FALLEN

Chapter 8

"How about you come with us?" Fallen looked at her, she's taking another lick from the ice cream cone. He takes a bite from the edge of the cone, seeing Paige wince as his teeth cut through a section of the ice cream.
The path gravel crunches under their feet as they walk along the path, it was a short trip to the shop from Fallen's house. A beeline made to the freezer at the back to retrieve some ice cream cones for the walk.
"What?" He said, raising an eyebrow at her.
She brushed back a piece of her messy hair from her eyes, pushing it back over the top of her head. Her fingers barely making it through the knotted hair at the top.
"Come on the camping trip this weekend."
He looked at her, "That's this weekend coming then?"
"Like you didn't already know." She said with a roll of her eyes, and Fallen of course already did know. He was kind of hoping she would rethink that question.
Fallen chuckled, shaking his head. Had she not seen what happened just then? How could he leave any time soon?
The thought sounded completely ridiculous.
He needed to be at home, he couldn't leave.
"I can't." Fallen said, shaking his head and looking across the road as they walk over to the other side.
She jumps in step with him, "You can."
A small scoff accompanied his words. "No Paige, I can't."
"Please, Fallen. I think you need some time away from that house."
He stopped suddenly, it seems silly. The ice cream in one hand as he frowns down at her.
"That house, Paige, is my family." He said firmly.
"Yeah, but...that doesn't mean you don't need a break from it." Fallen shook his head, he agreed with her on that.
He needed a break with everything in him, but that doesn't mean he should have it.
They continue walking, their shoulders brushing against each other.
The day is overcast, it wasn't going to rain though, or at least he hoped not.
That lawn still waited for him back at the house.
"Look, it'll be fun. Dare I say it, I think you might even enjoy it." Paige smiled up at Fallen, it turned him soft in his gut. Her elbow nudging into his side, taking another lick at her ice cream. A smudge of it smears onto the tip of her nose, his hand quickly reaching over and wiping it away.
"I don't want to intrude or anything."
She wiped her own nose, walking ahead and taking them down the path down to the reservoir.
"Like you said Fallen, my parents love you more than me. They won't care in the slightest, they'll love it even more if you come with us too." She sits down, looking across the reservoir. It ripples quietly, the trees behind them reflecting off of the waters surface.
Fallen sat down beside her, finishing off the cone.
"The ends the best bit." He ran his hands over his jeans, getting rid of any crumbs left on his hands.
"Huh?"
"It's got all the chocolate at the bottom." She said through a full mouth, he snickers at her muffled words. Watching her as she finished off the last bit, a smudge of chocolate on her bottom lip.
"You're a messy eater you know." He laughed.
"So I've been told." She said, wiping at her mouth to rid of any possible mess.
They fall into silence, Fallen lies on his back completely, stretching out his legs for a moment before drawing his feet under him with his knees to the sky.
He lay there, contemplating it all. He's shocked when her hand squeezes his, forcing him to stare at the hands that interlink and how odd it felt to have someone hold his hand.
Her thumb runs along the back of his own thumb, a small smile pulling at his lips the more she does it.
A big part of him is desperate to leave Bale even for a moment. And he imagined that leaving Bale and going on this camping trip with them would be everything he needed.
"I'll think about it." he can immediately she her grinning, her head rising from the floor just slightly as she turned to look at him.
"I'll tell them your coming then." she says, a smug smile on her face as she settles her head back on the ground.
"That's not what I said Paige."
She grins at him.
"It's what you meant though."
Her head turns, her cheek pressed into the ground. Her big wide smile doesn't lessen, her freckles are bright today and her hairs all messy from the wind on the walk here.
And he kept looking at her, every inch of her skin to the smallest of spots that sit at the corner of her cheek.
Her smile drops only a little, only barely, but because he's looking at her every detail he notices it immediately.
It's then he realised he'd leaned forwards, and she'd noticed.
He contemplated doing something, he wasn't sure what with the moment.
But whatever plan he might have formulated is gone, she turns forward with a slight squeeze of his hand as she looks up at the white clouds above their head.
Her teasing is replaced by silence, Fallen swallows at the loss of the moment.
Not that he had any clue what he would have done if she hadn't of pulled away.

