"How can you lose when you never stop fighting?"
Cassiopeia Walker-Simmons looked at her star from a tiny window in space her whole life. She never imagined that it'd be even more beautiful from the ground. Yet every time she gazed upon the dazzlin...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
HOW TO BE A FRIEND
Sweat dripped down her forehead as she dug further into the ground, flinging the dirt carelessly behind her. She didn't pay attention to the wriggling life forms in the dirt, or the rope like roots sometimes blocking her path. She just carried on, powering through despite her aching arms and laboured breaths. The sun had risen far higher in the sky, dominating the empty space above them with it's blinding presence. It beat down on Cassie, searing into her body and punishing her. Why wasn't I there to save him? This thought spiralled in her head. Throwing the shovel into the ground again and aggressively throwing the dirt over her shoulder, she tried to battle against the screams begging to rip out of her throat.
Cassie can't remember what she was doing when she found out.
She might have been talking to Jay, head in her hand as she listened to him mindlessly drone on about how he had found different shaped rocks and collected them. She might have been helping finish the wall, bones aching as she lay the barrier around them, shielding them in a cage. She might have been asleep.
All she knew is that she nearly broke when she heard Clarke shriek the news.
Wells was dead.
All hopes of being pardoned, her get out of jail free card had perished. At least, that's what she told Jay when he asked if she was okay. In reality, she couldn't stop her eyes from drifting to the woods where they screamed for hours on end, or from the rock where they sat when she gave him the meat, or from the drop ship where Wells fell to the ground, defeated.
She'd lost a friend. Or what felt like the start of a beautiful friendship.
Cassie stopped, leaning on the shovel gasping, wiping at the sweat on her forehead. The hole was deep enough where she would have to climb to get out of it; she nearly smiled. He'd told her that he wanted to be a part of earth, and now she was going to make him as close to it as possible.
"Thank you." Cassie jumped, flipping the shovel into her hand and swinging it in the direction of the voice. A cry and the shovel whizzing through the air warned her that she hadn't hit the owner of the voice. Cassie raised it again to attack, the voice snapping. "It's Clarke, Cassie."
Cassie's grip on the shovel didn't lax. Clarke eventually came into view, her arms crossed over her chest and her looking down at Cassie. She had a single brow raised at Cassie's tense position. "You can relax now."
"I can never relax," Cassie sighed, casting a hesitant glance at Clarke. She subtly nodded her head - Cassie reluctantly propped the shovel against the ground. Her fists shook but she knew she had one advantage over the privileged blonde - she hadn't ever had to break her knuckles to save the one she loved. "For all I know, you're the one who stabbed Wells in the throat."
Clarke visibly reeled back. Her burning glare did nothing to Cassie's icy exterior, a frown setting deep into her forehead. "You believe I could have killed my best friend?"
