The Gamma Forest was a trap for all who enter, it caught you in a tight grasp and refused to let you go. Its thick mahogany branches blocked out the rise and set of the vibrant sun. This is where Clarke Griffin spent her life...Everyday the people of the forest would get up at the same time, eat the same bland food, go to the same place. It's been like this since the cataclysm. It started with the virus that swept through the world like a wildfire. Next came the war... the fight for the limited supply of vaccines that could save millions, the time when we needed each other the most we fell apart. Clarke Griffin was the only one who wondered, the only one who dared to ask the questions that everybody feared. She was the last optimist and this is her story.
Clarke ran swiftly through the forest, her light blond hair flowing behind her in the wind. The sun shone perfectly on her, highlighting her freckled nose. She gently glided over and under obstacles as if she had created them herself. She stopped at an enormous tree a hundred times larger than she. Barely out of breath her eyes scanned across the area and landed on a tall black haired girl waiting patiently with a large book in hand. Clarke walked at a fast pace in the direction of her and sat down beside her.
"Hey Raven..." she said with excitement.
Raven looked up from her book and said with her eyebrow raised,
"Where have you been?" she started "I've been waiting for twenty minutes!"
"Sorry...I was busy." she answered guiltily. Raven looked up at her with a kind smile.
"Like always." They sat in silence for a while until Clarke questioned,
"Do you think there is anyone out there...Past the forest?"
Raven looked at her with pain in her eyes and said with sadness in her voice,
"Why would they lie? They said as far as we can see there is nothing...Nothing but ash." She waited a few seconds before responding,
"I'm willing to walk pretty far." Clarke is, and will always will be an optimist, the hoper of far flung hopes. The dreamer of improbable dreams. That's just who she is. They sat in complete silence and Clarke rested her head gently upon her friend's shoulder. She questioned quietly,
"Can't we at least look?"
Clarke woke up in a haze to the beautiful colors of the sunset and a man sprinting across the land in front of her, and there was something about that man. He had tan skin and curly dark hair that almost covered his brown eyes. He wore a black, slick jacket and pants that had no gaping holes Clarke had never seen someone dressed like that before. All she knew were raggedy old clothes passed down through generations of relatives. Her heart began to thump wildly as she realized she had never seen that man in her life. Everyone in The Gamma Forest knows each other. If she didn't know him, then where did he come from?
She looked over at Raven who was peacefully sleeping next to her. Clarke silently stood up and gently placed her friend's head on the ground, and she ran, she ran as fast as she could in the direction of the mysterious man. She ran for what seemed like hours, out of breath she stopped and turned sharply in all directions hoping to see something moving in the trees. Finally, to her east she saw him sprinting going deeper into the mahogany woods. She ran towards him as fast as she had ever run before and finally she stopped and saw him, he stopped to catch his breath...
Without thinking she quickly uttered,
"Who are you? Are you from outside the forest?" He spun around sharply, his mouth opened surely in an effort to speak but his mouth quickly closed again: speechless. He looked at Clarke without saying a word most likely deciding what to say.
As she grew more impatient she shouted,
"Answer me! Who are you?"
He drew in a long breath and said silently,
"My name is Bellamy...I-I am from outside the forest." Clarke's head began to throb and her mind started going a thousand miles an hour hoping to find an answer somewhere in her jumbled brain. She looked back up at him, her face pale. Bellamy slowly walked towards Clarke; she didn't budge.
Bellamy said softly,
"What's your name?"
"I'm Clarke...Clarke Griffin." she answered quiety.
"Come with me." He said in a low sincere voice.
Clake looked into his eyes. They were so much more than brown. They were so many colors mixed into one that they couldn't decide which one to take on. So they took them all on, and Clarke sees little glimpses of them, sparkling here and there. She said in a whisper.
"Why would I go with you?" He looked back at her with an icy glare.
"Don't then." He said coldly before he turned around and started walking in a fast pace. Clarke quickly sprinted towards him begging for him to stop. She quickly caught up and walked close behind him following his every step. The thirty minutes of walking felt like decades of silence.
