Only to Survive (ON HOLD)

Part Two: The Becoming - Chapter Nine: The Missing Tree

“Anyway, it doesn't matter how much, how often, or how closely you keep an eye on things because you can't control it. Sometimes things and people just go. Just like that.”

― Cecelia Ahern

Part Two: The Becoming

Chapter Nine: The Missing Tree

By the time we got to the house, the wind had picked up. It still amazes me: how quickly the billowing clouds can move. They are the lions of the sky – stalking the perpetual blueness of a calm day and striking it down with a swift burst of speed. The lightning is the strike, the blood being spilled, and the thunder the roars of triumph and the dying calls of the calmness. Fierce, deadly, smart – the perfect storm.

I shiver in my soaked clothes as the Hales hustle through the front door. Flipping the locks into place, I take a deep breath, close my eyes, and shake out my arms and legs.

Samuel laughs as Rose groans and says, “Great, it’s true: my sister is a dog.”

I smile. “Am I a good dog?”

She scowls at me. “No, you’re horrible.”

My smile transforms into a smirk. “The dog is only as good as her owner.”

Rose blushes furiously as we laugh, though Mr. and Mrs. Hale try to reprimand me. With a flick of my wrist, though, I wave them off. They’re not my parents, so they shouldn’t even try.

The sound of feet lifts everyone’s eyes to the staircase. Steve is smiling so widely that it’s almost a Cheshire grin.

“You’re alive!”

Gerald chuckles. “Aw, did someone miss me?”

Steve’s cheeks go red. “No, you idiotic Neanderthal,” he says. His hazel eyes dart frantically around the room, searching for a way out of the ribbing Gerald is more than ready to give. “I was merely pointing out that your parents are alive and well,” he says, giving a polite nod to Mr. and Mrs. Hale. “Hello.”

Mr. Hale gives him a look. “I’m guessing we’re supposed to forget we heard you call our son a Neanderthal?”

Steve’s eyes grow wide, and he nods his head vigorously. “Y-yes! I’m terribly sorry! I didn’t mean –”

Gerald claps him on the back, his eyes watering from the silent guffaws he’s desperately trying to hold in. “Y-you idiot! H-he’s kidding!”

Despite being soaked to the bone, laughter breaks out among us, giving the dark house light. The sound of it dances throughout the house, reaching the shadowed corners and banishing the darkness. The first to recover, I start towards the fireplace, only to wince as my hip bangs against the coffee table.

“Bloody hell!” I curse, rubbing the afflicted area.

“You okay?” Rose asks, coming towards me. I smile and nod, but the curtain has already risen. The aches and pains and tiredness crash upon me, forcing me to lock my knees lest I tumble to the ground. “Evolet!” Rose exclaims as I hunch over, groaning. The world is suddenly on its side and the carpet is kissing my face. My vision becomes fuzzy, but I can still make out the darting red blur of Rose and the darker shadows of the others.

Rose and Samuel prop me up against the table and the world tilts dangerously on its axis. I cough and almost dry heave.

“What do we do?” Samuel.

“I-I don’t know! Evolet, can you –”

But then my ears are ringing and my eyelids are drooping. My lips move, so I’m pretty sure I’m mumbling something, but the ringing drowns out the world in a wave of white noise. My head becomes cold, which wakes me up a little, and I become aware that someone is shaking me.