WE STILL EXIST

Chapter Seven- Going Home

CODEN JAMES    (KOH-DEN  JAY-MM-Z)

I finish rubbing the aloe on my burns from the acid rain. The bubbling skin makes it harder to put the clean shirt on, but it will heal in a couple of days since it wasn't too much.

Avery is glaring at me from the corner of the bathroom where we are currently sitting in silence. He was pissed off earlier from Noah running out into the aftershock. I am angry too, but it could have been worse.

In the car, the acid was starting to burn through the roof and there was nowhere for me to go except back inside. I should have just run the first time, but I was conflicted.

Noah was standing there at the front door waiting for me to come back from my tantrum. It was stupid to drive off in the first place when I knew what was going to happen. I just needed a while to myself.

I stand up and walk to the door to open it. Avery follows me and we get to the living room where everyone is sitting. Noah is now sitting up on the couch with Maddie helping her tend to her wounds.

She got some of the smoke in her lungs and it made her delirious. Most of it should be gone now that she has rested and slept, but there is still a chance there could be long-term effects.

Noah is young and healthy and since she works in the field, the chance of becoming more sick is low. Maddie notices me coming into the room and stands back from Noah.

"Are you ready to head back?" Noah turns to look at me.

Her eyes roam over my face and torso looking for any damage done from the rain and smoke. She won't find anything, I hid it well under my clothes.

Maddie walks over to me and asks me, "are you hurt?"

"I'm fine." I push her away by walking around her to see Noah on the couch, "how are you feeling?"

Avery scoffs from where he is standing and pushes me aside, "she's fine."

"Let's go," he grabs her arm and pulls her up from the couch.

She loses balance and stumbles. Grabbing onto her waist to stabilize her, Avery pulls my arms off of her. He pushes her to walk to the front of the house.

"Noah is my girlfriend, not yours." Does he think hooking up with her once is called for labels?

Noah looks behind her shoulder at me. She weakly smiles before walking out to Avery's car, Maddie grabs my hand and pulls me with her.

"I'm sorry for being aggressive back there." Avery mumbles to his girlfriend, "he just makes me mad."

Avery gets in the front seat and Noah gets in the passenger seat while Maddie and I get in the back. The acid burned through the roof of my car all of the way, it will take some time to fix.

"What about Andrew?"

Shit, "I will go get him."

Andrew and I get in the car after it took ten minutes to find him sleeping in one of the back rooms of the house. Everyone else is pacing up in their cars or walking back to where they live.

The three of us are in the back looking at the damage the storms did to the land. Some people are already cleaning things up or trying to salvage parts of their property. It wasn't as bad of a storm as it could have been.

Of course, we listened to some music when the service got better. There wasn't much to talk about, I think we were all just exhausted from the past twenty-four hours.