Chapter 10 - Extreme Nostalgia
As we drove, our memories seemed to grow, and we remembered how horrible the peace was that they kept there and -
I am the Circle and the Circle is me.
We all winced in pain, and Gus leapt up from his sketchbook and then flung back down again by the seatbelt. I put my hand soothingly on his knee.
"He's still here," Todd said in horror, taking the exact words out of my mouth. "But...how...how is that possible?" He turned to stare at me, and I couldn't even bring myself to shrug. The children knew not to ask about our conversation, but I saw them exchange questioning glances.
I pulled over at the side of the road and put my hands on my lap. Todd held my hand in his and squeezed it gently and we stayed like that for a while before I drew a deep breath in and turned to the children behind us.
"Lets get out then, shall we," I sighed. "And take a look around?"
They looked to each other and then nodded cautiously. "Yes, we'd all love to, wouldn't we?" Toby said nervously. The twins nodded very over dramatically as Todd opened the fissioncar door slowly, almost too slowly. I opened mine and the children opened theirs, and soon we were all standing out in New Prentisstown in the freezing cold in nothing but t-shirts and trousers.
"I'm cold," Gus complained.
"Well I'm sorry, but I can't help that." Todd said sharply, rubbing the goosebumps on his arms.
I felt like a lightbulb had just flicked on above my head. "Maybe I can," I said quietly. We had blankets inside the car, and I fished into the glovebox and found scissors in the first aid box. I cut the blankets to reasonably sized poncho shaped things and draped them around the children. They hugged them close to their bodies and Harper put hers over her mouth as well. They were fairly small but they would do, anyway, we could be inside any time soon.
I am the Circle and the Circle is me.
We all winced again but Gus cried out and clutched his scalp. I put my arm around him tightly and rubbed his head. He put his head in my armpit gently and sniffled. I handed him a tissue, and he rubbed his nose with it hard but it didn't do anything much.
"Lets get going then," Todd said impatiently. "I want to get this trip over and done with so that we can get back home."
I sighed and took Gus' hand as the other two went around Todd and in front of the whole family. We kept walking for a while, until we got to a new building that we didn't recognise. We stopped, because we didn't get nostalgia here like we did with the rest of the city. The large gates opened and we could hear the clunk of footsteps against stone, and then -
Todd and I both gasped in unison.
David bloody Prentiss was back.