Down | Tyrus

XIII

I've never been in a prison before. I still haven't. To call the cushy but empty room of a rich man's house a prison would be quite a misstatement. It's small, yes, and there's nothing in here, meaning I have to sit on the floor, criss cross, while TJ leans against the opposite wall with his head down and his knees up. There's still electricity, although in just one dangling lightbulb, but any is far from prison-like. But I'm sure I'll end up in a real prison soon. They don't usually give children the death sentence. I pray that my case won't be an exception. 

The pilot glares down at me and his son. He looks so angry that he doesn't even know what to say, which makes sense. We did hijack the city. 

"I'm shocked," the pilot says. "Not by you." He looks at me. "I should've known better than to let a lower-floor family like yours into my house. I'll never make that mistake again." He turns his head to his son. "I'm shocked by you. I thought you'd have better sense than this. Now I have to wait until the police get here when you"—directed at me—"will be taken away. And as for you, TJ, I'll need to come up with how to explain your behaviour to the mayor, but don't expect to go without punishment. What in the world were you thinking?"

"We thought there was land," TJ mutters. "We thought that we could save the city if we found it, because the place is falling apart, and we need somewhere solid to stop."

"Yes, I heard that there were suspicions of land," the pilot responds. "But that's nonsense. We had a plan. We were going to go to the nearest city to dock there and join up. Now thanks to you two, we're way off course, and I don't know if we'll be able to find it again."

"I'm sorry," TJ mumbles. 

I stay silent. The pilot doesn't want to hear from me. I should've just stayed quiet about all of this, but I really thought I could help. 

"Well, sorry doesn't change what you did." His glare turns to me then back to his son. "Say your goodbyes now, because you're not seeing each other again. And Cyrus, I hope you're proud of yourself. Your reckless actions cost your mother her job."

He slams the door behind him, and the bang echoes several times through the room, so loud that I can hardly hear him lock us in. I'm still trying to process what happened. It's hard to breathe. Every time I take in some air, my tumbling stomach slaps it back out again. I look over at TJ as he covers his face with his hands and groans. 

"I'm sorry," I say. 

TJ's hands drip from his face, revealing his burning glare. 

"Are you?" he snipes. "Because I never even wanted to do this, and you basically coerced me into it!"

His eyes are misty and red, and I don't know what to do. I just stare at him, taken aback by his outburst. He's never yelled at me like this before. 

"You said you wanted to help," I mutter. He did, didn't he? I wasn't imagining that.

"And you believed me?" he scoffs. "Sure, I thought finding land would be good, but that's not the real reason why I agreed. I did it because you wanted me to, and I wanted you to like me!"

"What?" I utter, unsure how to take in this new information. "Why do you care what I think of you?"

"Because I like you!" he blurts. He lets his head fall back against the wall and looks up at the ceiling as he mutters, "And not just like friends. I really like you. And I was stupid enough to think that maybe you liked me, but you were just using me this whole time."

His eyes fall down to me again, and I feel an ache in my chest. He likes me. This attractive, wealthy boy likes a poor water gatherer who can hardly pay for new shoes. This is the strangest thing. I thought he would be the one to break my heart. Never in a million years would I have guessed that I'd be the one to break his. But I don't want to break his heart. I want to keep it.

I shift forward onto my knees and crawl across the short space between us. His legs come down from where they were guarding his body and stretch out flat on the floor while his eyes watch me in question, but the question only hangs for about one second before I answer it. I take his face in my hands and kiss him, and his tears seem to halt in an instant. When I back away, he's staring at me in shock.

"I'm sorry," I say. "I shouldn't have asked you to help me."

Rather than reply, his eyes scan over my face for another moment. When they fall down to my lips, I realize he's already moved on past his anger. In a heartbeat, he brings his arms up to pull me back in, kissing me again, and I suddenly don't care about the anger either. We could've just exploded the whole world, and I still wouldn't care about anything except him right now. I succumb to the tug of his arms, letting him pull me onto his lap as we continue to make out against the wall. Yes, this room is far from a prison. If prison involved recreation like this, I really wouldn't mind it. 

The whipping open of the door shoves me off of TJ and to the floor beside him as both of us look up the entrant. As bad as her timing is, I've never been happier to see Amber interrupting us. She obviously got a glimpse of what was going on before she came in, because her eyebrows are higher than a midday sun, and her mouth has dropped to the floor. 

"Okay, cool, so you weren't lying. You aren't friends," she concludes. 

TJ is blushing like a tomato as he asks, "What are you doing here?"

"Nothing as exciting as what you're doing here," she teases with a smirk. 

"Amber."

"Sorry," she says, laughing. "I'm here to get you guys out."

"Amber, you'll be in huge trouble."

"I know, but I found the papers in your room about the land."

TJ sighs. "So you know I'm an idiot who believed there'd be land out there."

"No," she retorts. "I know you're an idiot who was two degrees off."

TJ sits up at that. "So you're saying..."

"You got the location wrong," she states. "It was farther North, and we're actually about to come up on the land pretty soon."

"It exists," I breathe, a smile finding my face. 

"Yes, but we have to act now if we're going to get the city down to it."

"How?" TJ questions. 

"Well, unlike you two, I have an actual plan," she says, "so just do as I say, and don't do anything stupid."

A/N: Hello! I'm going to work on Honey and Ethereal now, but I wanted to leave this story here while I'm doing that. I really hope you liked this chapter. I did, and I'm excited for the rest. I love you all! Goodbye.