Ten Years Without You

Episode 4: Turf Wars (1)

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John's P.O.V~

John gripped the covering in his hands, grinding his teeth. He let his head fall to the table as he inhaled and exhaled, in an attempt to calm his nerves. His right leg was jittering like crazy as his bite down on his inner cheeks of his mouth even more, the copper like taste tainting his tongue as he drew blood. He knew he should calm down, he wasn't he in the right mind to be getting upset over this. She was long gone. His phone began to vibrate in his back pocket. He took it out and pressed the power button on the side, the notification popping up on his screen with the very annoying 'ding' noise behind it.

Messages

Dad: The four of us are dressed and ready, tell us when your setting off so we can leave as well! :)

He clicked the message as it took him to him and his fathers private chat. There were two other messages above regarding the same thing, so he just replied with a ten second voice note to spare the typing part and all the spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors he'd make and his father would undoubtable take his time to correct. 

"Hey dad," he spoke into the mic. "We'll be leaving soon, everyone's probably startin' to the board the buses right now, so like in five minutes maybe? I'm not sure."

He let go of the mic under his thumb and watched as the message went through. The tic mark appears showing that the message was sent. He clicked the play button and listened to it back to make sure he spoke clearly and properly.

"Hey dad, we'll be leaving soon, everyone's probably startin' to board the buses right now, so like in five minutes maybe? I'm not sure."

His voice sounded a little funny but at least he was audible. William was online and the second tick as well as the blue mark appeared showing that it was received and listened to. William began typing and John closed the chat for the time being. He'd get the notification when William sent him a message so he might as well leave. He stood up, slowly, quite slowly. He could practically feel his bones cracking as he straightened his posture. He was a bit stiff to say the least. He cracked his knuckles and began to walk towards the exit, right in front of him, some kid burst in. He hit his head on John's chest and stumbled backwards until he got a hold of himself by gripping onto the gates latch. 

John brushed off his clothes before looking down towards the kid standing a few feet away from from him, rubbing his face.

"I'm so so so sorry!" he clamored, rubbing his nose. "I didn't see you there sir, I was in a rush and I didn't notice you trying to leave, and I dropped my bracelet's on the stage, and-and my phone is in my pocket, and again I'm really really sorry sir, but I need to go because the others are outside already and I don't want to keep them waiting and-"

John raised his hand to quiet him as the boy went silent, the gold wedding band on his ring finger glistening in the sunlight. 

"First of all, calm down," he spoke callously. "Secondly, be quiet for a few seconds, okay?" John wiped the sweat stains off his shirt with a napkin before tossing it into the nearest open garbage can. The boy pressed his lips together and clasped his hands together in front him.