Running

A familiar face

TW: Mention of being underweight, mentions of hospitalisation, cursing

I follow behind as we head towards the main area to meet the last person staying here. We turn into a large room decorated with a few sofas and a large patterned rug. There's a TV in the centre of the room and I also notice a himilayan salt lamp on a table. Then I lock eyes with the person sitting on the couch.

"VIRGIL?"

"MELANIE!"

She leaps off the sofa and tackles me into a hug. If it were anyone else I would pull away from the hug, but it isn't anyone else. It's Mel. Nothing else matters in this moment apart from me and my old best friend. After a good thirty seconds of us silently hugging on the floor, she leans back and looks at me, tears pooling in her eyes as I can tell they are in mine aswell. She's changed a lot, but I still recognise her. She has more maturity in her eyes and they tell a story. She's put on weight since I knew her from the lab, but that's a really good thing. I know that I'm still really underweight, but she looks a lot healthier now.

Her hair and eyes are both a bright blue, and her hair is a lot longer than before. She sits up, and pulls me into another hug.
"I've missed you." She whispers into my ear.

Two minutes later, we're standing, looking into eachother's eyes while everyone else stands confused to how we know eachother. Mel's clear fairy wings that are lined with dark blue are fluttering in excitement and her feet are about ten centimetres off the ground.

"You're still so skinny.. remind me to take you for ice cream later."
"Sure thing." I laugh.

I've only just noticed that my feet aren't on the floor either. My wings are silently flapping behind me, as are hers. It's a habit a lot of winged people get into when they're really happy. Melanie has pointed, elven ears and freckles dotted accross her nose and cheeks.

"So, how do you guys know eachother?" Remus asks.
"We, uh, we have a lot of history. I think it's better that we explain to everyone at once, so let's just wait for Janus."
"Who's Janus?" Mel asks, her voice as soft as ever.
"A friend, he's asleep."
"Awh! I'm glad you made friends, Virgie."

Remus laughs, pointing at me. "VIRGIE! I'm gonna use that now!"

"Melanie.. You never told me you had a boyfriend..!" Nixa taunts.
We both burst out laughing and I take charge in my speech. "I'm flattered, but also gay."

Just then, Zion's watch beeps and he looks to it. "Looks like your friend is waking up. We should go there before he freaks out."
Remus answers. "I'll come, Virgil, you can stay here and talk with your friend."

When they leave, we both hover up a bit higher and take cross-legged seats in mid-air. She takes both my hands in hers and laughs again.

"I still can't believe you're here.. When did you get out?" She asks.
"I'm.. I'm not sure, it was less tha a week ago.. maybe a bit more.. I haven't been keeping all that much track of time."
"And who is that haaannndsome boy you came in with?" She says, dragging out the 'an'.
"Pshhh! I don't think of him like that."

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About ten minutes later, Zion, Remus, Nixa and Janus come back in the room. Mel and I are still deep in conversation. Janus looks tired and confused. We continue talking about what happened with our lives since we last saw eachother, when I notice than Zion is holding a silver and green laser gun-looking thing. He points it to the ceiling and pulls a trigger. Nobody in the room seems to notice any affect that it has, but both Melanie and I fall from mid-air, landing onto the sofa with a thud. I'm embarrased to say that I screamed slightly at the sudden fall.

"Zion! You said that you weren't gonna use that." Melanie complains.
"Sorry, but you two clearly weren't planning on ending your conversation any time soon,"
"Doesn't mean you have to knock us out of the sky!" She laughs.

"Wait.. I've never seen that type of thing before, you make that?" I ask.
"I did. Not specifically to use on Melanie, but it does come in handy."

The next ten minutes Melanie and I spend explaining how we know eachother, but the author feels like they're putting too much speech in so they're going to write it in a way that I hope works.

I tell them all about how we met because we had to do a series of flying tests at one point, and we ended up sharing a cell when we slept. Melanie tells them about how we found out that her mother was ill and in hospital. All I wanted was for her to be able to sneak out and go to the hospital to see her. So, we made a plan for us both to escape, but I knew deep down that only one of us would get out, so I used myself as a distraction while she got out. She aregued against it, but I wouldn't let her object.

I got in a shit ton of trouble for helping her escape, that was two years ago. I got put in solitary confinement and maximum security for a year. After that, it took me a lot of confidence to plan any other escape attempts. Eventually, I tried, and it worked. Barely though.

Everyone in the room was kind of speechless by the time we'd finished, and then Remus interjected. "Can we order Pizza?"

As we tuck into some stuffed-crust margherita, a vibration comes from Janus' pocket.
"Ugh."
"What?"
"It's Roman."

"Don't answer it." Remus says.
Janus slides the green button along, answering the phone.

"Uh, we, kinda- need some help.."

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Three chapters? One day? Daaannnnnggggg. I'm kind of feeling like all of my chapters are fillers now, but please stick around for the ride!

Stay safe!