I Have Been Chosen

Cody 26

Saturday 14th March

The car journey was fairly quiet, with the occasional conversation that was mostly just Cody being irritated when a few drunk people crossed the road without looking or a stag party walked by and were in funny costumes.

When they arrived back home, parking outside of Cody's flat, they got out, lingering in their goodbye.

"You okay?" Oliver asked softly as he saw Cody staring at his apartment building.

Cody swallowed. "Yeah..." he mumbled.

"Do you want to stay at mine again?"

Cody bowed his head. Ever since they were let go after the long questioning of the Snickleway monster kidnappings, Cody found himself unable to sleep at his own place. He was fine during the day there, but it was a whole other experience at night, especially alone...

There was something about the night that even made your own home scary, and Cody now had another reason to be scared of being in his home by himself; it was where he was when he was taken by the monster. Cody had talked with the others who had been kidnapped, and it seemed that the commonality of all of their disappearances, including Oliver's, was that they were alone and in a place with no security footage, no witnesses to their apparition. Since then, Cody avoided going anywhere where there weren't security cameras unless there were other people around. Sometimes, he could enter his own home again, but he had to be in the right mindset for it. So, he had been sleeping over at Oliver's. They hadn't 'slept together' again, both having agreed that they should take things slower and with recent events, they both had things to come to terms with; though Oliver dismissed he was fine, Cody at least needed the extra time, and to think what he needed and wanted at the moment. Now was, unfortunately, not the time for a relationship and dating.

"Thank you." Cody forced a smile. He hoped that when he got back from his parents, he wouldn't have to rely on Oliver like this or any of his friends.

They headed across the road to Oliver's apartment, the sofa bed still set up from Cody sleeping on it last night. The sofa bed had been a purchase made specifically for Kara and Oliver's movie marathon sleepovers they occasionally had.

Cody put the kettle on and handed Oliver a cup of tea. "Well? Did I get it right this time?"

Oliver's brow furrowed, examining the tea with utter scrutiny, then finally took a sip. "Seven out of ten."

"That's an improvement from last time." Cody chuckled, settling down on the sofa bed next to Oliver.

They sipped their drinks in silence for a moment.

"I'm sorry if I wasn't much help back there," said Oliver.

Cody frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"I don't know if I could have backed you up more or not." Oliver shrugged.

"You did back me up," Cody smiled. He placed his hand open to his side, meeting Oliver halfway if he wanted to accept it.

Oliver took Cody's hand, and Cody squeezed it.

"Thank you," said Cody softly. "I think, no matter how much we tried to explain things, they wouldn't believe us." He looked away, though continued holding onto Oliver's hand. "It's like Darren said; you wouldn't want to believe that thing was real. Maybe... maybe I should have just lied instead."

"If they hadn't heard it from us, they would have from the news and online from other survivors. And they would still think the same thing."

Cody nodded, feeling somewhat less guilty as he realised that he may have potentially given his friends a new nightmare, one that was real. He cleared his throat and then began, "I'm going to my parents' tomorrow."