And then he stopped. Shane leaned his forehead against mine, breathing heavily, our eyes still closed, and he tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.
"Astra," he mumbled against my lips. "Please don't hurt yourself."
And all at once, his body fell l...
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C H A P T E R N I N E T E E N
S h a n e ༶ ｡
I swung my legs to and fro from the back of the ambulance, hands wrapped around the steaming cup of hot chocolate, a shiny blanket wrapped around me. Astra was next to me, doing the same. We both sat there silently as a commotion went on around us, journalists, paramedics, police, firefighters... it felt like everything had happened so fast. We were finally out.
I had come running out of the toilet, desperate for fresh air, slipping and falling on the floor once we were outside. A few of the cameramen had taken photos of me, and honestly? I didn't mind. It was good to be out.
"So," Astra said, breaking the awkward silence between us two.
"So."
"We got rescued."
"I know. Still kind of hard to believe this whole thing happened though." I looked down at the cup with the brown liquid, my face wishy-washy and darkly reflecting in it. I blew it gently, the way Mother taught me to do before drinking something hot.
I leaned my head against the edge of the wall and closed my eyes. A throbbing pain seemed to have started up near the front of my head.
"You not gonna drink?" She asked me. I shook my head.
"Are you not gonna drink?" She shook her head, shrugging.
We both stared off into the distance, each to our own thoughts. I looked over at the elevator, covered in police tape, just sitting there so innocently. It could have tumbled down at any moment, crashed and killed us both, yet by some miracle we had made it out alive. I shuddered.
Astra suddenly stood up, wrapping the shiny blanket around her as she walked off somewhere.
"Hey, where are you going..." I trailed off. She must not have heard me because she carried on walking. I stood up behind her, set down the hot chocolate and followed her.
She came to a stop next to a police officer, way taller than her, dark bags under his eyes and stubble.
"Hi," she smiled sweetly. "When can we go home?"
A lady in a blue, striped pinafore suit ran next to Astra, and nodded at the cameraman. He pressed a small button and a small red light started flashing from the side of the camera. "And as we can see, young survivor, Astra Thatcher, has asked to go home."
Sheesh, they really are nosy.
Astra scowled, turning back to look at them with her jaw clenched. She bared her fists, and looked like she was ready to start a fight. She angrily muttered something under her breath.
