Young Writers Society

“Alright, Lucius, you have to promise me not to freak out,” Wila said, stepping around a tree. Doing so made her bump into Mikhail and his entire body jerked away in surprise. She raised an eyebrow and nudged him again, nearly tripping him over a tangle of plants. “You too, I guess.”

“Continue.” The plains terrain was visible beyond the last unorderly rows of trees, much to Lucius’s relief. Flat slopes meant less hiding places for would-be murderers and plenty of space for him to escape at top speed.

“Alright,” she repeated, and took a deep breath, “the friend before was real. The way we used her, though, wasn’t. Mikhail here travelled with her for a while, it seems. I was with another group of… four? Five? Can’t really remember, but I stayed with them for quite a while.” There was hesitation, and then a wary glance at Lucius. “She’s dead now.”

“Huh?” Lucius pulled a face and lifted a hand to cup his ear. “Excuse me, could you repeat that?”

A whimper. Mikhail shuffled to the side. The combination of white hair, pale skin, and a light top made him all the more pathetic and ghostly- he certainly floated away like one. “Erm, I’ll… m-move over now.” As soon as that was said, the boy broke into a timely gait in a direction diagonal to their current one.

“Urgh, fine. She’s dead. As in, we killed her.” Displeasure was plastered onto her face as the they stepped into the plains. The army of green grass thinned out into rogue battalions amongst their dry yellow counterparts and a breeze pushed at those who dared stand tall.

The information fluttered through Lucius’s ears, settled into his brain, and then promptly got itself jammed in his mental gears. Everything spluttered to a stop and Lucius was left staring at Wila with a blank expression as his facial muscles died down as well. A word managed to slip past the unresponsive workings. “What?”

Wila kept her gaze forward. “Hey, if it makes you feel better, I didn’t participate in it. I was lounging around with another guy and the tall one… Jerry? Johnathon? He came back and told us about it. Awfully happy, he was; I think he had a friend or something that-“

“Don’t give me that!” Lucius snapped, recovering his functions. Almost involuntarily, he pushed her away and quickened his pace. Mikhail was walking in a wobbly path that strayed further and further from the beach’s direction. He hurried over. “Mikhail. Y-you… you knew-“

“Yes. I did.” His voice was quiet and the guilt that was hanging all over him, in his tone and on his face and lowering his head, made it worse. “I wasn’t… quite sure, before. Remember when I wondered to have seen her before? It made me doubtful, but before coming into the forest, she pulled me aside and told me the truth.”

“Then why are you siding with her?” Lucius hissed, shaking Mikhail by the shoulder. The action stopped the boy and left him with a bewildered look in his red eyes. “Reyna has a huge-ass club, and it sure looks like she can use it. We could tell her and I’m sure Wila wouldn’t stand a chance.”

“She strikes me as the hit-and-run person, Lucius…” Tugging at his plaid collar, Mikhail raised an eyebrow. “I’m… not sure how useful running her out w-will be… D-do you think that we’d move location fast enough for her not to track us down and simply… slit our throats in sleep?” A shudder was born from saying that thought out loud.

Lucius scoffed. “We have alternating night watch for a reason.”

“A-and… everyone will stick together? All the time?” With an exasperated sigh Lucius did not approve of, the boy averted his eyes to watch the distant waves. Everyone seemed to be avoiding eye contact today. “Personally… I feel that the more allies, the better.”

“I like my allies a bit more trustworthy.” Lucius followed Mikhail’s line of sight and could see nothing more interesting than the conversation at hand. Except for maybe that mosquito, the fat little buzzing speck that hovered closer every moment. That deserved a careful watch. He was getting off topic. With a fierce blink, Lucius swiveled his glare back to Mikhail’s ear. “The consequences outweigh the positives, here, Mikhail!”

“Yes, but-“

“Why the heck am I the one arguing for this?” Placing his hand onto the head of white hair, Lucius forced Mikhail to face him. “One of her buddies killed a friend of yours and that-“ He used his thumb to point over his shoulder without actually looking for where Wila was or what face she had on- “is not the face of guilt.”

“I, I… can’t blame her for what a companion did,” Mikhail whispered. He graced Lucius with his focus, although the eyes were a little lower than Lucius would’ve liked. “That’d be… awfully hypocritical of me.”

Lucius paused in his assault. He had no idea what Mikhail was talking about. Again. From his experience, it was always important to have the facts established. Some background was due. “What do you mean by hypocritical? You’re not telling me something here.”

“Want my life story? It looks like you won’t be satisfied with anything less.” Now there was sarcasm coming from the boy. Quiet sarcasm, but still.

Either the teen had been struck with a rebellious phase out of the blue, or he had always smothered this attitude up with shyness. Lucius leaned over a bit more. Mikhail’s expression wasn’t much more than a granite mask. Uninviting, to say the least.

On one hand, Lucius didn’t like this new disrespect. On the other, he felt some responsibility for pushing the kid too far. Open mouth. Close mouth. What to say?

“What’s up?” Wila popped up behind the two and slung her arms around them, pulling the two closer to her. A strained grin adorned her face.  Lucius swore he could feel her breath on his ear. “Don’t leave me outta things, guys!”