Oblivion

Chapter 9 part 3

          I haven't slept for two days. I've been eating less and drinking sips of water only when necessary. Sleeping had become nightmares, all I would see when I closed my eyes was, my father's face forever sleeping, Henry's wild eyes and painful, prolonged death, Everlost being burnt to the ground, and now the death of a woman I didn't even know. How could three weeks bring so mush death and destruction to one life? How much more will happen as my life goes on? I kept asking myself as the days turned into nights. I ignored any questions Allister and Orion asked me. The woman's ominous warning was on constant repeat in my mind until it was all I could think about.

         Orion seemed to notice the change in my behavior almost instantly.
I was sitting on the warm earth, staring into the distance when Orion came to stand in front of me. "What the hell is going on with you, Addieca?" My eyes slid slowly over to him and with a long sigh I asked what he was talking about. But that only seemed to piss him off more, he seized my arm and ignoring my wails of protest, he hauled me to my feet.

     "What did that woman tell you?!" He hissed; his nails digging harder into my skin and I cried out in pain.

           "Nothing! She told me nothing!" I stammered out, trying to pry his fingers off my arm, but to no avail. A fire seemed to rise in his eyes, "You're lying! Tell me what she told you!" I was fearful again at Orion's sudden violence; I've never seen him act like this. It was Allister who came to my rescue, shoving Orion off me.

          "Back off! If Red says the lady said nothing to her than the lady said nothing to her! There's no need to get violent." Allister defended. Orion looked disheveled, I would have thought Orion was about to at least give me any sign of remorse, but he merely readjusted his clothes and walked away. Watching him walk away like nothing happened, like he didn't just grab me, drag me to my feet and demand I tell him what the woman told me, it made me furious. I wasn't even thinking straight when I stormed over to him, grab his shoulder, spin him around, and sock him as hard as I could in the jaw.

        Orion went down but he wasn't knocked out, his jaw was surprisingly- abnormally strong. Both boys were equally shocked by my outburst. Hot tears streamed down my face in both pain and anger, I cradled my hand to my chest, glaring down at Orion with all the hate I could muster before walking away. He had no right to grab me... even if the woman had said something about the both the boys.

          I seemed to walk for hours until I succumbed to the pain in my feet. The thin shoes I wore were worn down to a couple thin pieces of cloths and a cracked rubber sole. I had walked for so long that the sun was going down and for a second I thought I had left the two boys behind in the opposite direction until I turned and saw them a little ways me. They had the smart idea to keep a distance, I really didn't want to talk or even look at either of them at the moment. I rubbed my feet, rubbed my back, and shielded my face from the sun. No wind blew through the wasteland, making it rather hard to breath, sweat seeped through my shirt. I leaned back on my elbows and closed my eyes against the harsh sunlight, I could feel myself falling asleep on the warm ground. Very carefully I pulled my shirt up over my head and rested it over my head, it was dangerous to sleep in the sun. A couple years ago, a woman had knocked on the front door of my father and I's house. She looked crazy, her hair was stuck everywhere, and her eyes were bloodshot, her face was sun burnt and red. She was talking in tongues, in a language we couldn't understand, my dad had tried to help her but she just screamed something, looked up at the sky before running off. Father had tried to find her after that but she disappeared, when father came back he warned me to never sleep under the sun or I would lose my mind just like she did. I felt myself drifting off to sleep with the hot sun tanning my skin.