Author Games: Written in the Stars

Task Two - Elementary, My Dear... - Males

"Oh?" asks Alice, though she quickly looks away. "That's nice, but I don't think I'm much like Vivienne at all."

I shouldn't be surprised that she thinks I mean Vivienne; after all, she's the one that everyone knows. But, for once, the spotlight isn't being shone on my eldest sister but on the one who's in the middle.

"No, not her," I say. "Adrie. She's a year older than you – I thought you might have seen her around."

"No." She laughs, but it's a laugh that makes it clear she's uncomfortable with the attention I'm paying to her. "I don't know many people."

"Her neither, but she's really nice. She doesn't see it, though. Once, I walked in on her crying in her room, and when I asked her why she told me that it was because she was ugly. I don't think she's ugly, and nobody else does, but I guess she doesn't believe us." Pause. "She never believes anything good we say about her – my parents stopped trying."

"Oh."

Alice looks clearly upset, and I wonder if I said anything wrong – maybe she has siblings she misses? She hasn't mentioned then. I immediately want to find something good to say to help her, but I'm not the best with words. Maths, I can do. Angles, I'm great at. But people? It's a lot harder to break through their shells.

"Hey, Alice. I'm sorry if – "

"It's okay, Conway. But maybe we should focus on the problem at hand."

"What problem?"

A rumbling noise fills my ear, but it has a certain kind of flow to it, as if it were running. I turn towards it and what I see stuns me, though this time – thankfully – I find myself in complete control of my legs. But as a giant wave comes roaring towards me, I start to wonder if running away is going to be much help. My feet are going as quickly as they possibly can, but I still I feel as if it's not quite enough as the roaring of the waves comes closer and closer to my ears.

I survived yesterday just to be taken down by a gigantic wave of water – which one, I wonder, is worse?

The wave crashes against the ground so hard that it actually shakes, and I fall to my feet. Alice is just a few steps ahead of me on the ground as well, but we quickly get back up. I hear a scream and watch as the boy I saw yesterday with white teeth gets dragged away by a wave so big that I don't think I could build something as tall as it is.

I tighten my grip around my dagger, like I have been every time I think of death – which, in this place, seems to be more and more often. At this point I wonder if my hands would be blistered if I looked at them, but I don't feel any sort of pain in them yet, so I'm glad to say that I don't think so. My arm is shaking, though, and I wonder how long I can keep holding on to my weapon before I give up and drop it.

"Run!"

I spot another wave in the distance, and a few strides behind us is a boy with a long braid who seems to have been alerted by Alice's scream. Still, it's obvious that he isn't fast enough, and before I know it another wave crashes onto his head. I hear a gasp as he tries as hard as he can to drag some air into his lungs, but he fails. I turn my head away, not wanting to see whatever it is that might come next.

The movement of the waves could almost be relaxing, really; it reminds me a bit of grandpa's old rocking chair, where I used to take naps on his laps. Now, however, there's a lot more danger and a lot more running, both of which send adrenaline pumping through my veins. My breath is faster than I ever remember it being, and I know that it's not because I'm tired. I feel like I could run for much longer, even though normally I'd want to crash.