Turned

Chapter 9: The Message from the Spies

     Destiny leads me to her tent, taking about the stupidest things as we walk along the river that runs throught camp. It stretches on for miles, endless, like the ocean. I can tell she's trying her hardest to keep up the conversation, praying we don't fall into that long, uncomfortable silence. She talks about how hot it's gunna be tomorrow and how she's planning to go for a swim. She talks about her favorite books and how much she loved the last Harry Potter book. I mumble along, to help prevent that awkward silence she's trying to aviod. Soon we reach the tent and she opens the flap for me to climb in.

    In the corner of the small tent, she's placed a small sleeping bag with a blue, plaid cover. Her sleeping bag is yellow and black, stuffed in another corner of the room. The rest of the room is covered in books. Every surface of her small tent is covered in every book imaginable. All seven Harry Potter books lie right next to her bag. The Hunger Games Trilogy is scattered near the tent entrance and I see various Percy Jackson books all around the tent. The Three Muskerteers lie next to her collage of pictures. A collage of sketched pictures of her and Locradis. Him, laying next to her in the grass. Him, holding her hand as they stroll down the side of a familiar river. Him, teaching her to use a sword.  I smile sadly at the art she obviously values and when she catches me looking, she blushes a dark shade of red.

    "I was in an artsy mood, and I had a bit of free time that morning. I thought I'd sketch a bit." she says, looking down at her feet shyly. I decided to spare her the embarassment, although I find it really cute. Thankfully, she tosses a pair of shorts and a top at me.

    "Change and get to bed. I'm waking you up at exactly 5:30 tomorrow. We need to go for a run before we get into the training room. Got to get warmed up. " she tells me.

     I sigh at the thought of a half hour run at 5:30, but I know Destiny won't let me passon it. As I slip into the threadbare clothes and slide under the covers, I'm struck by a curious though.

    "Hey Destiny. You didn't ask about the meeting today. I figured you'd want to know all about it," I say to her.

    "Not really. I'm sure there's a reason Locradis doesn't let me into the meetings, and I'm not going to pry behind his back. He knows what he's doing." she says to me. She has no idea how innocent and vulnerable she sounds.

     She trusts him completely. I sigh and curl up into a ball, leting the thoughts of Destiny, Rachel, and Locradis slip away. I have problems of my own. I know I'll be warding off nightmares tonight. 

      Red. Blood stain on the capert. Mom's speical vase on the floor, a gift from dad, glass all over the place, just like my memories and hopes for the next year......

     Tears build up in my eyes threating to spill over the edge like a river over flowing.  I don't know where I'm going;  my legs do my own thing, taking me further into the nightmare. More red......

     In her bedroom, the walls are stained red from the blood, a lake of crimsin. I find a woman sitting atop the bed.........

     A foot, an ear, and the head of someone vaguely familiar. Julia, an old friend of mom's.......

     My mom sitting on the bed, whispering to herself like a mad man, covered in blood from head to toe, blood pouring in a stream, from a wound in her shoulder near her heart. I can hear her chantting under her breath, words I can't hear.......

      My mother always had brown, beautiful, eyes, full of kindness and warmth, like a soft burning fire. But that's all gone. It's replaced by coldness and insanity, as cold as  the icy waters on the shore of the beach our family always used to go to......