Purple Sunrise

Nine

Hi guys! It's a shorter chapter than normal I'm afraid for this chapter. 

Chapter 9.

Rose stood up, her heart beating faster than normal. "Well, I better go clean the dishes." She made up the excuse to get her out of the awkward conservation that her and John had been trying to avoid. The look in Lily's eyes had disturbed her, made her feel so guilt-ridden for not telling her the whole truth.

Rose hated lying to Lily, but she understood how important it was to Lily's mental state to not know that they had been dispersed from the earth. Not much would be able to change the situation at that time.

While Rose was in the kitchen filling up the sink with hot water, John entered into the room.

"I've taken Lily to bed; she was shattered bless her." There was a slight pause before John walked up standing next to Rose.

"Let me help." He told her gently.

John took the dishtowel off of the side ready to wipe the dishes clean after she had washed them. Some time passed before either one of them spoke, revelling in the private time to daydream.

John Spoke first.

"What's your favourite colour?" Rose gave him a puzzled look; the question had come out of the blue.

"I reckoned it was about time we started to get to know each other properly. After all, we are looking after a child together now." He responded to the look, joking badly about Lily.

Rose paused in ponderance before answering the simple question.

"Violet." She took in a deep breath.

"If we're gonna do this then we should make it into a game, it'll seem a lot less like an interrogation. How about we play twenty questions?" She phrased her words as a question even though it was a demand.

John nodded his head understanding where she was coming from, with a sheepish smile he waited for her to take her turn.

"What's your favourite animal?"

"Pigs. Your favourite food?"

"Pigs? That's random and Oranges."

This game continued like this for a while; a question, and an answer, until eventually they were both out of cleaning and leaning onto the side staring at each other. Rose thought she would use her last few questions sensibility to find out exactly who he was.

"What was your life like back on earth?" She asked him.

John became eerily quiet; it was not a question that he wanted to ponder on. He had left that life behind and didn't want to make himself sad remembering how good he had it back on earth. A deep sigh left his slightly parted lips. He wanted to be as open as he could to Rose, so she would always know he wasn't a threat.

"Let's sit down and then I can tell you." John saw Rose's expression, a look of dread entered her face as she thought of all the bad possibilities of why it would require sitting to hear it. Maybe he had been dangerous on earth, and if that was true, how safe were Lily and her.

Giving a curt nod, they sat down in one of the booths, Rose felt more comfortable and safer with the table between them. John got ready to tell his story; clearing his throat before he started.

"On earth, I only had my mother, my dad died when I was little from a heart attack. Mum never told me how exactly it happened. But she was the light of my life." John absent-mindedly smiled as his mind wandered back, showing him images as he talked.

"My mum was one of the most beautiful kindest people I ever had the pleasure of knowing on earth. She was there for me no matter what, whether it be a cold, to needing money to go onto my school trips. I had a best friend who I grew up with, she was like my sister. I think her and Lily would have gotten on great. She always had a smart comeback and never ran out of things to say. She loved wearing skinny jeans and baggy tops." He paused, as a memory of her stopped dead in their tracks showing him.

Her hair was slightly lighter than his and her eyes without fail, shined as bright as the sun; She stood outside next to the apple tree on her parent's farm, spinning around before falling onto her knees sniggering from being lightheaded.

"She was always so full of joy, her eyes sparkling from it; from the moment they opened when she was born, to probably the last breath she took. In school I was in the middle crowd, made sure to give my homework in and get good grades. But had the closet knit group anyone could have." John's expressions started to change to sadness.

His eyes becoming a faintly darker colour. John put his head down, his voice becoming gruffer as he spoke his next words.

"When the earth decided to reset. No one in our village saw it coming. At the time I had been sent on a field trip with my work experience teacher. We had been in your town for a couple of days and were meant to stay for the month. We had just managed to manoeuvre ourselves around the town, knowing where the safe zones were from a town convention on the dreaded day, when it happened." John looked up, gazing straight into Rose's eyes, attempting to keep himself together for long enough.

"I have no idea what happened to my teacher; he had told me to run while he got our stuff."

At the end of the story, Rose felt so much closer to John, she felt for him. He had lost so much.  

John and Rose are really starting to get to know each other, and wooow what an emtional past to talk about!! To go from having close personal relationships to being stuck in a bunker not even properly knowing who the people are around you..

I hope you enjoyed this chapter!! 

Please feel free to comment bellow what you thought of it. :) 

Have a fab rest of the day.