ꜱᴛᴀʀꜱ 𝐹𝒶𝓁𝓁 ↠ ᴏʀʙɪᴛɪɴɢ ᴇᴀʀᴛʜ [1]

☆ɴɪɴᴇ

I am so sorry it took so long for me to update this! But can I just say, wow! I am stunned! Last time I updated, we were at about 250 reads. And just between this part going up and the last part, we are now at about 330! That is just insane. I am so thankful for all of the support you guys have been giving me and I cannot wait to see how much we grow in the coming parts!

-Tay <3

Nine - Should Have Killed the Little Girl

VIOLENCE AND GORE WARNING

"Leigh, you have to eat." I ignore him again. Just like I have been for the past few days when he brings me food to the cliff where Charlotte jumped. "Leigh, please. I know you are hurting. But so is everyone else," he begs. I shrug and close my eyes as I watch Charlotte fall from the cliff over and over again.

Bellamy sits next to me, breaking me from my trance, "You have been coming here for the past two days. Don't you think it is time to try and get back to how things used to be?" I shake my head, fighting to hold back the tears that have been fighting to fall since I watched her fall to her death. Bellamy wraps an arm around me, pulling me close so that my head rests on his shoulder. I allow this, even though I want to scream, "Don't touch me! Don't you see what happens when you care for someone?! They die!"

As if he can sense my unrest, Bellamy holds me tighter, petting my hair with his other hand, "Shhh shhh shhh it wasn't your fault." I shake my head, disagreeing with him, but he continues, "He had a knife to your throat. You couldn't do anything to save her. It wasn't your fault." By the time he finishes, I have lost all control over trying to hold the tears back and they come rushing as if they were a newly-freed river after the destruction of a dam.

"Why?" I cry, looking into his eyes. I can tell he is confused and so he asks, "Why, what?"

I sob loudly, chocking on my own tears, "Why does everyone else get a second chance but her?! I was her! Someone took me in, saved me, gave me a second chance! Why didn't she get that?! I was her!"

Bellamy continues running his hands through my hair but stops when he hears me refer to myself as Charlotte. He pulls away slightly, gazing intently on my face, "What do you mean, you were her?" And so I tell him. And he becomes the first person other than Arthur and myself to know what happened that night.

-Eleven Years Ago-

I watch as my mother's body goes up in flames. "Yu gonplei ste odon," every member of the tribe gathered murmurs. Your fight is over. They all look at me with pity. But I don't want their pity. Mama is gone. Papa is gone. Everyone who I ever loved is gone. There is no one here for me. No one who loves me. I am all alone. All alone with my nightmares. The nightmares of the man with the evil green eyes and the crossed swords tattoo. The man who took Papa away from me. The man that made my world fall apart.