The Color of Knowledge

Chapter Fourteen (pt. 2)

Something was not right. The air was too still, and the tent too quiet. Ivy woke to silence that made her ears hurt. She held her hands over them with no success of blocking out the noise. It was internal.

She screamed. Silence. She screamed again. Silence. Ivy could not even hear her own attempts of getting help. Something was wrong.

"Ivy," a voice called out.

"Yes?"

"You're almost ready."

"I know."

Ivy woke. Slower this time—more cautious. She looked over at Zari who slept with her mouth open, snores escaping from within. The boys, being the gentlemen they were raised to be, had their own tent.

There was nothing to stop Ivy from exiting alone, as her fear of the land creatures had been extinguished. She could make out the two land creatures a few paces away, probably sleeping, or maybe not. She sat down, careful not to make any noise.

"When should we get going again?" Keegan asked suddenly.

Ivy flinched. "Why are you out here alone?"

"Same reason you are."

"To escape Zari's snores?"

Keegan laughed. "The real reason," he said, taking a seat on the hard ground next to her.

"To think."

"About what?"

"How we're going to pull this off. We're just kids." She revealed her biggest concern without looking at him.

"President Khamar was seventeen once."

"So?"

"So he's not as menacing if you keep that in mind, is he?"

Ivy shrugged. She tried to form a mental picture of a younger Khamar. He was setting forest fires and suffocating rabbits.

"Nope, still scary," she said, shaking the picture from her brain.

"At least I tried."

"You act like you aren't worried."

"I am, but when I think of all the people who stand behind us, I'm not so worried anymore. We aren't alone in this." Keegan paused before continuing. "My only wish is that my father had not acted like a coward." His head hung between his knees.

The secret Linus had revealed to Ivy rushed forward. "Your father is no coward." He had to know.

Keegan's head rose along with his eyebrows, waiting for something that would back up her statement. "Go on."

"Nothing," said Ivy. "I can tell he isn't being cowardly. He's being smart."

"Smart can only get you so far."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean that you can be smart, that's fine, but there's something more important than that alone."

"Which is?"

"Empathy."

"Like sympathy? They sound alike." Ivy was unfamiliar with the term.

"Sort of. Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another, while sympathy is feeling sorry for them. You can feel sorry for someone, but when you are able to see things from their point of view and really put yourself in their shoes..." Keegan paused. "You can gain deeper feeling."

A rare breeze swept through the small encampment.

"Have you ever experienced a situation where there was a smart thing to do, but then you put yourself in someone else's shoes and did something different?"

A memory pushed forward, breaking free. She turned her face away from Keegan; afraid her eyes would reveal her secret. She had never told anyone about what had happened the summer before The End. She was the only one that held the memory. Would speaking it into the world alter the events in any way?