•{Beyond the Wall}•

Chapter 5; Hallucinations

We had been walking for a while now, the trees had becoming increasingly more dense along the dirt track. The sun was almost about to disappear over the horizon, and the fog was beginning to creep in. We had been making light conversation so far, about useless things. Sophia had mentioned how her mothers recipe for cranberry pie was the most exquisite thing she had ever tasted. The twins had talked about how they had been sent to the dungeons countless times for petty crimes and pranks. Even Charles had brought up some thing, when he wasn't arguing or making snide comments at Sophia. He had brought up his love of artistry, though he wasn't a painter himself. But the more they all talked the more I noticed that none of them had ever spoken in present tense, they had said,

I had loved art

Or

I used to be thrown in the dungeons

It was as if all the things that made them themselves, were all a thing of the past. I couldn't help but feel upset as I listened in, it was as if they had all already accepted their fate. They were to die, it may not be now, but they were to die soon. I had chimed in a few times, talking about my favourite books and puzzles. How, riddles were some of my favourite things to do. It hadn't been much but I made sure to say it right,

I love riddles

I love to read

Never once did I slip into past tense, because I still loved those things, even if death was looming around the corner. I had been distracted though, mainly drifting my thoughts to the slight pain of the key jammed between my ribs and the band of my skirt. Why had he given it to me? What was it for? And since he gave it to me so secretly, was I not supposed to have it? Was he not supposed to give it away? What did it even open? I was pulled out of my questioning thoughts by Charles. He stood to my right, with a hand on my shoulder,

"Hey, are you even listening kid?" He almost shouted in my ear. I gave him a quick glare for his tone before turning to the others, who had stopped walking.

"Sorry, what may I ask, where we talking about?" I tried to be polite. It was my fault that I wasn't listening, even if his grip on my shoulder hurt a little.

"We were saying" William started.

"That it was getting too dark" Will finished for him. I looked towards the sun, it was practically gone already. I gave them all a concerned look, then,

"Yes, and we believe that the best option is to stay here, walking in the dark is to dangerous and somebody could get hurt" Sophia added. I nodded, agreeing with the plan. It was to far to make it to the tower, and if we continued in the dark somebody could injure their foot. Which would slow us down even more. I could feel the tension in the air about sleeping outside, every one was on edge and wary.

"We should retrieve wood for a fire, and sleep on the track, it best not to get lost in the woods" Charles ordered. He was right, getting lost wasn't an option, we would fare better as a group. Though how one could get lost was beyond me, there was a giant landmark right in front of us. Even if somebody did get lost, they knew were we were going.

"Only search the edges of the track"

"That way, nobody strays to far"

"And walk in pairs" the twins William and Will spoke up. Everybody nodded, separating into groups. Timothy and Sophronia were one group, the twins stayed together and I was stuck with Charles. It was fairly easy to find firewood, there were broken tree branches lying all over the forest. Charles and I collected the wood in silence, once we had collected enough we headed back to the centre of the track.

"About time" Sophronia called, placing her hands on her hips. I could tell her comment wasn't meant for me, her and Charles would never stop fighting.

"Does anybody even know how to make a fire?" I questioned. Nobody stepped forward, great. We had firewood but no fire and it was starting to get cold. I shivered pulling my cloak in around me, then,

"I...umm, I think I c...can" Timothy stumbled over his words. Shophronia gave him a smile and motioned for him to begin.

It took about five tries before he got the fire started, then we all settled down on the road. It was rocky and uncomfortable but at least it wasn't death. As I pulled my cloak over top of me to use as a blanket, I could have sworn I saw a black figure from between the trees. I ignored it, probably just a hallucination from the stress...Right?