Plot requested by @Nix7303
It was quiet inside the wooden house. The only sounds were the occasional night-time noise. Crickets chirping, the hooting of owls, sometimes even the howl of a wolf in the distance. Inside the house, it was completely silent. Everybody were sleeping peacefully in their rooms, gathering the energy for the next day's events.
However, as the clock started to tick past midnight, you could hear shuffling in one of the rooms. Shuffling, shortly followed by faint whimpers.
Jesse was tossing and turning in her sleep. She had completely kicked her blanket off the bed, which now lay discarded on the floor.
She mumbled inaudible words in her sleep. If you listened closing, you could hear her begging for it to stop, pleading for somebody to end the pain.
This silent torture of the young girl went on for almost an hour. Her friends were all asleep in their own rooms, completely unaware that anything was happening.
Suddenly Jesse sat bolt upright in bed, gasping loudly. Beads of sweat were making its way down the side of her face, her eyes wide in shock.
She sat like that for a few seconds breathing heavily, trying to take in her surroundings. Then, within the time span of a few seconds, Jesse silently
broke down.
She lay back down on the bed, burying her face in the pillow and crying softly. She kept down any noise, not waking anybody else in the house.
Jesse didn't use to have nightmares very often. She was known for sleeping like a rock, sometimes waking up and not even being aware of the fact that it rained, or snowed during the night.
But, whenever she did have a nightmare, the two people and the pig she shared a room with would've been by her side in an instance. Axel would lift her onto his lap like she was a child, cradling her for comfort. Olivia would be telling her that everything was OK, that nothing was there to hurt her. Reuben would snuggle into her chest, licking the tears off her face in a comforting matter. And after ten minutes of comfort, she would be snuggled in between her two friends, with Reuben in her arms, sound asleep once more.
Well, all of that changed now.
The Wither Storm was unleashed. And after weeks of battling it, Jesse defeated it.
But everything came with a price. The price of saving the world, was the life of her beloved pet pig, Reuben.
Reuben was fatally injured, and died in Jesse's arms on the last day of the battle. She was not only heartbroken, but also somewhat traumatized. Before Reuben, Jesse's never had to deal with death or grief before.
Now here she was, unable to sleep through a single night. It's been two months since the battle. Jesse now lived with all five of her friends in a house that was built for them by the grateful townspeople.
It was a pretty large wooden house, located in the exact same spot where their tree house used to be. Everybody had their own rooms here, unlike back in the tree house. Meaning nobody was woken up by Jesse's muffled cries, or consistent tossing and turning in bed.
Jesse, being the kind and selfless person that she is, never went to woke up Axel or Olivia to ask for their support. Instead she'd either try and fall back asleep on her own, or stay awake until morning came.
Jesse felt too embarrassed in the mornings to tell her friends that she had trouble sleeping. She'd just have a few cups of strong coffee, and go on with the day. Nobody suspected anything, because she was so cheerful and happy during the days.
After ten minutes of quiet sobbing, crying into her pillow, Jesse finally calmed slightly down. She sat with her back against the wall, hugging her pillow to her chest. She longed for Reuben to lick the tears off her face, to snuggle into her lap with his comforting warmth.
The thought caused a few more tears to well up in Jesse's eyes, trickling down her cheeks. She wiped them off with the sleeve of her pyjamas, before getting up from bed.
She silently walked down the hallway, careful not the step on the spots where the planks would creak loudly. She entered the kitchen, its tiled floor cold under her feet.
Jesse poured herself a glass of cold water, gulping it down thirstily. She put the empty glass back in the sink, before leaning down with her elbows on the counter.
Outside the sky was dark, the moon partially hidden behind a few clouds. The clock on the wall showed that it was only a few minutes past 1 AM.
Jesse sighed, resting her forehead on her arms. Recently she had stopped going back to bed after a nightmare. It always just came back, sometimes even worse than the first time.
"Guess it's another few long hours for me." Jesse said softly, before turning around and walking to the living room.
It was far enough away from the other rooms that they wouldn't be woken up by the light. So she sat down on one of the armchairs, switching on the lamp and began to read. Jesse found that reading was one of the best ways to get her mind of the nightmares, and help her calm down.
By the time the sun started rising, Jesse's eyes were red from the lack of sleep, and she couldn't go two minutes without yawning. As the first rays of light shone into the living room, Jesse got up, turning off the light and leaving the living room.
She returned to her own bedroom to get dressed. She put on her signature blue and white T-shirt, along with her beige coloured overalls and tan boots. She brushed her long dark brown hair, using a red hair clip to keep it out of her eyes.
