– rays of sunshine –
Devoid of anything, my body collapses in one of the four corners of the van. I haven't the energy nor the guts to ask the others if they know what, exactly, they're planning with all of us. My back leans against the hardness of the van. The cold contact of my legs and the underground of the vehicle jolts my body wholly awake. Much to the others' chagrin, I grit my teeth and hiss. Goosebumps show up, transform my legs' skin.
My new teammates their eyes fall closed every now and then. I can't blame them. It is terribly late – or early. When the van drives over a rough bridge, the collision of the underground and the tires feels almost soothing. It's as if I'm being rocked into a deep sleep. I don't know when we arrive, because just like the others', my eyes droop closed, too.
"Showtime," I hear a distant voice whisper quietly. As my reality sets in again, I realize the van has stopped, though I have no clue of how long we've been parked here. My eyes open, and I find the first of my teammates crawling out of the van.
My skin now untroubled by the coolness, I throw my hair behind my shoulders and join them outside. With he stars as our only source of light, we stand together, facing the endless mass of trees in front of us.
"Where are we?" a blond girl next to me asks, sounding rather irritated by the shocking landscape around us. She shuffles and turns. Her eyes focus on the abrupt change of scenery on that side. Instead of greenness, there's... nothing. There's no tree in sight – not even a blade of grass. Only a clear sight of the ocean faces us. It would take an enormous fall off the cliff to take a swim in the blueness of the water – the sort of blue that matches her eyes beautifully.
"That's for you to find out." The driver joins us as he rubs his belly gently.
"How?" He asks. A shiver goes down my spine out of reaction when hearing Aidan's voice. I try to push the feeling down, but with no success. It grows even more, and my eyes betray me by flickering to him. His eyes, on the other hand, are right on the driver. His dark hair is true mess, not having been brushed after the few hours of sleep he had. His whole concentration remains on the older man as he awaits a response.
"The answer is on you."
"On us?" the third – and last – girl of our group repeats softly, her voice barely even hearable. Her head turns and turns as she inspects all of us individually. The moment her eyes are glued onto me, I feel different than I thought I would. With the kind and calm aura she's giving off already, my lungs fill themselves with more than enough air. When the inspection is done, her eyes find mine. Dimples appear the moment she smiles at me. I already know she's the one who's going to keep all of us well and calm before she turns to Aidan.
I'm not sure if we both notice it at the same time, but the girl and I take a step closer to him. It doesn't surprise me when Aidan doesn't retreat. Instead, he waits until the girl points at the gadget on his body.
"Backpack."
His hand moves to his back. It pats several times until it discovers the bag.
"Right," he murmurs. "Right. They gave me this when I was brought to the van."
Aidan digs into it. With a delicate frown placed onto his forehead, he takes note of each one of the contents.
"Care to show us what's inside, too?" The second boy tilts his head to the side, his pupils too big to see the bag, anyway. A cocky smile comes upon his lips, but no one pays attention to it long enough to really see. The inside of the backpack makes the curiosity inside of us all burn.
ŞİMDİ OKUDUĞUN
The Golden Party | Aidan Gallagher
Hayran Kurgu"We had so much in common it almost hurt. And now... Now I don't know who he is anymore. That realisation hurts even more." The Dashcreek competition makes the rivalry between the schools peak. It's a terrible but exciting event that takes place eve...
