badlands ✄ ot4

17. the timing's never right

luke's pov

we let go of the situation that just occurred and continued to walk. the wind whispered in your ear and made your hair fly wistfully beside your face.
the moonless night was only illuminated by a dying flashlight held by ashton.
michael casted fire with his hands to light the way, but it drained him of energy.
the conversations between us were wordless.
with our body language, the lingering sense of anxiety and terror hung high in the air above us.
michael, with a new hair color, jet black with an undercut, was hovering around us, humming and playing with the fire on his fingertips.
juniper looked terrified. she was looking around like a dog, overwrought.
calum hung behind us, embarrassed and ashamed.
"i feel stupid." calum says to me in my head.
i look back at him and his cheeks are glistening with tears in the small amount of light.
i walk back to him, "calum?"
"its the stupidest fear ever. its foolish."
i shake my head, "fear is something that you have for your own body to fight. its an alarm almost, a type of awakening. the only thing one should ever be truly afraid of is their own mind. you choose what wins, brain or heart. or neither. let your soul decide what is foreboding and what is not."
calum smiles, "thank you, luke."
i smile back, "no need to thank me."
the night draws to morning, i checked my watch, 5:10 am it read.
juniper flinches at the slightest of sounds, even though its just us.
i hear the flick of a bow and arrow coming out of the corner of my peripheral vision, then a squeak coming from my sister.
"juniper?" i ask.
her shirt is drenched in red, her eyes glossed over. she stumbles foreword and collapses to the ground in front of my feet.
i go pale and fall to my knees, "juniper!" i shake her, but she goes limp in my arms.
pulse halts and stops.
dead.