Finally, when she felt satisfied, she went over to the bathroom to was her face with cold water. It helped to mask the look of sleep deprivation.
"Well." She said, looking at herself in the mirror. "Let's get this show on the road."
It was a special day for the five of them. Since both Olivia and Lukas' birthdays were coming up – Literally two days apart from each other – Petra came up with the idea that they should go camping.
Everybody loved the idea of hiking miles out into the forest and setting up camp for a week.
Now they were finally all packed and ready to get going.
----------------
"I swear this backpack in heavier than it was yesterday evening." Olivia argued, tugging at the straps in annoyance.
"How heavy can it be?" Petra asked with a chuckle. "You're literally only carrying your clothes and the first aid kit. That shouldn't be so heavy. Axel is the one with the tent."
"I'm not joking!" Olivia snapped at her. "My back is killing me and we've only been walking for half an hour."
"Are you trying to hint that we should take a break?" Lukas joked, causing Olivia to scowl over at him.
"We're not taking a break already." Petra argued from the front, rolling her eyes. "Otherwise it about will take us all week to get to the camping spot."
Olivia simply muttered something under her breath Petra being bossy, while Lukas and Axel both laughed. Jesse just smiled and shook her head, as she walked at the back of the group.
"Can I just mention how much I hate steep routes?" Olivia muttered, as they started trekking up a small hill.
"Can I just point out how much you complain?" Petra asked with a groan, turning around and putting her hands on her hips.
"And can I just point out how much you two argue?" Lukas added, as he took the lead with Axel.
Olivia and Petra kept bickering among each other, tossing about playful insults. Jesse only half-listened to their conversation. Her mind kept wandering to different topics, and every now and then she had to suppress a yawn.
Jesse got so distracted with her own thoughts, that she forgot to mind her step. All of a sudden, a loose stone slipped from underneath her foot, causing her to fall backwards with a yelp.
This shut up the other girls' squabbling in an instant.
"Jesse, are you OK?" Petra asked, as she clambered back down the steep path, and knelt beside Jesse.
"Fine, I'm fine." Jesse muttered, brushing dust off her overalls. "Just a flipping loose stone."
"Here." Petra offered, helping Jesse back onto her feet. "Try to look where your going next time, OK?"
Jesse knew Petra was only messing with her, but the comment made her feel hurt. Her face fell slightly, and she looked down at the ground.
"Hey, I was just joking." Petra said, noticing Jesse's upset expression. "I'm sorry, OK?"
Jesse just nodded. She tried to give Petra a reassuring smile.
"Maybe this is a sign that we should take a break?" Olivia asked hopefully.
"If it'll stop you getting on my nerves for two minutes, then fine." Petra replied, as she turned away from Jesse.
"Ooh, I could do with a snack as well!" Axel excitedly added as they all dumped their backpacks on the ground.
Jesse sat down heavily beside her backpack, relieved to take some of the pressure off of her tired legs.
"Jesse?"
She sighed as she heard her name being called again. She looked up to see that it was Lukas who had spoken to her.
"What?" She asked, her words coming out a bit more harsh than intended.
"You're the one with the food in your bag." Lukas said matter-of-factly. "Mind getting out the snacks?"
"Oh, right." Jesse muttered, zipping open her backpack, and digging for the container of food she packed that morning. Finally she pulled it out, and passed it over to the others.
"Hey!" Olivia suddenly snapped.
Everybody turned to look at her questioningly. She was on her knees beside her own backpack, staring into it with wide eyes.
"What now, Liv?" Petra asked, a grin tugging at her lips. "Forgot to pack your redstone?"
Olivia glared over at Petra, before reaching into her bag and heaving out a heavy stone. No doubt, the thing that's been weighing her down all morning.
"Who the hell decided to do this?" She snapped, crossing her arms.
Axel let out an anxious chuckle, pretending to be very focussed on the choc-chip cookies he was eating.
"It was you, wasn't it!?" Olivia snapped at him.
"Come on, it was just a joke!" Axel replied with a chuckle, quickly earning a punch on the shoulder from Olivia.
"It's not a joke! If I hadn't checked my bag I would've hauled that thing all the way to the camp-site!" Olivia snapped at him.
"That was kind of the idea." Axel muttered.
During the whole argument, Petra and Lukas were struggling to contain their laughter. Jesse sat sat against her backpack, trying to focus her mind on something else. The constant yelling was starting to give her a headache.
"I bet you wouldn't appreciate carrying a heavy rock for kilometres, would you!" Olivia snapped at Axel, her face red with anger.
