"i'm not going anywhere."
"Come on, let's get the girl." Murphy said to his boys as I kneeled down at my brother's side.
"Jas, you okay?" I worried. Jasper started to sit up with a groan. Beside me, Octavia was at her unconscious brother's side. "Slow down, he punched you pretty hard." A girl named Harper handed me a wet cloth which I took with a quick 'thank you' and held it up to Jasper's bleeding nose.
Murphy opened the flap of Bellamy's tent, but Charlotte, nor Clarke or Finn were anywhere to be found. "Charlotte!" Murphy screamed. "Charlotte, I know you can hear me! And when I find you, you are gonna pay!"
"Murphy, stop it!" I shouted, my voice coming out raspy. I had tears in my eyes from just being overwhelmed by everything that happened.
***
Murphy and his boys decided to go out looking for Charlotte, Clarke and Finn. The older two were obviously with Charlotte, possibly taking her somewhere safe.
I decided to go after Murphy and his crew, hoping to stop anything bad from happening. "You gonna be alright to handle stuff here?" I asked Octavia, my voice coming out a raspy croak, Octavia understood me anyways and nodded before I ran after the guys.
It had already started to get dark out and I was worried for what Murphy was going to do. Murphy and I are very different people. His view on things is that if he gets his revenge, he'll feel better. That's not true. Life's too short for revenge.
I was there, too. I got hanged as well. I can't even shut my eyes without feeling all the air being sucked out from my lungs and the feeling of the rough rope around my neck. I know how Murphy was feeling. I was hanged for defending him. Because I knew he was innocent and it was the right thing to do. And I don't regret defending him at all.
I trekked through the forest which was pitch black by now. I hoped that this wasn't all for nothing and that Clarke, Finn and Charlotte were somewhere safe.
"Charlotte!" Murphy's voice echoed through the woods. "You can't hide forever!"
"Don't worry, we won't hurt you!" One of his crew's voice followed.
In the near distance, I could see five flaming torches. Bingo.
I chased after the lights, not really sure what I was planning to do or say. I didn't realize how fast I was running until I was mere feet away from the five boys. I began walking out in front of the tree I was standing behind.
"Did anyone else hear that?" One of the boys asked the others.
"Grounders?" Another guessed fearfully.
I emerged from the shadows, coming into the view of the boys.
"Ophelia?" One of the boys, John Mbege, asked, confused.
"Jordan, what the fuck are you doing out here?" Murphy asked, slightly angry.
"Murphy, you don't have to do this." I began. "Go back to camp and we can forget any of this ever happened." I offered.
"You know I can't do that." Murphy replied.
"Says who? If you go through with what I'm thinking you're gonna do, do you really think you'll ever be allowed back at camp? Look, it's not too late to go back." I attempted to give him another option.
"They hanged us for what that little bitch did! You wanna let them just get away with that? You wanna let that little shit get away with that?" He snapped. "We could have died. See this?" He put two cold fingers to my swollen neck, making me flinch away. He pulled his hand away. "That's her fault."
"You don't think I know that?" I shot back quickly, getting emotional. "I know it's her fault. Hell, I hate the kid. But killing a child won't serve you justice. It's just gonna make things worse. Let's just go back to the drop ship and we can handle this the right way."
"Go back to camp, Ophelia." Murphy said bluntly. That was the first time he called me by my actual name, not 'Jordan' or anything. He and his team walked back in the direction they were headed.
There's no way I'm going back to camp. Not while everyone else was still out there.
"Murphy!" I heard the high pitched voice of Charlotte squeal. Murphy has her.
"Charlotte!" I heard Murphy's voice continuously roar. I followed their voices into the distance.
I found myself at a cliff with Charlotte and Bellamy at the edge of it and Murphy and his friends in front of them.
"Bellamy. You cannot fight all of us, give her up." Murphy stated.
"Maybe not, but I guarantee I'll take a few of you with me." Bellamy replied.
"What the hell is going on here?" I exclaimed. "Bellamy, what are you doing here?"
"Jordan, I told you to go back to camp." Murphy spat.
"Bellamy, stop!" Clarke and Finn rushed in dramatically. By now, it was raining and all of us were soaked, yet the torches were still aflame. "This has gone too far. Just calm down and we'll talk about this." Clarke turned to Murphy. Murphy's eyes drifted to Charlotte, then to Bellamy, then to me as he debated Clarke's offer.
