One More Troubled Soul

Seven-I Left My Conscience Pressed Between The Pages Of The Bible In The Drawer

~First off, thank you all for reading! It means the world to me! <3
Second, I'm always happy to hear any sort of feedback! Bad or good, doesn't matter! Comments give me life! :D (also, sorry this is so short)
Third, yes, there's a video of Patrick, and I highly recommend watching it :D

Patrick's P.O.V.

I watched in sullen silence as Andy and Joe crawled around the clearing to the back of the bus. They disappeared from time to time among the shadows the trees cast, and my heart would stop in these moments. It wasn't until I could see their moving figures that my breathing would come easier and my pulse would continue pumping. I couldn't stand the thought of losing them as well as Adira.

Oh, baby girl. I placed a hand on my chest, feeling it tighten with sorrow and remorse. I gazed up at the stars, imagining her staring back at me. Maybe she's that one, the brightest shining down just in that crook of tree branches.

Despite Andy asking us rather politely to stay put, I rose to a crouch, receiving a confused glance from Pete, before quietly making my way to the base of a tree. Yes, it's dark. Yes, climbing trees in the dark is dumb and stupid and I may end up with a broken arm, but maybe...maybe if I'm closer to the sky, closer to her, I'll be able to relax easier.

"Patrick!" Pete whispered as I grabbed hold of a low hanging branch. "Patrick, what the fuck are you doing?!" I hoisted myself up to the branch, panting from the effort. Good grief, I'm out of shape. I looked down to Pete, who was giving me wtf gestures. I sighed and searched for my next handhold. "I'm climbing the tree. What does it look like?"

"Well, I know you're climbing the tree, smartass. Why are you climbing the tree? Andy said to stay by the bush."

As I pulled myself up the trunk, my arms trembling, I replied with a simple, "Too see Adira."

"Oh, good god." Pete groaned and held his head in hands. "He's gone fucking nuts." He then winced, maybe realizing how loud we're being. He glanced around himself, checking for any of our attackers, I guess. But the only enemy here at the moment is one you can't see, yet you can. It has no physical form, no odor, no sound. It's a silent assassin everyone fears, and everyone tries to stop. But no one can escape the sticky fingers of time.

I laughed bitterly. "Oh, how I wish you could reverse it." I was nearly a quarter of the way up,with Pete pacing around below.

"Reverse what?"

"Time, Pete." I sighed sadly. "Reverse time."

"What? Patrick, when did I ask you about time?" Confused, I looked down to meet my friends worried expression. I shook my head, rubbing at my eyes. "Di-didn't you just ask me, 'reverse what?'"

He smiled a nervous smile, one you'd give to some whack job wearing a tinfoil hat asking you if you've seen any aliens in the sky lately. "Ah, no. No Pat, I didn't."

I closed my eyes and pressed my forehead against the rough bark of the tree. The voice had come from below me, and Pete is the only one down there. Who could've asked it? "Pete, is there anyone down there with you? Or is there anyone in the branches below me?"

He looked like he wanted to ask if my brain took a vacation for the last twenty minutes, but he just shook his head and searched around the tree. I watched him part bushes and poke around with long branches, wincing at every loud snap he'd make when he'd step on twigs or accidentally break limbs off. "Nope, no one down here but lil' ol' me."

"Okay, what about beneath me? I swear I heard someone ask a question." I gazed up at the sky again, picking out the star I was climbing for. It seemed like I could reach right out and pluck it from its oily prison, free her from the darkness she's trying to shine in.

"Oh, but there's no need. The dark is not as black as it seems."

I actually screamed this time, falling backwards off my branch. The winds greedy grasp took my hat, and I grabbed desperately for a handhold on the tree, but to no avail. I had expected leaves to lash at my face, bruise and batter me in my descent. But I felt nothing.

"Patrick!" Pete yelled. Then I was landing, though I couldn't see where. My eyes were screwed shut, my mouth open in a silent cry of terror. Arms were wrapped around me, and I tried to squirm away as the warm breath of...someone, tickled my ear. "Patrick!" Pete gasped, his hands grabbing my shoulders, lifting me up. "Pat, are you alright? What happened?"

I opened my eyes slowly, seeing Pete's scared brown eyes mere centimeters from my own wide hazel ones. I began trembling uncontrollably, looking up at the tree, then down at my hands in a dazed manner. "I-I don't kn-know. I w-was th-thinking about ho-ow I could j-just reach up a-and-"

He held a hand up to stop my stuttered explanation. "Please, just breathe and get yourself under control. It'll be morning by the time you get through that sentence." He started patting down my arms and legs, asking if I felt pain anywhere.

I shook my head, taking in breathes and holding them each for ten seconds before slowly exhaling, trying to calm the racing stallion that is my heart. Pete stood and walked a couple feet from me, seeming to search for something on the ground. He shook his head and kicked at some stones, sending fleeting looks of scared confusion and worry my way now and then.

I started brushing off my arms and legs, not sure why I had no pain when I moved. I'm sure something should've broke when I fell, especially from that height. I gazed up through the branches of the tree, wondering at how I managed to miss all of them in my rushed decent.

Footsteps came from behind, and I hurriedly turned to see Pete returning. "Sorry, Patrick, but I can't find your hat."

I smiled and nearly laughed aloud. "You're worried about my hat? Pete, I shouldn't be able to move right now. I fell from a tree and missed all the branches on the way down." I stood shakily, accepting the hand he held out for support. "Watch, in the morning, you won't see a scratch on me."

Pete just patted my head and began leading me back to our little nest in the bushes. "No more late night tree scaling. You weren't cut out for physical activity."

I snorted. "Yeah. I'm so good at sports, I joined a band." That made him laugh, and it felt good to hear it. He hasn't so much as smiled with any happiness since we arrived. I chuckled with him, each of us sitting down to wait for the return of Andy and Joe.

But I still couldn't keep my eyes from that star, from wanting to be near it. And my mind would trail back to the disembodied voice I heard, as well as my extremely lucky landing. Who caught me? Who was up there with me?