Clarity || John Murphy

Chapter One - The Lake, The Mist, and The Girl

YAY! I finished Chapter One! :D I honestly am not sure if this is a good start or not, but here you go anyway. :)

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Chapter One

Murphy felt a wave of relief come over him once he reached the very edge of the river. Actually, it was almost like a lake. A small waterfall was about twenty feet away from him, which gave off mist that was clouding the surface of the water, along with the majority of the air. He was cautious of it, though, because Octavia had told everyone of the man-eating snake that attacked her. Still, he removed his jacket and set his knife on a stone slab a foot from the water.

It was shallow enough that if he stepped into it, he could stand. He took a deep breath before removing his shoes and slowly stepping into the water, not having the energy to remove his pants or his shirt. Not that it mattered anyway, his clothes were covered in dirt and mud that needed to be washed off.

He sunk down into the water all the way up to his waist, and cupped his hands. He threw water on his face, hissing in pain when it touched the wounds on his lips, cheeks, and left temple. It hurt badly, but he had to push through it and clean the cuts and scrapes. His ribs and stomach hurt as well, the scrapes didn’t hurt as badly as his torso.

He gave up and removed his shirt, wincing at the pain. He looked down at his ribs, and knew that they weren’t broken, but black and purple bruises were on his chest, with more bruises near his stomach.

He could still see it, all of them ganging up on him and trying to kill him. His neck didn’t hurt as much as the day before, but it still had a red ring around it from where the nylon rope used to be. It still felt like it was around his neck, he still felt like his throat was being constricted by it. He gulped, rubbing at the mark.

He put the water over the bruises, and soon nearly every bit of blood and dirt was off his body. Of course, the bruises were so dark that it almost looked like dirt. He sat on a slab that was still covered in about two inches of water, and leaned back against the rocks.

His thoughts were constantly going back to that day. The day he was blamed for murdering that idiot, the chancellor’s son. The day that he was blamed for killing Charlotte, when it was her fault in the first place. And the day that he was left out here.

He could admit that he was blinded by betrayal and rage, he didn’t realize what he was causing Charlotte to do until she jumped off that god forsaken cliff. He hated that feeling. He had tried to speak to Bellamy and Clarke, to apologize for what he had done, but it was too late. Bellamy already hated him for it, and he was focused on doing nothing but killing him.

Murphy’s thoughts came to a halt, and he jumped when he heard a stick cracking to his left, on the land just above the rocks. His heart beat increased instantly, and he grabbed his knife, pointing it in the direction of where he heard the noise. The mist was blocking his sight, but it slowly cleared.

It was a girl. She was dressed in a skirt that looked like nothing but a piece of purple fabric that went down to her mid thigh and was tied at her hip. She wore a black tank top as well, and she looked soaking wet, like she had been in the lake at the exact same time as he was. She was pale, with vibrant blue eyes that nearly glowed and long dark brown hair that flowed down her back in waves. She looked terrified as she stared at him, and her eyes went down to the knife. Her lips parted like she wanted to say something, but stopped herself, and her face quickly constricted with fear.