Stay with me, always.

Chapter 61. New Year's Day

There's glitter on the floor after the party.

Girls carrying their shoes down in the lobby.

Candle wax and Polaroids on the hardwood floor.

Her and me from the night before.

Such a bittersweet feeling flowed through me as we walked through the house. People were asleep everywhere, on the floor, on the sofas, on the stairs, on each other. I'm surprised the orchestra was still awake, they struck up a soft tune when we walked back into the ballroom. We passed by Mother who was asleep on a leather sofa right next to Eudora who had three empty champagne flutes next to her feet on the floor.

I guess she finally started on that bender.

Soarynn and I made quick work of our wedding clothes once we reached her bedroom upstairs. I knew they'd probably want to photograph her dress so we left it on a hanger. We also left Petunia which I was quite pleased about. "She'll be fine," I told Soarynn, desperate to get this show on the road. We were almost at the front door and I was determined to not run into anyone I didn't like, namely Father, Lucky, Dr. Gaul, and Maybe-Aslen-Zeppelin.

A short list really, and Soarynn didn't like most of them either, so I wasn't biased in any way, fashion, or form.

We were coming down the stairs at a rather slow pace, Soarynn was still pretty tired, today had taken such a toll on her. Then I heard it, footsteps.

It's not hard to hear them when everyone in the house is asleep, even if there are hundreds of strangers in your home. I really didn't want to know who those footsteps belonged to, so I elected to scoop Soarynn up bridal style and carry her down the rest of the stairs. "You might be the most impatient man I've ever met," she murmured, resting her head against my shoulder.

I nervously looked around, trying to locate where the footsteps were coming from, "Yep, I'm super impatient," I said, my head on a swivel. I peered down the great hall, where more people were passed out, draped over armchairs, asleep on the lush carpet. "Looks like we finally tired them out," I said. In all honesty, I'm surprised people turned in this early, I mean, this was the event of the nation.

And people were just sleeping through it?

We also slept through some of it, but that's beside the point. Then I heard it, a stumble, a fall, and some priceless vase no less shattering on the floor. Looks like I don't need to worry about the footsteps anymore.

"Why don't we get out of here, hmm?" I asked, looking down at the literal angel in my arms.

Soarynn gave me a lazy smile as she fought to keep her eyes open, "Let's go on our honeymoon Coryo."

____________________________________

We both slept the entire car ride to the train station. I only woke up once we began to slow down, and there was a good reason for it too. People were asleep everywhere on the streets. While they had taken to camping out for the wedding, it seems people were quite serious about us and kept the party going into the early hours of the morning. Thankfully, we didn't run over any speed bumps.

It was such a strange feeling to pull into the back of the train station again, I honestly never thought we'd be riding another train this soon if I'm being truthful. After Soarynn's Victory Tour, it was safe to say that we had all gotten our fix.

But this was different, Father wasn't on this train. Or Mother, or Eudora, or the Preps.

Not that I had a problem with any of the ladies, it was that old death rattler that really got me worked up.

But to be alone on the train was a honeymoon in itself.

I felt the car come to a stop, I didn't even bother waking up Soarynn, I just scooped her up again as I got out of the car. Walking through the maintenance tunnel again was so surreal, there wasn't a single sound echoing off the walls. No erratic fans screaming our names, no trains pulling in and out of the station. Before the war, we all traveled extensively through the Districts. Citizens would go on vacations in certain Districts, invest in them, capitalize on their production.