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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E I G H T E E N
The chaos did not cease. The sounds of Murphy's enraged shouts pained her with every call. "Bring out the girl, Bellamy!" He calls, pacing back and forth in front of the gathered crowd. "Bring the girl out now!"
It was as if his anger made him who he was, that's what he displayed and it beat Althea back with every threat. She was a girl who had wished so much for him, but he fell short by a long way. Never quite reaching the mark, fingers slipping from the ledge.
"Murphy," She says, stepping forwards from the front of the group. Her voice was laced with defeat. His head turns quickly, his eyes meeting her disastrous ones, dulled by experience. She was worn down, no longer beautifully sad. Murphy saw her for who she was; the girl who cared too much. "She's just a kid," Althea tries, but her advances of reason are discarded, ignored as if they were completely irrational.
Spinning away from her, unable to look into those soul-searching eyes any longer, Murphy calls out again. "You want to build a society, Princess? Let's build a society! Bring her out!" Spiralling out of her control, slipping between her fingertips.
Adding to the chaos, Bellamy emerges from the tent. A smirk slips across Murphy's lips, clearly one with levels of aggravation through it at the sight of the man who had let him come so close to the tearing claws of death. "Well, look who decided to join us," He says, a spiteful tone to his voice.
Althea's fingers reach out as she steps back to her position beside Octavia, a common position for her, and coil around her hand. Holding her hand tightly, grasping for any comfort she could find.
"Back off," Bellamy replies sternly, his pride not failing him. Althea, despite his prior actions, couldn't help but admire him for that.
Murphy steps up, squaring his shoulders. "Or what? What are you gonna do Bellamy?" He tests, meeting his eyes. "Hang me?" At his venomous words, Althea's hand clenches around Octavia's and her spine straightens.
"I was just giving the people what they wanted," Bellamy justifies.
Althea's eyes burn into Murphy as she watches the cogs turn in his mind. How she wished she could take him by the shoulders and shake him to sense, but she was not built with strength or the ability to intimidate someone with such fury within them. The lust for revenge seemed to overcome him.
"Yeah," Murphy begins. "That's a good idea, why don't we do that right now?" He spins around to face the crowd, not looking at Althea. She looks at him though, lips parted in shock. "So who here wants to see the real murderer hung up?" The wind is brutally knocked from her at his words and at his risen hand.
Octavia's eyes snap to Althea as her grip seems to loosen. She looked numb. Like her responses had frozen up and her eyes had glazed over as she was confronted with what she failed to achieve. Pity was what she felt for her new found friend. The pain which she had endured was unrelenting. Like a downpour of rain, clattering down on her like a thunderstorm.
At the sight of only two members of the gathered raising their hands in favour, Murphy lets out a small breathless laugh. "Oh, I see," He says. "So it's okay to string me up for nothing? But when this little bitch confesses you wanna let her walk? Cowards, all of you!" He shouts, his anger boiling over as he rages.
It was unfamiliar to Althea to see such a possession in someone she had allowed herself to get so incredibly close to. It struck her like an arrow through the heart, piercing the flesh and ripping it apart.
"Hey, Murphy! It's over!" Bellamy tells him, his authority seeming to quench the flames behind Murphy's eyes that took over him, controlling him into irrational manners.
He steps back from Bellamy. "Whatever you say boss," Murphy responds, voice still bitter. Althea watches as he takes another step back and as Bellamy turns his back, making his mistake. In one rage fuelled, swift move Murphy takes a log into his hands and swings it at Bellamy's head. It connects, knocking him down into the dirt.
"Bellamy!" Octavia screams, ripping her hand from Althea's and rushing to her brother's side. Not even bearing to look at Murphy, Althea follows Octavia to Bellamy. Kneeling down beside him, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Come on, let's get the girl," Murphy calls, beckoning his followers to accompany him into the tent.
"You're going to be okay," Althea murmurs, retracting her hand. "But you're not going to let him have her, are you?"
"No, of-"
He is cut short by Althea's grit determination to do good. "Then I'm coming to help."
