Sparks To A Flame

|13| Simon Says

Nicole

This morning, I was woken up by a familiar sound of footsteps walking down the hall. A walk pattern that only belongs to one person.

Simon.

I quickly rolled out of bed and jogged to my door, opening it before he could hit the buzzer. I felt much better today and my energy was back at a healthier level which was an enormous relief for me. If I could describe myself in yesterday's condition with one word, it'd be "miserable". It was miserable turtling around and feeling like an old bag of rotting grizzly shit all day.

"How do you always do that?" he asked.

I smiled, "I know the pattern of your walk. I can kind of sense it."

He smiled back, exposing his perfectly straight, white teeth that he only allowed me to see above anyone else, "Were you already awake or did my footsteps wake you?"

I nodded with a small smile, "It was your footsteps." I had always been a light sleeper. Any alerting sound could wake me up in less than a second unless I'm drunk or super exhausted... "Come in." I moved aside, giving him a short, welcoming gesture.

He looked around the room with his hands on his hips as he entered, nodding at its appearance.

"What brings you here? Any tasks I have to deal with? I could use the excitement." I grinned, remembering what Coach informed me of after he overheard Simon's conversation.

He pursed his lips, nodding some more as he scanned the room. "Actually... I want you to pack up."

Excuse me?

I winced, "Pack up? Why?"

He turned to me with a gentle twinkle in his eyes as he told me, "We're moving."

Moving... Like now?

I could only gawk at him, not knowing where to start. My words already began to swarm around and bundle up in my head, causing my voice to remain stuck and silent.

Moving?! To where? This is our home, we live here! I don't want to move, there's nowhere to go!

He frowned at my expression. "We need to make some adjustments to the system here-"

"We can't move..." I said, barely above a whisper.

"Soldier..."

"No... We live here. This our home." I felt my heart starting to sink to my gut. I couldn't leave a place like this, not when I've become so attached to it for as long as I can remember.

He walked over to me, gently cupping my face in his hands, "I thought you would like the idea..." he chuckled before gently kissing my hair.

I moved his hands away then crossed my arms, "I hate the idea. I feel just fine living here." Those words made him sigh deeply.

"Nicole. This place. It's too small. Just look at this." he pointed at the box under my T.V stand, "You've got you're firearms all jumbled up in there, that's the best the maids could do for you. Just... Throw it all in a box."

"So what if I like it like that?"

He rubbed my arm for comfort, "You don't... Nicole, take a seat." he guided me to the couch and sat next to me. I didn't want to hear any more of what he has to say. I know what I want and what I want is to stay at headquarters.

"I understand that you grew up here. This place holds a lot of memories and good times. I know it. I've watched you grow in this headquarters but believe me when I say this. In our new home, we can create more memories and cherish the ones we've already made. All of the stuff you have here will be coming with us."