Shape Shifting Love

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter 14

Michaela

Mason lets go of my hand to wrap his around the notebook and hold it tightly to his chest.

“Where the hell is she?” He starts shivering, not from the cold but at the worry inside of him. I hug him tightly and speak into his ear.

“I’m sure she will be fine just you wait and see. She’s a lot tougher than she lets on.” I kiss his cheek and lean back to look at his eyes. A few moments the shine that could be seen in his eyes completely disappears and I turn round to see what he is looking at in the distance behind of me.

Hayley walks in between Luna and Darren, their hands on her shoulders. Not forcefully making her go in their direction, it’s as if she decided to go with them. But why didn’t she tell us? I feel Mason shift on his feet behind me and I stop him moving further forward by grabbing his wrist. Hayley turns her head in our direction, but seems shocked when she sees us as if she didn’t think we would still be this near to the house. Her eyes grow wide like when she saw me peering into her bedroom to see Darren and Luna confronting her. By her expression I know that she wants us to get out of here. Catherine and Kate start to back up maybe they saw the look in Hayley’s eyes that I saw too.

Hayley shakes her head in our direction as if to say don’t worry about it or don’t try to help me, which is probably directed more towards Mason.

“Come on we have to go Mason.” I tug at his wrist but he doesn’t budge. It’s like he is frozen in his place. “I promise we will find her but we have to move, now.” He looks at me with sad eyes, almost as sad as when we heard the news that our families died and we had to move. How am I supposed to get him to move if he’s not really listening to me.

“Please.” I plied him.

He starts to back up slowly like the other did and I follow his lead before we start to run again.  Everything is a blur as the four of us run across the ruined landscape and finally come across something that might be of use. The minibus that we arrived in stands before us, but I could have sworn it was parked nearer the woods than it is now. The doors to it have been practically ripped off the body work of the vehicle. But apart from that it looks in pretty good condition.

“Do you think it would be ok to go inside of it?” Catherine turns to face me after asking the question.

“I don’t know it looks safe enough and gives us somewhere to stay for a while I guess.”

Kate and Catherine nod and step onto the bus and so do Mason and I after them. As soon as I step onto the bus a wave of leather and something else I can’t quite put my finger on blasts over me. It never seemed so overwhelming the first time I was sitting in here. We all take a seat, an aisle each so we can all see each other and so we can all talk.

“Hey, my bag is here, I didn’t believe it is still here but it is.” Catherine holds up a duffle bag from the seat beside her, her face lit with excitement.

“Is there anything good in there, anything we could use?” I ask her

“Let’s see. Shall we?”

She picks out a blanket with frayed corners, a small rope, a wind-up torch and what looks like a pen knife.

“Why do you have that stuff?” Mason asks from the aisle next to me.

“Got to be prepared for anything, right?”

She packs the objects back into her bag and places it on her lap. Kate tries to make herself look interested in her painted nails but it is obvious that something else is on her mind. None of us  have spoken to her about Leo, she seems completely different when he isn’t around.