"I've always liked this reservoir." She said quietly all of a sudden.
He can see her smile in the corner of his eye.
"It's so pretty, especially on days like this." Her thumb runs along the back of Fallen's hand slowly, edging herself just slightly closer to the side of him as she readjusted herself on the ground.
"I wish I was homeschooled like you. It would have been nice to stay at home, the feeling of leaving home everytime for school sucks."
A sigh leaves Fallen's lips, shaking his head. "There's benefits and downsides to schooling at home, believe me. It's not all it's cracked up to be."
"How so?"
"You don't get a break from home for one. It's easy to feel trapped that way."
"I suppose I get along with my parents better then you do."
"True, or maybe it's because you have breaks from them that you appreciate them more."
"I don't think so."
"You can love someone and still feel like you need a break from them. Don't lie and say that you don't get annoyed at them. Spend enough time with anyone and they'll annoy you in some way or another."

**********

"And that was everything? He didn't say anything else?" Fallen shook his head, cautiously watching his father on the other side of the table.
His eyes briefly looking at his mother too to gauge her reaction.
They seem concerned, something that unnerved Fallen to no end. Was this the person on the laptop from before?
But then, they seemed more angry at that man than worried. This is an entirely different emotion and he's not sure exactly how to take it.
"Who is he?" Fallen had mulled over this all evening since he dropped Paige back off at her house.
He knew his name now, and the threats were clear and concise.
He would come back, but when?
Should Fallen get Elbina out of the house sooner rather than later?
Maybe he could send her off with the Summers? He was sure that Dan and Halley wouldn't mind.
All these questions rattled around his head, and he didn't have an answer for any of them.
His father shook his head.
"That's not important."
"Well I think it's important given I'm the one who had to hold him at gunpoint in the house."
"If you'd have just let him look, he wouldn't have found anything. Now he's suspicious.'
"What? You wanted me to let an intruder carry on searching through the house!?"
"Like I said, he wouldn't have found what he was looking for. It might have given us more time. You've not helped Fallen, if anything you've made our situation a little worse." He spoke with an irate manner, looking across the table at Fallen in disappointment.
Fallens entire chest seized up, his eyes unmoving from that stare.
A deep rooted shame surfacing and making him feel like a small child all over again as his faker and mother looked down on him.
He felt stupid for a moment too.
He thought he'd done everything right, he thought for the briefest of moments that what he'd done would bring a sense of proudness for his parents, that the training had done something.
"I didn't know dad, how could I have known that??"
"Just go upstairs Fallen." His father said with a wave of his hand, which only infuriated fallen more.
"No, I get to know what's happening, you can't dismiss me like that!"
" Upstairs!"
"Not until you tell me what's-"
The chair scrapes loudly in the room as he stands suddenly, dragging fallen up and pushing him backwards. He only just has enough time to get his feet under him to stabilise himself from tripping over.
His father stepping forward in a threat.
"I won't say it again, upstairs. They'll be no more questions from you today."
Every part of fallen wants to argue with him, but he wasn't going to win.
His father takes another threatening step towards him making him let out a frustrated breath before turning on his heels and walking up the stairs. 
The door slams hard behind him as he slumps himself down onto the bed, pulling his phone from out of his pocket and dropping it into the bed beside him.
He sat on his bed, running a hand over his chin hard. Shaking his head before he quickly picked up the phone from beside him again.
It's like the message sends all on its own, he doesn't have to think.
The chat with his parents settled in his head, directing his actions as he typed the message.

I'm in.

The reply comes quick, as if she were expecting his message all afternoon.

I already told them you were coming, I knew you'd change your mind.

Fallen shook his head, a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth.