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H o l l o w s I n
T I M E
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I listed all the people that could help me in this situation in my head. A geographer—unavailable. The mayor of the town—he's probably not in on the secret of the Academy. The police force—they would never give away confidential information away to a sixteen year old girl. Einstein—dead.
Carter—
Jameson—
Gone.
Everyone is gone.
It's all gone.
I have no one.
I'm all alone.
Alone in a world I thought I wanted.
12/09/16
Twelve months ago
A double knock was heard on my door as I picked out some clothes, in only my towel after a much needed, but barely relaxing, bath.
"Hang on!" I yelled, fumbling around with my towel, exchanging it for a dressing gown. I padded over to my door when I was done, kicking my diary and my map under some laundry next to my wardrobe as I did so. I turned the handle and opened the door a little bit, peaking round the corner to see who had decided to crash my pity party.
"Knock knock, your cavalry is here."
I frowned, opening the door wider to peer at my strange best friend.
"Why do I need soldiers?" I asked her ludicrously.
"To fight off your bad mood." She poked my sides, smiling when I squirmed away. She kept her eyes on me as she brushed past me and flopped down onto my bed.
"Welcome home, honey." I joked, closing my door behind me as I stalked off to retrieve my pyjamas from my vanity chair. I left the room without a word to change, and came back with a towel to dry off my hair.
I laughed at Lexi as she lay sprawled out on my bed with an arm over her face. I jumped onto my bed, sitting by Lexi, picking up locks of her almost black hair and braiding them.
"What's up, Buttercup?" I asked her, waiting for a reaction as I continued braiding her hair.
Suddenly, she sat upright, leaning back casually on her palms, "I was going to ask you the same thing." She rose an eyebrow at me and I averted my gaze, letting go of her hair.
Silence overcame the room for a few moments.
Then Lexi spoke up, "Do you miss him?"
I froze.
I turned to face her, watching her silently. Her eyes watched me too. "Hmm?" I hummed in response, hoping she hadn't clocked me already, that she didn't know my secrets.
Her facial expression didn't change. "Carter. Do you miss him?" My heart sank. A hollow ache spread in my stomach. How much of a heartless person could I have been to worry about my stupid secrets when her heart has always been breaking in the background? She was Carter's best friend too.
I cringed. And I hoped she couldn't tell that I did. "So much." I responded. "But you're here," I smiled up at her. Her eye twitched—that was the only change in her expression. "And they'll find him." I answered, looking away from her face, and instead finding a framed photo of Carter and I. I stared at it. It was at that same family barbecue from the news report, in fact, it was the exact same photo. I was wearing that same skater dress and flower crown. I was still kissing Carter on the cheek as he had wound his arm around my waist. I stared at us. I wonder what it would be like if we had known what would become of us. If I had known what I would do to him.
"Who will find him?" Lexi asked, her tone changing slightly. I turned away from the picture and looked back at Lexi, seeing her frowning with her head cocked to the side.
"The police." I responded, sounding as equally confused as she did.
"Sky," Lexi began, a barely noticeable grimace on her face, with a tense and uneasy expression on her face. I waited. Though it killed me, I waited.
"The police haven't had any success." She told me. I knew that, of course I knew that.
"Yes, but they can–"
"The search terminates in a weeks time."
My breath was just an echo, for, in that moment, I couldn't afford any more oxygen in my shocked state.
"What?" I didn't let Lexi reply. "But that's only a month. They can't stop it now." He was dead. I knew that. But I still held enough emotion to feel the disbelief and anguish over the fact that the police force aren't even bothered about a human life enough to carry out an extended search—even if it does mean they find absolutely nothing, aside from buried secrets at the bottom of a hollow pit in my back garden.
Lexi stared at me. "They haven't been able to find anything." She told me, echoing her earlier words.
"They didn't find me either." I shot back. I watched as Lexi visibly reeled backwards, though it was only subtle.
"No." She agreed. "You appeared out of nowhere."
I frowned. Put her off the scent, Sky. "No, I appeared out of an abandoned shed in the middle of nowhere." I fought back.
"Okay," Lexi began, "I can tell that this subject is still sensitive for you, I'm sorry I even came round." She slipped off my bed and moved over to my door.
"Are you angry?" I asked her.
Without turning around, she responded, "Are you?"
I stared at her back. "At what?"
She muttered something that sounded like an "Exactly." Before stalking off, leaving my door ajar.
Without comprehending anything, I fell back onto my bed and felt as fresh tears trickled down my cheeks. Two friends down, and I can still feel my heartbeat. How?
I woke up two hours later, tear stained cheeks and painful pins and needles in my feet. The first thing I did was drag my sorry arse across the carpet and pull out my diary and the town map.
The conversation with Lexi earlier echoed in my mind.
"You appeared out of nowhere."
Then it hit me. 'Nowhere' was in a legal and safe area, it wasn't out of bounds. Because that's how the police would find me, that's how civilisation would find me. How would being found trespassing help my case? Conveniently, the Guardians had to set up somewhere to watch over me.
I looked at one of the fields. I crossed it out. The woodland next to it was too close; police would search it. I crossed it out. A field next to a farm a few miles out from my house was out of bounds. And too close. I crossed it out.
Then, an out of bounds area that I had crossed out earlier on false suspicion stared up at me. Surrounding it was the town boarder, and the outskirts of the field appeared to run into the next town, where there was apparently a service station.
This is the base. It has to be.
I looked up at my clock. The night was still young at quarter to eleven. It was pitch black outside. But I had to go. I couldn't sleep with this new information pounding at me, letting this rest like a spiked cushion underneath my head.
I shot up.
I'd have to sneak out.
With trainers and a raincoat on, I snuck down the corridor and down the stairs with no trouble. My dad was in the bathroom; I wasn't worried about him. But my mother was ghosting around the kitchen. I heard the floorboards creak. It was the floorboard by the door to the spare room. She was gone. I darted out the front door, stealthily making my way to a bus stop.
I hopped on the first bus that came, letting it take me as far as it could before getting off. It was a ten minute walk off the base when I checked on my phone, but I made that ten minutes five when I started sprinting.
Jameson.
I need Jameson.
My maps on my phone told me that I had arrived, but I didn't need their input. I could see that I had arrived.
The place was one big makeshift building, boarded off with more trees than I could count. But I had found a back entrance across pebbles, and I could see everything. And I could see Jameson. He was here. My heart jumped. I jumped.
He looked up.
He saw me.
He jumped up off his seat as if it were scalding.
He shifted over to the edge of the grass as I lingered on the curb across the road. We were on separate sides of a road, yet on the same side by heart. If I could only just–
"Sky?" Jameson yelled across the road.
"Sky!" His voice became more and more hysterical as I shared the same emotions. Jameson moved, looking as if he'd walk towards me.
Then I tore across the road.
Jameson screamed my name one last time, but as something slammed into my side, I realised it wasn't for the same reason as before.
Lights streamed across my vision.
If I can just hold on. I need one more minute.
One more–
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me in an exam when the invigilator says "that's the end of the exam, please stop what you're writing and put your pens down"
Bc that's the worst feeling in the world like pls just let me right it's a human write
#pun
#SKYSON
#SKYSON IS TRULY DEAD
I MEAN SKY DEAD SO
'Sky Forest: Replaced By A Clone?'
-yes I am clone my name mulberry
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Next update: Monday-Funday (fml)
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CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO SPOILER:
Back to the present we go.
And we start at the point we left off at.
Sky breaking, and Jameson watching.
Or was she always broken?
But it's okay, Sky has made plans, and they might be able to save her heart.
Despite Jameson's best efforts to do it by himself.