Lost Without You

~6~

When we picked up our luggage and headed for the Heathrow tube station, it was well after eleven. The train, one of the last ones and thus crowded with all the late travellers who wanted to avoid waiting for a night bus, took nearly thirty minutes to get to our destination.

Once outside our station, we were welcomed by the Hammersmith's typical noise and bright lights, the ceaseless nocturnal confusion caused by London's never sleeping inhabitants and visitors. And of course, by a cold autumnal drizzle accompanied by a light fog rising from the nearby Thames.

London. I was at home. Just that it didn't feel so.

I trailed behind my friends down the high road, fighting my urge to run back to the airport.

"Come on, hurry up, you'll get wet!" Lucas took a few steps towards me, my bag hanging on his shoulder again. He grabbed me by my arm to make me walk faster.

"I can walk on my own," I said, freeing myself from his grasp. I didn't like his manners at all.

"Fine, but hurry. You'll get sick, it's too cold to walk in the rain," he insisted, looking at me curiously again.

What is his problem? Throughout our journey, I caught him observing me suspiciously, nearly as often as I caught Lia doing the same. Maybe I should start getting used to people considering me weird... I mused, walking a bit faster.

The boys and Anne left us outside the house where the girls' flat was and continued down the road. The place where they lived was still some ten minutes' walk away, they told us.

I whispered to Anne to keep her phone on all the time, making her laugh. She was the most careless and irresponsible person I have ever met. You followed a man you've never met in this life through a time passage; what does it say about you, hmm? My subconscious hissed at me promptly. Right. Who was I to judge anyone.

Lia and I climbed to the third floor slowly; there was no lift in the old building. I had managed not to fall asleep during the long flight, but now I was exhausted. My bag felt too heavy, and my whole body ached from the uncomfortable seats of the airplane.

Lia unlocked the door, telling me to leave everything in the sitting room and go take a shower while she made my bed in the spare bedroom. Their third flatmate had moved out a while ago, leaving the girls with an extra room and a higher rent to pay. At least I would have a bed tonight; I had tried sleeping on their living room sofa before, and I did not wish to repeat the experience.

I took my bag of toiletries and pyjamas out of my luggage and made for the bathroom. It was too late to wash my hair, I needed to get to bed fast to be able to get up on time to go to work in the morning. Secretly, I was happy about it. The last time I washed my hair, two days ago, it was in the wooden tub filled with scented water in the castle, it was still redolent of burning wood... I've developed some very medieval habits during the year. Katerina would be proud of me, I thought with a pang in my heart as I studied my face in the mirror above the sink while I brushed my teeth and hair after the shower. I looked... different. More serious. Sad... and empty... I shook my head at my reflection, then exited the bathroom.

"Thanks, Lia," I said when I found her in the spare room. Not only did she make my bed, but she even brought my luggage and handbag over, and made me a cup of tea.

"Are you tired? Hungry? You should eat something," she said.

What's wrong with her? We always cared about each other but this... concern about my comfort and well-being was quite new.

"I'm not hungry," I told her, sitting down on the bed and taking a sip from the steaming cup she had placed on the nightstand. Lemon and ginger infusion, my favourite. "I'm too tired to think about food."