Search for Paradise, Book one: The beginning
Chapter 02: Something to do.
I slowly turned to face the other person. Exael sat on the edge next to me. "You could say that." I mumbled. He tilted his head to one side, looking confused.
"What happened back there?" Exael asked, pointing his thumb at the door. I sighed, looking straight ahead. "My grandfather and I had an argument. I didn't know that anyone else came up here. Let alone you." He chuckled slightly.
"I have been coming up here ever since my grandfather died. I come here every morning and every evening, to howl for his soul. He used to do it for my grandmother, though never for my parents." He said cheerily, though he growled slightly as he said about his parents. Exael's grandfather had killed his parents, although he had found out the day they were murdered, he always stuck with his grandfather, afraid to lose him too. "Anyway." He said trying to change the subject. "How're you?" He nudged my shoulder, and began to stare out too.
"I've been better." I said quietly.
"Hmm. What was it that Joey was saying this morning, about a dream?" He asked me, looking for a conversation.
"I-I've been having…nightmares. Recurring nightmares." I said shakily, I had only told Renny about the dreams, even then I had been shaky when talking about them. "Always, darkness. I'm looking for something, trying to remember something, but I can't. Then there's a man's voice, and a silhouette of him. Just before I can see his face I wake up." I told him, looking down at my knees. "I don't know why but…it scares me." I said looking up into his golden eyes. The eyes of a wolf. He moved forward and pulled me into a tight embrace. "Don't worry, Erika. No-one will hurt, not while I'm here." I hugged back letting a single tear fall from my eyes. I don't know why I cried, but although I knew no-one would hurt me it felt good to finally hear the words. "There's no need to cry Erika." Exael whispered. I wiped the tears from my cheeks and looked into his eyes again.
"Thank you, Exael." I let go of him and stood up. He nodded to me, turning back to the sunset. The deep reds and oranges had turned paler and were turning yellow and near blue.
I walked down the stairs to my room, seeing Ren staring out of the window. "What's up, Ren?" I asked her.
"Nothing. Where've you been?" She replied, distantly, as though no-one but her existed.
"The roof." I said quietly, closing my room door. I walked over to the bed and jumped onto it, quickly moving so I could see underneath it. Pulling out a box I carefully lifted the lid from it. A mess of pictures and paintings lay inside, along with scraps of paper covered in writing. I picked out a picture of my parents and another of my friends and me. The picture of my parents was one of the few I had of them. It was from my first birthday. The other which was of my friends, had been from the day we had began working together. I placed the box under my bed again and got changed out of my work clothes.
The land around the compound was completely wasted but there were small places, much like oasis' in deserts. There had been a war there, around sixty years before. It destroyed the land, so the people who had lived there fled. No-one dared come into the battlegrounds anymore. It was the perfect place to keep a secret, especially a big one. I lay on top of my bed, wide awake, wondering what I could do at the time. Going out for a walk wasn't such a bad idea, although I knew my grandfather would forbid it. Looking around the room, I picked up my cell phone. I punched in Joey's number. "Joey, come to my apartment. Bring Exael with you." I said quickly hanging up. I jumped off of my bed and ran into Ren's room. "Renny, hurry up, get ready." I told her in a harsh whisper. I walked out of her room and back into my own, throwing open the wardrobe. Digging through the mess of clothes, I picked out a large length of rope and put it over my shoulder. I walked back into the living room as the doorbell rang, opening it I ushered Joey and Exael in. Ren walked out of her room. "What the hell is going on, Erika?" she asked, walking straight past the others. "We're sneaking out of this hell-hole, that's what's going on, Ren." I told her, opening the window and looking down at the ground. Exael smiled from ear to ear and Joey simply laughed. "You think we'll be able to get out through the window?" he chuckled.
"I'd like to see you come up with something better, Joe." I said harshly, judging the distance to the ground. Joey chuckled again, grinning devilishly.
"As a matter of fact, I do." He said, as I turned to face him.
As I followed Joey down the stairs I wondered where he was taking us. Even in the time I had lived in the compound I hadn't been into the basements before. He stopped as we came to a corner, footsteps were coming our way. I walked forward and around the corner to see a man dressed in a chef's uniform carrying a tray of empty plates. I nodded as he passed and smiled. The others followed as Joey took the lead again and led us into the kitchens. He turned a bucket upside down and stood on it, looking through a small window that was at ground level (The kitchens were below ground). I helped him to pull the window open and we climbed out one by one. We looked out, the barren landscape seeming almost welcome. "I know that there's a non-toxic lake, about three miles…that way!" Joey told us, pointing into the far distance.
"Good. Maybe we'll get back tomorrow morning." I said sarcastically. Joey simply smiled back at me.
"That's why I brought these." He said, throwing down a small cube onto the ground. Suddenly a large red car popped up from where the cube had landed. Joey laughed and opened the door. "A little something I asked Techie to help me with." Techie was the mechanical engineer for our ship, Joey and he were cousins. He closed the door of the drivers seat and we all got in.