Restarting Love

Chapter 3

     I helped her stand up and she pulled me into a tight embrace. For a quick moment, I stopped breathing, it surprised me. My heart starts to race, and I feel my face turning to a light shade of pink. "I know this was sudden but thank you so much." I can hear her trying not to break down. I wrap my arms around and reciprocate the tight embrace. "Of course, we're in this together now," I say trying not to cry myself. I swallow the urge and take a deep breath. I lean back and we make eye contact, "Um, let's walk towards the roof yeah?" She nods and we carefully walk towards the roof. I got lost in her eyes for a second. What is going on? I just met her, why am I acting like this? My body is acting weird and it's hard to focus on the situation I'm in. Which is fatal right now, I could die at any moment, but my body isn't acting in fear but fluster? Is that how I say that? Now isn't the time to be thinking like this, I need to make sure I live. "Look," she exclaimed, "A maintenance ladder!" "Looks like everything is falling into place," I smile and climb up first to make sure it's safe. I scan my eyes across the roof and continue to pull myself up. So far so good, I don't see anything or anyone. Just then, the door burst open, and people started rushing out. They slammed it back and locked the latch. Along with them is, "Duke!" I shouted and squatted down as he ran toward me. "I'm so glad you're okay, I'm so sorry I lost you in the crowd." I hug him and he nuzzles my neck acknowledging the distress I'm in. Duke was trained to be a service dog, for my flat mate's dad but later became her guard dog after her father passed. Even during all this chaos, he is still doing such an amazing job. I ran back to the ladder and waved her up. I help her up and she looks at the group of people huddled in the corner. Looking at the group, they seem young, three boys and two girls. "Are they okay? Were they the cause of that loud bang? She takes a second before she speaks to them, "Hey, are you guys, okay? None of you are hurt right?" The group looks at each other warily about if they should answer or not.  "Yes, we're fine and we're not hurt," the boy who spoke up got quiet again. Poor kids, none of us are going to be able to sleep, who knows what we'll see then. "What- What about you?" One of the girls stutters out. "We're fine," I patted myself like I was going through security. The kids start to relax, they're easy to trust us. At this point I don't think we have a choice right now. I walk over to the side of the roof and look out in the distance. Observing. All there is to see are crashed cars, cars or buildings on fire, those that came back to life to spread chaos, and those who didn't. I shake my head and sigh. "What's wrong?" she asked with a concerned look. "Hm? Oh, I was trying to see if there was any way to get out of this airport. Even if we did, where would we go? Just trying to get ahead, we can't stay here forever." The kids join us and look out at the chaos. "We should just end it right? There's nothing for us here," the girl beside me cries out softly. "What?" dread starts to feel my heart, "Please don't, there are survivors on the planes. What about your families?" "Our parents are dead; we have no family to return to." The boy in the middle shouts through tears. "Siblings?" I say in a soft voice, "Are you guys' siblings?" They all nod while some are tearing up or crying. "The you do have family, you have each other," I say with empathy, "Live for each other." It's silent. No one speaks for a while; I think they're trying to process everything that's happened. I get everyone's attention and wave them away for the side of the roof. I'm shocked they're listening. I'm wondering if they're thinking the same. "We need to get more supplies. I only have what I packed though; it should be enough for the night and tomorrow morning." With ease everyone agrees but remains silent. I let out a small sigh, "The sun is setting, let's build a fire for the night. Who wants to set up some pallets? I only have two blankets." I give the blankets to the woman, and I get everything ready to start the fire. One of the boys, the eldest, came and helped me with the fire. The blankets were given to the kids so they can stay warm. We all sat by the fire and for a while no one spoke. Until the eldest boy broke the silence. The kids introduced themselves from eldest to youngest. Kelvin, Oliver, Elijah, Maria, and Jacquelyn, all high school students. Next, the woman introduced herself as Amiel. I go next, "My name is Kace."  "Kace?" Jacquelyn asked. "Yeah, it stands for Kacey, but my friends called me Kace and it stuck ever since," I responded, probably more than what she asked for. We continue talking and the mood lightens up. The siblings are laughing and telling us their funny stories. Amiel participates in the conversations with the biggest smile I've ever seen. The smiles and laughter are contagious, I find myself smiling and laughing with them. Now the sun is down, and the kids are tired. I tell everyone to go to sleep and I'll be on watch. However, that doesn't sit well with Amiel. She offers to stay on watch with me and of course, I say yes. As the night goes on, I receive a text message. That's weird, I was sure everything would be down during this situation. The text reads: "Kace, if by any chance you receive this... please respond. We are safe, the disease is only in our country. Stay safe, we all love and miss you. - Aunt T." Tears start to fall down my face as reassurance fills my body. I text back, "OMG! Yes, I'm here! I'm on the roof of the airport with a group of people," I list out their names, "Please, if you can, see if their families are safe too. I love and miss you guys as well. I'll stay safe the best I can." SENT. DELIVERED. It works, I can't believe it works. I look over to tell Amiel but she's asleep. I'm glad. She needed to rest as well. I take off my jacket and lay it across her. I checked my phone again, but no response. The time reads 3:24 a.m. and I feel my eyes get heavy. I'll stay up for as long as I can, however, I think sleep is about to win. Every now and then I start to nod off, but I wake up just before they fully close....