And then he stopped. Shane leaned his forehead against mine, breathing heavily, our eyes still closed, and he tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.
"Astra," he mumbled against my lips. "Please don't hurt yourself."
And all at once, his body fell l...
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C H A P T E R E I G H T Y - O N E
F L A S H B A C K C H A P T E R
a/n just a quick reminder that this is how things played out in Astra's mind and isn't a proper story part <3
They always say the day starts off normally. I guess I never realised the accuracy of that until I had been in a position where I could experience it for myself.
It did start off normally. But that week had been anything but normal.
"Hey!" I waved to Mia.
She was standing outside my front door, I remember as clear as day. I began walking in pace with her to school, the way we did every morning. I worriedly glanced at her.
She was even paler than she had been these past few weeks, even thinner than ever before. But I bit my lip and kept my mouth shut; I didn't want to upset her.
"Hey!" She said back, and gave me a small, tight-lipped smile.
The wind ruffled her hair around. She was wearing starred sunglasses and dangly earrings with heavy makeup. It was very unlike Mia but I thought it looked cool on her and I told her that too, but she didn't respond. We walked in silence after that and I took the time to think of a new story idea, inhaling the fresh air around me.
Mia suddenly stopped and it took me a moment to stop too. I turned around to face her, face furrowed in confusion. "Let's go through there. I've always wanted to see what was in it." She gestured through the black metal gates holding back bushes. There was a small canal in this area, but it was dangerous and closed off to the public. People often went there to smoke or mess about.
I glanced at my watch, anxiously checking the time. "We're going to be late. Let's do it another time."
"Who cares?" She laughed and ran in, the sound of her footsteps growing further and further away.
I groaned and ran after her, but my foot slid in the mud seconds later. I gasped as I skidded, waving my arms about, trying to regain my balance. I managed to clutch a branch but my heart rate would not slow down.
"Mia, we should stop. We don't know what's in there and it could be dangerous!" I exclaimed as I followed her further in. The footpath became narrower and more rocks jutted out through the ground. We shuffled alongside the wall. My hand scraped a sharp metal spike jutting out of the wall and I winced, biting my lip to stop myself from crying out.
She'd call me a crybaby.
The footpath widened again and I looked to my left to see a river below us and above us, train tracks. Mia laughed and dipped her foot into the water, holding onto nothing.
I shrieked and dove forward, gripping her arm to stop her from falling. The water looked deep and there was practically nobody around - if she fell, nobody would be able to help her.