In a swift action, Murphy grabbed the blonde girl and held her in front of him, holding his knife to her throat. "I am sick of listening to you talk." He growled.
"Let her go." Finn ordered, but Murphy was quick to shout back.
"Back off or I will slit her throat!" He roared.
"No, please! Don't hurt her!" Charlotte squeaked.
"Don't hurt her?" Murphy repeated. "Okay, I'll make you a deal. You come with me right now and I will let her go." He was so blinded by rage and revenge. I know he wasn't thinking straight.
"Don't do it, Charlotte." Clarke urged. As for me, I would never wish death upon anyone, especially a child. Especially at the hands of revenge. However, if that little twelve year old just so happened to accidentally stumble into a Grounder's spear, I wouldn't exactly say she didn't have it coming.
Charlotte tried taking a step forward, but Bellamy held her back. "No, I have to!" Charlotte screamed.
"Stop." Bellamy demanded before turning back to Murphy. "Murphy, this is not happening."
"John, just let her go and we'll talk about this." I stepped in.
"I can't let any of you get hurt anymore. Not because of me. Not after what I did." Charlotte spoke sadly, shaking her head before jumping.
Killing herself.
"No!" Bellamy screamed as he and Clarke fell to their knees at the edge of the cliff where the young girl had just jumped.
We were all left speechless. Clarke let out sobs for the girl, looking out into the abyss of the cliff.
"Bellamy-" Murphy began, speechless and regretful.
Bellamy said nothing and stood up with fire and rage in his eyes, charging at Murphy and tackling him to the ground. He threw punch after punch at the boy.
"Stop!" I screamed. Enough people had been hurt today. We didn't need another one dead. Bellamy didn't stop. "You're killing him!" Finn and I worked together to pull the older boy off Murphy.
"Get off me!" Bellamy grunted. "He deserves to die!"
"No!" Clarke stepped in front of him. "We don't decide who lives and dies. Not down here."
"So help me God, if you say the people have a right to decide-" I began, but Clarke cut me off.
"No. I was wrong before. You guys were right." She looked between Bellamy and I. "Sometimes it's dangerous to tell people the truth." It wasn't the truth but whatever. "But if we're gonna survive down here, we can't just live by whatever the hell we want. We need rules."
"And who makes those rules? You?" Bellamy practically took the words out of my mouth.
"For now, we make the rules." Clarke decided. "Okay?"
"So what then? We just take him back and pretend like this never happened?" Bellamy waved a hand at Murphy, who was still lying on the floor, weak.
"No!" Clarke declined, looking back at the scared boy. "We banish him."
"What? No." I shook my head. "If anything, it's your fault we're in this mess for confronting him in front of everyone."
Clarke ignored my protests as Bellamy picked Murphy up by the collar and dragged him to the edge of the cliff.
"Bellamy, stop it!" Clarke shouted.
"If I ever catch you near camp, we'll be back here." Bellamy threatened. "Understand?" Murphy gave a small, weak nod before Bellamy threw him back to the ground. He turned to Murphy's boys. "As for the four... five," he glanced to me hesitantly. "you can come back and follow me, or go off with him to die. Your choice." He concluded before walking away, Murphy's coward friends following him.
"You coming, Ophelia?" Finn asked sadly. I shook my head. "C'mon. You'll die out here with him."
"I'm sorry." I replied, shaking my head. Finn sighed before pursing his lips, throwing a knife, which I caught by the handle.
"Try to survive. We'll come find you if we can." Finn promised. I nodded and watched him leave with the others.
"Go back to camp." Murphy croaked.
"I'm not leaving you." I replied firmly.
"Ophelia, go back to camp." Murphy repeated himself, more stern this time, despite his weak state.
"No." I replied, just as stern.
"Why?"
"Because you don't deserve to be out here. Especially alone." I stated. "Now, c'mon. Let's find somewhere to camp out for the night."
word count: 1576
a/n: hey everyone sorry its taken so long to get a chapter out, ive been sick and busy and been going through some really tough family stuff but enough with the excuses, hope you like this chapter. if you have any suggestions or requests for things that happen in the future, let me know because id love to find ways to include them. stay safe, stay hydrated, love you all xx