just imagine me away (tronnor)

1.4

Connor

Emily left my room around 10:00, when our parents started yelling for us to go to sleep because it was getting late.

At least I was tired out from the football game, and I would fall asleep quickly.

The sun never shines when you're sad. At least, that's how it works in books and movies and everything else, only this is real life.

So the sun was shining, I was laughing, the brown bear lumbered around a fenced-in enclosure, which the black haired Ruth tells me is just a fancy word for cage. Next to me, a brown haired boy is attempting to follow a map.

"This way!" he declares, pointing.

"But...why?" I ask him, Troye, his name is.

"Because...because I am king and you have to!"

I frown. "What if I want to be king?"

"Well, you can't because I called it first!"

I pouted, but gave in because a five year old can't hold a grudge for long. "At your service!"

"This way!" Troye declares again, and together we run off along the stone pathways. Ruth chases us, her short black hair flying behind her, and a map fluttering out of her hands. Of course, that was okay because Troye had a map, and Troye knew where he was going. 

Then we were laughing again, the map lying forgotten at our feet. The black seatbelt bites at my neck, and Troye and I laugh as we try and figure out how to use the clip that holds it away from your neck. Troye grins mischievously, and unbuckles himself, climbing over a stuffed lion to get to me. His tiny hands grab the clip, which is when Ruth gasps. 

"Troye! Get back in your seat, right now! Connor, are you buckled in?" I nod shamefully, as Troye's face falls into an expression of shame. He backs away from me, and tries to get back in his seat. Only the stuffed lion was one of two, because what Troye had, I had to have and what I had, Troye had to have. The second lion had fallen forward into the small foot space between two rows of seats. Troye tried to get back to his seat, only he tripped over the lion. As his small five year old body fell backwards, he grabbed the back of Ruth's seat. She let out a cry, and spins around. "Troye - "

When I was learning to ride a bike, Troye at my side, we learned that your hands follow your eyes. If I turned to look at the dandelions growing on the other side of the street, my hands would too and then I would be riding my bike into the street.

Ruth's hands followed her striking blue eyes. The glass screamed for us when Ruth turned towards Troye and I. It shattered, and the metal fence bent around the red car.

A black haired head slammed into a wheel. A small child's body fell between seats and folded in half like a dollar bill. Only Troyes aren't meant to be folded in half. Then there was a leather strap against my neck and I couldn't breathe. I was jolted forward and back, where I hit the cushion and I screamed. 

The door crashed open. "Connor!" A familiar brunette ran into the room, just before my parents. 

My clothes stuck to me with sweat. I had become tangled in all the white sheets, and the air was suffocating. My clock blinked 2:41 in red numbers. It was dark out, but the white walls seemed to glow. Glass shattered in my mind, and I let out a guttural cry, the way I used to whenever I heard thunder.

Mom rushed to my side, her hands on my arm and leg. "Breathe, baby. You're okay, it was just a nightmare."

Dad hesitated at the door, yawning. Emily was staring at me with a concerned expression, sitting on the edge of my bed like a bird ready to fly. 

"I'm okay, Mom. Just a nightmare." Slowly, she and Dad stood and left the room after a few minutes, still worried. Emily didn't leave. 

"Five Questions?" We used to play this game when something was bothering one of us, where the other would ask five questions then at the end you would explain everything.

I swallowed. "Maybe later?"

She nodded, brushing a strand of hair behind her ears. "Okay. Goodnight, Con." She stood and left the room, shutting the door behind her.