𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐉𝐄𝐂𝐓 𝐇𝐎𝐏𝐄, 𝗷𝗼𝗵𝗻 𝗺𝘂𝗿𝗽𝗵𝘆

𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙞𝙭

CHAPTER SIX
survive the night.

•••

ㅡ Day 13 ㅡ

WISHFUL thinking could be a dangerous thing, Claire knew that. It might not be the kind of danger that would get someone killed, but still. Avoiding evidence, rationality, and reality and just believing what you wanted to believe wouldn't do any good. If anything, it would only make it even harder when the reality you were trying to avoid came crashing down on you.

And yet she just let herself have that.

The chances of the Ark seeing their rocket flares were slim to none. Because in order for that to happen, at least one of the people on the Ark needed to look outside at the exact time they fired the flares. And with them having their hands full with their plan to reduce population, it was really unlikely to happen. Although, Raven seemed to believe that Clarke's mother, Abby, would be watching. But with what the woman had just doneㅡillegally sending Raven to the groundㅡshe was more likely to be locked up or dead at the moment, rendering the flares useless. 

She's dead, Claire thought. Her mom was dead, or she would be. It was time to accept the inevitable. After all it was exactly what she did when she decided to stop helping; condemning them all, including her mom, to death. The longer she waited to accept that, the harder it would be. But why did it feel so hard already? Why did a large part of her even vehemently refuse to accept it?

Finally giving up on trying to get some sleep, Claire came out of her tent. She found the others gathered around the bonfire with Bellamy in the middle, briefing them about the rescue mission for his sister. Apparently, Octavia hadn't returned to the camp after the argument with Bellamy this morning. There were so many possibilities as to what happened to the younger Blake, and most of them were not good, but since Claire had quit the rescue business, she decided not to take part in the mission.

"Guys, guys. Come here!"

"What is that?"

"It's so bright. Did you see that?"

"Look up there!"

Those murmurs was coming from the rescue team, and immediately caught Claire's attention. Curious, she trotted over to them and looked up to see what they were fussing about.

Her breath caught in her throat when she found hundreds of lights falling down from the sky. She knew exactly what it was, and what it meant. And even though she had given up her wishful thinking, reality still struck her hard.

"They didn't work," Raven mumbled, joining them with eyes glued to the sky, "They didn't see the flares."

For the first time, Claire hated being right about something.

Bellamy turned to the new girl with a confused look. "A meteor shower tells you that?"

Of course the guy would think it was a meteor shower. As expected from the candidate of the new idiot of the year.