Fallen Stars - H.S

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

I WALK INTO the church with dark circles under my eyes, and Danae latched to my side in her best dress. I didn't bother with trying to dress up when I woke this morning, being practically pulled from my bed by Mira, so I settled with my nicest pair of jeans and a purple blouse, my hair braided down my back by my roommate. Mira sat behind me on my bed, running her fingers through my hair, talking on and on about the wedding and what she's going to wear and how Harry's going to match her, and the whole time I was trying not to fall asleep again.

The church is a one room building that survived the chaos years ago. The stain glass windows depict scenes from the bible we read from every Sunday, from the birth of a man named Jesus, to his death on a cross, and his resurrection three days later. Danae likes to look at the art, admiring their colours and different shapes and the people wearing clothes far different than what we wear now. There are only about fifty pews, twenty-five on either side of one aisle, just enough for the amount of residences in Hull. At the front, one podium stands alone at the top of three steps, where a pastor would stand and preach if we had one. It's where Zachary stands every Sunday, informing everyone of new things, if there are changes in the upcoming week and to recite scripture once all of that is taken care of.

The building is filling quickly as we find our usual pew, Sage and Danae on either side of me, Niall beside of Sage, Wilson beside Niall, and Mira sitting with her parents on the other side of Danae. There's a low chatter coming from every mouth, but one particular conversation a few rows behind us catches my attention, and some words I able to decipher. A man is telling the story of last night, most likely a residence that didn't leave their house, trying to keep his voice down, but in his haste to speak, fails to do so.

"They had him surrounded," he says, talking about the guards. "Held him at gunpoint until Zachary showed up and...shot the man himself."

"Zachary?!" Another voice stresses in a hushed tone.

There's no verbal reply. I assume the man nods before continuing. "It was strange, though. Before the man died, he wasn't speaking the way we speak, like it was a different language. I've never heard anything like it, and it looked like no one else did, too."

"What did they do with the body?" The second person asks, like they're afraid of the answer.

"I'm not sure. The road was cleared by the sun rise."

The man is right—the road held no evidence of the events from early this morning. As we all walked to the church, we had to pass through the exact area, but if you never witnessed it, you'd think nothing took place last night. The dirt was shifted, no trace of the blood spilled, and the guards acted as if it were any other normal day in Hull. Zachary does want to forget the killing ever happened. But what they did with the body is beyond me. They won't bury the intruder in a wooden casket behind the church because he wasn't a residence of Hull. They could've burned his remains before everyone woke, but they would require going outside the gates, which Zachary wouldn't risk right after an invasion.

"Where's Zachary?" A deep, familiar voice enquires from the pew behind us.

Danae, recognising who it is, turns around, smiling brightly. "Harry!"

I rotate my head to look back over my shoulder, finding Harry sitting directly behind the younger girl, grinning at her. Mira is looking as well, the same gleam in her eyes that she has whenever she speaks of Harry, tucking a piece of her light red hair behind her ear.

"Danae," Harry nods her way before turning to the blushing girl and greeting her. "Mira." Lastly, he turns my way and says, "Astrid," but looks as if he wants to say more. He doesn't, though, so I return his nod and face forward again, trying to forget about how he looked at me last night. He knew something was wrong with the way I acted after that man was killed, but didn't question be any further on the matter. And though I know I won't ever achieve it, I just want to forget last night. It's done and over with, the trigger has been pulled and a life cannot be brought back.