An Attic filled with Birds [Completed]

31. Safety

Felix
Nora and Damien take me to one of their 'old spots' when we're back in our world. Apparently, they used to hang out there with their friend group when they were still in school. I joked that must have been a long time ago; only Nora laughed.

It's a really nice spot, but not in the conventional way. It's an old building on top of a hill, and close to the south border with the water. It's way less tall than the buildings up north. I wouldn't be surprised if it was slowly falling apart as we were in it. It must have housed apartments back in the day. Damien tells me that was before their time.

We pass through the white brick entrance gate, and we take a left turn. The stairs are still intact. Not all the way up, however. They're overgrown and broken when we arrive at the seventh floor. We settle for it, and walk through the hallway.

I can feel the wind from outside blowing past my face. The white brick walls have holes in them here and there; the bricks that used to belong there are on the ground. Most doors leading to the apartments are gone. Not out of their hinges and on the floor. Simply gone.

I follow Nora and Damien to an apartment at the end of the hallway. When we walk through the door opening, the sun greets me from the right side. An entire wall is gone. We sit down on the dusty floor, and let our legs dangle. We have a view over the water. I have never seen it up close like this.

It looks like any other ocean, and there's only a few building tops visible. From here, I can see someone in a canoe approaching one of them. They wouldn't live there, would he?

Before we went here, though, we stopped by a convenience store. We bought some food and snacks and everything else we missed when we were gone. I turned on the radio on my phone, and put it beside me.

'Show us the stones, Felix,' Damien says.

I fumble around in my pockets until I find both. When I hold them together in my hand, they cover half my palm. They glow. I pass them to Damien sitting next to me.

'They're pretty,' Nora says.

She's leaning over from Damien's other side to inspect the stones as well.

'The color is nice,' he admits.

That might be the only thing pretty about them. Their dark blue, midnight color. They're smooth. Their shape isn't anything to write home about. The original gem was clearly smashed with some strength; the pieces have sharp edges, and don't have a recognizable shape when they're alone.

'Can you piece them together?' I ask. 'Since they come from the same original stone.'

'Yeah, try that,' Nora says.

Damien inspects both stones, and tries to put them together in various ways. They start glowing every time they're near each other. Eventually, he manages to fit them together. They form a round shape with something coming out of it. It's clear there needs to be a third piece.

'I'm not sure what it's supposed to look like,' Damien says.

'Me neither,' I admit.

'But at least we know they fit together,' Nora says. 'To be honest, I didn't think we would find a piece at Stonehenge. But now I'm glad we went.'

'Me too,' Damien says. 'Now all that's left to do is to complete the set.'

'And find the third piece,' I say.

We sit in silence for a little bit.

'Any ideas of the whereabouts?' I eventually ask.

❖

Nora
When Felix leaves to go to the bathroom, well, from what's left of it, me and Damien are left. We sit next to each other. It's later in the evening, and the sun has started setting. The orange light spreads over the water, and reflects on the few windows of the skyscraper tops that were high enough to not be covered. The person with the canoe hasn't left his skyscraper top.

'I'm glad to be back,' I say.

'Me too. At the end there, I thought we might have been screwed.'

'So I wasn't the only one thinking that?' I laugh.

He shakes his head.

'Definitely not.'

'You're good at hiding your true feelings then. I really thought you weren't worried in the slightest.'

To tease him, I poke my elbow in his side. Before I can lean back he puts an arm around me. He doesn't seem to want to move it anytime soon. Also, it's getting a little cold. I decide to lean into him more. His arm shifts a little so that his elbow is resting on my shoulder. He feels warm.

We look at th sunset in front of us.

'I don't hide all my feelings,' he says. 'Have you thought about it? What I said at that parking lot?'

'It's been going through my mind. I haven't really thought about it, though. I don't have an answer for you.'

'Well, think about it now.'

We remain silent.

'Damien?'

'Yes?'

'Since when did you start having feelings for me?'

'A little while now,' he chuckles. 'Maybe two or three years.'

'That's not what I would call a little while but alright.'

'I just didn't want to ruin anything between us.'

'But you still asked me out. What made you want to ruin things now?'

'I still don't want to ruin things. Let's get that very clear.'

I chuckle.

'At this point, though,' he continues. 'I'll be ruining our friendship anyway by not being able to control my feelings. It's getting harder to keep pushing it down, and hiding it. It's either ruining our friendship by confessing, or by driving you away with my strange behavior. I'd rather have the first one.'

'Wisely said.'

'Thank you.'

We stay silent. For a short moment, I wonder what's taking Felix so long. He quickly leaves my mind, however, when I start to think about what Damien means to me.

He's always been my friend. For as long as I can remember at least. Ever since we were kids. And when he proposed to me at Stonehenge... It was a fake proposal, but still. My heart did a thing I didn't expect it to do.

I start smiling unwillingly.

'What are you thinking about?' Damien asks.

'You.'

'In a good way?'

'A fantastic one.'

From the corner of my eye I see him turn his head. I look back at him.

'You can take me on a date,' I say.

Before I know it, his lips are on mine.