{"id":4105,"date":"2019-10-02T00:00:31","date_gmt":"2019-10-02T04:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=4105"},"modified":"2019-10-01T17:28:16","modified_gmt":"2019-10-01T21:28:16","slug":"twenty-four-03-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=4105","title":{"rendered":"Twenty-four – 03"},"content":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Marin’s point of view.]<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s a gift and a curse,\u201d she said, echoing my words.\u00a0 S touched my arm gently, but I didn\u2019t look at her.\u00a0 I just kept staring out over the yawning maw of the ravine, at trees and fallen branches and leaves, at the grass the stubbornly clung to the steep banks and the mud that marked where the grass had failed to hang on.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cYes,\u201d I said in a whisper.\u00a0 \u201cIt is.\u00a0 It always has been.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m sorry.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I choked on a laugh.\u00a0 \u201cI wish that helped, Kel.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cYeah, well.\u00a0 It\u2019s what I\u2019ve got.\u201d\u00a0 She lapsed into silence for a few seconds, then said, \u201cI still think you should stay behind.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s not going to happen.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cYou and Thom can\u2019t both<\/i> go, Mar.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 My heart seized for a second and I had to swallow twice before I could actually breathe again.\u00a0 \u201cHe\u2019s not going to go.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s definitely not the impression he left anyone with.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter,\u201d I said.\u00a0 \u201cHe\u2019s not going, Kel.\u00a0 It\u2019s not even a discussion.\u00a0 He\u2019s staying behind.\u00a0 He\u2019s in no physical shape for what\u2019s going to happen out there.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 She stared at me steadily, but I couldn\u2019t look at her.\u00a0 I wouldn\u2019t.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t bear to see doubt in her eyes, doubt and truth.\u00a0 No mater how much I denied it, no matter how knee-jerk my reaction, if Thom made up his mind to go, I wasn\u2019t going to be able to stop him.\u00a0 I just didn\u2019t think he\u2019d make that decision.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I didn\u2019t think he\u2019d put me through that, put us<\/i> through that.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But if he thought it was necessary?\u00a0 If he thought it was right?\u00a0 He would.\u00a0 I knew, that, too.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That was something else I couldn\u2019t deny, no matter how much I would have wanted to.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Is this how it all starts, I wonder?\u00a0 Is this where it begins, what I saw about him?<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Is this the beginning?<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Marin’s point of view.] \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s a gift and a curse,\u201d she said, echoing my words.\u00a0 S touched my arm gently, but I didn\u2019t look at her.\u00a0 I just kept staring out over the yawning maw … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[299,329,14],"tags":[171,170,19,152,149,148,168,147,165,146],"class_list":["post-4105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-7","category-chapter-24-book-7","category-story","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-kellin","tag-marin-astoris","tag-original-fiction","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-story","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-14d","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4105"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4105\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4106,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4105\/revisions\/4106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}