When The Stars Align

chapter twenty | i'll follow you to the graveyard

WHEN I WAKE UP, the sun is just starting to get up. Tori is curled up next to me, still snoring away. Lysander was up, looking out at the sunrise. We were still on the roof, falling asleep up here last night. Lys looks over and gives a small smile as I get onto a sitting position.

"Morning, sis." He runs and hand through his hair, pushing back the curls hovering above his eyes. "I think I'm going to go on a bike ride this morning, wanna come?"

I stretched, yawning. "Yeah, sure." It would be better than being locked up in the very place I killed - or, witnessed the killing of my parents. I needed to get out a bit more, without getting injured with my every move.

"How are your stitches?" Lysander asks as he gets to his feet. Funny, I very briefly forgot that my stitches existed after last night. I run my bandaged hand over my stomach. It didn't hurt too bad.

"I'll just take a painkiller or something before we leave. It isn't as bad as before."

Victoria shifts her position, moving her arm behind her head, using it as a pillow. She was using my shoulder as a pillow before I awoke, with me gently pushing her off me. "Maybe we should bring Tori back inside first. Should I wake her up?"

Lysander, being the six-foot strongman he was picked up our older sister, who didn't react to the shift of movement, instead pressed her head more into Lys' chest, getting more comfortable. I grab the key from Tori's pocket and hold the doors open for Lysander, locking the entrance door.

He heads towards Tori's room and tells me to go get changed into something else. I do as told, heading to my room.

It's only when I look into the mirror that I notice the small twigs and leaves that are caught in my hair. I pick the big pieces out, combing out the rest. I wash my face with cold water, waking myself up, and change into some fresh, non dirty clothes. I try my best to look at the room around me. I did come in here once in between my disappearance and a couple days back, and that was the night my parents were killed - by my hand, or their own, it still haunted me.

I meet my brother outside, where he was unlocking the bikes we chained to the fence a couple days ago. When I approach him, he tosses me a helmet, telling me to put it on. I groaned and he gave me a dirty look.

He went from fighting with me like a little boy to loving me like a brother to protecting me like he was my father in just a couple hours.

"Were helmets a part of our last bike ride? I almost crashed that time, yet I survived."

"That's exactly why you get to wear a helmet this time." He paused, hsi expression telling me he was thinking. "I hope you don't mind but... every year I bike to the cemetery and stay there for a while. Thought you... might want to come this year."

My breath hitched. I've never been to my parents' final resting place. I watched the funeral service from afar, watching as my brother cried into my sister's arms after losing me five years before then. I was tearing my family apart, and I realised that then. It wasn't fair for me to come back, was it?

"Okay, yeah, sure," I say, my voice shaky. I wasn't prepared for this. I know I'm not prepared for this. But Lysander flashes me a small smile and starts pedalling. I swing my leg over the bike and follow him.

Noatra at six in the morning had a different vibe. This was definitely not a time I was ever out on the street. I could barely wake up this early, never mind be out on the streets. It was calmer, with less people out. Not many people paid attention as I rode by. I guess people were getting used to me around the city.

The graveyard our parents were buried in was at the edge of our part of the kingdom. It was a forested area, the trees protecting the graves. It was a nice place, if it weren't the home for dead bodies.