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T h e   H o l l o w s   I n
O U R  F R E E D O M
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S K Y
(😈)

What awoke me a few hours later was either the rising sun or the worry I had for Alexi, despite how long after the horror it now was.

I rolled over, meeting Jameson's side, which of course comforted me instantly.

He shifted as I nudged him accidentally, and I watched as he craned his neck to smile down at me.

"Morning, Beautiful."

I couldn't help but grin at the greeting, yet I looked up and laughed. "See, now we have too much freedom; we've become that couple."

Jameson chuckled in response, pulling me closer and taking his eyes off me to look up at the tent ceiling, which was illuminated by the dawn sun.

"And what if I want to be 'that' couple?" He asked, making me stifle a small laugh.

I shrugged. "I guess then it's okay, JJ." Jameson's arm twitched, but I knew he wasn't upset; he kept his arm around me, holding me.

I buried myself into his side, squeezing my eyes shut. "Do we have to get up?" I complained, revelling in the heat and comfort his body brought to me.

Jameson took a few moments to respond. "I can hear someone walking around, so yes, pretty soon, and also you may want to check if Alexi is still alive."

At that, I pushed myself up and away from his side, and then proceeded to slap his chest. He laughed at the response, but then reached up to tuck locks of hair behind my ear, the kind of look in his eyes that he always got when he was this close to me. I'm pretty sure the look told me that I was the only one. The only one he loved.

With that, I pressed a last kiss to his forehead, took my water bottle and left the tent. As I made my way over to Lexi and Jace's tent, I took sips of my water. I approached the tent slowly, and then paused to listen out for any audible talking.

There didn't seem to be any, so I just went right in and decided to unzip the tent. Expecting them to be about five metres apart because of the distance in relationship, you could imagine my surprise when I found them practically on each other.

Exaggeration, but they were enveloped in each other's embrace.

Perhaps they got very cold overnight, or maybe they both moved around a lot. The latter was evident by the fact that the duvet underneath them was very unkept.

Well, I didn't come here to judge the tidiness, I came to see if Lexi was alive—which she is. I smiled at the pair of them, taking in the odd sight for one last time, and then I backed out of the tent.

I yelped when I felt my foot meet something hard. I turned to see Elle standing behind me, arms crossed over her chest.

I swallowed, and then gave her a greeting smile.

"What are we looking at?" She asked, peering over my shoulder and into the tent, which is when an unfamiliar look crossed over her eyes. The edges of her lips upturned slightly, too.

"Come on, lets start breakfast." She said, beckoning me to come away from the tent. I sighed and turned back, peering over at the two, seeing Lexi stir slightly, one last time before I zipped up the tent.

We walked away from it and over to the dead campfire and, as we did, I felt as Elle placed an arm around me to guide me over. She had been slightly hostile around me to start with, but little gestures like these made me see that she did have a maternal side, and that maternal side is all for me.

Elle and I soon started a fire, which Jameson had taught me how to do before this mission had even begun. She watched me, and then smiled when the fire began.

"Good job." She said, and then she whacked a cooking pot on the fire.

As we began to ration what we could, Elle snapped her head up. I frowned, raising my head to see Saph trudging over to us, rubbing at her eyes.

I frowned. "How are you actually the first one up?" I asked.

She plonked herself down on a big stone. Then I realised that she wasn't rubbing sleep from eyes—they were tears.

I dropped everything I was holding, pushing it to Elle and joining Saph on the stone, watching her sniffle.

"Saph." I whispered, her running tears upsetting me. What was wrong?

She shook her head, brushing her tears away quickly. "It's nothing." She told me, sniffing and crossing her arms over her chest to keep herself warm.

I think she saw me frowning at her, so she sighed.

"Jonah and I had an argument. That's all."

I paused. And then I reached over to pull her in for a side embrace. She snuggled into me, and after a few moments, I decided to speak up.

"You'll get through it." Was all I told her, my voice in a low whisper.

Next, I heard a series of snapping twigs. "Yo, peeps, I–" the owner of the voice, Alexi, froze when she saw Saph and I.

She didn't comment on it, and instead walked over to Elle, who was midway through cooking. "Did someone die?" I heard her ask, though I'm sure it was supposed to be quiet.

Elle watched me for a few seconds, before giving Lexi a weird look. Lexi, oblivious to everything in this current moment, just responded with an equally weird look. There was an unspoken conversation between them that I'd have to grill Lexi about later.

Slowly, but surely, the three boys began to join us. When they did, starting with Jameson, Saph came away from me, brushing her hair back and reasserting herself. I stayed by her side though, feeling suddenly protective of her.

As Lexi and Elle handed out the food, I watched as everyone began to settle. Soon, everyone got their food, the little of it that was produced, and I frowned as Lexi sat a full five metres away from Jace. Did they have an argument too?

"Okay." Elle announced as we began to finish up. "This should now be the last leg of our mission. We should reach our destination just in time for lunch, so I'm not expecting any of you to grow hungry or tired in that short space of time." She finished, looking around and narrowing her eyes at us. Even if we were to feel tired and hungry, we now wouldn't due to that one death glare. Elle had that kind of authority.

"Or for anyone to fall off a cliff." Jonah retorted, obviously just trying to be funny. We all scowled at him. I, though, just waited for Lexi's response, since I knew it was coming.

She opened her mouth, and I could already feel the ground opening up and burying him before she had even begun.

But then she was interrupted. "I'd like to see you try to fight five armed fighters on a clifftop."

The interruption came from Jace, and startled us all. It startled Lexi, too, and surprisingly, seemed to startle Jace himself.

None of us responded to that, since I'm not really sure we knew how to. Elle began to tidy collect up the dishes, I'm guessing to fill up the silence, so I stood up to help her.

Lexi rose, bringing a pile of plates over to us, handing them over to Elle, who then handed them to me. I took them, though confused as I did. Elle didn't notice my confusion and turned to Lexi, saying something in a low tone to her. With that, they were off.

Still confused, I watched them go, but decided to shrug it off and begin cleaning the dishes. I felt as someone joined me after a few moments, crouching down to where I was on the floor.

I turned to see that the person was Jameson, and I smiled at him.

He gestured to the woods that Elle and Lexi had just disappeared into, a questioning look on his face. "What was that about?" He asked.

I shrugged, and then ducked my head to continue my cleaning. "I don't know. There's something weird going on, though."

With that, I looked up, my eyes meeting Jace's. I think it was the first time that I ever observed him, rather than him observing me.

There's something weird going on.

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yah what's weird is that U LITERALLY CAUGHT THEM LYING IN EACH OTHER'S ARMS AND U STILL AINT CLOCKING

let's give it up to the most oblivious protagonist yallll

Also okay. Skyson was so wholesome. Cut me some slack I literally wrote this 8 months ago like.

that's a long time

I just

ship
strong ship

-not like the titanic

FABULOUS SONGS

Songs that played when I was writing this chapter (in order):
People Help The People - Birdy
Wonderwall - Ryan Adams
Alive - Gabrielle Aplin
Youth - Foxes
Mended - Vera Blue
Hurricane - MS MR
One Last Time - Ariana Grande
Heaven Help Me - RAIGN
Youth - Foxes
Twenty Seven - MS MR
Young And Beautiful - Lana Del Rey
Recover - Ruelle

END OF FABULOUS SONGS

Date written:
01/05/18
02/05/18

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Next update: Wednesday (after my uni interview yikes)
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CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR SPOILER:

Elle and Lexi's private conversation is revealed.

Lexi faces a difficult choice.

The team embark on their last leg of the mission.

Upcoming,
is one of the best
revelations
of the series.

Are you ready?