Chapter One

Eleanor is thinking about leaving the camp, and has a weird experience with a baby.

Chapter One

By Sloan Chambers

I honestly don't know if I should have left the camp, because the feeling of wandering through the woods didn't feel any better.  Most say that if you feel that you need to leave a place, give it a second chance.  Please, if I don't like a situation, I leave it.  That's what smart people do.  But no one said I'm smart.  Nevertheless, I left without a trace.

I didn't want to make a scene by leaving, maybe they'd even think I was kidnapped by rouge travelers.  My friend, actually, my best friend; Moore would probably be sad.  But otherwise, as long as The Camp was concerned, I was just another tag-along.  The good thing is, they wouldn't come looking for me.  I could see Moore though, crying, with her tan face not even getting pink as she cried, unlike mine, which got bright red!  she would up and say 'We must look for Eleanor," and stomp away.  With all the boys following her, of course.  Soon, though, she would turn around, still crying, but about her feet, and how they hurt so much.

She always made such a scene.  But that's why everyone loved her.  She wasn't afraid, of anything!  That's why I became friends with her, though.  I was looking for someone who was my complete and utter opposite.  My mother always complained about how quiet I was.  My mother.  She's dead and gone, probably floating right behind me, watching me, talking up a storm with God and any angels that would listen.  Maybe she was friends with the Angel of the Fine, being treated like royalty.  Wait, in heaven, everyone was treated equal.

Just shows another crack in my faith.

Well, if there was any Royal places in heaven, other than God, mom deserved it.  Almost everyone here was an orphan, but mom was stronger than any of them.  She was a happy person in the midst of all the woe.

If my mom was floating right behind me, I'd take a jar and trap her in it, never having her leave me again.  Even though she had no choice.  Dad told me that God needed her.  Dad's still alive, and back at the camp.

Like I said, if I have a bad feeling about someplace, I leave it.

And that bad feeling is what got me here, walking through this ild field, probably some future or past, maybe even present battle ground.  

Now, this didn't bother me much, but I still looked around, surveying my surroundings.  It was alarmingly calm, I heard nothing, the sunset was a mix of purple clouds with a pink sky.  The sun shone through the ridges of the colorful clouds, making each one shining like silver and gold.  A little bit of dark blue sky creeped night above me, displaying a close moon, broken into small pieces and one large one.  It was vivid with detail, the top of the orange colored sun hit the treetops.  It made for a beautiful scene, and something to look at, but it worried me.  I hadn't seen many things like this.  I wasn't sure to take it as something beautiful or as a bad omen, beautifully tragic.

This was an odd place for a field, but it looked like a road or a bridge was here once.  There was a row of two of large concrete cylinders, with broken asphalt pieces still connected to some of it.  It looked like it had been through an earthquake, no, multiple ones.  And a night prowlers attack.  The attack of a century. 

I was getting bored.  There was nothing to do but walk.  The quiet was scaring me, and i did not get frightened easily.  The sky had turned light purple, no, a different shade of blue, no, it was violet or something close to that.  I needed to find a place to sleep.  I searched the never ending field, finding a structure.  Or, it was more like a wall of moss and brick.  It would have to do though, because its so much better than sleeping out in the open.

There were trees ahead of me, but that's where rouge people lived, and I was at least somewhat civilized.  I neared the wall, understanding that I was scared.  It was the first time that I had ever really ever been truly scared.  The quiet was unlike anything I had ever heard.  There was nothing.  Not a big bug moving on the ground, not a whistle of wind, no flap of birds wings.  

"You are not deaf, Eleanor,"  I tell myself, making sure I could still hear.  My words cut through like glass, yet the silence was unbroken. 

"You are not deaf, Eleanor,"

I spun around, alarmed.  "Who's there?"

The words came out slow and sticky, it was like time had stopped.  The sky went from purple to black, almost in an instant.  I was more than scared.  I was more than terrified.  There were no words to describe it.  There was an instilled sense of fear, surrounding me, wrapping me in a blanket of cold, spine rattling dark.  I could not see a form, but again, I could not see anything.  I felt as if I would vomit everywhere.  No person should ever go trough this.  I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy.

I got no reply.

"You are not crazy,"  I told myself, gathering my witts, collecting them as they had been scattered across the Earth.  Attempting to peer through the darkness, but failing, I turned to walk through it. 

As soon as I even took the first step, I fell.  It felt like forever, falling through an empty void.  For a second I thought I had fallen through a black hole, but as soon as I hit the ground, I knew I wasn't.  I closed my eyes, waiting for that jolt of shock all the books I read say happen.  It never came.  I opened my eyes.  They didn't see darkness.  

The sky was back to its light purple self, almost laughing as half the sun ducked behind the unreachable trees.

"Now, what did I fall on?"  I say, trying to break the unbearable silence once again.  

I pulled both my legs out from beneath me and stood, wobbly at first, but I did have to squat to see what I tripped on.  I did not expect this.  Not at all.  I thought it would be a piece of concrete from the broken bridge or something but no.  I had tripped over a baby.

Author's Note

Tell me all the bad stuff. And good stuff. Favorite line? Least favorite part? Is it just over all crap?