Runaways

Silas

Waking up in the middle of the night to hear North shaking and trying to kill himself is not what I expected to see.

After hearing what he said about not wanting to hold us down with his problems, I knew how much these nightmares must have affected him. The past North would be fighting against this mystery figure in his dream, not giving up. I knew that I would have to help him no matter what. Because after all, that's what best friends do for each other. They stick with each other until their last dying breaths.

When we heard that he wanted to runaway, I knew that'd I have to go with him. Hearing Luke also agree to go surprised me, and I realized how much he loved his brother despite the few months they've been together. I mean, North didn't even talk to them until recently. But, I guess we were all sticking together.

"Wait, let me talk to Uncle for a few minutes," Luke said.

"No problem," I answered as North and I walked out of the room. I fully expected Luke to talk to Uncle before he left. After all, he's lived with Uncle for so long and is now leaving him for a long time.

Sitting on the couch in the living room, I started to think about what I would be leaving behind. I would be leaving father and Theo. Though I do love them, it's not as much as North. North's always been there for me, especially when mother died. Dad and Theo? Not so much. Don't get me wrong. My dad tried, but he gave up and suddenly started working much more. Theo? Well, he fully gave up on life. He started to smoke more often and set random things on fire.

That's why I was here this night. Theo's been smoking so much, our entire flat smelled like cigarettes. It was so heavy that I couldn't even breathe. Not wanting to suffocate, I decided to come here. Uncle was more than welcome to let me stay and I'm extremely grateful for that. I've been staying for the past few weeks here. At least North's new family is a lot better than mine.

I miss mom. If she was here, my almost broken family would be...well, less broken. She was beautiful. A total θεά (goddess) and δώρο από τους θεούς (gift from the gods). It's too bad that she had to leave us so early. I hope she's up there in heaven right now.

Luke entered the room bringing me out of my thoughts.

"You guys ready?" he asked.

"Yup. Let's get the fuck out of here," North grunted as he got up.

After saying bye to Uncle and thanking him for letting me stay, we all left the house.

"We're on the road to ruin," North's gruff voice announced into the middle of the night.

"And we started at the end," I said. After that, we all started to walk down the road.

"Hey, Luke. Are you okay?" I ask realizing Luke stopped in the middle of the road and was just staring into nothingness.

He didn't answer.

"Luke?" I asked as I started shaking him. North, after realizing that Luke and I stopped in the middle of walking, turned around and looked at us with disbelief.

"Are you guys fucking tired already?" he asked. But then he noticed Luke and immediately his expression turned from disbelief to worry. Running up to him, he started calling his name and shaking him.

He still didn't answer.

Getting more worried, the two boys started yelling his name louder, not caring that they might be waking other people up. They're main focus was making sure that they're newly added brother was ok.

After a few long seconds, Luke snapped up from his daze. He looked at us in confusion.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Luke are you ok?" North asked with obvious disbelief and placed the back of his hand on Luke's forehead.

"You don't have a fever," he mumbled under his breath.

"I'm fine, younger brother. Why would I have a fever?" Luke asked while taking North's hand off his forehead.

"Well, you kind of did stop in the middle of the road and stared into nothingness for a while. North and I started calling out your name and shaking you, but you didn't even blink," I say.

"Are you serious?" he asked. "I didn't know I needed my fix that much," he mumbled under his breath.

"τι στο καλό είναι μια αποτύπωση," I ask North in Greek. (What the heck is a fix?)

"Νομίζω ότι στα αγγλικά είναι κάτι που κάποιος χρειάζεται για να λειτουργήσει," he responds. (I think in English it's something someone needs to function)

" Έτσι, σαν ένα αρκουδάκι," I ask in disbelief. (So like a teddy bear?)

North barks out a laugh, "Μπορεί. Ποτέ δεν ξέρεις . ο Λουκάς θα μπορούσε να εθιστεί σε ένα αρκουδάκι." (Maybe. You never know. Luke could be addicted to a teddy bear.)

"Hey! Stop speaking in Greek! Mi no comprendo!" Luke yells at us.

"So what's your fix brother?" North says smirking.

Luke's face pales. "You heard that?" he asks.

"Yup. So now what is it?" I ask.

"It's,"

Here it comes. It's probably a teddy bear. Or, maybe soap bars. Or, maybe t-

"chocolate," he finishes off with a daydreaming look in his eyes.

What the heck? North and I look at each other in disbelief.

"The entire time we've been trying to get you out of your daze, you were thinking about fucking chocolate?" North asks.

"Yeah, it's amazing," Luke answers dreamily.

"They have milk chocolate, white chocolate, caramel chocolate, dar-"

"Wait! So we stood here for the past 10 minutes because you were having dirty thoughts about chocolate?" I ask in utter disbelief.

"Yeah! You have a problem with that?" he asks, breaking out of his daze.

"Yeah," North responds immediately.

"Well deal with it!" he says and then he walks ahead of us.

Wow. Is this what all Americans act like with a fix?