The Weight of the World

Chapter 7: Cornerstone

When the bus finally pulled over, the sun was high in the sky. The stench of blood and sweat was just part of life. We'd all fallen silent long ago, alone with our thoughts. I couldn't say when the boy had stopped moaning. I'd stopped paying attention long before, though, and only when Ava finally stopped crying and sat up, did I realise.

Joe pulled the handbrake. "If they were following us, they'd have caught us by now."

Lacy brushed past him, a hand on his shoulder.

"You need to rest, you look exhausted."

His eyes were popping out of his head.

"She's right. You've done fantastic, mate, really. Now get out of that seat. Get a drink, get something to eat." Mike fished around in a bag for a breakfast bar and some water.

Cat, meanwhile, snored gently next to me. She'd been out perhaps an hour. At first, I'd guessed she was closing her eyes to try and blot it all out. But, before long, her head had lolled onto my shoulder, and I told myself it would be rude to disturb her. The warm flush it brought to my chest didn't hurt, either.

Movement throughout the bus made some noise. Enough to finally rouse her. One final snort, then a bleary-eyed glance around. With the back of her hand, she wiped the side of her mouth, then her eyes. As she yawned, she stretched, appearing, just for a moment, like a normal girl.

A normal girl, waking in the morning. Vulnerable. Tender. Then, as her eyes cracked open, all the pain, all the terror, flooded back. In one go.

"Where are we? How long was I out?"

"An hour or so, and I don't know, honestly."

Cat nodded thickly. I slipped out my seat into the aisle, but felt a hand on my shoulder. Ava, her face lined, pointed to me.

"Do you want help with him?" I asked.

"He's called Seb." Her eyes darkened. "Was."

I didn't say anything. Instead, for the second time today, I carried a body. Along the aisle. Down the steps. Into the open air, the bright, cold sunlight.

The sky was dark, stormy, except for one spot. A single bright section of the sky, through which the bright, clear blue of the sky could be seen, bordering the harsh white light of the sun.

We set Seb down beside the road. It was a pleasant enough spot, a village green. Sandstone buildings, pleasant hedges and trimmed grass. Nobody had come to arrest us yet, so I guessed it was abandoned.

The other started filing out, some looking down at Seb with wet eyes. Some didn't look at all. I couldn't blame them, really. Not something you ever really want to see. Ava reached down to check him one final time, then stood straight.

"Find a shovel, and bury him." Thrusting her bloody hands to my chest, she wiped them down, leaving a thick red smudge.

A million sharp retorts rolled around in my head, until I looked back down at the boy's corpse, the smear on my shirt. Misty eyes masked the world, and I sniffed.

"Do you want some help?" Lacy asked meekly, from behind a small wall of bags. Mist vanished, and the hard reality returned.

"No. No, she's right. It's my fault, I should bury him."

"Well," Lacy said. "You can't leave him here. At least let me help you carry him somewhere more pleasant."

Before I could even consider protesting, she knelt, taking his weight a little. With a half-smile, I did as she did. At the end of the lane, we found a pleasant square, with some shops on a raised platform atop some steps, overlooking a patch of green.