We Begin Again

Stay

It didn't take long for Ada to shake off her desire to be alone. Whether it was the residual adrenaline from that morning still coursing through her veins or the strangely comforting way Toby checked on her and lightened the mood after the ordeal, but Ada no longer wanted to lock herself in her room. So after she had read a couple of chapters of her book and heard the other teenagers voices floating up the stairs, Ada decided it was time to rejoin them. She padded across the landing to her brothers' room, sticking her head around the door and watching as Toby and Billy dumped two large bin bags full of clothes onto the floor where Zoe was sat.

"What's all this then?" Ada asked, slipping into the room and taking a seat next to Zoe, nudging at the clothes with her socked foot.

"Mum seems to think we're going to be here a while." Billy began, plopping down onto the floor opposite the girls so the mound of clothes were in the middle. "And if we are, not everyone here has enough clothes. So we gathered up some things and we're going to sort out who can have what just in case we're stuck here longer than a few days. Layla thought this was a waste of time because the army said they would be coming back for us soon enough, so she's staying downstairs playing on her phone."

Ada nodded quietly, not wanting to accept the very real possibility that the army were not coming back any time soon- if at all. The thought made her chest tighten painfully.

"We will try and be back for the rest of you at noon tomorrow." The Sargent had told them before departing, but Ada remembered there was no certainty in his voice. And the morning was quickly slipping away. Deep in the pit of her stomach, Ada knew. She knew that when she sent her siblings through that gate, it would be a long time before she saw them again; if she ever saw them again. Suddenly hot tears prickled her vision and she dipped her head, wiping them away with the sleeve of her jumper before anyone else could notice, urging herself to keep it together. "But if not expect us back in a maximum of three days." Three days. There was still time. There was still hope.

Next to Billy, Toby lowered himself awkwardly to the floor, finding it hard to get himself into a position that was comfortable for him, wincing and grabbing his back as he twisted.

"Threw my back out opening the gate." He answered the other teenagers' concerned looks with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Heavier than it looks. Will be fine in a few days."

"Okay." Billy nodded, attention quickly back on the clothes. "So, who needs what?"

"It's mainly me, my dad, Layla, and Peter. We only have what we brought with us so a few extra outfits each will help. We all packed in a rush and I'm really regretting only grabbing jeans. I need something more comfortable."

"You know you can help yourself to my clothes." Ada told her friend. "I know they'll be a bit big on you but you know..." the older girl trailed off.

"I know I know. I already took a T-shirt to sleep in because I forgot pyjamas." Zoe smiled sheepishly and Ada nodded knowingly. She noticed last night that the younger girl was wearing her clothes but didn't say anything. "But if I find something here I won't have to raid your things."

"Okay. So anything on the bigger side we can put over there for the dads and they can take what they want from that " Ada started, peering around the pile of clothes to the boys on the other side before turning back to Zoe. "And you and Layla wear the same size right? If you grab anything that will fit you two and pile it by you, you guys can split those. And anything else is free-rein I guess."

Everybody nodded and started grabbing at the clothes, organising them into the piles that Ada had directed, folding as they went. Between quiet chatter and their cooperative work, the pile quickly shrunk. Ada had found a T-shirt from a tv show she liked, and after asking the others if it was okay, she took it for herself.