Purple Sunrise

Twenty-one

He wondered deeply how she did it, but overall glad that nothing would touch her heart deeply enough to wound it. John had noticed she had been very quiet and drawn in after they came back down into the bunker.

He could tell that she didn't like the idea one bit about them being out, After all, none of them really did know what was in the air, if they could get some sort of poisoning, or even if it was a plant that couldn't inhabit life. He just knew it was a question for them to answer tomorrow.

Tomorrow's problems, not today's.

Today it was time to have no stress with no dangers presenting themselves. John took the bag from Rose as soon as they got to the service.

"Where did you want to sit?" John asked looking down at Rose.

Rose made a gesture indicating she wanted him to follow her. He felt the strong need to let Rose pick the spot, after all, she probably would pick the better spot out of all three of them.

Only their footsteps could be heard as they walked over the uneven ground. John's face was down towards the ground following Rose's feet. It had tiny trenches in it, almost following the same pattern of a leaf's veins. Clearly from where the lava had flowed down its own path, leaving behind war scars.

It was a couple of minutes of strolling before John bumped into the back of Rose; she had stopped suddenly.

"Here." She commanded John, pointing directly to where she was standing.

"Here is the perfect spot." Rose stood there waiting, expecting John to go into the bag to get the blankets all set up on the ground.

They both stood there blinking at each other, waiting for the other one to do something. A minute went by before Rose huffed indicating that he should put down the blankets.

Lily stood silently to the side observing the two in their transactions. She could tell how close they were getting by how they started communicating without words. Lily thought she would be patient in letting them find out just how they liked one another.

She stood awaiting the time she would be able to sit down next to them. They were becoming like her parents, a small smile appeared with the epiphany. She loved the idea of having parents who truly cared about her well-being and wanted her. Not just wanting the money that could come with her; Lily had spent a long time waiting for this perfect moment. Wanting to bask in the light for as long as she could.

John placed the blankets down onto the floor noticing that there were also pillows placed into the bag. He took them out one by one carefully jotting them around the end as if he was making a donut with a hole in the middle.

Lily decided that she would break the tension that had slowly been building, jumping headfirst into the pile of pillows, giggling all the way. Lifting her head up slightly she gave a shy smile. Her eyes fuller than normal. She hadn't felt this way in a very long time. None of them had, the feeling of being almost completely surrounding them, as if a big blanket themselves, shielding them from the rest of the universe. From the struggles ahead.

Rose had snatched the bag from John before he could find out what else she had packed, she was determined to leave the cake in the bag until the very end of the picnic, keeping it as a surprise. She gave him a sheepish look, not meaning it to come across as harsh from how hard she had yanked the bag back.

Rose knew that John liked surprises. She had discovered it the week before when she had taken some of the fruit that she had been growing to his room for a midnight snack. He had seemed elated from her entering into the room with the food they hadn't managed to get very much of.