I am a Procrastinator, but I do have a Calendar

Yes, I am very aware that in my Procrastination post that I said Chapter 9 would be out at the end of June. Well, apparently summer has caused me to not pay attention to deadlines...even ones that I set by myself. So anyway, I hope you enjoy Chapter 9, and Chapter 10 will hopefully be out soon...and by soon, I mean whenever I get off of my lazy butt and decide to actually write.

Anyway, now for a few things. One, and I already mentioned this before, I wanna start posting more here, since basically all that goes on this blog are lame update posts, apology posts, and chapters (of course). Basically, I want you guys to get to know me better, and give more material to read. I'll probably post some book related things, maybe some rants and/or thoughts, and if I can think of things that are at least remotely interesting that pertain to writing, I'll blog about that too.

Next, I have been thinking, and it's become clear that I'll need to write a third story in order to end the storyline well, and not too abruptly. I am determined to end this no matter how hard school is once it starts. You guys deserve that. :) As for the title, no clue yet. Let's continue the four letter word, two letter word pattern that didn't occur to me while I was naming the Find Me! Nah, I'm kidding for the time being.

And lastly, ANTIDYSTOPIA is in Arabesque's hands at the moment, and she is currently on vacation.

Uh yeah...I think that's all I have to say for now. Hope you guys are having an awesome summer!!

♥Skittlez

Find Me--Chapter 9 ~Dillon~

             The dining hall is much emptier than usual. Those who aren’t here are in the infirmary—or what’s left of it. Olivia was there, getting her burns treated, and Scarlet was there too, still unconscious. Marcus went with his sister, as did Violet, and Rae followed her. That left the seven of us, eating in silence.

            Skye had been pushing her porridge around for a while before saying, “Here. I’m not hungry,” and sliding her bowl toward me. I look over to her, worried. She hadn’t eaten since dinner last night and even though our portions had been cut in half due to the food supply and crops being destroyed and I was hungry, I slide the bowl back toward her.

            “Skye, you have to eat,” I tell her. I could tell that she’d grown skinnier just in the time that we’ve been here. She shakes her head and gets up from the table.

            “I’m gonna go visit Olivia and Scarlet.” Before leaving though, she turns and picks up the bowl of porridge. I get up and follow her.  

            The two of us make our way to the infirmary without conversation, Skye leaning on me for support. We stop once to ask a nurse which rooms Olivia and Scarlet were in, and she informed us that they were both the same room and led us there. It was normally quiet here, but it was in a state of chaos tonight. Nurses in light blue-green scrubs were running from room to room, some pushing people on gurneys, others carrying medicine. We stop as a patient is wheeled by. My mouth gapes open and I put my arm around Skye and she lets a tear escape. Almost every inch of his skin is charred and black, and there’s dried blood on top of that. His chest heaves up and down as he gasps for air. A pang of guilt hits me as if a bullet had been shot straight at my head. It’s not like it was our fire that burned him, but it was our presence that led to the fire.

            We thank the nurse and slide open the door to the room. Olivia sat in one bed, looking relatively fine except for a few patches of burned skin and a splint on her left wrist. Scarlet looked fine too; she was lying in bed peacefully, as if she were sleeping. But the solemn look on everyone’s face told me otherwise.

            “Is she o—” I start to ask.

            “She’s in a coma,” Violet cuts me off. She didn’t say it harshly, but she said it in a way that told me she didn’t want to deal with the question. Guilt rushes over me again. We leave her and Rae and sit with Marcus and Olivia.

            “How are you doing?” I ask Olivia.

            “Better, but not great,” she replies. We’re silent then. After a while, Skye sets the bowl of porridge on the table next to the bed Olivia was in.

            “One of you can have this,” she says quietly. Neither Marcus nor Olivia makes a move for the porridge; they probably have as much of an appetite as Skye did.

            “We’re leaving,” I blurt out then, “tomorrow night.” I didn’t leave much room for argument, but no one will disagree anyway. “We’ll meet at your room, Skye and Olivia, around curfew, then, I guess we’ll just make a run for it. Toward the forest I suppose.” Everyone else nods. We all knew that there was no doubt that this would be easier said than done. But staying here would be an even bigger risk; at least leaving put no one else in jeopardy besides ourselves.

            The other five came in later, telling us that it was almost curfew. Rae hugged her brothers goodnight, then resumed her spot by Scarlet’s bedside next to Violet. Skye and I get up and say goodbye to Olivia, Marcus, Violet, and Rae and tell Scarlet that we hope she gets better, despite her unconsciousness.

            I walk Skye to her room and open the door for her, but she hesitates before going inside.

            “I don’t want to be alone,” she says quietly. I remembered that she shared a room with Scarlet, Violet and Olivia, all of whom were spending the night in the infirmary. I take her words as an invitation and wrap my arm around her and lead her inside. We push her and Olivia’s bed together. Skye lies down and I lie down facing her. “Where are we supposed to go?” she asks me, voice low. She pauses, waiting for my response, but I don’t have one, so she continues as if I had spoken. “What if we get caught? What if we get lost?” She sounds more panicked as she presses on; as she explores all of the possible things that could happen. “What if—” she stops suddenly. “What if we don’t make it?” She dropped back down to that hushed tone that was so soft and frail and possessed so much fear.

            “Shh,” I whisper as I stroke the side of her face with my hand. She sighs. “You’ll be fine.” I would make sure of it. After giving me a despondent look, she rolls onto her other side, her back facing toward me. I drape my arm around her and soon after I do, she laces her fingers with mine. Neither one of us says anything after that; I just listen to her breathing as it steadies and she drifts off to sleep.

            I close my eyes too, and attempt to clear my mind of everything. All of the pain, loss, doubt, fear, and try to not to focus on anything except for the current moment in which Skye and I were alone. Together.