Esperança 》B. Blake

1.11

[C H A P T E R  E L E V E N]
Cliff's Edge

☆☆☆

BELLAMY'S TENT WAS STUFFY. Roseline wasn't sure if it was because of the number of people crowded in one place, or if it was because of the situation they were in. Either way, the girl was ready to pull out a paper bag to calm herself down. It didn't help that from outside the tent, Murphy was back to his usual self, shouting mean comments and being a general pain in everyone's butt.

"Bring out the girl, Bellamy!" His voice was menacing, and Roseline was surprised that he hadn't barged into the tent already. 

"Why, Charlotte?" Bellamy asked the little girl, his tone oddly motherly.

"I was just trying to slay my demons like you told me!" she justified with wide eyes. Roseline frowned and stared at Bellamy incredulously while Clarke and Finn crossed their arms with confusion.

"You told her to kill Wells?" Roseline exclaimed, her hands waving frantically.

"No, she misunderstood me," Bellamy assured, holding up a hand to calm her. He then turned back to Charlotte. "Charlotte, that is not what I meant."

"Bring the girl out now!" Murphy yelled. Roseline took a chance and peeked out of the flap to see Murphy pacing, his face covered in blood.

"Please don't let them hurt me!" Charlotte squeaked, her face scrunched up in terror. 

Roseline brought her hands to her face and groaned loudly, relieving some nerves that were pent up. 

"If you guys have any bright ideas, speak up," Bellamy addressed the group. Clarke stepped back and forth in thought, and Finn stared at the ground as if no one was awake in his head.

"Oh, now you guys stay quiet," Bellamy huffed with annoyance.

"Those are your boys out there," Finn shot back with the same tone.

"This is not my fault," Bellamy defended. "If they would've listened to me, those idiots would still be building the wall!" He pointed at the two girls angrily.

"Yes, we get it! We screwed up, alright? So, how do we fix this?" Roseline snapped, pulling at her hair.

"You wanna build a society, Princess? Let's build a society. Bring her out!" Murphy called out again. Roseline, fed up with his voice, went for the door again, but Finn held her back from walking out.

"No! Please, Bellamy." Charlotte was now full on crying, and Roseline felt bad for her, but she also couldn't get the image of Charlotte stabbing Wells out of her mind.

Bellamy sighed, then got down to Charlotte's level. "Charlotte, hey. It's gonna be okay. Just stay with them." He nodded his head toward the other three before standing up again. In a flash, he disappeared behind the flap and confronted the enemy.

Roseline looked at the other two with a flicker of hope. "So, you guys got any sweet hideouts?"

As soon as Roseline finished her sentence, a light came on inside his once vacant head, and he looked up with a smile. "The art supply store!"

Clarke, apparently understanding him, smiled as well and nodded wildly. "Yeah! Yeah, okay..." she faltered as she glanced at Roseline. 

"Uh..." Roseline coughed. "Well, since you guys know what to do, why don't you go now, and Bell and I will distract Murphy?"