THE DREAMWALKER. [five hargreeves]

a kiss

Five managed to keep himself awake for the past hour and a half. But the same couldn't be said to his brother whose head is swaying towards his shoulder. Irritated, he pushes Diego's head away and it bounces to the headrest of the seat.

Allison is also trying to keep herself awake, while the girl in the passenger seat is fast asleep. She managed to fall asleep half an hour ago. Five's mind wanders back to what he saw, and his eyebrows furrow unconsciously as he asks himself what that thing is supposed to be. But based on the girl's terrified reaction upon seeing it, then it won't bring anything good.

"Allison, watch out!" Five quickly grabs the steering wheel, able to avoid the incoming truck as Allison breathes heavily from the sudden shock. Diego manages to wake up, glancing from side to side with red, drowsy eyes. But upon seeing they're still alive, he settles back on the seat to snooze.

"I..I can't drive anymore, Five."

The said boy glances at Allison then to the sleeping girl, somehow surprised she didn't wake up from the sudden mishap. Ignoring it, he speaks, "let's exchange." He notes he's also drowsy, but he's good at fighting his sleep. And since he just had coffee, it'd be a stroll in the park. They need to get home as soon as they can.

Allison stops the car by the side of the road, getting out while Five spatial jumps into the driver's seat. His green eyes unconsciously seeks out the girl, who remained asleep. He just now notices the sweat on her forehead. Frowning, he brings his hand up to her forehead to check her temperature, but as his skin makes contact with hers, his mind races to somewhere unfamiliar.

Five stumbles when blinks his eyes open. He managed to catch himself, the red sand under his dress shoes surprising him as he looks up. His mouth hangs open, seeing the unfamiliar desert plains. Everything is red or orange, and he freezes when something flies over his head. It looked metallic. When it suddenly beeps, he realizes it's some sort of drone. Amazed and shocked, he didn't realize the figure running towards him.

He drops to the ground as something shiny whizzes past his head, and Five grunts at the impact. He looks over his shoulder, seeing [Name] with red sand clinging all over her clothes. Her eyes are wide and she breathes heavily before grabbing the boy's collar up. And then they ran.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" [Name] shouts over the explosions and bullets firing over their heads. Five is so shellshocked that he didn't know how to respond at first, but when his eyes met hers he blinks again.

"Where the fuck are we?!" He shouts, glancing back to see unfamiliar vehicles firing at them from all angles. Just how the fuck are they missing them?

He spoke too soon.

A bright and loud explosion occurs just in front of them, and the two are thrown off from both sides. When the dust settles, Five coughs, squinting his eyes as he tried to search for the [h/c] girl. His eyes lands on a figure on the ground that's not too far from him. But he still needs to run for it if he wishes to get to her.

[Name] coughs, before looking up at Five. She pushes herself to stand, "come on!" She points at a huge rock that conveniently placed a couple of feet from her, and he didn't hesitate to follow the girl. He tried to spatial jump, but it's too hot and he's already too tired.

The two rested their backs on the rock, and [Name] curses inwardly, "I didn't get a chance to do shit," it was low, but Five heard it. Before he could ask what she meant, she turned to him, "do you trust me?"

He scowls, "I just met you."

"Do you trust me?" She repeated, this time sharper and demanding. What's up with this girl?

"I think I'd rather cut off my own hand." He sarcastically retorts and the girl grabs him by the collar. He is speechless, staring at her panicked but annoyed eyes. Anger started rising from his throat, and before he could push her hand away from him, she speaks.

"Mind your tongue." And with that, she pulls him up until they are in clear sight for the vehicles to shoot. Before he could process her words, bullets rung out and her lips connected with his in a harsh kiss. It hurt his lips, but it's warm...and it's his first too.

Another explosion rang out within the same second, and this time, he felt the heat of it from their side, which meant they were hit directly. It's searing hot. Burning his flesh. Almost like acid. And then it was dark as his consciousness flew back, his lips now cold and his body seemingly floating on air. It felt like he'd died for a split second.

Before he could release a breath, his eyes snapped open.

Five is back in the car.

His eyes were wide as they immediately interlocked with [Name]'s bleary ones. It was silent for a few seconds, and Diego snorted so hard in his sleep that he started coughing. Allison remained with her eyes on them.

Five opened his mouth, and along with it came a breathless whisper, "...what the fuck...just happened?" He's sweating. Why is he sweating so much?

"Took the words right out of my mouth." Allison cut in, although tired and sleepy, the whole fiasco confused the hell out of her. One second, Five was touching the girl's forehead, and when she blinked, so did Five as he threw himself back into the seat so hard she wonders why Diego didn't wake up. Five looked so shocked, and somewhat flustered that she wonders what the hell just transpired within the second her eyes blinked close.

[Name] sighs, throwing her head back to the seat. She is so, so, tired that she didn't bother apologizing for invading his space just like that. It was for their own good anyways. If she didn't do that, things would've gotten way out of hand quickly.

Five managed to compose himself, wiping the sweat dripping down his forehead as the girl stayed silent. Allison frowns at the silence, confused as to why [Name] didn't reply or why Five just let it go. Just what in the world happened?

Sighing, Five sat up straighter, buckling his seatbelt as he finally starts the car. Everything felt like it happened for ten minutes, but coming back here it felt like only a second had passed by. His mind is all over the place and he hates that he couldn't grasp whatever it was in his head because it's going by so damm quickly. He felt like he had stopped running--a huge wall falling on and blocking the path in front of him.

It scared him, because for whatever reason, it felt like his goal led elsewhere and everything is starting to fall off the rails--bound to leave everything in shambles because he just couldn't wrap his head around the abnormality he had experienced. There's no formula for it, and it felt so, so wrong.

Shutting off the mess in his mind, he speaks lowly, but loud enough for the girl beside him to hear, "we'll talk about it later."

[Name] already dreads said 'later'.

_

10:16pm.

She didn't bother sleeping. There was no use for it because an hour later, they already reached the outskirts of The City. Allison's burner phone only rung once, and she spoke to somebody named Vanya about how they're almost home.

Home.

She misses her grandfather. And everyday felt like torture. The only family she's left--far from where she's at.

Diego had also woken up, and remained silent when he noticed that the air was more tense than the last he was awake. He tried not to piss off everyone, especially Five who's glaring straight ahead, obviously drowning deep within his thoughts.

And then there was only silence to accompany them the whole ride.