"We're almost there." Bellamy stated excitingly. Clarke couldn't hold back the smile as she realized she might finally get out of the dark forest that kept her prisoner for so long. They came to a stop at a large circle of trees surrounding a small metal box about the size of the telephone booth she saw in one of Raven's many books. He slipped through a small crack between the trees and gestured for her to follow. As she slipped through the small crack she saw that Bellamy had already opened the door to the box and gone inside, so she did the same. She walked with ease through the six foot door. Her eyes widened as she saw the vaulted ceiling covered in stars and the many hallways and passages that were embroidered into the design. She jumped at the sudden closing of the door behind her. She walked up a short staircase in the direction of the nearest sound. Clarke then saw in the middle of the huge dome shaped room a console where Bellamy was moving rapidly around pushing various buttons and pulling several levers.
She stuttered as she said,
"W-what is this? How? Wh-what are you doing?" Before he could answer the large room started shaking violently.,
"Hang on to something, tight!" He exclaimed quickly. In a very long thirty seconds the shaking was over and Bellamy was heading for the door. Clarke followed him curiously, Bellamy stopped at the door just before opening it and turned around to her.
"Are you ready?" He questioned with a grin on his face.
She quickly responded,
"For what exactly?" He didn't answer and insead opened the door and strided out into the sun. Clarke walked out behind him slowly to see something magnificent...A city. A huge city full of people and tall and bright structures that ascended into the clouds.
"What is this?" she said with a shallow voice. Her heart was beating wildly. She was sure he was having a dream, this couldn't be real, or maybe she was dead. I mean, it was possible right.
Bellamy looked back at Clarke as though it was the best moment of his life and exclaimed with joy,
"That was a time machine and this isn't 2146 anymore, this is 2026." A single tear ran down Clarke's cheek, she didn't know what she was feeling. She had no idea what emotions were flowing through her, it was all new.
Bellamy put his arm around her shoulders and said gently,
"You survived, but life isn't just about surviving it's about living...and this Clarke Griffin is before the end." Clarke was silent as more tears started flowing down her pink cheeks. Bellamy walked forward across the crosswalk and Clarke followed, a huge smile on her face. Bellamy went through the crowded city as Clarke had through the The Gamma Forest. He led her to a huge boulder on the side of the street and motioned for her to sit down beside him.
As she sat down beside him she questioned
"You live here don't you...Why don't you warn them?" He looked at her for a moment and then looked back at the crowded street.
"I don't tell them because I can't...I can't alter history like that, it has to happen. If I did stop it, you and everyone you know wouldn't exist. I have seen farther into the future than you can imagine. We rebuild and we come back stronger. This world is falling apart anyway no one takes care of it, it was a good thing we got to restart...We needed it." He looked back at her with sincerity. He stood up and helped her off the boulder.
He stated questionably,
"You ready to head back the the forest?" Clarke looked at him like he was insane.
"What? We've been here for like five minutes why would be leave now?" She answered nervously. Bellamy chuckled and she gave him confused look.
"Don't worry...I won't leave you, we'll travel anywhere and everywhere just not today." He said with a smile on his face. Bellamy led Clarke back to the box that really wasn't a box at all, as they opened the door and went up the same short staircase and ended up by the same console. He pressed the same amount of buttons and pulled his shiny levers until the dome started shaking as it had before. He led her out of the box (that wasn't a box) and there they were, back in the circle of trees. They both slipped through the slit in the trees. When they were both out of the circle of trees, Clarke gave Bellamy a huge hug and whispered into his ear.
"Thank you." He pushed her away so he was looking into her blue eyes.
"For what?" He said curious.
"For saving my life." She answered empathetically. Bellamy grinned
"You'll see me again, very soon, meet me at the tree tomorrow at ten." Clarke turned to walk away but before she could get far Bellamy exclaimed.
"And Clarke, don't tell anyone!"
Clarke shook her head and ran off towards the tree where she lyed her friend down to sleep. The run seemed a lot shorter this time. As she ran she heard her name being called, she ran faster towards the noise to find Raven with a worried expression on her face.
Raven turned and saw Clarke behind her.
"Clarke where have you been?" she questioned
Clarke replied with a smile,
"I went on a run."
