Bellamy sat on a log around the fire, staring into the flames. The music of the party washed over him and he absorbed the feeling, glad for the distraction.
He didn't quite know what the party was for, some birthday or engagement party no doubt- for those attempting to salvage light out of the dark.
People were dancing and laughing and singing and kissing and just enjoying themselves in general, but he just found it so fake. Too forced. How could they celebrate life when they had taken that very same thing from so many people?
His eyes scanned the camp, immediately finding Auriela. She was sat on the floor, cross-legged, surrounded by many of his friends. Octavia was sat behind her, braiding her hair and grinning at something. Raven was there too, legs stretched in front of her, gesturing animatedly, and Monty had his knees tucked up under his chin. The boy's eyes kept flicking to Jasper, who looked like Bellamy felt; haunted and alone.
Auriela laughed, fingers fiddling with the flowers she was currently weaving into a crown. Next to her, was a small pile comprised of two or three previous attempts, with various different flowers. As she added the last one, her eyes squinted in concentration and she held it up triumphantly once she had completed it, "Aha!"
Monty raised his head in slight interest, peering at the flower crown in her hands. "What is it?" He asked.
"This is a flower crown," she replied, eyes sparkling and she reached out to put it on his head.
"Daisies," Monty muttered, but he didn't take the crown off. His eyes softened a little.
Raven watched her, "How did you learn to do that?"
Auriela shrugged slightly, making sure to keep her head still so Octavia could braid it, she said, "I had a lot of spare time and a lot of flowers. It's amazing what comes out of boredom."
Raven just smiled. "That's pretty cool."
"What do you do around here?" Auriela asked curiously, wanting to understand this way of living.
Raven smirked, "I play with gadgets."
"Gadgets?" She questioned, eyes wide with incredulity. "What on earth is that? It sounds like a horrible disease!"
Raven laughed loudly, throwing her head back. "Not quite, Ella," she said, amusement dripping into her voice. "Gadgets are electrically-powered equipment, like computers and radios and-"
"Walkmans?"
"Yeah," Raven said, a small frown on her face. A few seconds of thinking, and she began to clamber to her feet, but fell back again, yelling out in pain. Her hand flew to her thigh, where the hole from the drill was located. Auriela leapt forward, detangling her hair from Octavia's fingers.
She knelt beside Raven, eyes concerned, touch ghosting along her arm. "Are you okay?"
Raven stared at her, stumped. Here was a girl who hadn't been exposed to human interaction for a decade and yet, she was acting as though Raven was about to drop dead. Her worry was palpable.
"I'm fine," Raven said, biting back a grimace as she stood up. But she didn't move.
Auriela touched her wound gently, finding it from the sodden material that was stained with fresh blood. Glancing up at the other girl, she raised an eyebrow. Raven didn't do anything.
Auriela bit her lip before ripping the trouser material so she could access the hole. "The hell?" Raven asked in bewilderment.
"This is too deep to just brush aside with hope it heals. Multiple layers of tissue have been broken," Auriela commented, analysing her leg. "I've got some stuff that can make it better if you like? Back at my cave. It's called Sanator. Heals like magic."
"Sanator?" Monty queried. "I've never heard of that. Definitely didn't grow it on the Ark."
"I think it's primarily Earth-grown. Does wonders to deep wounds; somehow, the properties of the plant's pulp duplicate and rebuild all kinds of cells, skin cells, blood cells-"
"How do you know that?" Octavia asked.
"Books."
"Books?" Her face cleared immediately and intrigue settled in. "You've got books?"
Auriela nodded. "My dad gave them me. When he sent me down here to die."
There was silence at that statement. What could you really say? I'm sorry? You're dad's a dick? Me too? No, nothing would suffice. Nothing could possibly make her feel better; they ought to know.
Raven tried to keep the pity from entering her face. She said, "I'll just be a second," before she disappeared.
Monty smiled, "Guess we're not so different after all."
Auriela froze at that. "What do you mean?"
The two Sky People shared a glance. "Bellamy didn't tell you?" Octavia asked carefully.
