Noxious

44 | mr. sandman

Rowan 

For a few minutes, there was silence. 

We sat on the edge of the train car, our legs dangling over as the train trudged along, seemingly unaware it had gained new passengers. My eyes watched the forest move by, as it slowly came to life with dawn's early light.

It almost felt surreal, and I only blinked every other minute. The breeze ruffled our hair and shifted our clothes but we sat still. Our muscles had thoroughly been spent and we only moved when absolutely necessary now. 

We couldn't do much else. 

My skin tingled and ached fiercely from where the fire had licked my skin. I had always loved fire but I had never allowed it to hurt me. Now, as I glanced down at my reddened and blistering skin, I realized fire wasn't all that great. 

Bit by bit, I had less of an urge to burn things. It was fading. 

"What are we going to do?" Charly asked, her voice was hollow. Perhaps the severity of our situation had weighed down her soul, as it was with mine. I gulped down a multitude of emotions that made my chest tight.  

A tense pause followed her words until Tommy cleared his throat, and said, "We have to make a decision." 

"Like what?" Kyle slightly turned his head. We had all been staring straight out into the forest, like ghosts traveling over the land. Our minds wandering with the possibilities of anything and everything. "What are we gonna do? Hand ourselves over on a silver platter?"

"They won't stop," Charly spoke monotonously, "We're going to get killed eventually." 

"You can't say that--" I went to say but she cut me off. 

Her red-rimmed eyes shook me. "They will." 

"Then we turn ourselves in," I said without hesitation. I had already unconsciously made up my mind about what seemed to be the best option back at Rue's house. "If we turn ourselves in, they have to protect us from gang members during trial. Especially since two of us are minors." 

"That's true," Tommy agreed. He had already seemed to make up his mind, too, and he met my eyes with resolution. He gave me the smallest of nods, and I knew for sure he was thinking the same thing. 

"But we are delinquents," Kyle sounded angry then, "They won't treat us kindly, they'll throw us behind bars. Hell, I could go to jail for five years. Who knows what would happen to Rowan and Charly?" 

I knew but I was willing to face it. 

It was better than dying out here. 

"We can't keep running," Charly finally turned her head to face Kyle, her expression was agonizingly empty, "We need to turn ourselves in before it's too late." 

I didn't know what but something had shaken her. 

Kyle inhaled sharply, and I expected a slew of curses from his lips, but as he regarded our little sister, his resolve visibly died. His shoulders slumped and I knew he wasn't going to fight. 

Some part of him knew she was right. We all did. 

It was the only way for us to survive.

Our hearts were heavy as we didn't dare speak anymore. Now that we had made our decision, I realized that we were in our final moments together. 

Perhaps the last... for a long time. 

Why couldn't we just live good dreams? 

Everything was always a fucking nightmare.