's forehead, beneath the goggles, matched the sweat on her own. Hot tears welled as the vision faded, but the breathlessness remained as she dropped her hand from the tree and sank back to the floor, resting her head back and letting her eyes flutter closed.
The sweet breeze kisses her skin, drying away the tears as they rolled down her warm cheeks.
"Are you crying?" With that her eyes fly open and her fingertips rush to brush away the dampness in fear of consequence. Murphy looks down at her in confusion. He knew she was weak, but he didn't think she cared enough to cry.
As Althea looks up at him with her eyes shimmering with tears, she sees curiosity.
Suddenly, her hands dart out and grab Murphy's wrist, pulling him down in front of her. To her surprise, and his own, he crouches down without hesitation.
Althea's shaking fingers work their way around his hand and hold tight in an attempt to prevent the shaking anymore. She knew she must look a mess, but she needed to tell someone even if that someone was John Murphy.
"I need to tell you something and you might not even believe me, I don't expect you to." Althea tells him.
Her new confidence is the second event that takes him by surprise; he didn't think she'd ever be so forward. But, as he looked down at his hand in hers, he made the decision to sit down in front of her and listen to her every softly spoken word.
"Jasper is going to die," She rushes out, her eyes welling up once more and her throat closing up.
Murphy frowns at her and starts to pull his hand away from her, but Althea lets go as soon as she feels him pulling away. "What do you mean?" He questions. He doesn't leave, he folds his hands over his lap as he awaits her answer.
"I saw it."
"You saw it?"
"Yes, I saw it," She mutters, looking away from his piercing eyes. The chance of Murphy of all people believing her was slim and she knew I before she grabbed his wrist in her hands and before the words came tumbling out of her mouth.
Murphy runs a hand through his hair and pushes himself up. "You've got to be kidding me."
One more look at Althea before he turns away and leaves her sat there staring after him knowing that she shouldn't have had such hope that he would believe her.
Hope only sets you up for disappointment after all.
