the afterlife • luke patterson

space and time

i had driven to carrie's as fast as i could, but let's face it: the guys had quite the head start on me.

i wouldn't be surprised if we walked straight into the set of the shining. and while i wasn't the happiest with luke right now, i knew i needed to help julie talk some sense into them.

if i had it my way, i would be in my room doing anything else. but life was never that simple.

it also hadn't helped that i had cut both my arm and cheek while trying to climb over carrie's unnecessary fence.

"that looks gross." flynn commented, glancing that the blood that had slid slightly down my cheek.

i rolled my eyes, shooting a glare her way "wow, keep up the sweet talk and you've got a big ol' kiss coming your way."

julie chuckled, though she was slightly out of breath. we all were. none of us were in the business of physical activity, and were more out of shape than we cared to admit.

i rang the doorbell, waiting patiently for carrie to answer the door. when she did, she clearly wasn't expecting the intrusion. in fact, i'd say she wasn't even kind of excited to see a few old friends.

"heyyyy." we all drew the word out in unison, hoping to make our way into the house.

carrie scoffed, visibly irritated at the unannounced company,"what are you guys doing here? how'd you get over the security gate?"

"teamwork." julie replied quickly, letting out a small laugh to ease the tension.

i nodded, touching the cut on my cheek gently, "do you have a bandaid? the barbed wire's new."

carrie rolled her eyes, unamused by our comedic relief,"what do you want?"

i frowned, glancing down at the ground. i really did want a bandaid. of course, we had our ulterior motives, but the cut on my cheek needed to be remedied.

flynn shrugged, trying to keep the conversation going so we could get into the room,"um, just thought you should know julie and jordan's band is playing at the dance tonight!"

"now you know." julie smiled politely, glancing inside the house.

carrie narrowed her eyes at us, suspicious of our abnormal behavior,"you guys are acting weirder than usual."

"probably because we're thirsty," i said quickly, glad my time on the improv team was paying off,"can we come in for a glass of water?"

"ugh, fine," carrie huffed, stepping aside to let us in,"if it'll make you guys leave faster."

normally, carrie was nicer to me. but i didn't mind that fact as i walked in, chalking it up to the fact that flynn and julie were with me.

"thanks, car. i'll find the first aid kit on my own." i clapped her shoulder, knowing it was the perfect excuse to search for the boys.

"don't break anything." she called out after us.

i nodded and continued to walk, making my way to the staircase. julie and flynn distracted the crowd, of which happened to be made up of just carrie and nick.

after an insurmountable time of snooping and searching, i decided it was useless. not to mention, i was entering the time frame where i could no longer realistically be searching for bandaids.

as i was walking down the stairs, trevor ran past me. he muttered something about seeing his therapist and made his way out of the door.

as i was making my way back to the living room, i noticed all the boys outside. they were watching trevor's helicopter take off.