In The Dead of the Night

07 | quiet footsteps

Maybe it was just my mind fooling me, but he seemed to smile more. We'd talked for a few hours after training, during which he taught me how to handle knives in a way that didn't slice limbs off, about fear. He said fearlessness didn't exist. That only bravery did. I asked him why he had said on the first night that he'd train me to be 'fearless'. He said because it was what my father asked him to do. 

"It's your responsibility to tell me when to go," Shawn said while finally putting his freshly dried shirt back on. It was hard to believe sometimes that he was newly 19 years old, by the look of his body, all toned lines and lean muscles, it seemed like he'd been training for decades. But there was a reason my father chose Shawn to train me, and my father loved a perfectionist. 

I glanced back at Shawn. "Do you know when the sun will rise?" 

"We talked about this on the first day," he said, his look much softer than I remembered. "It's late November, in the northeast of North America." 

The sky was pitch black, but the clouds had cleared in the last few hours and the stars were visible. I held up one finger to show I would be back in a minute, and darted inside the warehouse to find the clock. 

"We could leave now if you'd like," I said. Somehow, even after running to the edge of the warehouse and back, I wasn't out of breath. Maybe the training was paying off a bit. "We'd be there early, but that means we'd get to watch the entire thing." 

"Then let's go." Shawn held his hand out, and, without giving much thought, I took it. Only then did the wave of shock travel through my body, traveling up my arms with sparks that could light the whole sky if they wanted to. He wasn't supposed to be holding my hand, even if it was just a friendly gesture to guide me to the motorcycle, but he did and that was that. Maybe I just didn't want to think of a reason for him to drop my hand, because then he might do it. 

"Just so you know, I'm horrible at climbing buildings." Shawn smiled as he got on the motorcycle, and I followed behind him. 

"It'll be fine! Besides, you only need to climb a few feet, and then we can go up the fire escape." 

He let out a relieved breath. "Thank God." 

I wrapped my arms around his torso as he started the engine, the rumbling as low as the thunder that had drifted away, but not nearly as soft. Somehow, the rolls of thunder at points had been comforting, like a gentle vibration to ensure I didn't float off into my own world. It felt a little I might have at points, I was too caught up in listening to Shawn's gentle urges to remember to keep my two feet on the ground. Now, ironically, Shawn was the only thing keeping me from flying off the back of the motorcycle and quite possibly breaking my skull open on the metal that surrounded the wheel. The second I let go of him was the second I wouldn't enjoy motorcycle rides as much. 

But I kept my hands clutched tight in front of him. He pressed the gas pedal and the vehicle started with a burst of speed that surprisingly didn't make the tail end light up with flames. Shawn leaned forward and I did too, the pull of air from my lungs familiar but still exhilarating. 

"Normal route?" he asked, leaning to one side to dodge the rusted metal train tracks. 

I confirmed, "Normal route. We'll go up Apex Plaza apartment building." 

 "Have you done that one before?" 

"Why would I do the same building twice in a city this large?" 

It was weird, but I could feel the warmth of his smile even from behind him. "You are your father's perfect daughter. I know he probably never tells you that, but you are." 

My brows knit together. "That's not true." 

A half a moment of silence passed, and the warmth of a smile I felt a second ago seemed gone.