Tomorrow's Blues

2. Dylan

Some time passed at the Moore house, and I fit in quickly with their family. I got into a routine – jogging every other morning, doing any holiday work, binge watching TV series with Alice – a routine was good for me. It stopped me thinking. I hadn't seen any other friends yet and knew I would have to soon.

My alarm sounded at seven-thirty in the morning one day, and I groaned. I always regretted my decision to get up early but I still woke up anyway. I always liked to go on a morning jog when fewer people were around, and besides, it often got too hot to go jogging later on in the day – at least in July.

When I went downstairs, Alice was already down there, eating cereal and reading a book at the same time. She was kind of a bookworm as well as a dancer. As I entered the kitchen, she looked up in surprise.

"Hey. What are you doing up?"

"Going running," I said, getting out various fruits in preparation of making myself a smoothie. "And yourself? You're usually asleep at this time."

"I know," she muttered. "Dance studio called me in for a last-minute meeting about a showcase. As if I don't spend enough time there."

"Sounds fun."

"It's not. Is mum up?"

I shook my head. Given that it was a weekday, Mark would be at work already, but it looked like Catherine was still sleeping since her door was closed.

"Joseph?"

I shrugged. "Not sure." I shoved all the ingredients into the blender and pressed the power button. "What time you leaving?"

"As soon as I finish my breakfast. I'll be back at twelve-ish. What are you going to do today, apart from your run?" Alice swallowed one last spoonful of cereal before getting up and shoving her bowl and spoon in the dishwasher. She then leant against the table and faced me with a questioning look on her face.

I shrugged again. "Don't know. Kind of feel like going outside, you know?"

"Yeah, I would if I were you. My family can be a lot to deal with." She grinned. "Especially Joseph."

I just shrugged again. "Your parents are lovely, actually. And Joseph isn't that bad."

Alice gave me a sceptical look. "Sure, sure. Actually, Ellie wanted to see you."

To check up on me. The unspoken words hung in the air. Ellie was one of our good friends, and although she'd been at my parents' funeral, I hadn't spoken to her. I had barely spoken to anyone since my parents' death. I wasn't sure if I was avoiding the world or the world was avoiding me.

"Um, sure. I'll message her."

A smile appeared again on Alice's face. "Great. She'll be so happy to hear from you. But maybe don't call her right now, she definitely won't be up."

"Obviously." Ellie wasn't a morning person. She wasn't even a person before eleven and until she'd had two cups of coffee.

Alice glanced at the time on her phone. "Right. Better go. See you later!" She blew a kiss at me and wafted out the front door.

The best way I could describe Alice was a little ditzy but with good intentions. She could be a bit oblivious at times but she always knew how to make me feel better. She was also pretty organised and was always nagging me to sort things out earlier than I did. Alice called it disorganised; I called it spontaneous. Ellie wasn't as oblivious – she always knew when something was up and would always ask you straight up what was wrong. She was generally pretty outgoing and had bit of wanderlust – always talking about where she was going to travel and all the people she was going to meet. I wouldn't be surprised if one day she took off for somewhere like Fiji and never came back.