A Condemned Haven

Chapter 16

*Do not forget to like and comment guys. i appreciate all feedback. Thanks for reading!*

Clarke went through the rest of the day anxious for what she would find out later. She didn't pay any attention to the classes she was in, but she was too smart for them anyways. She had already taken the first semester of all her classes. Not to mention with all the spare time she had in juvie she was studying, figured if she was going to come out a convicted felon that she could at least come out smart.

When Jack met her at her car after school, she filled him in on where they were going and why. He seemed skeptical, but let it go and followed along. He knew Clarke was going to do it with or without him, so he might as well be there to protect her.

The entrance had a long dirt path that didn't seem to have an end, but the GPS said that the place was back there. There was a gate with a lock on it and she was pretty sure she didn't have bolt cutters lying around. They would have to walk to the house, which didn't really bother her. She hated being in cars for too long. It was too small of a space for her.

"We should get out here and walk to rest of the way." Jack agreed hopping out of the car. Woods were all along the path and if she weren't going to question a kid about murder, she would actually find it very beautiful. The sun was high in the sky shining against the trees and casting shadows along the path. It was hot, but not too hot. The air smelled like pine, something she had missed. When she finally got out of her own head, she realized Jack hadn't really said much since they had gotten out of the car.

"What's on your mind?" Jack finally snapped out of whatever trance he was in and shook his head.

"Do you ever wonder what your life would've been like if Brandon hadn't died?" She had, a lot. She wouldn't have gone to juvie, she wouldn't have lost her best friend, she wouldn't wake up every morning feeling guilty for how things ended with him, she wouldn't be estranged from her family and her friends, she might even have been thinking of college right now instead of trying to find a killer.

"Yeah, I do, all the time. When I was in juvie it was all I could think about. If I'm being honest though, I really don't know what I would be doing right now if in a different universe this hadn't happened to me. I know people say that we shouldn't let one moment define us for the rest of our lives, but this did. This ruined my life."

"Some good came out of it didn't it?"

"I don't know yet. When I was locked up, I thought I was going to be there for the rest of my life. I hadn't thought about the future or getting out. I didn't expect some miracle or breathing free air again. I lived day by day. If you can even really call that living."

"I think that if this hadn't of happened, we never would have met." Clarke laughed, as she was getting to know him, she was constantly reminded he was a glass half full kind of guy.

"We got to the same school in a not very large town. We would have met."

"We made it our entire lives up until this point not saying a word to each other. I don't think it would have been any different if this hadn't happened."

"I guess you're right." Clarke couldn't help but smile. After everything that happened to her, she could say one good thing happened to her. She met Jack.

"Can I ask you about him?"

Clarke knew precisely who he meant, but she didn't know if she really wanted to talk about him. Jack hadn't known her before everything happened. She was kind of glad for that. She had been naïve and selfish. Her world revolved around only herself and she could admit that. When things came to Brandon however, she never really knew how to explain that. How they were with each other, what they were. They were best friends and she knew that, but what they were before he died, she had no clue.