Departure ↠ Argent [3]

08. long distance

"Allison, I still don't like this," I say into the phone as I lean against the wall in the school bathroom, ditching Math class. I'd much rather listen to her talk than that teacher who shouldn't even have a degree to teach. 

She sighs through the phone, making me smile slightly. "You heard what Scott said; they were looking at you."

"But then they looked at Kira," I say, defending myself for the thousandth time today. "They didn't want to come for me; they would have if they had wanted to."

"I'm not the one calling the shots," Allison says, her voice stern. "Scott thought that you should stay behind and go with him to the house just in case. It's surrounded with mountain ash, so you'll be safe."

"What about you?" I counter ask, that question been replaying in my head all day. "You're going to visit a crazy man."

Allison's father had told us a story earlier on what those things were, which had a name called the Oni. He said a man might know more about them, his nick name being Silverfinger. The whole idea seemed dangerous to me, and I wanted to go and help, but that was when Scott insisted that I stayed, which then led to Allison agreeing with him of course. I guess at least Isaac went with them; someone that could protect them better than I ever could.

"I can protect myself," she says, making me smile at her dumb little quote. There wasn't a week that went by when she didn't at least say it once. I couldn't decide if that was funny or sad. "We need to figure out what these things are and what they want, and I have a feeling that it's nothing good."

I cross my arms, staring at the back of the bathroom door. "I know, I just wish I was there."

"Me too," Allison says surprisingly. "You'd look good in this tux."

I laugh at her, not sure why they had a tux, but I wasn't going to ask. "And I'd get out of going back to math class."

Allison is silent for a minute, but I didn't mind. Just listening to her breathe through the phone was okay with me. "I'm scared, Corey."

That startled me to hear her say that. "Me too."

"No, not because of all of this," she says, her father talking to Isaac in the background. "I'm scared of what comes after all of this; I'm scared that someone may not make it out this time."

I wondered the same thing. When did our luck finally run out? "Well if that someone happens to be me, I don't want a funeral. I don't want any crying; none of that. Corey Walker has been dead for awhile now anyways."

Allison laughs slightly. "I've always wondered what it would be like after I was gone. I always imagined someone writing letters to me, kind of like one of those chick flic movies, but I don't know."

"That sounds unhealthy," I comment, imagining myself sitting down at a desk writing letters to a dead loved one. "And depressing."

"Probably," she says, changing the topic. "I gotta go, we just got here. Stay safe, okay?"

I smile. "I'm always safe."

"Sure you are," she smiles. "I love you."

"Love you always," I say before hanging the phone up, shoving it back into my pocket. I stand there for awhile as I think about everything, staring at the back of the bathroom door. As time continued to pass by, it felt like every corner we looked, there was trouble waiting. When did we ever get a break?

Just when the bell rang, ending school, I started to walk to the door to walk out, but soon it flings open and causes me to stop in my tracks. I furrow my eyebrows when I see the twins walk inside, odd looks on their faces. We weren't the best of friends, but there wasn't any reason for them to be coming at me the way they were.