Her blood ran cold. "Tell me what?"
"Our people sent 100 of us down here to die too. On a dropship from the Ark. We were supposed to be the test subjects to see if Earth was survivable or not, because the Ark was dying... Lucky for us, it was," Octavia said bitterly. She clenched her jaw.
'The Ark was dying.'
That wasn't the first time Auriela had heard that. She decided to ask what it meant, while she had the chance. "What do you mean the Ark was dying?"
"We were running out of oxygen," Monty answered. "97 years on and the engineers hadn't supplied us with enough oxygen due to population increase and law-breakers."
Octavia swallowed, reaching out almost absent-mindedly to continue braiding Auriela's hair.
"Sounds like life on the Ark was fun," she commented dryly.
"Wouldn't know," O muttered.
Something she said made Auriela frown. "Why were you sent down?"
"We were criminals."
"Criminals?!" Her eyes bugged out of their sockets and the excitement she felt was evident. She was bouncing as she quirked an eyebrow and asked, looking between the two of them, "What did you do?"
"Let's just say," Monty began. "That fruit and veg weren't the only things grown on the Ark."
Auriela's hand shot up to cover her mouth, but the laugh escaped anyway. "Oh, shit," she said.
Then, her attention shifted to Octavia. The other girl didn't look up from plaiting her hair. "I was born."
The grin was wiped off of Auriela's face. They condemned a girl to death for being born? Part of her was secretly relieved she had not been subjected to the same life these people had on the Ark.
Her eyes drifted, without meaning to, onto Bellamy. The words tumbled out of her mouth before she could stop them, "What about Bellamy?"
Octavia's fingers paused. "He shot the Chancellor."
Her eyes were trained on Auriela's face, as if daring her to say something but she didn't.
A few minutes later, she asked, "It's not a crime if he deserved it."
Octavia looked at her sharply, "What?"
"I'm assuming this is the same man that robbed you of your life for being born, yes? You're his little sister. From this vantage, the man deserved it."
Octavia blinked then diverted her focus. "If only things were that simple," she replied ruefully.
"Here!"
Raven was towering above them, smirking. She dropped something in Auriela's lap.
"Your very own gadget!" The gadget in question was a small walkie-talkie.
It was very similar to her Walkman, in the sense that it had a large speaker and multiple buttons, but this had no tape player. When she clicked the On button, all that played was white noise.
She turned it off again. Suddenly, it clicked into life and a man's voice spoke, "Wick to Flower Girl. Wick to Flower Girl. Hello Flower Girl. Thought I'd introduce you to good old Walkie the Talkie."
"It's like magic!" Auriela exclaimed, relishing in turning the device on and off, listening to snippets of Wick's voice.
"It's just a Walkie-Talkie," Octavia said, nearly laughing.
"Yes, well. I've been deprived of all these delicacies so I do think I'm entitled to be a complete and total blathering imbecile around something!"
And the three of them just sat quietly and watched the new girl play with a Walkie Talkie, wondering how anyone could live in only snatches of real life, and all it had to offer. They could not remember the last time they had witnessed such undisturbed innocence.
Auriela clicked the button, trying to stifle a grin as she said into the gadget, "Hello Wick. This is Flower Girl."
The Walkie Talkie buzzed. "Why, hey there Flower Girl. You like the gadget?"
"Yes," she replied, smiling. "Do you play with them all day too?"
"I wouldn't say 'play'. My work is pretty serious, heavy stuff."
"Oh, I see." She laughed as Raven rolled her eyes.
"So how are you enjoying the party?"
"It's nothing like what I expected it to be," Auriela replied, looking around at everyone.
"Oh? Why not?"
"Because people aren't happy."
The line crackled.
"And should they be?" Wick asked.
Her eyes lingered on people's smiles and dances, hiding everything, then she averted her eyes to stare at the ground. With a small shrug, she said, "You tell me. You're the one who's been around them your whole life."
Wick didn't reply. But Auriela was unrelenting.
In a soft voice, she questioned, "Should they be happy?"
