Chapter 75

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Searching for clues about your past in an abode wasn't half as fun as Clarke thought it would be.

When she had first heard of the idea, she had let out an enthusiastic yes and there was a bunch of vigorous nodding. After all—it was clues to their past that they were trying to find, and it was a break from hunting and gathering duties that they painstakingly needed if they wanted to live a less-hungry lifestyle.

And sure, some might deem it unimportant—or at least, less important than, say, hunting and gathering were (namely Luna), it was still important to get clues of your past, because there might be hidden gems and hints to things that might actually end up helping in the physical hunting and gathering question, and two, Clarke certainly was not going to live memoryless for the rest of her life. So there. Even if it was to find something that might have a chance at triggering their memories, it was still better than not trying at all.

So, after Luna had agreed to their plan to rummage through the abode with a slight sigh, and on a condition that she be allowed to be pardoned from hunting for a bit, they had set the rummaging-through-the-abode plan in action.

And yes, though it was important, and yes, even though they had advocated for it, it was getting a bit grating over time.

Firstly, there were mosquitoes. God, and especially after Clarke thought that crazy mutated animals were the worst of it, now she had to revise her screaming-in-sheer-exasperation meter back to zero. Because god they were terrible, and god if Clarke wished that they never existed, and she'd have to curse twice if they brought around diseases of some kind. Which, wasn't exactly to be unexpected, what with them being in the middle of a forest and all.

And secondly, there were cockroaches. There wasn't much Clarke could say about it, except that they were the worst. She did not need large mutated cockroaches skittering around her feet every single time she had pushed a cabinet away. It was times like these when Clarke sort-of envied Lexa since she didn't need to worry about insects scurrying over her feet, but that had been shut down once she realised how scruffed her shoes had been, saw her calloused hands, and how, in her tiredness, she didn't even bother—or maybe even didn't notice—a few select insects crawling over her legs until Madi or Clarke had pointed them out.

If she had to go on a rant complaining about insects, she would be here forever. Which was why she wasn't about to go on a rant about them, because two terrible flesh-nibbling insects were enough, thank you very much.

''I have found something,'' Lexa announced, and Clarke whipped her head over to face her. She quickly placed down the gauze and candles she had found while she was rummaging through a drawer and quickly made her way towards Lexa.

In her hand was a book. Not just any book, however-it was a notebook. And though Clarke was somewhat disappointed in the fact that it wasn't a survival guide or anything, having a notebook that she assumed their past selves have written was definitely a win, if anything, right?

''What are... these?'' Lexa asked curiously as she flicked through the pages after pages of scenery drawings. Clarke looked over her shoulder, just as curious as she gazed at the drawings, with Madi beside her as she impatiently hopped on her feet, as if the physical act itself could speed them up with the random flicking.

''Perhaps we can find clues as to our location,'' Lexa mused, as she flicked through the book-but then suddenly, she had stopped, her fingers tracing a drawing that had taken up two whole pages-which had seemed like a map.

''Huh,'' Clarke murmured, as she looked at the drawing. Familiarity twinged within her-but it was an inch away from her grasp before the fleeting feeling faded away again. She bit back a frustrated sigh, and her eyes bored holes into the drawing as if trying to garner whatever she could to trigger another involuntary feeling or memory.

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