The Time It Takes To Fall

Into the Light

USA, 2019 A.D.

Cinder flinched with the sound of booming thunder, knocking her forehead into the bottom of the vehicle she was working on. She cursed vibrantly, then rolled out from beneath the car. Pressing a hand to her head, she scowled at herself and her own jumpy mannerisms.

"I didn't even do anything," Thorne huffed. Cinder looked up to see her boss standing just feet away, arms crossed over his chest as he looked down on her. She dropped her hand and turned her scowl on him.

"What?" Thorne raised his hands in surrender. "I literally didn't even do anything— unless I'm now accountable for the weather, which would be cool, but is totally not feasible."

Cinder grumbled and shut her eyes for a moment, trying to clear her headache. The pain wasn't from the bonk she had sustained from the underside of the silver sedan, but rather all the crying she had done just prior to coming into work.

Originally she had called in sick that morning, after sleeping zero hours and crying or trying not to cry during all that time awake. But once she'd talked with Iko she couldn't stay home— she needed to get out and away from her problems and the gray sweatshirt hidden away in her closet. She needed to do something with her hands. The only problem was that her hands were controlled by her mind and her mind couldn't occupy itself with anything other than the two people she loved more than anything else in the world.

"Are you okay?" Thorne asked, pulling Cinder from her thoughts. She opened her eyes and glared at the man, but it was half-hearted. She wasn't mad at Thorne, no matter how much of an idiot he always was.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Cinder mumbled. She rubbed at her eyes— they hurt terribly either due to lack of sleep or crying or, most probably, both. She just wanted to go to sleep and forget everything that had happened to her within the past month— no, she wanted to forget her whole life. She wanted to start again as someone else. Perhaps Kai's story was right, and maybe she'd be reincarnated into another girl just like her, only with a completely different life. She liked the idea.

But no— he had claimed that this was her last reincarnation. So even if he was speaking the truth, this would be her last life upon the earth. It didn't make much difference to her; she'd never thought that she would have any other life than the one she'd been born into.

Thorne sat down in front of her, legs crossed in the way that elementary kids had to for quiet time. He placed both his palms upon his knees and stared at her inquisitively. The look was so not Thorne that Cinder couldn't think of a sarcastic comment snarl at him.

"Is it the Red Truck British Guy?" Thorne asked, scowling as he said it. "Because I wasn't lying when I said I'd kick his ass. I'll go and hunt him down right this instant and kick his–"

"Thorne," Cinder put a hand up to stop him, but a smile was creeping up her face. "It's nothing, really. I swear."

"Aces, you're a terrible liar," Thorne chuckled, placing a hand atop Cinder's head and rubbing her hair. Messy hair became messier, but somehow Cinder's spirits lightened. She thought that Thorne was an idiot and quite possibly the most ridiculous person she'd ever met, but the fact that he cared about her in the slightest warmed her heart.

They sat in silence for a moment, which was probably a first for Thorne. Cinder felt the emotions of the past twenty-four hours whirl within her, an endless torment of what ifs? and an angry conscience screaming that she was a fool to still be in love with Kai. It was all just too much for her to handle.

And even if Kai had been the only issue it still would have been too much; but somehow she had also managed to lose the only friend she'd ever had. Nothing felt good anymore— she just wished that she could go back. To when, she didn't know. She just wanted to be anywhere other than here.