Disclaimer: I do not own the Tomorrow series
An. This is a piece I made up for the start of the second book.
'But if I had one chance to freeze time.
To stand still and soak in everything.
I'd choose right now.'
If this is it- Newton Faulkner
Homer leaned against the tree silently watching. He couldn't hide the silly grin on his face as he watch the girls splashing around in the water. Laughing, playing together. Smiling. Such a simple reaction, connected to a beautiful emotion that they had lost. It was like their innocence. Blown away in the first blast of the mower. Homer frowned thinking back.
The hole that ripped at his heart was growing. His family, his life before the war was gone. He wondered when the distinction came in. When was the time before the war and where did it begin. Was it the moment they left their homes in high spirits, trekking into the depths of hell. Was it the night this bunch of teenagers listened to the on going aircrafts fly low under the cover of darkness. Was it the moment they realised the airplanes didn't have their lights on?
Was the moment they got to Elle's place and felt the sinking feeling of something being very wrong. Was it when they found the dogs dead?
Was it when they went through the town, to find it abandon?
Was it when the soldiers started firing their guns?
Was it the day Lee got shot in the leg?
Perhaps it was the moment Kevin drove off with Corrie dying in the backseat.
Maybe it was the day they decided to fight back.
It didn't matter, Homer conceded.
This is what matter.
These few moments in between when they had a chance to be kids. A chance to breath, feel the warmth of the sun on their skin. A chance to be together, to be the like the family they had come.
Only these people mattered now.
Chris was moody and quietly locked up in his note book. Homer didn't know what he was writing, Ellie mentioned it something about poetry that was incomprehensible. He thought she would know, she was their scribe of sorts. Mind you everything she had written so far had only hurt or pissed everyone else. Maybe they should have let Chris do it.
Lee was the boy he had barely known at school. He sat by the stream, fiddling with a twig, craving his name into the earth. He had a talent for music and was strong but more importantly silent. He had a darker side to him, something that at time Homer appreciated and other times hated. He was ok. Ellie liked him, that was all that mattered.
He grinned as Ellie caught his eye. She beckoned him to come join them. Their was a glint in her eyes he hadn't seen before the war. A new quirk to her. He shook his head smiling down at her. She left to two girls, dripping her way up the bank to his side. Her smile, was cheeky, playful. It was one of the things he loved about her. She had never been a beautiful girl, not in the way Fi was. She had a face full of laughter and it spoke of hard work and determination. She was the brat kid next door who had become like a sister he had never had. She knew the land like the back of her hand. She knew how to live out here. She was a fighter, a survivor. But she shouldn't of had to be. If it wasn't for the war, she wouldn't be seen as a key player. She wouldn't of had to been strong, she wouldn't have to be the driver who knew how to use a gun. She could of just been the girl who lived on the farm next to his.
He sat down under the tree voicing his refusal, she pouted childishly, he winked offering her a compromise, in a bit. She smiled at him running back down to the others.
Fi squealed as Ellie splashed her way in the middle. Homer blushed looking at Fi. She was easy on the eyes. The most innocent, with her doll like quality. He couldn't help but feel protective of her when she looked the way she did. She had surprised him. Her inner strength shone through her fear he knew she thought would over power her. She was a good person, not the snob he thought she would have been. She didn't deserve this. She wasn't built to handle death, violence, the war raging outside the pit's of hell.
Homer didn't move as Robyn came to take a seat at his side. She pushed the wet hair off her forehead, staring ahead.
"Homer." She had that tone to her voice. His heart leapt, skipping a beat. "We can't just stay here and do nothing forever."
He sighed.
"I know." He fought with himself. "It's just." He didn't felt that voicing his fears of loosing anyone else would kill all of them, kill him. He was happy here, now. He wished he could freeze time, stay in this blissful moment, where the war didn't matter, where there was no death count, where there was one depending on them. "Can't we just have a little time." He knew in his heart, they couldn't afford the risk.
"We can't pretend there isn't a war on, we can't pretend like we haven't lost what have."
Robyn was the reasonable one, the smart one. He knew it was time, he suspected they all did. It was only the fear of saying out loud, breaking the eerie comfortable silence.
"I know, I just don't want this to end just yet."
"No one does but it's time. We need to do something. Come to a decision, make plans." She left him to ponder.
What if this is it? What if this is the last good moment they would spend together. They could die tomorrow. Homer knew that since Corrie and Kevin left for the hospital, the group had fallen in a heap. They didn't want to fight the war, but they couldn't sit by and let it happen. They need a reason to climb out of Hell. A reason to risk going down Taylor's stitch and into what was once their town.
If they might die, Homer wanted it to be for a reason. They needed a propose.
It was suddenly clear to him, he knew what they needed to do.
He called a meeting, Robyn was right, it was time.
That night as they sat by the unlit camp fire, he offered up them a cause, a reason to head back into war.
Homer said his piece, it was quite impressive but the last line was the one that light up all their eyes.
"I think we should go find Kevin and Corrie."
