1 + 2 | EMBERS TO FIRESTORM | THE 100 | JOHN MURPHY

TWENTY THREE

T W E N T Y   T H R E E

Sinking into the past as her eyes fall closed, meditation at its greatest. She allowed herself to sink. Just seeing her mother and her father granted her a sense of relief. It sends her back to a time in which her mind was clear of all clouds and storms, the sun shining upon her and all horizons hers for the taking.

"Home," Althea whispers, as the past wraps itself around her in a whirlwind.

-

"Clarke," Althea laughed, gasping for breath as the laughs boomed through her chest. "I can't believe you just said that!"

Clarke grinned, her blonde hair fanning around her face. "Shut up, you're just the same with Bellamy. Your eyes turn into hearts when you see him." Their laughter filled the room and bounded off the white walls.

"Have you seen him though? He's incredibly handsome," She mused. Her lips pressed together in a frail attempt to dampen her brilliant smile. Reclined in the chair, her grin returns. Her mother had told her that at the age of fourteen she should not have such an interest in boys, especially boys older than her, but still Althea's liking to Bellamy persisted.

"It's your move, lovebird," Clarke smirked. Her voice snapped Althea out of her remembrance; she sat up in her chair and moved her chess piece after a little debate as to where to put it. "It takes me ages to think of a good move, but you do it in seconds. You're some kind of genius, Al, I swear," She said, shaking her head as she peered down to the pieces to decide her own move.

"If I was a genius, I sure wouldn't be here playing chess with you. I'd be off figuring out a way to get to the ground sooner than the, what seems like, millions of years that they're predicting."

"You want to go to the ground?" Clarke asked, surprised at her friend's claim. Never before had Althea mentioned her want to travel to the ground. Clarke had always thought that she was the only one of the duo who even cared about going 'home', but it turned out Althea was just biting her tongue.

"It's where we're meant to be, of course I want to go to the ground," Althea replied before her eyes darted to the clock on the wall. "It's about time I left."

"Already?"

"Yes." Her answer was short and sweet. Elaborations were not common in Althea's speech. She scraped her chair back and stood up, not wanting to leave her closest friend but having to in order to help her mum.

"Alright then, I'll see you tomorrow in class?" Clarke said and pushed her chair back too. She stepped around the table to draw Althea into a hug, which she accepted. Their arms wrapped around each other, but Althea suddenly felt cold. Sharply, her lungs contracted and all the air was knocked from her as her head spun.

"Yeah," She wheezes, but as Clarke let her go she collapsed to the ground with Clarke trying to catch her. Her body crumpled, her eyes distant and widened as if she has seen a ghost. Her throat burns dry and her fingers curl up at her sides as Clarke shot down to her side to cradle her head in her lap.

"Al, are you ok?" She worried, Althea had always been one to avoid sickness. Never sick, always well. Clarke was pretty sure she had never missed a day of class. "Al?"

Her answer is not in words, chilling to the gathering crowd, as she bolted upright and let out a fearsome scream that echoed through the entire Ark. It came from a dark place within Althea that had been growing for a while, and now it was unleashed.

The tears flooded down her cheeks as she gripped onto Clarke's hands, her throat ripped apart by the shriek. "I saw him die," She sobbed, her head falling onto Clarke's chest. Clarke lifted her hand to rub her back soothingly. "He died. In my mind he died." Althea was hysterical, barely able to get the words out.

"You're okay, Al," Clarke hushed, still rubbing her back and holding her close.

Clarke's eyes met her mother's as she entered the room. Obviously, a member of the on looking, horrified crowd had fetched her after Althea's breakdown. She was glad of it too, Althea was a shaking mess in her arms.

"Okay, Althea," Abby begins, kneeling down beside her daughter and Althea. "I'm going to need you to stand up, can you do that?"

Althea's breath stopped short, her eyes slowly trained onto the face of the doctor willing to help her. "You." Is all she said, until she gains strength in her bones that drive her like a machine. "You killed him!" She shrieked and lurched for Abbey with outstretched hands, she didn't know what she was intending to do but in her hysteria and agony she lashed out. "You killed my father," She screamed as she is pulled back by Clarke, who she flinched away from in a crooked manner. "Don't touch me," She hissed.

"Althea, you're not okay," Abby told her, holding her hands out cautiously. "Just come to the clinic and we can get you checked out. I'm not going to kill your dad, I'm here to help."

"Al, you've hit your head. No one is going to murder your dad," Clarke added and placed a comforting, pitying hand on Althea's upper arm.

"She's crazy!" Someone from the crowd shouted. Their words burned into Althea's brain, branding her mad and a girl who, at fourteen years old, had endured a breakdown of sorts. "Someone needs to lock her up!"

"Althea, come on," Abby said finally. She took control upon hearing the vile words of the crowd and grabbed Althea by the arm, pulling her away from the crowd towards the clinic, not wanting her to listen to the jabs of the crowd. Clarke followed behind, worried for her friend.

Althea wanted to believe that everything was going to be okay, she really did. But all she could see over and over and over again was the slow and painful death she had seen her father go through. All she could do was cry, all she wanted to do was cry.

Cry and cry and cry.

-

1065 words

so this is another flashback, as you can tell. I wanted to show that, before everything that happened to her, althea was just like any other teenage girl with crushes and with a tendency to gossip with her best buddy. but this is also the flashback of her first vision of death, which is her father's death so now im sad.