A Bloody Melody (Discontinued)

Chapter Twenty One

A Bloody Melody

Chapter Twenty One

I was surprised by how big it was on the inside. The café had small tables scattered on the left and right, with the bar at the far end of the room, full of glass cases filled with cakes. A door behind the counter lead somewhere I couldn’t see and one to the right of it led to the bathrooms. There were plenty of windows but all of them were shut.

People sat at the table, talking, smiling and laughing. I swear if I hadn’t just been out there myself I wouldn’t think anything was up. People were working behind the counter, handing out drinks and food. The atmosphere was friendly and no one seemed to be panicked about what was going on outside. No one seemed concerned that their loved ones could be dead, that some of them would be dead.

Tate seemed to be thinking the same thing, or maybe it was just a coincidence, because he dropped the guns on a table. They made a loud bang and everyone turned to look at us. Ashley, who had been sat at the counter, bent over a cup, staring at it intently, looked over at us and started to make her way over.

Mitchell, who had been sat at a table with Whitney, their heads bent together like lovers, whispering attentively, came rushing over almost knocking Ashley to the floor. “Lainey,” he shouted, “Are you alright? You’re not hurt.”

I nodded and smiled at his demeanour. “No, I’m fine. We’re both fine.”

“I just, I had to see with my own eyes.” He pulled me into a hug and I looked over his shoulder. Lilith, Dawn and Noah were staring at us. I caught Dawn’s eye. I so badly wanted to hug her. Especially after what Mitchell had told me, but I knew she wasn’t ready. She still had that spark of resentment shining in her eyes. She still blamed me.

She gave me a small nod of her head and the tips of her lips started to pull up into that familiar smile. The one that was full of joy and innocence, but it stopped before it could form. My eyes trailed over to Noah, who was sat next to her. He met my eyes and gave me a small, sad smile.

In that moment, I was truly impressed of how much a smile could communicate. How much could be said without anything being uttered. A story was told with those smiles.

I let go of Mitchell and said, “Well, it’s good to see you’re alright; to see that you’re all alright.”

He ducked his head and his shoulders started to shake, the tips of his ears going red. “I can’t believe you did that, Lainey. You could have died. From what I heard you almost did. You really have become a trouble magnet, haven’t you? When did that happen?”

“When I got here, I s’pose.” I shrugged. Deacon was like the centre of all things bad for me.

Tate was stood next to us, a silent reassuring presence. Ashley interrupted our conversation when she asked, “Tate, come here for a sec.”

He turned to me and squeezed my shoulder. “I’ll be two minutes,” Tate said, before walking away.

“Here sit down.” Mitchell pushed me into a chair at one of the empty tables. “So, what happened? What really happened? Ashley tried to get hold of Tate’s radio but we couldn’t get through, not ‘til a couple of hours ago.”

I winced when I thought about them going through the night, not knowing whether I was alive or not. I’d already put them through that once, there was no need for it to happen again. “I’m sorry. By the time we got to the hatch we were so tired. I didn’t think to check in, to tell you we were fine.”

He let it go, because he was a good brother. “It’s alright. Just, if that happens again, remember to radio in, okay?”

“I will. And it won’t.”