This Beautiful World - Book #1 (BxB)

Chapter 14

The sound of people talking was what woke me from my slumber. They were voices that I faintly recognized, but I couldn't picture their face. Groggily, I open my eyes. I had to blink a few times for my eyes to adjust to my surroundings.

I was laying on the couch in the lobby. Seeing that I was here confirmed that it wasn't all a nightmare. Unfortunately, this was real. I did hope that I would wake up in my bed back at my dorm, but that wasn't the case. I would have to somehow get adjusted to this new reality. 

The voices that I heard were coming from Arin and his friends. They were speaking quietly to one another, but it was still enough to wake me from my sleep. I had always been a light sleeper, so the smallest noise could wake me. From what I could tell, it seemed like Xavier was annoyed with Arin. 

Though he was quiet, it didn't hide the irritation from his voice. "Why didn't you wake me? We're supposed to work on this together. What if something happened while you were down here by yourself?"

Arin rolled his eyes. "I'm not incapable of handling this, so have a little more faith in me. You've been overworking yourself since we got here and you needed to get some sleep. If you don't take care of yourself, you're going to end up in a bad situation. And besides, I wasn't alone."

He gestured to me. Xavier glanced over, a little surprised to see that someone else was here. "Sorry that you had to hear that and also for waking you. Thanks for helping this guy out."

"Nice jacket, by the way," Stella said with a smirk on her face. 

I was a little confused about what she was referring to. I looked down at myself to see that a dark green jacket was on top of me. Sometime during the night, Arin must have placed it on me. The nights here were cold and there wasn't any heat in this building. He must have noticed me shivering and wanted to help. 

"Thank you." I awkwardly handed it back to him without looking at him. I wasn't used to this sort of generosity. 

Before long, Riley was coming down the stairs. None of the others were with her. She looked like she was already prepared to leave. I knew that she was desperate to find her parents. I just didn't expect her to want to leave so soon. We've barely been here for a day, but I guess it was best to leave as soon as possible. If we stayed here for too long, then things would get worse out there and we might not be able to leave. 

"You want to leave already?" I asked when she took the seat next to me. I was still in the process of waking up. I would need a few minutes before I was ready to go anywhere. There was also my family and Alex to think about. We couldn't leave without talking to them. Alex might have already known, but I still wanted to talk to him. I didn't want to leave after the short argument that we had last night. 

She nodded. "I couldn't sleep last night because my mind wouldn't stop racing. I know that my parents are still out there, alive. Since my house isn't that far away, it should be a short trip. We can leave whenever you're ready."

"You two plan on leaving?" Stella looked a little upset at the idea of us going out there. I could tell from the other faces that they also thought that this was a bad idea. 

We gave them a brief explanation of what was going on. Regardless of what they thought, we were still going to search for Riley's parents. There was a chance that her parents stayed at the house. If we were lucky, then we would find them there. If not, then I wasn't sure what our next step would be. We couldn't search the whole town for them. 

"Don't worry. We'll only be a couple of blocks away and if they're not at home, then we'll come back here. I know it's impossible to look everywhere for them and if they're not home, then I'll have to accept that fact. They could be anywhere right now, especially since this happened in town a few days ago." Riley looked down at her hands when she said this. It must have been difficult to have to come to terms with the idea that her parents might be gone. 

I gently placed my hand on hers. "We'll find them. Even if they're not at home, then I'm sure that they are okay."

She gave me a sad smile. "Thanks for trying to make me feel better. By the way, I already told Alex and your family. They're against it and they've decided to stay behind. I know your mom is only worried about us going out into danger again and Alex . . . well, I don't know what to say about him. He seemed really angry when I brought it up and then he went to his room."

I wasn't sure what to say about Alex either. He was kind of acting like a dick about this whole situation. We were his friends, but he was acting like he didn't care. If it were him who wanted to find his family, Riley and I both would have been there to support him. The only thing that I could think of was that he was scared. He didn't want to go back out there with those monsters so soon. If this lasted for a while, though, eventually, we would all have to face them. 

"I'll go with you guys," Arin offered. 

"It's okay! I couldn't possibly ask any of you to accompany us. I would feel bad if something happened because of me." Riley was quick to shoot him down. 

But it didn't seem like any of them were going to take no for an answer. Stella jumped in. "I'll go, too. More helping hands are better if things take a turn for the worse. We can watch each other's backs." 

"Thank you, everyone . . . You have no idea how much this means to me." Riley sounded choked up. I squeezed her hand to reassure her that everything would be okay. There were plenty of people willing to help out. 

Xavier let out a sigh. "Just make sure you all get back here safely, okay? Dying is not an option. And before you leave, make sure to eat breakfast. You'll need your energy."

Having capable hands on our side was a big relief. It was a small weight off of Riley's shoulders as well. It might have only been a couple of blocks away, but anything could happen. The world had become an unknown place. The town that we grew up in was a lot more dangerous than it used to be. 

Before leaving, we did as Xavier suggested. I was reluctant to leave without saying goodbye to Alex and my family, but I wanted to have faith that I would see them again shortly. I could apologize when we got back.