colours of viridian | BOOK ONE | J a d e d ✔️

D e s t r u c t i o n

W a r n i n g : graphic, -a little- gory scene below!
S o n g : Z o m b i e - T h e P r e t t y R e c k l e s s

C h a p t e r LII
K e n a d i a

Everything was a blur as I ran. The rain doing nothing to shake me from the sudden distress. I ran, not knowing where I was going. Not knowing what the point of any of this was anymore. I just wanted it back --my blissful ignorance. I thought I wanted adventure. I thought I wanted excitement.

But I was wrong.

All I wanted was to joke around with my friends, go see my family and tease my brothers, go deep inside the forest and paint the world as I innocently saw it. But I was now forever tainted in the darkness that came with knowing all of the truths I had always searched so hard to find.

Knowledge wasn't what I thought it was. It was evil. It brought to life monsters and it showed you what has been hiding under your bed after all of this time. I was sick of being afraid. I was overwhelmed. I just wanted to go back.

My hands fell to my knees as I bent down, capturing my ragged breath. My heart was pounding desperately in my chest as I closed my spotting black eyes. I was going to pass out if I kept this up. The rain fell on my body, piercing my skin like ice and bringing me back to reality.

What was I doing?

My head shot up as I finally sensed it. The darkness. It was suffocating as I saw how rotted everything was around me. The forest stretched out on either side of me and it was barely recognizable. Every twisted branch now crumbling into blackened rot as the leaves just fell into dust --there wasn't any life left to save. Something was wrong. This wasn't just the evil spilling from Hell's portal... This was something else. It was forceful and all-consuming. The darkness that soaked the earth had a life of its own. It's heart beat inside the soil and it's thoughts moved with the wind. It wanted destruction. It wanted death. It wanted power and all to tremble at its will.

Shivering from the cold wind and the evil presence, I wrapped my arms around myself protectively. This wasn't the time to freak out. I had to fix this. I had to do something. This was my responsibility. I could cry about my messed up life later. Right now I had to find a way to use my powers. But I couldn't feel them. All I could feel was the evil trying to devour me along with everything else it had touched.

Walking aimlessly further down the road, in the distance I saw the black gates of the school, realizing I had subconsciously brought myself to the place I had last been a normal girl living in a small town.

But the air was off. The sickening presence grew stronger the closer I got.

Slowing my pace as my blood ran cold, I made out the unhinged gate, strewn open as if it had been forcefully busted open. My heart stopped as I sucked in a breath. I could smell the awful stench of...of blood? It rolled around in waves around my head. It moved with the darkness, as if following it. As if being controlled by it.

Trembles fell up and down my back as my legs slowly moved me passed the gates. Besides the rain pounding down onto the ground, everything was silent. Too silent. Through the blurriness of the rain, I could make out the shapes of the buildings. I walked through the paths, stopping at the first building of the office and food hall. The large glass doors were broken and hanging for life on its hinges.

I felt as though I had tumbled into a horror film accidentally. The lights flickered ahead on and off as the cool wind blew in whistles through the large cracked windows. Stepping into the building despite my better judgement, I walked through the deserted foyer. With a shiver I tried to disregard the scratches that ran along the once soft blue walls. They were now stained a vivid red by smudged handprints. Reaching the cafeteria, I pushed open the swinging door and instantly spun back around, feeling the sick churn violently in my stomach.

The tables and chairs were thrown everywhere and from within the rubble, limbs were sticking out at awkward angles with their bones ripping through their skin jaggedly. Large puddles of blood covered the cafeteria floor as if someone had splattered paint everywhere. It was like the lifeless bodies were a part of a sick creation of art.

They were all dead.

I couldn't hold my stomach contents as I fell to my hands and knees, spilling the sickness and the rest of my strength and hope out of me.

I instantly knew the fate of the rest of the school as my throat closed up with tears. There was nothing left. The life had been sucked out. They didn't stand a chance.

My friends. Malory, Bastian, Samuel, and Steph. They were all gone. Everything-

The town! My family! Were they..?

Regaining my strength, I bolted up, running and sliding through the death stinking halls with the skidding of my feet until I was leaping out of the large space where the glass doors had been. Without another look back, I was gone.

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Guys, there's only a few more chapters left!! I finally figured out an ending for this book and it's epic.
Thanks so much for sticking with me and encouraging me to write :)