Nightmare on Broadway (California Dreaming Sequel)

Chapter Fourteen

I was trying to think of who to dedicate this chapter to, and I thought, who better than the last person to fan me?! You wouldn't believe how much it means to me to see that people like my stories, because for me, it's just a hobby. If other people like my writing, that makes creating stories so much more worthwhile :) thank you! xxx 

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   Light was being emitted from the skyscrapers which towered over the streets, over the busy city slickers hurrying home from work. Slowly the offices were closing, the lights being switched off, until the only lights left in the sky were the stars...the few you could see in any case. The sun was setting over the horizon, giving the sky a pinkish tint, peeking through the gaps in the tall buildings. It felt magical up here, like no-one could find us, like no-one could touch us ever again. 

   I was on the roof with Hen and Remy, leaning back in a kitchen chair we had brought up from our apartment. Henry was doing the same, hugging his long legs up to his chest as he rolled a fresh joint in the palm of his hand. Rem was pacing up and down, scuffing the soles of her scruffy converse against the concrete rooftop. She was already smoking, as was I, rolling the spliff between her thumb and first finger. 

   Remy never ceased to amaze me, especially at times like this, when the lighting was perfect, and the atmosphere still and quiet. Her fair hair seemed to catch in the wind, blowing past her ears, with some kind of effortless beauty. Her features were delicate and had an elven quality; no matter where she was, what she was doing, her movements were always graceful. I envied her for that, the ease at which she moved, her lightness of touch. 

   I pulled the cigarette from my mouth and looked at it, at the burning end, where the embers were rising up into the atmosphere, fizzling. I inhaled on the end of the joint and then blew out smoke in the shape of rings, smiling as they slowly disintegrated in the cool breeze. I felt free, I felt at ease. When I laughed, the noise carried on the breeze, floating around the rooftops and up into the air. 

   “Jia?” Henry said, breathing out a long line of smoke before twiddling the end of the spliff between his fingers. 

   “Yes, Henry?” I responded, closing my eyes and rolling my head back on my shoulders, releasing tension, smoothing out my muscles.

   “What do you think would have happened if Harry had killed you and Gabes?” He wondered, frowning at me as he took another drag. 

   “Well, nothing,” I sucked on my bottom lip, my eyelashes fluttering against my cheeks, “I would have been dead.” 

   “No, I know,” Hen shook his head frustratedly. “But, I mean, what if he had died, Gabriel, or Harry had never been caught?” He was looking out across the skyline with a perturbed expression on his face, slowly scratching at the light stubble beginning to grow across his jawline. 

   “I normally try not to dwell on it,” I grimaced. 

   “Sorry, I was just thinking out loud,” Henry apologized, his voice sounding distant. 

   “I wouldn’t have survived,” I sighed, after a moments silence. 

   “Survived what?” He retorted. 

   “Survived without Gabriel, knowing that Harry was still out there,” I explained, inhaling the sweet smelling smoke and letting it fill my lungs, polluting my veins. I exhaled and collapsed my shoulders towards my chest, leaning my head against my knees, my dark hair flying around my head in fine wisps. “I think I would have killed myself,” I confessed, the one thing I hadn’t admitted to anyone since Harry’s death, the thoughts that had poisoned my mind for a while after Gabriel had been stabbed.