Strangers in the Night ▸ Javi Rivera

4

While they'd spent the rest of their time in the diner planning out their exact course, the group had come to a decision to head to the motel afterwards so they can check out before going out to see if they could find a twister for Luna to enjoy. While they hadn't managed to, the skies all around them clear as afternoon turned into evening and then into night, it had still ended in a nice little campfire evening after which the whole crew had camped out in the clear grassy area they'd claimed for the night.

And as the dawn started to break over their small campsite, all but one of the members of the crew still sound asleep, Luna could be found sitting on top of the RV, watching as the world around her began to wake up. She watched as the sky above her head began to light up, blues turning into a canvas of gold and pink as the sun began to rise.

And the only thing that could get her to look away was the metallic rattle of the ladder which led up to where she was, her head turning back and watching as her brother's head popped up above the edge of the vehicle before he climbed the rest of the way. "I thought you said ya ain't doing the sunrises anymore?" She asked with a smile as she watched him step away from the latter only for the sound of someone climbing it to continue.

"Yeah well, don't go expectin' it every mornin'." Boone said in warning, moving over and plopping down right next to her, his legs hanging off the edge of the RV as he continued. "But we both thought it'd be nice to catch this first one with ya." He said just as Tyler appeared as well, walking along the roof before he was lowering down on Luna's other side.

"Just like old times." She said with a happy smile on her face, only to have her brother shake his head at her.

"Nah, better than old times." He corrected her as he threw his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close into his side while his words made her think back to how her routine of watching the sun rise and fall each day had begun.

While she'd been stuck in the hospital for her first round of chemo, feeling all the effects of it as every day seemed worse than the last, she'd lost track of time and days, never too sure how much she'd slept through since the exhaustion was all she could feel. The only thing she did know was that every time she closed her eyes and let herself drift off, her last thought would be the fear of it being the last time. That once they closed, her eyes would never open again.

The sunrises and sunsets were Boone's idea. One day, he was in her room before dawn had even broke, gently shaking her shoulders and waking her up to confused questions of what he was doing and why he was there so early. But instead of answering, her brother helped her out of bed, carrying her over to the wheelchair he'd gotten from one of the nurses before wheeling her through the hospital hallways and to the elevator which they rode all the way up to the roof. And sitting there, they watched the sun rise. And then when the day passed, he did it again. Took her back up to the roof and together they sat and watched it set.

"Promise me you'll wake me up for them every day." She remembered whispering to him as she watched it, her voice barely able to come any louder, but it didn't matter in the peaceful silence that surrounded them. He heard her. "So I'll always know I made it through another one."

"I promise." He whispered back to her. And it was a promise which he kept. He was at the hospital every day before the sun rose and every night as it set. Waking up as early as he had to, so that he'd get to the hospital in time, dropping any plans which might've prevented him from doing it in the evenings too, and he showed up every day.

And with time, Tyler joined them. Starting during one of Boone's own first stays in the hospital after becoming a donor, scared that he wouldn't be able to do it on his own in the first days during which he himself was in pain and weaker than usual. So he called their best friend, Tyler stepping up to the job without complaint, getting them both up to the roof and sitting with them at the start and end of each day. And continuing to do so even when Boone was perfectly fine to handle it on his own.