notion • john murphy

PROLOGUE

[ PROLOGUE ]

༺═──────────────═༻

   The Sky People.

They giggle and spin like children. Like they had never been happier in their lives. Boys and girls hold hands and smile. Some of them lay in the grass and stare up at the sky. Happiness, relief, excitement, they all feel it.

And for a second, as she watches them laugh and yell, Sayah wishes she could feel it too.

She shakes those thoughts away. She's a warrior. She had a job to do.

"They are strange." A voice comments as they approach beside her. "What do you think is their purpose?"

"They landed here, Lincoln." Sayah responds. "From the sky," She adds, glancing up. "Their purpose could be anything, brother."

Before Lincoln can reply, a deep voice of one of the Sky People catches their attention. It's two main groups, a blonde stands to the side of a dark-skinned boy. The blonde's face is full of worry and concern. The dark-skinned boy glares at a brunette and his two allies who stand across from them.

"It seems that they are not all united," Lincoln murmurs.

"Wherever they came from must have laws," Sayah voices her thoughts. "Maybe they're divided somehow." She keeps her gaze on the brunette, who snarls something to the opposite pair.

Sayah furrows her brows. He stands tall with his chin up — he's confident. He must be a fighter of some sort. His body language only increased her interest. He seemed very on guard and tense. One of the pair across from him respond back to him and it seems like something personal. But the boy doesn't react.

Then, when the people surrounding him weren't looking, she sees his confidence falter for a second then it suddenly goes back up. Like nothing had ever happened. Interesting. He was good at it; putting on a facade. Sayah begins to wonder about the boy.

Why did he put on a confident facade? Why put it up when even she — a girl he had never met — and him, both know that when it gets dark at night and he's alone, he lets it fall to the floor. Then like the rise of the sun, back up it goes.

She wonders if he even had anyone to confidently put the facade down with. She wonders if he had shown anyone what was behind the confidence and snarky comments. She wondered what exactly was behind the confidence and snarky comments.

"The boy. . ." She whispers, more to herself.

"Which one?" Lincoln replies.

Sayah held her tongue. It didn't matter. Why was she thinking about him like that? "We must head back to the village. I've seen enough." She turns around, beginning to walk in the opposite direction, away from Lincoln.

She didn't know why she had become so invested in the boy. She didn't know why she had questioned him like that; pulled him apart in her mind and searched so deeply.

He was just a Sky boy. The enemy. She brushed her thoughts of him anyway, scolding herself for even wasting her time on him.

Lincoln caught up quickly. "Ah, so you are in charge now?" He questions, raising his eyebrows.

Sayah scoffs. "No," She replies easily. "But if I was, everything would be much better, wouldn't it?" She adds. Lincoln huffs annoyedly and Sayah cracks a smile.

   Part of her hoped she would see the boy again someday. Maybe even behind his carefully built facade.

༺═──────────────═༻

a/n

here we go
hello! this is a book i started a long time ago n hated so much so i decided to rewrite it ( as best i could at least )
anddddd i like memes. so i guess i put them in the author's notes of each chapter .
n e ways

hope you enjoy this book !

^ sayah when thinking about murphy n what he's like deep deep down