Thanks for the reviews! Chapter 20! I never thought I'd get this far!
Disclaimer: I own plot, and nothing else.
I stood, from a distance, wind whipping my hair around, staring at the section of woods where Simon, Tori, and Mr. Bae were standing, respectfully bowing their heads over a section of dirt that just happened to have my friend's body under it.
Trees surrounded us. We were pretty far into the woods.
I hugged myself, shivering partly from the cold and partly from fear. There was a weird tension in the air. My eyes were red and sore from crying.
Simon turned back to me, and gave me a sympathetic look. He slowly turned and walked toward me, and Tori turned to look at him, then me briefly, then quickly away. She blew her nose into a tissue.
"You okay?' Simon asked, his brows furrowed in worry. I took a deep breath.
"I'm fine." I answered, my voice faltering. I was no where near fine.
Simon rubbed my back. "It'll be alright," he whispered in my ear. "We'll go tonight. He's going to be fine." He reassured me, then looked on toward Mr. Bae. Simon's eyes were distant, his hands absent mindedly rubbing my shoulders, keeping me warm.
I softly sighed. I hoped we would be able to get safely away tonight.
Mr. Bae asked me if I would like to come over, and I was tempted, but I was also sore from the night before and teird. I was also escapping to find Derek tonight. So overall, staying at home was best.
I slept. And slept. Then ate some Doritos, then slept some more.
Being in the apartment just…didn't feel right with Derek gone. It felt like something was missing, as cheesy as it sounds, it felt like there was a hole in my chest.
What hurt even more was that I dreamed of him.
I dreamed of us together at Lyle house. I dreamed when he first started to change, and when we were running, hoping fences, far away from Lyle House. I dreamed of when we were on the run together. When he saved me from Liam and Ramon, when he had reassured me about my powers. And the first time we kissed…that amazing jolt…
"Chloe?" Someone shook me. I didn't dare think it was Derek and get my hopes up.
Resentfully, I slightly opened my eyes. It was Simon all in black again, his back pack slung over his shoulder. A bit of his hair shone under his baseball cap.
It took me a minute, but then I remembered we needed to go.
I jumped out of bed, and ran my hands through my hair and yawned.
"Are you packed?' He asked. I knew he knew I was, but there was nothing else really to say.
"Yeah." I replied shortly. I walked around to the other side of the bed, picked up my bag. I then picked up my phone, looked at Simon and stopped short.
I thought.
"Should I bring it?" I asked. If I did, they could track us. Mr. Bae, Tori, and the Edison Group. But if I didn't, and Derek tried to reach me….
He gave me a look, and I nodded, agreeing, and set the phone down.
I checked to make sure I had everything. After I was sure, I turned off the lights and quietly followed Simon out of the room.
We made it down the stairs without disruption, which was a relief. Simon stayed by my side as we made our way across the parking lot to the van.
I pursed my lips. If Derek was here, he would say not to use Kit's car. It's too obvious.
I stopped in my tracks, about to tell Simon, when I caught my footing and fell.
"Chloe?" Simon whispered. It was so dark out, I could hardly make out his shape.
My hands were stung from scraping the pavement. I shook them, and then after a second, got back up. I squinted hard, and found Simon, his hand stuck out in my direction through the veil of darkness.
I took it, and he lead me to the car.
We tried to open the doors as silently as we could, but they still made noise. I cringed, looked around, and hopped into the drivers seat next to Simon. He looked over to me.
"There's no going back now." He whispered. I nodded, knowing once he started the car, we had to continue.
He nodded to himself and started the car, and quickly drove off from the parking lot.
We had decided to go to Syracuse. It was the most likely, yet most unlikely place to find him. But it was our only lead right now, so that's where we set off too.
I opened my window, and let the breeze cool my face. I watched trees and tall grass pass quickly in a blur as I focused on the lyrics to the song was that was playing.
"I find a map and draw a straight line,
over rivers, farms and state lines,
The distance from 'A' to where you'd be,
It's only finger lengths that I see,"
I turned and glared at the radio. My fingers twitched, wanted to snap the music off, or at least change the channel, but something inside me said chill out.
"I touch the place
where I'd find your face,
My fingers in creases
of distant dark places"
To my surprise Simon was the one who punched the button and changed the channel. This time it was a rap song-something so fast I couldn't understand. He settled on it, looked briefly to me and smiled. I kindly smiled back.
I turned back out the window and gazed at the dark sky. Out of all of this chaos, one thing that comforted me was the fact that he was still breathing ( I prayed,) Still under the same sky, still in the same world. He had to be.
DEREK'S POV.
I turned, uncomfortable in a damn lumpy bed in a motel room that smelled of cigarettes. It creaked as my weight shifted.
I sighed, and tried to close my eyes. But I couldn't. Not with Chloe out there, without me. Not with dad and Simon without me. How could I leave them like that?
I turned again.
I knew why I needed to leave. I needed to find someone. Know that I knew who, as soon as I found her, I could go back to Chloe, and we would have experience. We would be able to fight, if we needed too.
Still, my gut flipped. The truth was I missed Chloe. A lot.
I decided as soon as I found her, I would go immediately home. I knew I hadn't been gone long , but then again, Chloe and I had never been apart like this.
Determined to see my Chloe again, I closed my eye lids.
:D Unfortunately, this is going to be the only time I'll use Derek's POV in this story ( I know it was pretty short, but I wanted to set the stage for some things.)
So, Who's Derek looking for? Where is he? Will Chloe and Simon find him? Comments? Suggestions? Reviews?
R&R!