Laconic » a.i

0.8

//cooper//

"Did you die?" Calum asked her, stepping forward. Emily was only up to his chin.

"What?" she scoffed. "What kind of question is that? Of course I'm not dead, I'm right here!"

"Lie," Luke stated with a smirk. He stood up from the grass and began walking to where Calum and Emily stood. His smiled faded, though, and turned to one of sadness. "Oh my God, you died like that?"

Emily looked to Calum for help, "What's he doing?"

"Luke reads minds; it's his gift," Calum explained. "Do you have a gift, Emily?"

She shook her head, "I didn't die that long ago, so that girl came over to help. She took the gift and saved it, I think."

"You can save it?" Michael repeated.

"Wait, I want to know how she died." Jeremy whispered.

"It's like making a deal with the devil, though," Calum sighed, running his hands through his hair. "Saving a gift makes it more powerful when you use it later. And because no one's really gained or lost anything, it sets off the balance."

"So?" Luke shrugged.

"So, things could just start being taken or given away. It could happen at any given moment without warning. You could go to sleep and then wake up without eyes, or something. It all goes back to normal once the gift is given, but until then, it's just chaos."

Both of the boys turned to Emily. "Do you know what she did with the gift?" Luke asked in the same moment Calum wondered, "Has anything new been happening to you?"

She looked at both of the boys like they were crazy, "No."

They both sighed, running their hands through their hair and over their faces.

"We're never going to find him." Luke groaned.

She crossed her arms over her chest, popped one hip out, and raised her eyebrows, "Well excuse me."

I could already tell I'd like this girl. I smiled and let out a laugh, and she glanced at me and gave a soft smile.

Luke turned and gave me a look, "Don't encourage her."

"Since it seems like we'll be here a few days, do you know of a place we could stay for a while?" Calum wondered, stealing Emily's attention again.

"I know of a place," she shrugged. "It's cramped, but I mean, you can stay there for a while."

"Where is it?" Jeremy inquired.

-

We were brought to this tree house in the backyard of someone's house that I assumed was Emily's. It was small, but there was at least a couch in it. There were old blankets and pillows that she had collected, and she set them on the floor so we could spread them out and sit.

"No one ever comes up here so I figured I could just stay here," she said, hugging her knees to her chest as she sat next to Calum on the floor. "There was no way in hell I was staying in that house."

"How'd you die anyway?" Michael wondered.

"Yes, finally." Jeremy cheered quietly to himself.

"I, um-" she cut herself off quickly, shaking her head and creating a curtain with her hair. "I don't like talking about it."

"There was a shooter from her school," Luke said in a monotone voice, staring at Emily with sadness clear in his eyes. "Kids ran out of the school and she made it home with her younger brother. The shooter made it to her street just as she was unlocking the door. It was her or her brother."

I looked back to Emily to see her body shaking. Luke scooted across the floor to her and rested an arm around her, letting her cry in his shoulder. That was actually a pretty brave way to go. I had a lot of respect for Emily.

"What happened to your brother?" I finally spoke up, earning quick glances from the boys; even Emily looked up from Luke.

"H-he's okay," she sniffled, wiping at her face. "The gunman was taken down after I was shot."

I nodded and stared down at my lap. I toyed with my hands as I sat crisscross next to Jeremy. I couldn't even imagine being in that situation with him. I didn't know if I'd even have the guts to sacrifice myself. 

"So, who are these people you're looking for?" she wondered, trying to change the subject.

"My sister and our friend." Calum replied.

"They've been missing for two months now." Luke added.

Emily's eyes locked on me. "Every time they talk about this boy, you react," she told me, cocking her head a little to the side. "I don't know how, but you do."

"She was in love with him." Luke told her quietly.

"But why don't you talk?" Emily questioned softly, her eyes looking at me wonderingly.

I just shrugged, although I suppose I sort of knew the answer: I was too torn up. I was just so upset over Ashton's disappearance, and the thoughts of what Mali-Koa could do to him or the fact he could get himself in trouble somehow got to me. It was something rooted deep down inside where my feelings for Ashton were buried, and it was something that even the guys had difficulty getting to, which I assumed was why they would get so frustrated with me sometimes. They didn't know if I would slowly get better, but I knew they were hoping the healing process would go by faster. Like when I told them the way to Annie's despite Michael's protests; it was because I wanted to find Ashton. But at the end of the day, they understood and were still there for me.

"So what do you usually do around here?" Jeremy quizzed, looking around the cramped tree house.

Emily shrugged with a sigh, "Um, mostly just wander around. It's usually at night so no one I used to know sees me. Everyone knows I was shot and killed."

"What about down in Sydney?" Luke wondered.

She shook her head, "Never been."

Luke smiled widely, "Wanna swing by?"

She furrowed her eyebrows, "That's like, half a day's worth of travel."

"Oh, you're such a newbie," he scoffed before he stood up and dusted off his pants. He held his hands out for her and pulled her up, keeping her hands in his. "We'll be back."

"Wait, I want to go!" Jeremy cried, standing. "God, it's so boring here. I thought Brisbane would be an adventure."

"I thought we would've found them already." Calum mumbled.

"Yeah, sorry I haven't been much help." Emily said with an apologetic smile. She didn't seem to mind Luke holding her hands and swinging them back and forth.

"You got us a place to stay, which is helpful in my book." I assured her, mustering up a smile.

Jeremy pulled Luke's hand off of Emily's and took both of their's, eyeing him as if to say, "Don't make me feel like the third wheel". Luke smirked at him, wiggling his eyebrows before the three of them vanished back to Sydney.

"I hope those idiots can get themselves back." Michael mumbled.

"If they can't, I'm not going to find them." Calum shrugged.

"So what do we do?" Michael wondered.

Calum stretched before resting his arms behind his head as he leaned back against the wall. He kicked his legs out, making his joints pop a little, "We wait until one of 'em shows. And we try Annie's place tomorrow."

"Or now." I suggested in almost a whisper. Michael sighed in response.

"I think we've had enough adventure for one day," Calum said, trying to politely tell me no so Michael wouldn't get upset. "Let's just get used to our new home. Who knows how long we'll be stuck here."