Wind Blows

Blaize and I waited a little bit before we left the store. Once we walked out the back door everything was completely ruined. It didn't even look or feel like our town anymore; the sky was still a dark color, so many trees had fallen, cars were destroyed, trash and debris were everywhere, and it was so quiet other than the sound of the wind. In the distance, we could see more of those police officers walking in unison; every single one of them dressed and walked the same way, and honestly, it made my skin crawl.

"I don't know what's happened to everything, but I think our first order of business should probably be seeing if our homes survived the catastrophe," I say as I pull out my phone and make sure no one else has tried to contact me.

"Honestly, my home holds a lot of bad memories for me, so I'll check on mine when I feel like it. Now what I DO wonder about is if my gym was affected by the storm," Blaize says with a grin as I nudge him. "Even in the midst of all this, you still manage to have dumb thoughts," I say as I laugh. I look down the street headed toward my home and start walking, and Blaize follows beside me. For some reason, it's also so much colder than it was earlier; the wind blowing was eerily chilly, and the sun was no longer in sight, unlike this morning. Is this all because of the eclipse?

I walk up the hill beside Blaize and stop in my tracks as I look at my home; unfortunately, it is gone, and even though my car survived, I still feel my stomach drop as I resume my steps and walk up right in front of the steps to my home and just look at what was once my humble abode. Only the floor was left, with the rest of the mess being debris and some of my items, such as clothes, books, and personal items. Blaize rested his hand on my shoulder and rubbed it. "I'm so sorry, Blue. Hey,  if my place isn't like this, just know you are staying at my place, and it's nonnegotiable. I'm not leaving you to sleep in a house of debris or your car unless it's necessary to have to take refuge in our cars."

I look up at Blaize and nod, then realize what the officer made very clear as I took his hand off my shoulder. "Thank you, Red; I appreciate it. Also, please be careful; I don't know what the officers classify as friendly or romantic, and I don't think I want to know how they deal with people they think or know are straight." I start stepping through the debris and manage to dig out a larger backpack of mine buried underneath some wood that I use to start packing some clothes and any hygiene essentials I can find, as well as some books and my sentimental items.

Blaize started to help me look through the debris, and suddenly he picked up a necklace and smiled very big. "Wow, Blue, is this the candy necklace I made you like 2 years ago around Halloween time? You kept it and didn't eat it?" He said he was holding it up in front of me. I hope he didn't notice that I probably started blushing a little bit; it's so cold outside yet my face was starting to get hotter than anything.

"Well, to be fair, I don't like the candy used for the candy necklaces, but I didn't have the heart to tell you that, plus despite it being candy, I thought the gesture was sweet. I mean, you're one of the rare dudes out there that's my friend because of who I am and not because they are solely trying to hit on me, so yeah, I kept it because I appreciate you."

Blaize looked down at me and grinned. Pretty sure his cheeks were turning red now too, and I grinned as I realized I had the upper hand when it came to giving someone the feels. I reach for the candy necklace and slip it around my neck. "Out of all the accessories I can even find, this would be the first one to pop up; it's a sign, and I honestly think I'm ready to go now. Off to your place now?"

"Oh boy, yes, we can head to my place. Are we walking or are we going to take your car through all the madness? I'm not too far from you to be honest, and I didn't even know that. If I had, I would have probably tried to hang out with you sooner under much different circumstances than this," he chuckled. "We can walk; it will give us much more time to take in the damages, and I think some fresh air will do us some good considering we were in that closet for so long," I say as I walk back down my steps, followed by Blaize, who then takes the lead as we start walking to his place.