Although the Walkie-Talkie was on, still he didn't reply. She held her breath.
When he finally spoke, his voice seemed heavy.
"That's a good question, Flower Girl... I don't know."
Auriela let her hand fall into her lap, gadget momentarily forgotten. She thought about people, about their reasons to be happy. Surely, they should be happy?
They were alive, weren't they? With food and water and each other? They had much more reason to be happy than she had, and yet in this camp, she felt like sunshine in winter.
She thought about the things these people must have gone through to reach the place of unhappiness that they found themselves stuck in. Was that why people left, she wondered? Because it was easier to run away from the darkness, than to greet it?
Her mind seemed to automatically slide to Bellamy. Her eyes found him too. He was sat, alone, near the big bonfire, with his back to them. There was something about Bellamy Blake that screamed unhappiness; he had lost too much for too little, it seemed. He was most decidedly not happy.
Auriela felt the petals of one of her flower crowns brush against her leg. She was wearing her own clothes still; rags and scraps- Raven said that she'd help her find some new clothes tomorrow.
She stood up, picking one of her wild flower crowns with her before walking over to Bellamy.
He didn't acknowledge her presence at first, transfixed by the dancing flames. She sat patiently, eyes locked on the reddy-orange heat. She loved fire; loved the power it had over others; loved the will it possessed to survive.
When she glanced at him, his eyes were already on her. She smiled.
"Hey grumpy guts."
Bellamy frowned. "I'm not grumpy."
Auriela scoffed. "Oh, of course not. You're a little ray of sunshine. My mistake."
He raised an eyebrow, lips quirking, but didn't comment.
She cocked her head before reaching up to put the crown on his head. Bellamy recoiled almost instantly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm putting a crown on your head," she said simply. "I thought that much was obvious."
"A what?"
"A crown. Well, a flower crown," she held it up and wiggled it for emphasis.
"You want me to wear a flower crown?" Bellamy asked.
"Yes." Auriela frowned, leaning forward to try and put it on his head again. When he moved away, she stuck her tongue out to wet her lips. "Stop moving! You're making this very difficult."
"Good," Bellamy said, but he stayed still and allowed her to put it on his hair.
Once positioned, Auriela smiled triumphantly. She clapped her hands. "There!" She cried. "Beautiful!"
Bellamy just pulled a sour-looking face. He didn't move to take it off.
"What's wrong?" She asked quietly.
"Nothing."
"Scowls, short answers, seclusion- something's wrong. Tell me."
Bellamy looked at her, his face creased. "We're at a party."
"Not your thing, huh?"
He winced. "Something like that."
Auriela felt her heart twinge, her body slumped in a small sigh, "Bellamy..."
"What?"
"Tell me," she leaned forwards slightly so she could see his face. He looked pained.
Finally, he dragged his attention to her.
"Have you ever seen something die? Ever watched someone's life drain out of their eyes? Have you ever killed someone, Auriela?"
"You know I haven't," she answered.
"I have. In fact, most of these people have. I killed over three hundred in just a few minutes. Took their lives by just pushing a lever."
"What are you trying to do? Scare me away?" Auriela asked. "It's not working."
Bellamy stared at her for a few seconds then let out a small laugh. "No, it's not. If you knew what I've done, then you would be back at your little cave within no time."
She frowned at him. "Do you think I am scared at what you could've done? I know what people are capable of! I'm not an idiot, Bellamy! Why can't you see that?"
Bellamy shook his head, leaning towards her and shaking her arms roughly. His eyes were shining with tears. "I'm a monster, Auriela. We all are. People...they aren't what you think they are..."
She averted her gaze, staring blankly at the floor. So far, they weren't what she had thought they were; they were sad and broken and lost souls, trapped in the vessels gifted to them. But there was also so much brilliance, so many sparks of intelligence and compassion and all of that seemed wasted on a wisp of sadness that rooted itself into their bone marrow and spiked their bloodstream with a depression so void they feel worthless.
People were terribly confusing, she concluded. But she wouldn't change them for the world.