Where The Wind Blows

5

[ADAM]

Running alongside Lawrence and Toboni across the trashed and demolished streets of what I once knew what was once London then Brocklesby, to Central Elizabeth; now it's a place where you'd wanna kill yourself/a suicide destination. My fingers are coiled with Lawrence's, her's is interlocked with Toboni's - who is leading the way.

I feel my feet tripping up each other with panic, heart pouncing like a lioness at its prey - in this case, a lion -, sweat and curse words pouring out and I cannot control it.

"Come on!" Toboni cries, trying to fix her eye-patch with one free hand yet trying to lead us to a safe area. "Stop slaggin' and COME ON!"

I can see Lawrence clutch her hand with frustration from the past incident: possibly digging her nails into her palms.

We stop, releasing each other's hands and we stare around us.

"Where are we gonna go?!" I question, panic rushing inside me.

"I know a place." Lawrence replies with a sense of eagerness in her eyes. "Follow me!" and she trails off into a run then breaking into a sprint. I stare at Toboni and she does the same so we follow her down the twist and turns through Central Elizabeth; treading past the Gherkin, the now-destroyed Underground by vandalisers (from our rebellion?) then directly out of the town entirely.

{LAWRENCE}

I continue to run like what we did before we got to this disastrous city, fringe getting into my eyes and brushing the scar on my forehead, face stained with dust and tear streaks.

I run up the hill, fingers clutched into a fist as I stride powerfully towards the dark shelter with bordered windows and unhinged door, followed by Adam and Toboni.

Bringing myself to a halt, I run into the building, signalling to the others to come into the building and so they do - Adam slotting onto the door. I generate a ball of light (and heat) in each dark corridor I can see, illuminated by a gentle flickering orange light brightening up the path in front and behind us.

"Better?" I ask.

Adam smiles and walks towards me, wrapping his arms around me, sending a comforting feeling down my back.

I can see Toboni's mouth twitch and swallows. "I'm gonna find any place where I can rest."

"Okay then." I reply with a smile towards her as she departs, leaving Adam and I in tranquillity.

I look up to him and he smiles his gentle towards me and kisses my forehead and presses me gently onto the corridor wall, feet levitating from the floor, into a right-angle, lifted by Adam.

"Put me down..." I try to pull a snarl but it turns into a cheeky smile.

He raises his eyebrow and smirks, leans towards me, reaching for the hem of my shirt and I reach for his and I take it off over his head and wrap my arms around his neck. He leans closer towards me and kisses me on my lips, soothing the muscles of my legs. My fingers lace together so I don't lose my grip around his shoulders.

I stare down at his bare chest and I see a tattoo of a silhouette of a blue dragon, head craned up to his left shoulder, tail coiling around its waist. I try to compared it to mine on my back which he hasn't seen yet.

I rub the back of his neck with my thumbs, whilst I leans closer towards him, smiling.

[ADAM]

Her body is extremely warm as where I stand, hands supporting her as she's against the cold wall. I stop kissing her and nuzzle her shoulder and she reaches for my hair, threads her fingers through the blackness.

I remove my head and I make eye-contact with Lawrence and she pulls me towards her, lips interlocking with each other again.

I smile and laugh lightly.

Lawrence grabs the hem of her torn shirt and raises it a bit but then leaves it as she slowly slips so she grabs my shoulders.

We kiss again, only for a bit longer than before, more lighter, making it feel like eternity.

She pulls away. "I'm gonna see Toboni, alright?"

I nod and I rest her onto the floor. She walks off, leaving me in the flickering orange.

{LAWRENCE}

I walk up the stairs towards Toboni, fixing my shirt and stare around myself to see darkness as I realise I haven't brightened up the pathway towards the four bedrooms (I think). I spread my fingers apart, palm held out and the ball of harmless fire grows. I place it in the two corner - one in the nearest corner to me (my left) then I wander to my right and place one there too then I knock on every door, calling her name.

"Toboni?" I call once more.

"Come in," I hear her voice from the room to my left, door unlocking with a click.

I walk to it and I push it open to see Toboni reading the brown leather book which is shredded. Anne's diary.

"Why are you reading that?" I ask sternly.

"To see if there may be a way to redeem her from Cillian." she presses a hand on the bed, showing me that I should sit next to her. "According to this, she has been through a spoilt childhood: she was favoured by a lot of her teachers of London and the boys liked her from the low grades to the ones with the highest reputation. But she met Cillian who happened to be the 'Bad Boy' of the school and she fell for him."

She then flicks through the pages of the book and stops near the beginning and begins to read. ""Seeing the face of the boy swept me from my feet and me who I thought was the Queen of the school: he has already overthrown the throne, snatched the crown, the staff. He could be my king,""

I tilt my head. "So you're saying that she fell for the male without knowing his personality?"

She turns the leaves once more - near to the middle. ""He told me about how he related to that Macbeth folk as he could be messed about at times but he could be a tyrant. And what he doesn't know is that I like tyrants." No. She likes those type of people like Cillian - those people who would take over and twist their opponents and allies' minds."

I frown and I try to piece what Toboni read aloud to me. "You got my phone?"

She pulls a bag from underneath the bed and I just wonder "How did she get that?" and she unzips it to rummage through it to pull it out. She turns it on and swipes on it.

"It's still playing music..." she identifies and she looks at the title. "Sweetest Goodbye by Maroon 5. You've got a good music taste."

I remember when I was standing outside, waiting for Nat to exit her house and I was listening to it. I must have paused it. But she unplugs it and the music blares through it and we keep it at a low volume so Adam cannot get disturbed and we listen to it together... like what best friends would do.

I sigh as I feel Nat's presence with me like she whispers in my ear, "At least you're moving on... I'm proud of you."

I blush and I smile and Toboni does the same. Like she can feel her too. Does she know her too?

"T?" I ask.

"Yeah?"

"Have you heard of Natalie Whitehall?"

"You've mentioned about her before and... yeah." she looks down. "She was an amazing friend of mine. That's why I talked directly to you when we first met. Because it felt like we should be friends or something beyond that."

I wraps her arm around my shoulder as a grieving tear rolls down my cheek and sooths my back.

She is literally one of the closest friends ever. I cannot lose her and if I do, I will be empty without her.