SWEET LITTLE LIES // BELLAMY BLAKE // THE 1OO

ELEVEN

As soon as the other people on camp noticed the group of five through the lines of the trees, they opened the camp gates. Katherine walked through them gratefully, a look of exhaustion took place on her face and she just wanted to drop down and sleep like she had slept last night, without nightmares or dreams.

Katherine was taken by surprise when she felt to arms wrap around her waist and with a look of surprise, she glanced down at the two braids of Charlotte. Smiling tiredly, she wrapped her arms around the fragile shoulders of the younger girl, just enjoying the embrace for a couple of seconds. The irritations that had flowed through her veins just a couple of minutes ago seemed to disappear suddenly and kneeling down, Katherine pushed some locks that had seemed to have escaped Charlotte's braids behind her ears.

"Tomorrow I will braid your hair, okay?" Katherine asked. She looked at the way Charlotte nodded enthusiastically and she concluded she wasn't the only one who liked it when people played with her hair. Absentmindley Katherine touched her own dark locks, which could use a bit of shampoo and water as well.

"Octavia, just stay there," she heard Bellamy say all of a sudden. Turning around, Katherine saw Bellamy trying his best to shove Octavia away from Atom's body as gently as he could, but Octavia wasn't going to let him off so easy. "Please, stay back."

Octavia managed to get past her brother, kneeling down to the deceased body of Atom. When she took the jacket covering his face off, Katherine felt a shiver travel down her spine. She couldn't deny the fact that at least the expression on his face was a peaceful one, but when she saw the horrified look crossing Octavia's face, she felt bad for thinking it.

"There's nothing I could do," Bellamy said, his voice pleading while he looked at his younger sister.

"Don't," Octavia said, holding up her hand. Her voice was quivering and Katherine couldn't help but feel for the girl. Sure, she didn't like her much, but that didn't mean she deserved this pain. Softly squeezing Charlotte's hand, Katherine looked at the way Bellamy tried to explain himself, though his younger was having none of it. Without looking at her brother, Octavia covered Atom's face again, silently crying when she got up and ran away.

Letting out a loud sigh to herself, Katherine let go of Charlotte's hand. "I'm going to help Octavia for a bit. Why don't you find a cosy place to sleep, and I'll tell you a story when I get back."

Nodding, Charlotte took off, her two braids bouncing up and down with the rhythm which she was running in. Katherine wanted to yell after the girl that she shouldn't run this close to a fire, but she was gone already. Besides, Katherine wasn't her mother and sometimes children needed to learn things the hard way.

Softly biting her lip, Katherine headed towards the direction she saw Octavia disappear to. The pain in her leg had been growing and spreading at a steady phase throughout the day and all she really just wanted to do was to lay down and process today's events quietly. She also didn't know why she was putting herself through this hell to soothe a girl that probably didn't even want her soothing. Heck, she didn't even like the girl.

"Octavia," Katherine said, just as the girl was about to climb up the ladder of the Dropship. Octavia turned around, looking at Katherine with her redrimmed eyes and stray tears covering her cheeks and jawline. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure, it's not like somebody else up there is dying, possibly needing my help," Octavia replied sarcastically.

"Yeah, well, Clarke is up there with him and if Clarke can't save him, neither can you. So sit down for a minute and listen to what I have to say," Katherine replied with a voice that desired no protesting. She sat down on one of the few seats that hadn't been taken from the ship, observing with cautious eyes Octavia doing the same. She let out a loud sigh, feeling nervous all of a sudden. "Charlotte and I were the ones to find Atom."