Ab Aeterno

The Moth

Aura stepped over a fallen tree as she walked through the jungle. Despite the trees all looking very similar, it was easy for Aura to navigate through them without getting lost. Unlike Locke, she hadn't bothered tying strips of bright material around the trunks to find her way back to camp - Aura knew where she was going and had the path memorized. 

Ten minutes of walking passed, and Aura finally stopped in a clearing, about ten meters in diameter. Standing in the middle of the circle, Aura looked around then took a deep breath of relaxation.

Locke had been kind enough to allow her to borrow some of his hunting knifes since he only needed the one to skin the boar he was going to catch. Pulling out one of the knifes tucked into her cargo pants, Aura spun it between her fingers before launching it at the tree infront of her. Removing another from her waistband, she turned in another direction before throwing it. She continued on in this manner of turning and throwing until she ran out of knives. 

Once all the knives were collected and back in Aura's hands she started again, throwing and turning at an inhuman speed. She felt at peace doing this, it let her mind rest for a while and let her body take control.

The whole scene seemed a bit out of character, especially to Charlie who had just found her. She was whirling in both clockwise and anticlockwise turns, her braided hair swinging around her. The knives thrown where only seen when they hit their marks six feet up on -what seemed to be - random trees around the clearing. If he wasn't already suspicious of Aura, he definitely was now. No one could have aim as perfect as that without a shady past. 

Charlie emerged from his space in the jungle and stepped into the clearing, unknowingly snapping a twig in the action. 

Aura's vision was fairly compromised at this point, everything was blurred together, and she was only hitting the trees by using muscle memory that she had built up over the years - so although she couldn't see, her body knew by instinct where the trees where. However, when one sense is down, the others strengthen in order to keep you safe. So when a branch snapped, her brain made it top priority to launch a knife in the direction the sound came from.

Once again the knife found itself sticking out of a tree at the six foot mark. Under the blade stood Charlie, a look of fear and horror written on his face. "What in the bloody hell was that?!," he shouted whilst pulling the knife out of the tree and holding it in his hand. "You could've killed me!"

Charlie was expecting an apology from Aura, who - up to this moment - had seemed like the kindest person ever. Instead he was faced with eyes of fury. Aura didn't like people spying or creeping up on her, and if they were hurt doing so, then it served them right. "If you where a few inches taller that would've went straight through your head. I'd be careful how you approach people in the future."

Setting off to collect the knives she had thrown, Aura turned her back to Charlie who followed her - not happy with his life being threatened. "Who are you - really? Ever since we crashed here you've been acting shady, going off into the jungle whenever the opportunity arises, sucking up to everyone - giving out fruit. Oh, and you seem to know your way around the place. Who are you?"

So she was being accused. Fair enough, she had acted strangely, and maybe she should've been more careful with her actions, because now she had her back against the wall. She could tell the truth and be stuck in a game of tug of war between being used for information and killed, or, she could lie and dig herself a deeper hole. Either way, she had to answer soon. "I'm not your enemy Charlie. I haven't lied to you or the others." By the look on Charlie's face wasn't a good enough answer. Letting out a deep sigh, Aura decided it best to tell the truth. "Fine, but you can't tell anyone, alright?"