Skylit by Jordan Wadley (black female authors TXT) 📕

"In a few days." I mumble in order to avoid the man's soft eyes.

"That's good." He smiles, turning around to sit next to the oldest man of them all.

"Mrs. Tunfrick, I'm afraid we don't gave good news." The old man speaks loud and clear, above the burning of the fire.

"I'm sorry officer, what might that news be?" She snaps, finally getting irritated of the pitying looks sent our way.

"You're husband, he was in a crash in town. The other woman didn't seem to notice his truck until she turned down the road. I'm so sorry."

With that, Beth's been smoking and drinking since. I don't think I've ever seen her without a bottle, and even since his death has been years ago, she's never gotten over it. When she began taking more than the doctor prescribed and drank more than the every day alcoholic, the baby was lost in a state of desperation. Beth didn't seem to care about the loss of the baby, more of the loss of her one and only husband. It's been a down track road since the incident.

The water soaked into my skin like a drug and washed all my worries away, nothing in world seemed to matter at the moment.

With each second that passed by, the glow of the water seemed to glow brighter and brighter. At one point I had to close my eyes and shield myself from the blinding light, I got one last glimpse of the bright light before I closed my eyes once more. Darkness invaded my mind, and before I had time to register my body hitting the cold hard ground, the dark cloud snuck me away and into the night.

****** 

I felt rough hands on the side of my face, a soft cloth wrapped around the side of my head. I knew without opening my eyes that Dan managed to get me out of the water and onto the softer ground.

With a startled gasp, I shot up straight and stared into the clearing. It was no longer as bright as it was with the light of the moon shining down on it, I hadn't realized I'd been out so long.

"How long have we been here?" I sputter out in my state of confusion.

"For about two hours. I came back after gathering some wood for the fire to see you passed out cold. Why were you in the water?" He asked, laying me back down on the grass to finish his wrapping.

"I wanted to cool off, it was getting hot." I mumble in annoyance, feeling like a child getting scolded for going too far out of sight.

"You went into shock, your body was heating up too fast and when you got in the cold water in confused your body. You ended up going into shock, now only your head is the hottest part of your body." He mumbled, too concentrated on the finishing process to worry about my body temperature.

"I was naked when I passed out," I growl, finally noticing the clothes sticking to my body once again.

"Don't worry, I didn't look. I just threw your clothes on, which is actually harder to do that it looks. When you have to change someone else it's harder to get other necessities on." I didn't feel the need to be angry at him for changing me back into my clothes, I could only be thankful I never took off my under clothes. They were still slightly damp, but not too much as to where they caused discomfort.

You're splint's already done, I just had to finish wrapping your head gash up. I'm almost done," With a sigh of content, he sat back on his hunches and stared at his work. "It's done."

"Thanks," I applaud him with gratitude. He didn't peg me as someone so talented with fixing up frantic wounds.

"No problem," He throws off the compliment easily and stirs the burnt branches in the fire. The small smark quickly sped up pace and began to lick at the atmosphere easily.

"There's a creek further down the trail, so I'm going to wash up a little. If you need anything, follow the trail about one hundred feet and call my name." He didn't wait for a response before he quickly scurreed down the trail in an attempt to beat the dimming sky.

I turned around and stirred the fire for a little bit, hoping to waste time in the clearing alone. I'd never been on the run for anything other than petty vandalizm stunts before moving to the new school.

My thoughts ran to Lette and the rest of her friends, I couldn't help but feel slightly ashamed for my disturbance in the court yard earlier. I knew it'd backfire on me, but I'd never think it'd have an outcome such as this one.

"Hey," Came Dan's voice from behind me. I turned, startled, only to see his wet hair flinging at me from five feet away.

"Hey man!" I shout. "What the hell?"

"My bad, didn't think you'd turn around." He shrugged carelessly. "You can go wash up now, I'm done."

