The whole of the human race is at stake. It's either them or us, but between the two, full obliteration is a definite.
The 'jump' is tearing me apart. She's tearing me apart. I am torn between two girls and two dimensions, and I am in need of more t...
I don't hear the rest of Dad because the doors are now shut behind me. I am now in the lobby with Carmen, someone's baby, and a bunch of lurkers. My body speeds through a vortex of oxygen, it's like I'm in a race with the wind. My brown hair flutters wildly and the sticky sweat on my body feels chilly now. I feel like I'm running to that home base, to that home run. Some extra-terrestrial force is telling me that what I'm doing is 100% what I'm supposed to be doing. Every atom, particle, and molecule inside my body is directing me to execute this one thought process.
Maybe I really am insane.
Carmen spins around, still clutching the baby in her arms. She closes her eyelids, a tear falling from one of them. The lurkers are steps away from her and now steps to an arm's length. Arm's length to now almost ripping her apart. Why is she just standing there? Why is she waiting for something to happen? Waiting for me to happen? I crash into her and kiss her.
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Yeah, I kiss her. She has this sweet cherry wine taste. I know because it's the same taste from the warehouse, from the showers, from right now. I feel alive, surrounded by the dead. This time, however, I didn't see her ghost nor did I get tempted. It just felt like the right thing to do.
❖
"Dean?"
I lift my eyes open to find myself standing in our school's parking lot.
"It worked," I whisper to myself.
The pull with the kiss between Carmen and I back in the apocalyptic world is enough to jumpstart a 'jump'. I just bought us more time. Carmen's with Amber, Bray and Jace. She locks her doll eyes with me for a second, not long enough for me to figure out what she's thinking but enough to know we're back in this world again.
"Dean."
Someone says my name again.
"Ella," it's her.
"You okay?" she tilts her head to the side. "You zoned out for a bit there."
"I'm... I'm okay."
"Did," she gulps, "you didn't just jump right?"
"I... No, I didn't. Just spaced out for a sec, that's all."
I take her hand in mine as we stroll down the car park. I'm finally holding the hand of a girl that I've been crushing on since 9th and when I lost her altogether in the apocalyptic world. She doesn't need to know that I jumped. It would take meaning away from this moment right here. But I feel like shit. I had to kiss Carmen though. Two lives depended on it.
❖
We're on the summer camp buses now. 'Behave' is all Dad and Mum demanded when they dropped us off. Dad said if he got any phone calls from the camp from Bray's mum about any disruptive behaviour of mine, he would kill me himself. A nice threat for a farewell, don't ya think? Especially if I'm gonna be gone for 2 months.
