22 Let's Go Home

'Wake up.' He heard Autumn's voice, like the faint tune of the pied piper, reaching down his dream to charm him into following the melody.

He resisted, he knew if he woke up the pain would come back, but he couldn't remember why.

Why don't I want to wake up? He did not question the feeling but basked in it, smiling slowly as he allowed the dream to pull him back down.

'No,' he mumbled.

'Oh, for heaven's sake,' she groaned, then a loud sound came. It was a few seconds later that he realized she had slapped him, the ringing in his cheek managing to shake him out a bit from his stupor.

'Don't...touch...me...' His words were an incoherent mumble even to his own ears.

He expected her to move away but then another slap came, much louder and demanding this time.

'Stop.' He took hold of her hand and pulled it down, holding tight to prevent her from raising it again.

'What even.....' He heard her grumble before she pulled her hand away and brought her mouth closer to his ear.

Her words hit her like a warm breeze, spoken so low and close that he felt them reverberating in his very brain. 'It's all your fault.' She had said.

With her words came crashing the entire events of the day and Falcon curled onto himself, eager to push away the dreadful memories. She kept speaking though, unaware, or uncaring of his state, and breathed into his ear once more. 'Cyan is gone.'

She must have thought he was still out cold, but Falcon was as awake as he could be, breathing slowly in and out to calm his wildly thumping heart. He opened his eyes a flicker and saw her face very close to his. The soot and color from the grenade were all over her face and in her hair, making her look like she had jumped in a chimney.

He wondered if he looked the same, or worse. The cold bare wood under his head reminded him he was still in the cabin, an ashy smell hung in the air and his lungs contracted with every breath he took.

He pushed her away then, her shocked complaint leaving him unfazed as he sat up and took in his surroundings. The cabin looked worse than before, if possible, the blackness had settled down on every corner it could find, and there weren't many.

She shook her hair and a bit of ash fell out before she handed him the water bottle from her belt, a quarter of it still sloshing inside it. He grabbed it gratefully before pouring a bit out and splashing it onto his face, the soot and grime dribbling away.

He drank the rest in a gulp, the liquid like a salve to his parched throat before he made himself meet her eyes, expecting a look of anger and possibly resentment in them.

She, however, was not displaying any of those emotions, though her mouth was set in a very straight line. Her eyes were clear and she was staring at him devoid of any emotion. He shook his head a bit and looked away, wiping his damp face onto the sleeve of his jacket, the leather catching the moisture, the droplets rolling away.

There was silence until he very quietly said, too low for even his own ears to pick up the sound but Autumn heard him nevertheless. 'I am sorry.'

Falcon realized with a start that these words had left his mouth after more than five years.

Autumn just shook her head and frowned. 'Say that to Cyan.' The angry look returned to her eyes as she moved away.

Falcon sighed. 'Did you check outside? Maybe we can still catch them.' He said, in a fruitless attempt to strike up a conversation where they were both not cursing at each other.

'Falcon, it's almost nightfall.' She said. 'We were out for half of the day.'

He jerked his head up, the dim light outside the window confirming what she had said. The sun was dipping down the horizon, a few of the scattered rays streaming in to light up the cabin. It would be dark very soon and the picnic site would close off.

'They must be very far away by now.' It was a statement, one she agreed with as she nodded her head.

The time on his wrist said it was half past five, which meant he had been there for more than seven hours. He wondered if the person had been there the entire time he had been in the tree, watching him and smirking at the clueless boy, camouflaged in the green leaves. Where could he have hidden, though? He would have heard him or even felt him but they were like a shadow, hovering beside him the entire time.

'Get up, we are leaving.' She said, immediately getting off the floor and brushing her pants.

Falcon didn't know what possessed him to say what he said next, instead of arguing with her like he usually would. 'To your grandfather?'

'Yes.' She looked, relieved, like he had jumped to the conclusion quicker than she had expected. 'Let's go home.'