It takes 7 minutes for the first phone call to come in. Miles flinches when it rings and quickly puts his phone on silent before it can wake the others. He assumes his mother would have called sooner had it not been 4:43 am, but for this early in the day, 7 minutes was pretty fast.
He gets 11 texts before his phone finally dies.
It's for the best. He thinks. That way I don't have to respond.
But then Axel's phone starts going off too so Miles has to rush to put it on silent as well. And then he goes off on a tangent about how nothing's ever really silent. At least not anymore. Not when Miles feels like he can hear the entire street below him. He tires himself out thinking about it. All the extra sounds give him a headache, and so he decides to sleep it off.
So much for keeping watch.
•••••••
Being so high up from the ground (and the only one awake), Axel is the first to experience the morning sun. It blinds him, and when he closes his eyes all he can see is orange, a welcome change from all the darkness. It warms him just the tiniest bit, like he's being hugged by the sunlight. Like the sun's rays are more physical than they actually are, as if he could hold onto them. And he wouldn't let go (he's too stubborn to), instead he would cling onto the rays of sunlight until it burned his flesh and torched his skin. Until he forgot what being cold ever felt like.
Axel knows what it's like to be on fire (in more ways than one), and would risk the pain of the burns to feel the warmth of the flame again.
It's what Axel's doing right now as he makes his way to his childhood home. Risking the pain to feel the warmth. Confronting his parents one last time.
When Axel first looked at his phone, he was surprised to see all the messages from Cassie, Miles' mom. He thought it was best that he wait for Miles to wake up before they talk about it.
Axel sent a text message to Sydney before he left the Stupidly Tall Building saying he was going to get supplies, which isn't exactly a lie. He plans on getting some essentials before he comes back. But that isn't the main reason for his departure.
Axel doesn't know how to react when his father opens the front door. Richard looks dishevelled, like he's been living on the streets and not in a two-story suburban house. His dark hair has grown longer, and this is the first time that Axel has ever seen his father with a beard. He's got his cane with him, he only uses it when his prosthetic leg is really bugging him. And it's only now that Axel realises he can only hear one person in the house.
"Where's mom?" Axel asks, not even allowing Richard enough time to wrap his head around his very sudden and unexpected visit.
"She um- she left. Grace left." Despite it being 9 in the morning, Axel can smell the alcohol on his father's breath, and the open bottle somewhere in the house.
"Why didn't she tell me?" Axel asks, pulling out his phone only to see calls from Miles' mother instead of his own.
"She thought you were out of our lives for good. She thought she lost again. Hell, I thought I lost you again." Richard, with teary eyes, reaches for Axel but he flinches away at his touch.
"You did lose me."
Richard looks away again, ashamed of himself. Embarrassed.
"I haven't spoken to Grace since she left a week ago. She changed her number."
Richard knows his son enough to see that Axel is blaming himself for this. And so he reassures him as best as he can. "She didn't leave because of you. Things weren't good with us for a while now. And she doesn't know, by the way. I never told her about you."
"Or about the terrible things that you did?" Axel counters, to which Richard shakes his head.
"No."
"Good. Keep it that way. I just want to know where she is."
"Her cousin Jake's place. Do you remember? We went there for Christmas when you were-"
"9 years old. Yeah, I remember." Axel concludes.
He hates that question - Do you remember? - He's scared of the day when he'll have to answer no.
"I got you that toy truck you always wanted. You were bugging me about it the whole year. Green right?"
"Blue." Axel corrects him. "And it had a star on the hood."
"And you would take it with you everywhere." Richard smiles sadly, his eyes teary again. "And you told me, on that Christmas day, that I was the best dad ever. Because of course you knew it was your mom and I who got you your presents and not Santa."
Richard chuckles and even Axel manages one too. The memory hurts more than it should.
"I wish I could have still been that father to you."
"Yeah...me too."
They're both quiet as they think about the life they could have had. And their ideal alternate universes. One without the crash. One where they were still blissfully ignorant to the existence of vampires.
"I don't blame you for what you did."
Axel knows his dad is referring to the burned down lab, and he starts to think about whether he went too far with that. But Elias is dead. You're the one who got off easy.
"I managed to get as little police involved as possible. So you're good. You don't have to hide anymore."
"I haven't been hiding from the police, dad."
The word still feels foreign to the both of them.
"But I am leaving. I guess now I know where I want to go."
To mom. I need to visit mom.
"Do you need some cash? I can give you some if you need."
"It's alright dad, you don't-"
But Richard's already back in the house, rummaging through his stuff. He comes back with his wallet.
"Here, take the whole thing."
"But what about you? You don't work anymore."
"I've been covered. I'll be alright. Just make sure your mom is too, okay?"
Axel nods his head, taking the wallet full of cash. He doesn't go in for a hug or shake his hand. He just looks at his father one last time, nods his head slightly, and walks away.
This is probably the last time I'll ever see you.
YOU ARE READING
Infinite Miles
Teen Fiction"Because you Miles, are infinite." It was never supposed to go that way for Axel and Miles. And it was definitely not supposed to end like that too. But this is the story about what happens after the end. Follow Axel, Miles and Sydney through their...
