Saving skies

Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

“Do you know anywhere I could stay?” I ask, praying he has an answer that gives me a bed.

So now I’m following him back to his car. Apparently he has a couch that I can crash on and my relief at hearing that completely overrides any doubt of his legibility. It doesn’t even occur to me that the smell of alcohol coming from his breath is a sign he shouldn’t be driving.

We walk closer to the side of the road where a group of cars are parked messily and more people hang around, slowly dispersing to get back home.

“It’s the red Ford in the back” he tells me and starts walking towards it. With my head down, I follow behind him, trailing my eyes at his feet. He is wearing blue vans, which have been trashed in the mud and scattered with ashes from standing too close to the fire.

“So what’s your name?” He turns around suddenly, asking me.

“Anna” I reply, looking at his face, which I can see more clearly now.  He has chin length hair and tanned skin. His brown eyes are looking at mine, and he has a cheeky grin on his face. “What’s yours?” I ask in return.

“Oh, honey, I don’t think you know me well enough” I stand, stunned at his answer. Who knew this guy would be so flirty?

“Well, no-name, if you think getting to know me means getting me naked then I want you to know that’s not what I’m looking for.” I state, walking slower as all my common sense comes back to me.

“It’s ok. I guess you don’t know me well enough for that, Anna” He replies with his smart mouth.

I huff and walk to the passenger side of his car, waiting for him to take out the key and unlock it. He stops, with the keys in his hands, and looks at me.

“You really want a bed, don’t you?”  I pause before replying.

“Yeah, I really do” and with that the locks click open in the old Ford and I jump into the car. He climbs into his seat and puts the key in the ignition. I hold my bag close to my chest as we drive down the road, closer into the town centre.

After a few minutes I dare to ask the question.

“Hey, how far out of Melbourne are we?”

“We’re in Kilmore… you don’t know where we are?”

“No, I just jumped off the train…” I admit.

“Is it too soon to ask you how you got here?”

“I just wanted to get away.” I reply, cutting the conversation short, before regretting it as the car falls into an awkward silence.

“So how far away is your house?”

“Not far from here, a couple minutes maybe. I have a room-mate as well. We will just try not to wake him, although he is probably getting ready for work soon.” I look across to the time on his dashboard, and find that it’s nearly 6 in the morning.

“What’s his job?”

“He’s a tradie, I mean, he’s still in training but he wants to be an electrician. He didn’t come to the party because he had work today.”

“How old are you both?”

“I’m 19 and he’s 17. He just dropped out of school and crashed with me, but he’s kind of like a brother so I don’t mind.” As he says this, we turn into a drive way of a block of flats. Stopping at the second one, he parks the car and steps outside. I follow and walk up to the front door with him.

“Ah, you can crash on the couch for now. I’ve got nowhere to be today so I’m just gonna sleep in my room. But if you need something, just look for it. I’m not waking up for anybody.” I nod my head in agreement, thinking that I will just sleep as well.

We step through the front door and I find myself in a small and cosy living room. There is a double seater couch and a recliner facing a small TV with a DVD player and Xbox on the side. On the other side of the room the carpet turns into tile and the living room turns into a kitchen. It is old and white washed. The sink is full of dishes and the fridge is covered in notices.

“Well, I’ll see you in a bit” he says and walks down a hallway directly across from me.

“Hey!” I shout out after him, he turns around and looks at me.

“Can I have a shower?”

“Uh, yeah… it’s the first door on the left and towels are somewhere in the cupboard”

"Oh, Anna" He says to me. 

"Yeah?" 

"It's Nick," it takes me a moment to register that he is talking about his name. I smile in reply.

When he leaves I sigh in relief and walk down to the bathroom. It’s small as well; the sink has a cup with two toothbrushes and two shavers in it, along with shaving gel and toothpaste. The actual shower itself doesn’t have shampoo and conditioner, just an all in one that never works on my hair anyway. I pull shower gel out of my small wash bag, and grab my shaver. Then I make sure the door is locked and turn the shower on.

Inside, the steaming water runs down my back, sending chills down my spine as I realise how cold I have been. I lather up my body with my coconut shower gel and run the shaver up and down my legs, hoping that they will be smooth despite my half-hearted efforts.

I start to think about my family. My mother and father. I've never had any brothers or sisters, it was always just 3 of us. They died two years ago. The car that hit us killed my dad instantly, because he was on the drivers side, and my mum stayed in hospital for a week in a coma. She died after that, though. 

I was in hospital for 2 months. I broke my nose, my leg and several ribs. I was lucky, because I sat on the passenger side in the back seat. The worst injury I received was some internal bleeding that was controlled by the paramedics almost instantly. 

The permanent marks I received consist of a scar across my belly, and my traumatised mind, which will always haunt me. But I remember coming home from that dance competition so clearly, I even remember our last conversation. 

After a while, I regretfully turn the water off and step out of the shower, wrapping the towel I found in the cupboard around my body. I turn and look in the mirror.

My hair is long and brown, straight now because it’s wet but usually it would be wavy. My green eyes are bloodshot and I have bags underneath them. I’m so tired. I step back and look at the rest of my body, checking over my legs to make sure I shaved them properly. When I am happy with the job I have done, I change into clean clothes- the only other pair of clothes I brought with me.

I tiptoe out of the bathroom with my bag in my arms, and make my way down to the living room. I find that no-name has thrown a blanket on the side of the couch, and I make a note to thank him later.

Placing my bag on the ground, I lay down on the couch. I put a cushion up at my head and cover myself with the blanket. I look at the wall across from me and see two open power points.

My phone.

I pull the charger out of my bag and jump of the couch to put my phone on charge. I don’t wait for it to turn on again; I just stumble over to the couch before lying down. Sleep takes over me instantly.