Nonexistent

SIXTEEN- Rogue

NIGHTFALL is upon us once we decide to get some rest. 

The four of us have trekked until our knees went wobbly if we tried to stand any longer. I make myself comfortable in a soft patch of grass. Celeste stays next to Mason as I watch them look up the twilight sky in awe. Soft steps come up behind me, and I find Calia comfortably sitting next to me. 

We both just stare at the beautiful blanket of void above us in the lingering moment of silence.

"Terra would've loved this," the Groundshifter randomly states as she stares into the diamond sky. 

"She's probably looking up there right now, you know," I casually tell her with a nonchalant shrug. "You say it like she's already dead. Whoever she is." 

She chuckles to herself for awhile. I almost miss it, but I notice how her laugh seems so heartless and devoid of any feelings. Once she's done, I hear a deep breath escape her body. She then wonders out loud, "So where do you think the blasted Monarchs want us to go?"

"I'd watch my words if I were you; I have a feeling our privacy isn't exactly being regarded right now." 

I mean those words, wholeheartedly. They must be watching.

"Great, if they can hear me." 

We look on, to the never-ending black space dotted with the stars of dusk. Sometimes, I forget all of it isn't real. "To answer your question, Calia," I start. I pause, trying to think of a genuine answer. "I don't know."

She lies on her back, her blond hair scattered across the grassy leaf blades. She shrugs, as if my answer was expected. "Your turn."

"My turn to what?" I give her a confused look.

"Ask."

I ponder on her invitation to get to know her. What would I like to know? 

I say the first thing that comes to mind. "How'd you end up there, with the dragon earlier? I mean, you weren't alone when you encountered it, were you?"

She blows some bangs out of her eyes. "Nope. My friends, they..." 

Her answers are short. Straight to the point. No sign of human feelings or sentiment. "I mean Jeff found the dragon's nest by accident. We couldn't lose it. I told them to run." 

The trees' leaves rustle as they brush each other through the cool night breeze. A long silence of deep thought passes, as I imagine her past and her friends. She doesn't say a word for a very long time. But after the painfully thick silence, her tough barrier breaks.

"Th-they didn't even give me a second thought," she mumbles to herself. By the way her words sound, I know she's on the verge of tears. By now, everything is so dark I can't even see her completely. But I hear her crying. 

"Jeff, he..." She stops mid-sentence and gives a tiny sob. "He said he loved me. That I meant so much to him, he'd give his very own life for mine." She whimpers the tiniest bit. "And I believed him."

She says it like it's the stupidest thing she's ever done. To fall in love. 

"But he ran the fastest," she continues. "He left the danger... and he left me." 

I don't know why she's telling me all this, but my heart melts at her words. After listening to nothing but her sobs for a while, I almost feel like crying myself. 

"Hey, Calia, c'mon. You're tough," I say rubbing her shoulders trying to boost her up. "We'll find them. I know we will."

She swallows. 

"I'm not sure I want to." Her answer is barely a whisper, like she's talking to herself.

For a long time, we just sit there in the dead of night. I still feel her shoulders shake from crying, until the movements become smaller, and her body finally relaxes. She has cried herself to sleep. I look at Mason's direction, still awake and keeping watch beside Celeste's figure in deep slumber. Every now and then, I catch his eyes glancing to see if Celeste is okay.

In this place, I can't remember the last time I felt safe. But I do now, somehow.

And I drift off to sleep, knowing things will work out. For Mason and Celeste. For Calia. 

For me.