"Hey, I'm already carrying a heavier load than you, even with that stone!" Axel argued back.
"That's because you're about twice my size!"
"Are you implying that I'm fat!?"
By now both Petra and Lukas were on the ground with laughter, their faces red.
Jesse didn't think it was funny. She just wanted to get to the camp-site already, so she could sit down somewhere in the shade with a good book.
"I'm sick and tired of being the victim of your pranks, Axel!" Olivia bellowed.
This was the last straw.
"Could you two shut up already!?" Jesse suddenly snapped, standing up straight.
Axel and Olivia both broke off mid-sentence, looking over at Jesse in surprise.
"What's up with you?" Petra asked, standing up as well and crossing her arms in front of her.
Jesse groaned, rubbing her temples. "Can't we just get a bit of peace and quiet for one second?" She snapped.
"Don't be like that now, Jesse." Axel complained. "Where's your sense of fun?"
"You call endless fighting and yelling at each other fun!?" Jesse harshly asked, glaring over at him.
"We're just joking with each other." Olivia said, sounding a tiny bit hurt at Jesse's sudden aggression.
"Yeah, why are you so sensitive all of a sudden?" Petra asked.
"I'm not." Jesse hissed, clenching her fists.
"You are." Petra replied matter-of-factly.
Jesse bit her lip and looked down. She knew she was screwing up. She felt all four pairs of eyes burning into her.
She couldn't take it.
She just wanted to curl in on herself.
Why did she feel this way?
"Just..." Jesse started, her voice cracking slightly.
And then, to everybody's completely shock and confusion, Jesse's eyes welled up in tears. Letting out a strangled sob, she turned away from them and half-jogged, half-ran, into the trees.
"Am I the only one confused here?" Lukas asked, looking over at the others with wide eyes.
"It's like she's suddenly taking everything so seriously." Petra said with a frown. "Even when we're joking, she gets hurt."
"I don't get it, she seemed fine this morning?" Axel asked, scratching the back of his head in puzzlement.
"Come on guys, let's go after her." Olivia said, gesturing for the others to follow. "Maybe we can figure out what's bothering her."
"Agreed." Petra replied. "I want Jesse to enjoy this camping trip as much as the rest of us."
Everybody nodded in agreement. So, leaving their backpacks there, they walked into the trees where Jesse disappeared to.
Luckily she didn't go very far. After not even a minute of walking, they were able to make out soft crying noises.
"She sounds really upset." Axel said softly, his expression slightly guilty.
"It's coming from over there." Petra said, pointing in a direction.
She quickly lead the group after the noise. Sure enough, her hunch was correct. Jesse was sitting down behind an old fallen long, her knees pulled up to her chest, her face buried in her arms.
"Hey, Jesse?" Olivia whispered gently, sitting down beside her and carefully putting an arm around Jesse's shaking shoulders.
"What's wrong?" Petra added, sitting down on her other side and resting a hand on Jesse's arm.
Axel timidly sat down beside Olivia, looking like he was at a loss for words. Lukas took a seat beside Petra, not saying anything either.
Jesse looked up at them. It was like her appearance had changed within the time span of a few minutes. Her eyes were red, with dark circles underneath. She had looked so happy and confident earlier and now she just looked... broken.
"I'm sorry." She said, wiping her eyes on the back of her hand. "I didn't mean to snap.." She broke off, her lip trembling.
"Hey, hey, it's OK." Olivia said quickly, squeezing Jesse's shoulders gently.
"What's eating you, Jesse?" Petra asked as well, reaching out with one hand to wipe away Jesse's tears. "You've been really easily upset and distracted all morning."
"I know, I know." Jesse muttered, leaning her head back against the log. "I'm sorry."
"You know you can tell us anything, right?" Lukas asked gently.
Jesse sniffed, wiping her eyes on her sleeve again. It was more than obvious that whatever has been bothering her, has been cropped up for too long.
"Please Jesse, talk to us." Olivia said in a pleading tone.
"We can't help you if we don't know." Petra added gently.
And so, her shoulders slightly shaking with every breath, Jesse started talking. She told her friends how she's been haunted by everything that has happened during the Storm. How Reuben's death, as well as all the grief and sadness on her shoulders has been weighing her down, waking her up at night in the form of horrid dreams.
"Every time I sleep it comes back." Jesse sobbed softly. "It's either Reuben dying, or running from the storm, or fighting against it's tentacles all over again."
"Jesse, why didn't you tell us sooner?" Petra asked, as she too wrapped an arm around Jesse.
"I don't want to make my problem yours." Jesse said softly, leaning her head onto Petra's shoulder.
"Jesse, when something's wrong, you have to tell us." Axel insisted. "What's important to you, is important to us."
"Exactly." Olivia agreed, as she instinctively rubbed Jesse's back.
"It's what friends do."
Jesse didn't know what to say. She closed her eyes, appreciating the comfort she felt in her friend's arms.
"Thank you." She breathed softly, not opening her eyes.
"We'll always be there for you." Olivia said softly, shuffling closer to Jesse.
"Always." Petra agreed. "No matter how hard things get, you can always count on us to be by your side."
A faint smile spread across Jesse's face. And then she was asleep. Still slightly sandwiched between Olivia and Petra, with her head resting on Petra's shoulder.
"I can't believe she's been going through all this without our knowledge." Olivia said softly, brushing a string of hair out of the sleeping girl's face.
"She must be so drained from exhaustion by now." Petra added, as she allowed Jesse to snuggle up against her.
"Let her sleep." Lukas said softly. "We'll set up camp right here."
"Yeah." Axel agreed, as he and Lukas both got up to go back for the supplies. "And we can take turns to stay with her if she needs us."
Petra smiled leaning back against the log with Jesse still sleeping against her.
"You know." She said softly. "Jesse is really lucky to have friends like you by her side."
I had a lot of fun writing this! And heads down my favourite part to write was complaining Olivia XD
Thanks for requesting this plot! Also, you asked if I could describe how I set my dark tones when I write. First of all, thank you! It really means soooo much to me, that people love my writing enough to actually ask me for tips.
I'm probably going to disappoint you though, when I say I don't know. Honestly, I feel it's just one of those things that come with a lot of practice. I've been writing since I was like 7 years old. So basically I have a full nine years of practice behind me, and that is all I have to thank. (Might I add that everything I wrote up until the age 14, was absolute crap XD)
It's actually really interesting that you're asking me about the dark tones of my books. Today I actually received a very disappointed e-mail - I was rejected by my first publisher. I have written an original story a while back and sent to a publisher, and got my reply today. Sadly they did not accept me. Interesting thing is, they explained that my plot line isn't fit fr the target audience. (Target audience is basically teens of like, 14 - 18). The story is focused on a 17 year old girl, who's been having hell in her life for the past six years of her life, with getting bullied in school. The story actually kicks off, with her getting out of a detention class because she was trying to stick up for herself. Then, after a horrible event in which her friend decided to stand up for her, and got seriously hurt, she actually attempted to commit suicide. (Might I add, that her friend stopped her.) It also has a little hint of science fiction in.
That basically just sums up the first two chapters in the book, but yea, it gives you the idea. The person who responded back to me, believed that this wasn't fitting for the target audience. They want content that "is based on modern day children's lives and experiences. Books that is written for reader's enjoyment (emphasis on enjoyment.)"
Now basically, I get it. They want me to write basically everything I have read from those publishers so far. Romance novels, damsels in distress that's head over heals for boys, and has every day drama with their friends in high school. This legitimately sums up 90% of the books I have read by them. And believe me, here in South Africa there is not a wide veriety of publishers to choose from.
This science-fiction based novel, that's based on the life of a depressed teenager, and how she deals with grief with the help of her friend, and how she has to discover herself again after the cruel things she's endured... they just don't find that realistic enough to modern day stuff experiences.
Depression and suicide is actually something very real in this world, and way more common than it should be. Trying to hide the fact that it's a real thing isn't right. I personally feel like it's a pretty good thing to expose children to these harsh cruel parts of life, through a fictional story. And hey, the story isn't all dark and gruesome! As I said, it's actually science science fiction, and it's heavily based on video games. So there is a very positive side to it, people. And of course as I said earlier the target audience for this book is like 14 - 18 year olds, it's not like I'm trying to rub this off on really young kids.
I just found it kind of interesting that people here appreciates the dark sides to my books, whereas the actual publisher rejected it because of that. Life isn't all sunshine and rainbows, people.
I'm slowly going to start looking into self publishing. There just isn't enough publishers to go around, because this country is living under a flipping rock.
Holy crap, it feels like my author's note is longer than the actual one shot today XD Sorry about that, I really needed to get this off my chest and hey? What's better than to just dump it on top of all my poor followers? X'D
Oh and just to clear things up - No original stories will ever be posted on my wattpad page, OK? This is for fanfictions only.
Anyhow, I hope you guys enjoyed "By Your Side"! It was really fun to write :P Keep them requests coming!
See ya!