The Sheep that Baaaaaa'd Love from the Edge of the World

[Jilly]

((The setting horizon hovered over the bottomless green abyss; the wind whistled reveries of change to come to those who listened.))

Katelynne decided she wasn't mad. Disappointed and frustrated, yes, but not mad even though her throat still hurt. She drilled it in her head during her trek through the art exhibition and to the lookout point.

She knew she was screwed. She had the suspicion since waking up this morning, but after the murder attempt by Quinn she just knew. There was no denying it.

Girls like Katelynne weren't built to last. She couldn't kill anyone; she couldn't just willingly turn off her humanity at the flick of a switch. Even if she somehow made it to the end, she would just get thrown into another "game" or get killed by the bad guys outright.

But that was okay. She'd just never get to go home.

The only thing she could look forward to was dying by own terms. Whatever "her own terms" meant, though, she would have to figure out at the end of her journey. But that was for later.

For now she had to be more discerning about who she trusted, that was for sure. She was a sheep penned in with wolves; easy pickings, especially to wolves like Quinn who disguised themselves as a sheep. Misplaced trust killed.

But, at the same time, she didn't want to be that kinda person, either. "Trust no one except yourself" might've been the key to surviving, but "love thy neighbor" showed up eight times in the holy book for a reason. Trust was one of the foundations of what it meant to be a person; the bad guys won when that got taken away. Katelynne wouldn't let them. She couldn't.

She wasn't stupid. It was a stupid way to spin things but the alternative didn't appeal to her. Being right in heart trumped throwing away your own ideals for a sliver of a chance of going back to a home that would reject you. That path wasn't meant for her.

...She wasn't sure where she was going with this, though, other than her options were pretty limited. All she knew was that she couldn't just sit around and wait to die. Whatever Caroline and Daria did to save her, it gave her a second chance. She couldn't waste it. She'd go out fighting somehow, even if it just meant helping other sheep so they had a chance against the wolves.

Anyway. Time to get going.

Katelynne pushed herself up off the edge of the platform, taking one good last look at the sea of trees and the beach and water beyond. Bet this was a mighty fine place to come think about stuff in its heyday. It felt like the kinda place you were supposed to toss something overboard, like throwing your troubles away or some other sort of malarkey. But that would be littering; it wasn't explicitly a sin, but God probably frowned on that kind of thing.

She pulled out the map from the yearbook sitting next to her, and with the rock drew another X right by the lookout point. She made good progress today, despite the hiccup at the shoe tree and getting a bit lost in the art gallery maze (she had a bone to pick with whoever decided to give directions in the form of "emotions").

It was getting late. She decided to press on more anyway, and hopefully find someplace safe to rest her head for a bit.

((Tomorrow was gonna be a busy day.))