I Miss You - McLennon AU

35 a.

11th January, 2019

John felt the harsh light of the sun shine against his eyelids, so bright that it forced his eyes open. He blinked a few times, trying to adapt to the light.

Instantly, he knew where he was. He was in the strawberry fields, underneath his and Paul's tree.

As he looked around, slowly pushing himself upright and into a sitting position, he felt almost nothing. It hadn't worked, obviously. His plan had failed.

John had no idea why he thought it would work. Paul was in a different decade, and so was long fucking gone. As he stared around at the empty forest for a few more seconds, the situation began to make more sense to him. He felt the first wave of sadness flow through him.

His head fell, and he felt tears in his eyes.

But John told himself he wouldn't cry, he had cried enough. He wouldn't have to try hard, for he felt he had no tears left in him that he could cry. These past couple of months, the sadness and loneliness after he lost Paul in that very place, had completely shattered him. He had cried for so long.

That's when it clicked. In that very place.

Out of nowhere, John shot up to his feet, heavy breaths starting to fall from his lips. He had barely thought about that.

With the new wave of distress having arrived, John figured it was time to leave. He didn't know where he'd go. Maybe school? Maybe just home entirely, Mimi would be at work by now so he had a good few hours before she arrived home to... