SOTF Archive/SOTF Classic

((Alice Baker continued from A Moth of Peace))

The cliffs were beautiful that afternoon, save for the corpse of a girl lying on the grass in a puddle of blood.

Alice had walked slightly ahead of the group to keep an eye out, but found herself winded at an inopportune time. Her breath was further stolen by the discovery of Bernadette Thomas' dead body. She couldn't help stare at her...or uh, it? She was dead, but it was a body.

Alice was stopped in place, staring silently at the body. She'd seen a murder before, of course, by one Caedyn Miller, but this half-decayed corpse was somehow cripplingly horrible. She couldn't move, could barely breathe, and she felt like any second-

((Sandra Dyer continued from A Moth of Peace.))

Sandra just silently stared at the body, not saying anything. She'd seen Alice stop to catch her breath, and she caught up to her to see the body of Bernadette lying on the ground.

Why were they still standing here? There was nothing to do here.

"Come on," Sandra said, "there's no point in being here. Let's... let's keep walking."

She didn't need to see this. None of them needed to see this.

-then Sandra appeared behind her and spoke. Perhaps a little brusque, but a necessary trait in these circumstances.

"Okay, uh, sorry. Thanks. Sorry." Alice stuttered out her words, still startled by the appearance of the corpse.

They kept walking. In the back of her mind, Alice knew that this wasn't going to be the last time she saw a corpse. And, a part of her whispered malevolently, eventually she'd be one herself.

She didn't know how to think about that anymore.

((Alice Baker continued in Tea Party with Death at Dawn))

((Bryony Adams continued from A Moth of Peace))

Bryony had lagged far, far behind the other two.

Alice had gotten a head start over herself and Sandra, and Sandra practically spent her entire life running about, so she had quickly caught up. Bryony, on the other hand, couldn't run fast, and she couldn't run for long. By the time she had reached the ground floor, her two friends were already well on their way towards the cliffs. She sighed again, tugged on the straps of her bag, and set off after them, trying her best to keep the pace.

Eventually, she finally caught up with the other two, but it seemed it was already time to head off.

Bryony didn't even notice Bernadette's corpse at first. As soon as she got within a few feet of Alice and Sandra, she staggered to a halt, putting her hands on her knees and breathing heavily in and out. Her vision was focused down on the ground, and her hearing was obscured by her harsh breathing. She just assumed they'd stopped to let her catch up, or to take a breather.

The first sign that there was something more than that was the smell of copper on the breeze.

Blinking, Bryony shakily stood up, and moved closer to her friends, peering between them at what they were looking at. She had been almost certain what it would be as soon as she'd caught the scent of blood, but it didn't stop her face from turning pale and the bile to rise up her throat.

She had known of Bernadette, rather than known her, and mostly due to her association with Ty Yazzie. They'd never really talked, thanks to that association, but it still didn't feel right, looking down at the body of someone she'd seen nearly every day at school, a body that would be forever still and cold.

It hadn't been the first body she'd seen. It wouldn't be the last. She knew it wasn't going to get easier no matter how many they stumbled upon. Every dead body was going to make her feel sick and shaken to her core and make her want to just stop and give up and walk into a danger zone and end it all.

But eventually, she would get back up, and she would keep on pushing forwards and, against all odds, she would stay alive. If escape was off the cards, then what else could she do but that?

Bryony hung back for a moment as Alice and Sandra started to move. She took a step closer towards Bernadette and took a deep breath. She hesitated, then as quick as she could, reached into her pocket, pulled out the next playing card in the deck, and tucked it underneath one of Bernadette's dungaree straps. She swiftly stood back up, and turned away from the corpse, hand covering her mouth, willing herself not to be sick.

Eventually, the feeling passed, and Bryony headed off along with Alice and Sandra.

She could feel tears welling up, but this time, she didn't care.

((Bryony Adams continued in Tea Party with Death at Dawn))

So they kept walking.

((Sandra Dyer continued in Tea Party with Death at Dawn.))