What Comes After

f o u r

3rd Person POV

"SSSHHH!" hissed Harper. "For goodness' sake, shut UP!"

They had finally escaped from Starbucks, and Nikki was thumping around in circles, trying to restore the feeling in her legs. She nodded vigorously, making the people around her stare. Gary the aardvark was tucked into the folds of her coat. They both seemed to have forgotten about Nikki's outbreak earlier.

"Give me that thing!" Tess snapped. "Honestly, animal smuggling is no joke!"

Muffling a laugh with her sleeve, Nikki slipped Gary into her strong-willed companion's sweater. She managed a smirk before Harper turned away.

With one less thing to worry about, Nikki had the chance to look around. Due to the fact that her landlord died and her whole family had to move into a flat above Quirky Chicken Deli, Nikki hadn't thought about travelling for ages.

So, Harper was in charge. She always had been and always would be. It was just the way the world worked, and that was alright with Nikki. She liked to lay back and let the world have its ways - the polar opposite of her companion. Harper was the classic protagonist; smart, goal-orientated, and pretty. Very, very pretty.

Nikki was the sidekick.

She had other things on her mind; chicken, for example.

She glanced sideways at Harper. She was looking at her watch. Nikki didn't like watches. She felt that time went at its own speed, and was always running. She didn't need to know exactly what time it was. Miracles are never planned, so why should life be? People were too stressed. Sometimes one just had to sit and let miracles happen. Wasn't that how Jesus did it?

Keep calm and be Jesus. Nikki grinned at her own joke, and Harper exhaled loudly.

Nikki nudged her. "Keep calm and be Jesus," she whispered.

Harper almost laughed.

Almost.