At Dusk

5

As we sit in this little cave, with a little fire flickering, all huddled up under blankets, shivering from the cold, I just hope that we find something out there or I don't know what I would do. All of the others shut their eyes falling asleep, letting soft snores escape their lips. I try my hardest to fall asleep but I can't, knowing we are wasting time.

I pick up a stick and I start to draw in the dirt a symbol over and over again of a crescent moon inside a four-point star. I have no idea why I'm drawing it or what it means but I just can't stop. After an hour or so, I wake the others up so we can eat something before continuing on the journey.

"Did you draw that?" Dylan questions pointing to all the doodles I did.

"Yeah, I couldn't sleep," I smile tiredly.

"I like it, what does it mean?" he asks.

"I have no idea," I admit staring at the symbol I doodled hundreds of.

"Well whatever it is I like it," He smiles making me smile.

"Thanks," I grin.

When we finish eating we continue down the mountain. I bring the big stick I was doodling with, in the cave with me, twirling it around for some entertainment. After walking for half an hour we stop dead in our tracks when we hear a sort of hissing. It sounds a bit like a snake but more high pitched and croaky.

"What is that?" Hayes asks looking around but seeing nothing.

"Oh my god!" I exclaim seeing thousands of lizard, snake looking things crawling down the face of the mountain towards us.

They start jumping off the walls at us. They are a lot bigger up close, about the size of a football. As they spring towards us continuing to hiss we try hitting them off. I use my stick to bat them away until is tumbles down off the edge of the mountain.

"My stick," I sulk for a few seconds before pulling my sword out of it's carrier on my back.

I look at the others seeing that Oliver is using nunchucks he got for his thirteenth birthday, Weston using a different long stick that he found a few days ago, Hayes just using his bare hands and Dylan is using a rope. Just as we think there couldn't possibly be more they just keep on slithering down the wall and attacking us. One starts to crawl up my leg and as it digs its claws in drawing blood and I try to shake it off. I take a step back still trying to get it off when my heart drops as I slip.

People say your life flashes before your eyes when you are faced with death, they say all the good memories you had come up to try to take some of the pain and fright from what is actually happening, but that is a load of shit, all that I see is all the pain that I have been through with my family and Bobby and just being a Dusker. The anger pulsing through me makes me not want to let them win. I grip as tightly as I can with the one hand that's gripping the rocky surfaces.

As I hang here trying so hard to stay alive a sense of peace and acceptance fills my body and urges me to let go, that it is my time to go and for some scary reason I have accepted it. I have been through so much shit in my life that anymore just seems cruel.

"I'm going to be fine," I mumble to myself as I loosen my grip and as I start to fall I feel a hand wrap around my wrist.

I open my eyes to see Dylan's terrified face looking down at me and reality pulls me back in making me realize what I nearly did at a moment of weakness. He pulls me up and quickly wraps his arms around me as we lean against the wall getting as far away from the edge as possible. I start to hyperventilate and no matter how hard I try I can't seem to stop it. I close my eyes to try to hold back the tears.