Pestilence

Twelve- Nostalgia

The darkness feels welcoming. I hear pounding footsteps.

"HOLY CRAP TEGAN!" I hear a gasp. Leave me here. Dad will be here soon.

My body is pulled upright by a pair of strong hands. I cannot open my eyes.

"Tee'." I feel the bat being torn from my hands.

"Tee'!" Another voice.

"Tegan!" A girl's fruity voice, Casey.

"Tee'. It's okay. He's gone. You're okay. Let's get you out of here. Please stop crying." Harry's voice; it's most likely his hand that is on my shoulder.

"Tegan." I feel a soft hand on mine. I am pulled upright out of the swirly haze of nothingness.

"Where is he?" I ask, eyes still closed. I'm shaking like a Chihuahua. I feel hands being placed on my shoulder.

"You got him, Tee'." Hilary sooths. "You got him."

I bury my head into his shirt and continue to shake. I was pretty sure I was going to die then.

"You're okay Tegan." Harry encourages.

"You're safe now." Hilary adds.

"And, we have everything so we can get the hell out of here!" Ryan Bradbury exclaims from his place in the trolley.

"Thank god!" I sigh, face still in Hilary's shirt.

"C'mon Tegan!" Casey encourages.

I let go of Hilary. We begin to move out of Tesco. I hope we have enough stuff.

Once we get outside I see the others, who went to Decathlon. They have ski jackets and all kinds of things that could be seen as weapons.

"Look, it's Orca and the gang." Tom Merchant declares.

"Shut UP Merchant." Beth looks to be on the verge of slapping him.

"She looks a bit het up, if I were YOU Elizabeth, I would go and comfort Orca." he sneers.

"Tee'!" Beth approaches me, arms wide. I hug her. "What's wrong?"

"She got spooked." Harry says.

"Understatement, I thought I was going to die!!!" I wail. She holds me close.

"It's alright Tegan, you're out of there. You're alive. I'm alive. We're all alive. Wish I could say the same for the poor bastards that got caught up in the chaos involving the sooty snake and are all grey and now dead." Beth smiles as optimistically as she can.

"I'm glad we're all okay." I force a smile too.

"How close were you to being got?" Beth enquires, face deadly serious.

"Wayy too close for comfort. If it wasn't for Harry and Hilary..."

"Tee', you killed it yourself."

I blink, head tilted and brows up. It was me that killed Mr Miller?

"I did?"

"Oh my gosh! Tegan! You're such a badass!" Beth beams, slinging her arm around my shoulder. "Looks like I know the hero to call if one of those mangy things goes after me!"

"Please, no." I shake my head. They're scary as fuck." I refuse.

"And you've fought them! AND WON!" Beth beams. I smile at her. I did, didn't I?

"Tee's awesome!" Harry grins.

"You really are, Tegan. And Bradbury told us about how you went to help him even though self preservation is clearly a priority with those THINGS around!" Hilary adds.

I blush.

Beth begins to laugh, she lightly punches Hilary's arm. Thanks Beth, sometimes I know IU don't deserve such an awesome friend. A friend to pull the attention off of me.

"What's going on over here?" Noah asks.

"We're making Tegan feel good about herself, want to join in?" Harry laughs.

"Why not?" Noah shrugs.

I freeze.

Beth glances at me and her eyes widen.

"OI!" she calls Tommy over. He nods.

"Take a picture." Tommy looks baffled.

"Of?" he asks.

"Us." Beth clarifies.

"Right! I'm sorry!" Beth delves into her pocket and produced the camera. I smile. We knew we would be taking photos this Christmas but we never expected any sooty snakes or possessed mangy people.

Tommy obeys and snaps a picture of all of us. Beth smiles dorkily as soon as she is handed the camera back.

"It's just like..." I trail off when Beth goes into the gallery.

"Like?" Hilary asks.

"Look." Beth scrolls across to a photo of us as children, all together and happy, in the exact same area. The exact same group shot.

Each of us make an uncomprehend able sound.

Harry's eyes are brimming with tears.

"C'mon, don't cry." Noah elbows Harry.

"Happy tears numb nuts."

"What do you mean numb...AH!" Noah hides behind Beth as Harry swings his leg so he could kich Noah in the balls. Not nice.

"Hey, don't be like that Harry!" Noah quivers in fear.

"Let's just look at the picture." Hilary encourages.

I stare at the photo from our childhood years. A smile graces my face.

We were just happy. Beth and I were at the front, back before each of us had dyed our hair red. We look so young and innocent. Back when I was just seen as a chubby kid and not a fat girl. My hair is down while Beth's is also down. Her top is pink with white polka dots on it and there are clips with pink hair extensions framing her face. My outfit is a royal blue top with a dolphin on it in sequins. It didn't flatter me at all but at that age, what clothes looked like wasn't that much of a problem. They just had to be comfy. Noah, Harry and Hilary are behind me and Beth. Back when they would wear football shirts or tops with dragons on them. The old days.

This one is like one of those copies that people make of their family photos. Nostalgia takes hold of me and I simply let it. I want to go back to that time. The simple time when I wasn't head over heels for Hilary and there weren't weird grey skinned people that have lifeless eyes and reek of citrus out to get people.

Too bad that we can't live in this moment.

"C'mon, we're loading into the cars again. Let's get movin'!" Eddis calls.

"Right!" Harry shouts, slowly we all get back into the cars in which we came.

Moment's over, it seems.