The shirt he used earlier today to hold my calf together now dried his hair into a perfect messy look, minus the soaked part.

"That shirt's dirty y'know." I mumble sarcastically with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, I know." He sighs, sitting down next to the fire. "I didn't have anything else."

I nod in understanding before going back to the fire.

"Dan?" I ask softly. The tone of my voice catching his attention quickly, and he snaps his head in my direction with shock.

"Yeah?" He slowly replys, curious.

"How long have you known Tris?" The question catches him off guard, even though I wasn't looking at him I could tell he had a curious look on his face.

"About two years, I met her when she gave me my first job at the bar. I already told you about the cops looking for me, and she understood. She mentioned you once or twice when we were working, told me you were one of the best mixers in town." He laughs, rubbing at his face at the memory.

I smile, remembering all the times I helped her out at the bar when times where too heavy.

"Yeah," I whisper into the night. "we had some good times at that old bar."

His smile suddenly turns to me.

"How the hell did she let you behind that bar during work hours and let you work? You're still in high school." He scoffs sarcastically, not really fitting in place with the gentle smile on his face.

"Nobody really questioned it, I just worked because she needed help. When she taught me how to mix at home one day, I started doing experiments of my own. She was like my mom, nobody really understood me like her." Pain ripples through my heart like a pounding wave, hitting me at the reality of her death.

"I'm sorry Rose, I didn't know. She was like a mom to me in rough times too, only I actually had my mom. No offense but you're mom sounds crazy." We both knew joking about Beth and Tris' death was too soon, for the both of us, but neither cared. We just wanted to talk.

"I never beat her," I whispered, letting my voice carry on the sadness of my tone. I didn't care if I sounded weak or sad, I just wanted to let it off my chest.

"I figured that out pretty fast, what the hell happened back there anyways?" My heart rate picked up at his question and I looked into the blazing fire to distract my thoughts. I couldn't tell him it was me, he'd think I was absolutely crazy. Even if he did beleive me then how would I tell him I was the cause of his little brother's death. As he was mourning over his death, I knew almost instantly he was close with James. How could I tell him I killed his little brother, what would his kids think of their father's murderer?

"I don't know man, I don't know." I mumble off into the distance, not exactly worried about the unknown shadows that could be following our every word.

"Before the sun sets completely, you might want to get washed up." As soon as the words left his lips, I let out a loud sigh of relief and stood from my spot. I was only happy that he didn't question my answers, which in returns only made me guilty at his trust in me.

"I'll be back in a few minutes." Nobody replied as I made my way through the trail.

"Hold on, Rose!" Shouted Dan's panting voice behind me. I paused and turned to face him with a scowl on my face.

"Yeah?" I sigh, finally exhasperated with the constant talk.

"I'll show you where it's at, you need to take a left here." He finally caught up and towered over my short frame, pointing a few feet in front of us.

I nodded and followed him down the path as to not get lost.

The view that greeted us wasn't as beautiful as the pond in the clearing, but close. No trees hovered above the clean and slowly moving water allowing the moon to shine freely from above.

"It's clean, don't worry. Here, use this shirt to dry yourself off." With a grunt I took the the stained shirt from him and made my way down the stream, I couldn't barely help the laugh that left my lips when my bare feet came in contact with the stream. It felt absolutely amazing.

It only took a few minutes to wash the unwanted grime from my sticky body, that was until every particle on my body was shining from the glistening water.

I followed the path Dan led me down the first time and came to notice Dan sleeping loudly on the ground. The fire wasn't as hot and steamy as before, so I poked and prodded at the ambers surrounding the dimming fire.

Dan rolled on the ground and mumbled in his sleep words that seemed too jumbled up to make out.

With a roll of my eyes, I let the fire dim out on its' own before laying my head down on the stained shirt. The evaporating fire was the last thing I took deep notice in before once again, darkness invaded my empty mind and sucked me further into oblivion.

Publication Date: 08-18-2014

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