Special - Septiplier (COMPLETED)

42 - Back home

Jack's point of view

I had no idea where exactly we were, but it was about ten times as worse as it was back in America. Smoke could be seen in the air, almost everywhere, but darker in the distance, and the air was thicker, obviously, but it's never been this hard to breathe, as the smoke made everything cloudy and hard to see. But I could make out some silhouettes around me. I squinted, looking up and around, there were dark outlines of buildings. From what I could recognize, at least. I turned my head back down and relaxed my eyes, looking at everyone around me. Tyler carrying an  unconscious Ethan, Bob looking around as well, Wade shifting awkwardly, Felix just kind of standing there, and then I looked over to Mark, who I ended up next to when I portaled through.

I reached over and grabbed his hand, and he squeezed softly in return, and I took a small step closer to him. Everyone then wordlessly grouped back up and Bob, as usual, spoke. "We need to find out where we are, and see if we can get any information from around here. Because of the smoke I'm guessing there was probably a recent battle here so we need to be careful." He said in a slightly hushed voice. We all nodded or agreed in some way, before Bob spoke again "maybe, like we did back in America, we might be able to find some TVs and figure things out." "That could work." Mark agreed, followed by everyone else. We all walked through the charred streets, seeing very few, small fires, and ignoring them and continuing on. We could barely make out what the store signs said. 

It felt like we passed almost every type of store in our search. We saw Candy stores, small clothes shops, souvineer shops for tourists or visitors and such, small electronic shops, everything. You name it and there's a chance that we passed a store like it or similar. I sighed softly as we continued our journey, looking at all of the signs and continuing on. My legs were beginning to ache just a bit from the walking we did, but from the past pain I've felt this was nothing to me. There were a few times where we went inside shops we thought might have a TV in them, but so far we had no luck, and ended up leaving after searching the whole shop. At one point when we were about to leave a shop Ethan had nearly woken up, but slipped right  back into unconsciousness after. Tyler had shouted out that he might be waking up and we all crowded around, waiting. His eyes barely opened before they closed again and he went back into being passed out. It had been probably a few hours from what we knew, and we started to get worried.

We eventually found a store we thought would have a TV in it and went inside, Ethan had only stirred that one time, but Tyler continued carrying him, not seeming to mind considering his strength and Ethan's light weight. He shifted Ethan to carry him to where Ethan was upright and Tyler wrapped Ethan's legs around his waist, supporting him and walking through the door behind us.  We walked in and the shop had barely any smoke in it, but we all smelled like smoke so it wouldn't leave. The TV was up on the wall and together, we found a way to power the TV and get it to a broadcast, and luckily it was in English. My eyes widened as it showed our location. We were in Brighton, England. I've lived here almost my whole life (I think he lives there now shut up-) Felix seemed to notice too and he looked over at me, and I looked at him as well. Our blue eyes locked in the dim shop, and our expressions softened a bit. 

We knew the past we had here, and it felt like an actual physical pain in my chest to know I was back, after all of this time. I was back and it was bad here. I sighed softly and Felix moved over, putting a hand on my shoulder. Everyone looked at us, not knowing what was happening "you guys okay?" Bob asked, turning away from the recently powered TV, looking between me and Felix sympathetically. Felix and I exchanged a quick glance before looking back a Bob, and everyone else turned to face us. Mark had let go of my hand a little while ago and Felix was in Mark's usual place beside me, his hand still on my shoulder, because he knew my pain. I knew, for once, neither of us knew how to respond. Who knew? The two usually loudest and most talkative people here silent, unable to figure out what to say. I opened my mouth to speak but closed it soon after, not knowing what to say as I let out a breath I didn't realize I had kept in.

This place had so many memories. It's where I had lived almost my whole life, Felix and I grew up together here until the day he left in about fifth grade. It was one of those memories that no matter how hard you tried to forget it, you'd always remember every painful detail. He seemed to think the same, and I looked down at the floor, avoiding eye contact with everyone else, trying not to think of all of the memories I had here, good or bad. Or when Felix left. If the world wasn't in this state I wouldn't be upset by being back. In fact, if everything was still normal I'd be excited to be back. I started thinking of my mom, my dad, my brothers and sisters. I wondered how they were doing. I wondered if they were okay. My mind raced as I tried to stop thinking about them, forcing back the tears threatening to form in my eyes. 

I looked back up and over at Felix, and our eyes locked. I got the oh-so-familiar pain in my chest when our eyes made contact again. It was the same pain I've felt so many times. The day Felix left, the day I left, the fear I had before I left, when my brothers and sisters were off to college or out of the house. Things similar to that, but since his eyes were locked with mine, despite not wanting it to happen. As it has many times before, the all to clear memory began to play in my mind, like I was reliving the day one of my only friends left, all over again. 

A/N: Sorry guys I think I'm sick reee. Anyways I'll try and keep updating sorry I haven't been as active I've just been dealing with some stuff. I'll get back to my usual at least two chapters a day but I didn't expect for life to be such a bitch recently, you know? Anyway thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed I'll try to update again today but yeah. Love you guys and stay pawesome.

- Skip