Esperança 》B. Blake

1.09

"Thanks," she mumbled, scratching at her hands which had now begun to form blisters. 

He scoffed and turned away. "Yeah, whatever."

Something burned inside her chest, and Roseline was certain it had nothing to do with the acid fog. "All I'm doing is thanking you for basically saving my life, but yet you're annoyed with me?"

He was quick to turn around, the fire in his eyes matched hers. "I wouldn't have had to save you if you would have just gotten in here instead of worrying about your precious water."

"I was getting the water for Jasper," she seethed as she took a daring step closer. Murphy assessed the situation for a moment before chuckling.

"Oh, it all makes sense now." His cold eyes matched with his humorless snicker gave Roseline goosebumps, but she didn't want to show her fear. "Once again, they sent you out of the rescue party."

"What do you mean once again?" She narrowed her eyes. A crowd had slowly formed between the two, and Murphy took a few steps back, extended his arms, and took in the attention.

"You really haven't noticed? How many times have those guys, or any of these people, sent you off to do their bidding?" He gestured to the crowd that was slowly becoming larger by the second.

"Why does it matter? They needed some help and I helped them." She crossed her arms across her wildly beating heart.

"Did they really? Or were they just shooing you away for the millionth time because you can be so goddamn annoying?" The bottom level was silent as Roseline absorbed Murphy's words. "None of these people actually needed anything. They just put up with you until you leave."

Roseline was shaking from head to toe. She wanted to say that she was just frustrated or angry, but those words didn't seem to cut it. She felt pure fury as she stared into the eyes of someone she had never hated more.

"You don't seem to put up with me. All you do is go off about how annoying and talkative I am," she commented quietly, trying to keep her cool.

"Oh, believe me, what I do now is nothing. If it weren't for Bellamy, you would've stopped talking a long time ago." His voice was low and smooth. It was a deadly combination as he stared the girl down. 

Roseline's mind wanted to focus on the very real threat that he had just made, but she was caught off guard with the mention of Bellamy. "What do you mean if it weren't for Bellamy? What did he say to you?"

"He told me to tolerate you and your loud ass mouth. But I swear if---"

"Tolerate?" she cut him off, and this time her voice rose. "Tolerate?"

If the room wasn't silent before, it sure as hell was now. No one could believe that Roseline had actually raised her voice at someone. Roseline had her fisted balled tightly at her sides. Near her, she saw a boy with a metal cup between his hands, similar to the one she had earlier. Before she knew what she was doing, Roseline snatched the cup from the boy's hands and chucked it at Murphy. The cup hit him in the cheek, and he reached for his face in pain. Seeing Murphy in pain ignited something deep within Roseline, and the girl found herself with a metal pole, whacking him until he was curled up on the ground.

"Tolerate me? You just tolerate me? Well, are you gonna sit there and tolerate this, huh? Are you gonna keep tolerating me, and obey Bellamy's every little order?" she shouted at him between hits. All she could see was red, and the crowd went crazy with the violence that was unfolding in front of them. They were split into people cheering for Roseline to keep going, and people yelling at Murphy to fight back.