Makeshift

Chapter 5

Briar starts walking towards the door as well and I follow him. The door is very wide and the wood looks fresh and clean. Ryker is waiting for us up there with an impatient look on his face. What is his deal? Briar strides to the end of a panel of buttons right by the door and enters in some sort of number code I can’t see. Then the door actually slides open, although I assumed it would open like a normal door. When I step inside, I see what I originally thought I would see on the outside of the house. Everything is colorful and modern and technological. I am suddenly out of my comfort zone. I walk around the main hallway, there is a rug beneath my feet, and I wish I could feel it with my bare feet but I am still wearing these shoes. I’ve decided I don’t like shoes, or maybe I just need to get used to them.

I move slowly, calculating my steps so I don’t fall again, and I circle around the room. It is so different and new that I want to explore every little thing in the entire place, and I start to. Then Ryker places his arm in mine and pulls me back over to Briar. I start to glare at him, but realize Briar is looking at me, and if I glare I’ll look too “hostile”.

Ryker pulls me up to Briar and when we reach him he doesn’t release my arm. His grip tightens, in fact. Briar looks at our arms and adopts a look of disgust. Then he turns to lead us to a different room. I’m guessing this is a sitting room, which I have heard of before, but never really understood. Why not sit in any other room, why have a room purely dedicated to sitting? There are three people in the room when I enter. One is a burly man, who looks sinister, and I almost turn back, but Ryker pushes me forward, as if expecting this would be my first move. The burly man has broad shoulders, and sits with his legs apart, making him appear even larger. He has a cigar in his mouth, lit, but he dangles it carelessly off the side of his mouth as he turns the page of his newspaper. An image of the rug beneath me bursting into flames comes to mind, but the man looks completely relaxed with his carelessness. There is a petite woman sitting next to him in a small, golden, chair. She looks like Dahlia, the way she sits with her legs crossed, and sews quietly. But she looks younger than Dahlia, and there is no lost look in her eyes. The third person is a little boy who sits on the rug with some kind of electronic toy. He reminds me of Linden. I don’t know why, but I bury my face into Ryker’s shoulder at the sight of him. He has the same dark eyes, the same happiness about him, and the same size. He looks just like Linden. I thought I could handle this but maybe I can’t. Maybe I just need to start running and keep running until I forget Linden. But I can’t forget him. He will follow me wherever I go, I know that now. There is no escape.

I let out a muffled sob into Ryker’s shoulder, hoping the others cannot hear my struggle. I would usually cringe away at this closeness, this being almost a part of someone, maybe even if it was Briar. But now in this moment, I picture Linden’s face and don’t really mind being this close Ryker. I welcome the warmth I did not know was there before. All I want to do is disappear and forget this awful world. This awful place. This awful life. I find myself slipping away and I don’t try to stop it. I want to leave. I want to go to another world where Linden is, transparent or not. I just want to see him again. I want to see the real him, not that similar boy on the carpet. I want Ryker to hold me longer. I remember when he was so close to me in the car and now I just want him to be closer. That’s all I want, is for him to hold me, and he does, for a moment. I feel his hesitation to let go of me and I am grateful. Until he does let go. He pulls back slowly but whispers in my ear before pulling away, “Bay,” he just says my name. But it is enough. It was a rough whisper, it made me calmer though, not more afraid. Ryker seemed to know what I needed, and he knew how to do it to. I needed to be back into reality. To forget my brother.