#malblake

                                      ‘   DO  I  STILL  LOOK   pretty  like  this   ?   ‘          a  highly  glossed  pout  twists  at  bubblegum  lips,      the  image  of  girlish  DISTRESS  as  she  eyes  herself  in  a  compact  mirror.     rosy  tipped  fingers  stray  up  to  touch  the  ENDS  of  shorn  locks,    distress  evident  in  DOE  EYES.          ‘   the  last  time  i  was  out  on  a  CALL,    mojo  jojo  put  something  sticky  in  it.      i  had  to  CUT  it  all  off,    &&    now  look  at  me  !   ‘

:: @malblake

 it was done now. over. that was the one thing he kept repeating in his head. they were all back. not all of them. but that was something he didn’t want to linger on too long. they were back, most of them had made it back to camp. not all of them had come home unharmed. but at least they were breathing. they had made it and that was what mattered. they were living. 

 and so was he. every breath he took in and let out was his constant reminder of that. every moment that passed by was his reminder. the images before his eyes, the camp around him, the people who needed him. reminders. all of it. but he couldn’t scratch away what had been burned into his mind, the images of the people of Mount Weather. the innocent and the guilty. he couldn’t take it away, couldn’t wash himself of it. and on most nights he couldn’t sleep. 

 one week. that was all it had been but it felt like seven years instead of days. seven long years. they talked about building up, they talked about who made what decision. and they would look at him as if he was misplaced. out of it. not right for the job. the last of the hundred looked at him like he was the right fit but with a missing end. and he felt- he made sure he felt nothing at all. too much work, too much going on. 

@malblake

 leaving had been his only option. the only one he thought would protect him and Octavia. Octavia especially. she didn’t know the truth. and she didn’t need to know it. she was instead enthralled by the city and it’s bright lights. the way the world had decided to play out before her. she was happy for the first time in a long time. and he liked the way happiness looked on her. he liked knowing he had done some right by her. because it had all been for her. in the end that was how everything turned out being. all for her. it was the way he had lived since she had been born and he wouldn’t change it for anything. 

 two years. they had been in the city two years. Octavia was graduating soon, he was working the beat. a busy job. she’d tell him not to get shot. but there was something endearing about her ‘careless’ worry that struck him. and he made sure not to. because he knew that she needed him to be there for her. to take care of her. but she was older now, and she had seen a lot more of the world now. no more the sheltered little girl he had taken from his own arms and shown this big wide world to. no more. and he was feeling the increasing detachment between them. what was there left to live for without her? he didn’t think of it. because he had work. he had something. a small thing by comparison. but he never let things like this get to him. he was better off not letting that happen. so he committed himself to half hearted friendships. like with his partner, Jimmy. and Jimmy was getting married tomorrow. Octavia had asked him if he’d ever get married. he almost answered that he would never leave her but instead he told her he hadn’t thought about. 

                   dark brows knit together forming two neat lines between as the teen frowned. they’d already scouted the entirety of their chosen HOME for the night, but somewhere within the building’s depths nick could hear a definite CLUNKING. he was tired, but if he had to FIGHT he would. finger pressed to his lips, he spoke in a whisper, barely audible to even himself. ❝ do you hear that ? ❞ 

            a loud crash of glass shattering across tile floor echoed through the drugstore, forcing every muscle in the stretch of beth’s body to tense.  mallory was outside, ready and waiting to sound the alarm at any sight of danger, but inside the songbird was alone.  or so she thought before the crash.  ducking behind a nearby nail polish display, blue eyes scanned the boarded-up store in hopes of finding the source of the loud noise.  it wasn’t until she heard a familiar groaning that it all began to make sense.  better a walker than a human, right?  still, she wasn’t taking any chances.  pulling the walkie talkie from her belt, she pressed her lips close to the speaker as she called out to her awaiting teammates outside, voice barely above a whisper.  ❛  –––––somethin’s in here, I think it’s a walker.  y’all holdin’ up okay?  ❜