Train// Zonah

6

Jonah had dropped his daughter off at his mum's house. He needed to have some time to himself, to think about the events that had happened that day, and also so he could talk to Zach alone the next day.

He was almost surprised when he woke up to the sound of cars passing instead of Lila's cries. It was unusual; He had woken up to one or another every day for a little over a year now and it was a bit unusual for him not to.

Smiling, he got ready for the day before going to the local coffee shop. It was 10:38 when he arrived which was slightly earlier than his estimated time of arrival which was 10:40. He got into the queue and ordered himself  a coffee, and another milkshake for Zach in takeaway cups.

The cold air nipped at his cheeks as he walked with a quick pace to the younger boy's house. The winter weather didn't affect him though;He had more important things on his mind. Zach. He arrived at the same house he had walked the boy to a short while later and knocked on the door.

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

Jonah was nervous. The boy was clearly too young to be living by himself, and he wondered what his family is like. What did his parents look like? Did he have any parents? Was he living with his grandparents? Did he have any siblings? Did he-

The door opened pulling Jonah out of his thoughts. A youngish looking woman stood inside. "Hello, I'm Jonah," He introduced himself. "I'm here to see Zach?"

The woman smiled, happy that her son had made a friend. "He didn't tell me he was having friends over!" Jonah smiled, already liking the woman. "come in, you must be pretty cold. I'll show you to his room." He was let in and followed the woman's instructions of were to put his shoes and coat once he had been been stripped of them. It was only when she was leading Jonah hill a light staircase that she spoke again.

"I didn't tell you my name, did i?" The woman stated. The single father shook his head. "How rude of me," the woman scolded herself, making Jonah chuckle lightly. "I'm Myta,"

"I like your name, Jonah complimented," making the woman blush. "you have a lovely house as well." It was true, in comparison to Jonah's small house of was like a mansion.

"Well, thank you but like I said, if I was told you were coming round I would have tidied it up a bit?" She confessed, grounding slightly.

"I'm used to the mess. There's not much time for me to tidy up, and being a single parent is kinda hectic," Jonah smiled at the woman who suddenly took interest in the boy's story.

"How old are you, honey?" Myta  asked.

"Eighteen," Jonah replied simply. "I know it sounds a bit young, but me and my fiancee were ready."

"I know this sounds a bit insensitive, but what happened to her?" Myta asked.

"She's dead." Jonah stated blandly.  They came to a halt outside a door.

"I'm sorry about that," The woman said sympathetically, and she stroked his cheek. As a curious person, she wanted to know how, but upon seeing the sad memories flash before his eyes, she let it go, and opened the door in front of her.

Zach's room was of decent size, but was bland. The boy sat on his bed, playing some tune in his guitar. "Zach, you should have told me that you were having a friend round," The boys' mother announced their presence, making the him stop playing and look up.

"I know, mom." Zach said, sighing.  Myta smiled before leaving the room and closing the door behind her, leaving the two in peace. "I'm sorry, my room is pretty messy," Zach said nervously, getting up to put some stuff away.

"Zee, like I just said to your  mum, I have a baby. I'm used to it." Zach sat down, taking the drink that Jonah was passing him. "Where are you from?" Jonah proceeded to ask. He could tell the boy wasn't from london, due to him and his mother's noticeable accents.

"Texas," Zach told him. "we moved here about two months ago. I want to go back, but I can't."

"why d'you move?" Zach sighed. He promised himself that he would tell Jonah about the ' blind' thing, but he wanted Jonah to stay as his friend and he was scared that he would scare him off if he did.

"Mom wanted us to be closer to my uncle's hospital." He finally said. It wasn't a complete lie, but not the complete truth either. Jonah nodded, not talking about the subject any more which Zach was grateful for.

"I moved from the states as well," Jonah said. "I was 7. We used to live on a big farm In Minnesota. We had lots of animals." Jonah smiled fondly at the memories.

"What type of animals?" Zach Asked, his interest suddenly peaked.

"all sorts. We had cows, pigs, chickens, sheep, alpacas,"

"Alpacas?" Zach had never heard of a farm having alpacas on it before, so this was interesting for him. He had always thought of alpacas being cute animals. They were his second favourite after turtles. 

Jonah nodded. "Yeah, we used to run alpaca walking sessions where people would pay about $30 to come walk the alpacas with us." Zach liked that idea.  Alpacas were his favourite animal and he would love to come on one of these trips. In his opinion, it was well work the small cost.

"I wish I could do that," Zach admitted shyly.

"Maybe I'll take you, one day. My cousins still work on the farm. Would you like that?" Zach nodded intently. He would like that. An hour went by with Jonah telling stories about what it was like living in a farm, and slowly Zachs' siblings began to listen as well. He ended upon the story of how his older cousins used to sneak the baby piglets and, if they had any, puppies into the room that him and some of his cousins shared. They all found it funny how they sometimes had to hide them and bring them back out to their pens without their parents realising so they didn't get told off.

Zach became antsy near the end. He had remembered his promise to tell Jonah his secret, but didn't want to tell it with his siblings around. In fact, he didn't really want to tell him at all. He wouldn't know what to say. It would sound a little bit strange for him to just blurt out

"Oh! By the way, I've got this disease which is slowly making my eyesight worse and I'm going to go blind soon,"

He thought that that would definitely scare him away. Maybe it need ed to be put more simply? He thought. Maybe he should say

"Oh, I just needed to let you know, I'm going blind."

He battled in his brain internally, before deciding no. He could wait to tell him about his eyes. He could wait until he actually knew what to say. 

Zach was glad when Jonah interrupted his train of thoughts, unknowingly pushing the unwanted nerves away. "tell me about texas," he asked, seeing the boy's nervous expression. He didn't want to push him on what it was, deciding that he would tell him in his own time if it really was important.

"Well, we lived near this forest," Zach stated, not really knowing what else to say.

Reece chimed in, remembering something from back home. "Oh, and there was this massive tree house that daddy and his friends built us. All of their kids used come 'round and we would have a big sleepover in it."

"And," This time it was Ryan who was contributing. " It had a movie room, with a big TV and beanbag and lovesacks and pillows."

So it went on. The three siblings talked about their home, as Jonah did his. It wasn't what he had planned out of the day, but in a way, he almost preferred it. He had got to know more about Zach and his family, his siblings included, and they became more knowledgeable about him.

He left at lunch time. Everyone's spirits were high, and he almost didn't notice the merciless winds stabbing his face like knives as H-he walked home inn the newly fallen snow. Today was a good day for everyone.

A/N
Wow, this is triple the length of what I would normally write!! It's my favourite chapter as well. Sorry I couldn't get it up for yesterday, but I ran out of time. To be honest, I'm surprised I have it finished now!! ❤❤