OF THE NIGHT ∘ Seth Gecko

19 | Ready, Set, Fire

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
READY, SET, FIRE

IT'S ANOTHER MORNING of me waking up before sunrise, only this time Seth and Kate are asleep. The difference this time is that I'm losing hours of sleep for my own sake, instead of doing it for the sake of getting out of time as unnoticed as possible. Yesterday, Seth let me know that we will be leaving this town either today or tomorrow. He did give me a few extra days here so I could spend more time with Silvia, but it's dangerous for us to overstay here.

There are still about twenty minutes until the time I have set up with Silvia and I slightly enjoy the fact that my lessons with her require zero preparations, unlike when Seth needs to get ready for another robbery, or when we need to pack up all of our things and our money. After going to the bathroom and changing my clothes, I walk to the minifridge in the room, looking for something to eat.

After choosing one out of a few sandwiches we got from a guy who makes them on the street, I take a seat on the minifridge and start eating. The room is dark with only a bit of light coming in between the closed curtains that are keeping out the warm sun. With nothing much to do at the moment, I look at Kate's sleeping form on the bed that we have been sharing, before moving my gaze to Seth, who's calmly sleeping on the other bed.

His body makes the bed look smaller than it actually is, but the thing that truly draws my attention is how calm he looks when he's asleep. Seeing him relatively relaxed is such a rare sight and I find myself softly smiling. I can't say much has changed since the day we kissed - there wasn't a single repeat of neither kisses, no romantic moments or secret touches - yet I can feel a small change in each one of us. Maybe Seth isn't ready to get into anything, or it's just because he's not that type of man, but there's something there when he looks at me. I can't quite pinpoint it. The best way for me to describe it is that it's a mix of softness and intensity behind his gaze that makes a warm feeling spread in my chest each time.

It might be surprising, but our current situation satisfies me. I wouldn't object to having something more with Seth, nor am I complaining. I think it's because it feels like we're always going to be there for each other, side by side. Like I almost know he won't be going anywhere anytime soon, no matter how naïve it sounds. Thinking about the day we will get our fake passports and will be able to get back into the States both scares and excites me, so I prefer to avoid thinking about it.

The sound of heavy breathing draws my attention and I realize it's coming from Kate within seconds. She's pushing herself to sit up on the bed, her chest heaving while she doesn't seem to notice me there. Worried, I finish my sandwich and walk towards her before I see her wiping her cheeks.

"Katie, what's wrong?" I ask softly and take a seat on the bed. No reply comes from her as she continues to cry. "A nightmare?" I half ask and half state, to which she nods.

In the past two months and a half, all three of us have suffered from nightmares. Kate's often included her family, and even though he never speaks of them, I assume Seth's bad dreams include Richie. The fact that I didn't lose anyone in the Titty Twister, in my opinion, makes me suffer from fewer nightmares in comparison to my two roommates, but I still have them. The culebras and the endless maze haunt all of us, with the difference being that where they dream about their family, I dream about either being hopelessly alone there or about Seth and Kate.

Moving to sit next to the girl, I start rubbing her back and wrap my other arm around her to help her calm down. Kate accepts the gestures and leans on my side, her body shaking lightly as she cries. Even though I don't know what her nightmare was, I whisper a few reassuring words to her every now and then.

"It wasn't..." she tries saying after a few minutes and sniffs, "a nightmare. But... Scott and my... d-dad were there..."

She seems to leave her sentence incomplete, yet what she has already said is enough information for me. It has been quite a while since the events in the Titty Twister happened and I still don't know what happened to Richie, Scott or Jacob. The only thing I know is that Richie was very much alive and well the last time I saw him; what he's up to now or why he didn't leave with Seth is beyond me. One time the latter mentioned that Richie betrayed him, but I never tried to get information from neither Seth nor Kate about the exact fate of their loved ones.