31-Day MCSM One Shot Challenge - July Edition 2018

Fear

Generated word of the day: Fear

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All she could see was darkness.

All she could feel was cold.

All she could hear was wind.

And the only emotion she felt was fear.

Jesse gave up trying to sleep, silently getting up from her position on the hard floor of the cave. She felt along the wall, carefully using it to guide her through the darkness. She needed some time to think.

Outside the wind was gusting wildly, it even colder than inside the cave. Jesse wrapped her arms around herself, trying her best to ignore the cold.

The ground was mostly covered in snow. She brushed some away with her boot until there was a decent sized patch of clear stone to sit on. Jesse lowered herself to the ground, flinching as the cold from the stone seeped into her overalls.

Shivering violently, she pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. Cold gusts of wind tugged at Jesse's dark chestnut hair, getting inside her clothes and making her shiver. Snow was still gently falling around her, the small particles of frost getting caught in her hair.

Something warm pressed against Jesse's side. Feeling the warmth against her made a part of her relax in relief. She looked down to see two brown eyes staring up at her.

"Reuben, you shouldn't be out here." Jesse said softly. "It's too cold."

She lifted the small pig up, placing him on her lap. She wrapped her jacket around him for warmth. Reuben's body heat made her tense muscles relax, obscuring the numbness in her skin.

"Thanks boy." Jesse whispered, smiling slightly to herself. Her smile faded after a few seconds.

In the distance she could see a dark figure blocking out the moonlight. Tentacles waving, glowing purple eyes like wisps of violet flames in the night. It was miles away, yet it was looking straight at her.

Jesse hugged Reuben to her chest, not only for warmth, but also comfort and reassurance. She was alone, with only Reuben around. Everybody else were asleep, safely inside the cave.

So Jesse allowed herself to break down. Burying her face in Reuben's back, tears running down cheeks. She didn't make a sound, her shoulders slightly shaking as she held back many sobs.

Nobody seemed to understand what that day was to Jesse. It wasn't easy for anybody, but to her it was a million times worse.

Having to go up against that storm absolutely solo. Having to set up that bomb all by herself, and in mid air as well. Seeing a life taken, when she is out of reach to help.

And carrying the whole title of failure on her shoulders.

Nobody directly blamed Jesse for the bomb not working. It was reckless plan they had hoped would bring down the storm forever, and it failed. That was the end of the story. But to Jesse; it was all her fault. They had entrusted her, out of all people, to destroy the Storm. And she wasn't able to.

To everybody this whole battle has been... somewhat easy. It was as if nobody understood the importance of it. They all had such a ridiculous amount of hope, faith in her. They had all been so certain she would emerge triumphant.

Today they lost a person. Nobody was smiling now, realization seeping into their minds - any one of them could be next.

Jesse lifted her gaze, staring up at the storm. Was it closer already? It sure felt that way.

She had no idea what was going to happen next. She feared the future to come. One of her friends were out there in the unknown, on a possible failed attempt to find his friends... Another one was deadly sick, barely able to stand on her feet...

They're lives were in her hands.

When in reality she had no idea what to do next. She was the one they all turned to now for guidance. They're looking at her to lead.

But she could only take so much - she was no less afraid than them.

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Ok, so I'm not happy with the length of this, or how it came out for that matter. The concept is good, but it's crappily written since I'm having quite the case of writer's block at the moment.

If I had more time I would have rewritten this right now, but it's already late and I'm exhausted after a long day. It wouldn't come out any better if I tried.

Big thanks to X_EmLee_X for giving me some ideas on how to improve this - if I had the energy right now, I would've. I'm going to be doing a rewrite of this (In how many one shots have I said this now?) in my normal one shot book at one point, 100%. These are good ideas that I really want to expand on further - Not just leave them here unfulfilled. 

Imma put extra effort into tomorrow's one shot, I promise. Writer's block or not, I'm going to push through and write something decent and non-repetitive. Watch this be the one day I get a crappy prompt XD 

For now, I'm going to call it a day.

I hope you all somehow enjoyed this one, I'll see you all tomorrow with whatever the word generator spits at me next.