another life ~fransykes~

13

Everything had been so perfect recently, at least for me it had. Josh seemed kind of stressed about something but I wasn't sure what. But apart from that I had never seen him happier. We'd been spending so much time together just chilling, like now for instance when he was reading to me on the couch.

Outside there was a thunderstorm, I could tell by the sound of rain hitting the ground outside of the basement and the crashes of thunder and lightning that echoed through the quiet room. I always hated storms.

When I was little I always use to cry through every storm and my mum and dad use to wrap me up in blankets and play music to me to calm me down. I miss them days, back when my parents actually cared and we were all a normal happy family. So much has changed since then.

"I was gawky and she was gorgeous and I was hopelessly boring and she was endlessly fascinating. So I walked back to my room and collapsed on the bottom bunk, thinking that if people were rain, I was drizzle and she was a hurricane." Josh read out with his smooth, silky voice. The words rolled off his tongue flawlessly like he didn't even need to process the words before they were leaving his mouth.

I sat back and listened to him read to me, laughing at all the stupid voices he made for the different characters. It was nice to spend time with him like this, especially when it took my mind off the storm outside.

A huge bolt of lightning struck the ground close to the house, causing a laugh bang sound to cut through the air and making me whimper slightly. I curled up more against the edge of the sofa and brought my knees to my chest.

"Are you scared?" Josh asked with a concerned look that caused wrinkled to appear between his eyebrows. I nodded silently, not trusting my voice to come out right.

Although I've been speaking slightly more recently, my voice still wasn't perfect. After years of not being used, it kind of hurt to use it and the pitch was all over the place. I guess my voice broke whilst I was completely mute and that's why it sounds so weird now,

"It's okay baby, it's just a storm. It can't get us down here." He cooed as he shuffled closer to me on the sofa. I moved my legs away from my body and instead leant into his. I placed my head against his neck so that I could feel his heartbeat though his pulse. His skin was warm like always, whereas mine was cold.

"I sat down next to her with my legs crossed and our knees touching. She pulled a clear plastic crate filled with dozens of candles out from underneath her bed." Josh read out loud to me. "She looked at it for a moment, then handed me a white one and a lighter. We spent all morning burning candles-"

"Josh! Get upstairs right now." A loud voice bellowed, cutting off the likes of Josh's. Josh rolled his eyes but got up off the sofa with a loud huff. He placed the open book down into my hands before heading off towards the staircase. I watched his body with my gaze as he did.

Before I knew it, the sound of the basement door shutting behind him filled the room and I was left on my own in silence. I heard voices talking upstairs but couldn't quite understand what they were saying through the walls.

I folded over the corner of the books page before placing it down and heading towards the staircase myself. Intrigued, I crept up the staircase as quietly as possible before leaning my head against the door.

From here I could hear the two voices speaking pretty clearly, at least clearly enough to make out what they were saying. One of the voices was Josh's, calm and collected as always. The other was another man, his dads I think. He sounded way more stressed out than Josh did.

"I should have never sent you out! It was a stupid decision that I made without my head on straight!" The man said in a stern voice.

"Dad, they got what they deserved. So what if it was purely revenge?" Josh argued back.

"Revenge that could cost you your life! I know what their gang is like and they don't take things like this very lightly, Joshua."

"I'm sure they're nothing we can't handle, dad." Josh said back.

"I don't care! They are sneaky and now your life is in danger!" He all but shouted.

"Danger?" Josh laughed.

"You need to start taking this seriously!"

"If they were so dangerous then why did you send me out in the first place!" Josh laughed bitterly.

"Because I needed someone who I could rely on to do the job properly. Besides, I thought we would have had more time before he realised the stuff was fake!"

"I don't see why it suddenly matters now, the deal was weeks ago." Josh scoffed back. "Stop worrying so much."

"How can I stop worrying so much when one of our cars got tracked today! They're on to us Joshua and they are looking for you." He shouted.

"Whatever." Josh scoffed. "They would find us."

I heard footsteps heading towards the basement door and decided to head back down the staircase before someone caught me eavesdropping. I rushed back to the sofa and leant back into it like I had never left at all.

I didn't know exactly what that conversation meant, but it seems kind of serious. His dad sounded pretty panicked but Josh didn't, so it couldn't have been anything too bad right?

Josh came back into the room and hopped back into the sofa beside me. He didn't look worried at all, in fact he looked amused. I couldn't quite tell whether the look was some kind of facade or not.

"Right, where were we?" He asked me like he hadn't just had an argument with his dad over someone coming to find him.

"Well, and occasionally lighting cigarettes off the burning candles after we stuffed a towel into the crack at the bottom of her door. Over the course of two hours, we added a full foot to the summit of her polychrome candle volcano." He began to read once again, his voice so calm it made me forget everything that I had just heard.

I snuggled back into his body and rested my head back against his neck which made my face feel warm from the heat of his skin. The storm outside continued but I payed no notice to it as I let the sound of Josh's voice distract me from everything around us.

My eyes slowly closed against my will and before I knew it my body was drifting between sleep and consciousness. I felt Josh's eyes on my face way before I felt his lips on my skin, leaving a touch of heat against the spot right next to my lips. One inch to the right and we would have been kissing properly but I guess he thought I was asleep. He picked up my body bridal style and I quickly melted into his chest, whining at the loss of his contact when he laid me down on my bed.

The covers were so cold in comparison to his body.

"Goodnight ." He whispered into my hair before kissing me in that spot again, so close to my lips that I could feel his breath in my mouth as he pulled away.

"So I walked back to my room and collapsed on the bottom bunk, thinking that if people were rain, I was drizzle and she was a hurricane."