Hypersonic Missiles

Ada

I had kind of expected him to make us go back the moment he'd finished. Id expected him to check back over his shoulder again at the trees, anxious that we might have been seen. Instead he sat there beside me, arm brushin mine, watching the water. The waves were quiet today, barely waves at all just gentle rolls towards the shore. Dipping and rising softly. Barely a disturbance in the water. No dolphins that was for sure. I wondered if there were even any fish.

He sat beside me and he didn't say a word for a little while. I sat there lost in my thoughts. Nervous to look up at him, nervous to break the silence. Choosing to listen instead to the waves.

"You always lived in Newcastle?" He asked quietly, "you grow up here?"

I bit my lip and nodded. Forgot to elaborate for a moment. It wasn't quite true.

"My mums from Shapinsay, i think its one of the orkney islands... i dont really remember it but we lived there when I was really little..." I said softly, "you dont really sound like a geordie..." I added, blushing a little when I realised how blunt that was. He seemed to find it amusing, chuckling at me and shaking in his head.

"Certainly not..." he said, "I grew up in Killiney... in Ireland.. didnt used to feel so far from here but I spose it is now eh... like your orkney islands..."

"I don't really remember orkney," I said with a shrug, "its probably not really the same..." i felt awkward, a little too shy to ask the questions I thought he probably wanted to be asked. The obvious ones. One i wanted to know the answer to.

"How old were you when you left?" He asked, "was your dad a geordie?"

"Yeah," I bit the tip of my thumb as I thought, trying to remember the last birthday in the highlands, just vague snapshots, photos taken on a disposable camera. Over saturated and damp looking. "Maybe three, I was really really small... when did you  move here?" I asked carefully, sensing that for him perhaps this was a slightly more sensitive subject. When he smirked ruefully, almost far away eyes, I thought I understood.

"I didn't," he said softly, "me an the lads we were in a band, on tour..."

"Oh." I said softly, swallowing a lump in my throat as I let that settle, thought about what it really meant.

That he hadnt seen his family since before the impacts. That he might not know what had happened to them. That he was stuck surviving in half a caravan off the coast of a country he couldnt even call home.

"Thats..." i stumbled, my voice gone soft and fragile. I felt bad for saying it, felt bad for thinking it because it almost felt like rubbing his face in it, "really sad..." I trailed off, turning to look at him, following his gaze out to sea again. "Your family..."

"Are very far away aye lass." He said swallowing thickly, his jaw tight. For a moment I saw emotion gather in his eyes. Then I saw it flicker. He gathered himself, swallowed it down. Remained still and apparently unshakeable. "Still got family though eh little one," he nodded back towards the caravan, "just like you..."

I had tears in my eyes but I blinked them away as I followed his gaze. My eyes settled on the caravan as I thought about what he was trying to say. That we were all a little family now. That we had eachother at least even if we didnt really have anything else.

"Have I made it dangerous to stay here?"

The thought had dawned on me like a black cloud. It hadnt been what hed meant for me to think when hed nodded me over to the caravan but it had been the shiver that had run down my spine. That was there home, theyd been fine and safe until Sam gad bought me into the fold. Now theyd begun talking about moving.