The Guardian Wars: Part One #Wattys2016

Chapter Twenty-Three

 Mabel comforted me until my very last tear for Rowan fell. She was right. He was dead. And pretending that he wasn't could never change that. It had just been so much easier to tell myself that I would find him at the safe house, than face the reality of him being gone forever. I was forced to replace my determination for finding Rowan, with a vengeance for finding purpose in his death.

When Mabel and I finally said our goodnights, and I crawled under the stiff motel blanket on my bed, I immediately fell asleep. I had my nightmare again, but it was slightly different.

* * *

I awoke to a loud boom. The walls of my house shook from the impact of the bomb. I was not in a crib, but I was standing in the middle of the room. I was my twenty year old self, and I was wearing Rowan's clothing. I didn't scream out as the smoke filled the room. I knew that if I waited long enough, my rescuer would come in through the window that I was standing in front of. I waited patiently as the flames threatened to enter my room. My eyes were beginning to water from the thick black smoke that circled above my head, but still I waited.

"Rowan!" I yelled. He didn't come.

"Rowan, I'm here!" I screamed.

I waited again, until the flames had all but eaten through the door of my bedroom. They moved towards me, leaving me no other choice. I ran full force into the window pane, leading with my shoulder. It shattered as I fell through it and onto the ground. When I looked up, I was not surrounded by a burning neighborhood. Instead I was in a large green field of grass. I stood up and looked around. I froze as I saw Rowan walking towards me. His arms were extended, reaching for me. I ran to him and wrapped my arms around his neck as we collided.

"You didn't come for me," I said into the nook of his warm neck.

"No. You came for me," he explained simply.

* * *

My dream plagued me the next morning as I dressed and helped Mabel care for her ankle. I had come to terms with the fact that Rowan was dead, but my dream suggested that there had been a reason that he was not able to come back for me. Mabel's ankle was still swollen, but the bruises hadn't grown, and she seemed to be able to move it more than the day before.

I helped her into the shower, then dug around in our duffels until I was able to compile a decent breakfast for us. It consisted of granola bars and two slightly squished bananas. I turned the small TV set on to see what time it was. We only had an hour before we had to check out of the room. As I changed back into my jeans and tank top, I noticed that my arms and back were sore from driving the bike the whole day before. It was an odd, yet satisfying feeling. I had started to miss the daily grind of my workouts.

Mabel insisted on dressing herself after her shower, so I let her hobble her way around the room without a fight.

"We need a game plan," she said as we sat down together on one of the twin beds to eat our breakfast.

"Ok," I said in agreement, peeling my banana.

"I know you don't want to make waves, but it's time for us to face facts. We can't travel cross country on foot, and I can barely walk at all. We will have to steal a car, and soon," she took a bite of her granola bar as she gave me a persistent look.

I sighed loudly. I knew she was right, but it just didn't sit right with me to take someone else's belongings.

"You're right, but let's try to hold off as long as we can," I said in agreement.

"Ok," Mabel conceded, "We just need to get some serious distance between us and Sector 1 before Margaret starts getting worried." I nodded and tossed my empty banana peel into the trash can beside the TV cabinet. As my peel landed in the cheap plastic bin, an image on the TV made me freeze in horror. It was a picture of me, with the word missing plastered across the bottom. My hair was still dark brown and barely touched my shoulders, but it was me.