The Hollows In Our Freedom | 'Hollows' Book Ⅲ

Chapter Sixty-Two

_________________________________

T h e H o l l o w s I n 
O U R F R E E D O M
_________________________________

A L E X I

We walked in silence.
No one even mentioned sleep, we just walked through the nightfall.

After something as catastrophic as that, I think our bodies just keep going. We walked until the ground became wet. It was raining again.

We set up the tents quickly and robotically, and soon, Jace and I laid in a dimly lit tent.

I stared up at the tent's roof. Jace turned to look at me suddenly. He had been acting strangely normal, as if he was the only human in our robot overcome team.

"It wasn't your fault."

It was as if he could read my mind. Sometimes I thought he actually could, other times I wished he could read my heart.

I continued to stare upwards. "I had a choice, and I did not choose Sapphire."

"You chose me. If you had left me, maybe the same would've happened, but to me."

I squeezed my eyes shut. I knew he was trying to make me feel better, but he was actually making me feel worse.

"I could've asked Jonah to stay with you. I could've done something." I said, my mood becoming pensive.

"Lex, you can't just get stuck on the 'could have's; you tried your hardest."

I swallowed and shook my head. "My hardest isn't enough anymore."

"But you–"

"She saved our lives, Jace, the least I could've done is do the same for her." With that, I rolled over on my side and faced the tent wall, ready to sleep.

I heard shuffling, and I thought Jace was going to turn off the light. Then he said, "she saved our lives, and you tried the same in return."

Next, we were submerged into darkness.

I found it hard to fall asleep—Jace's optimism and my failure battling in my head, cutting slits into the sides of my brain.

In my heart was nothing but a heartbeat. Only there to survive. Only there to do something I couldn't do for Sapphire.

"Lex."

I jumped, waking up instantly.

"Good morning, how did you sleep?"

I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and sat upward, aware of Jace looking down at me. I ignored him and left the tent instantly, not even bothering to take out my braids.

"Morning, Lexi, did you wan–"

I brushed past the person, making their speech halt in surprise. I continued to stalk off, heading for a private place to go to the toilet.

When I was done, I noticed that my lip was trembling.

And then I broke.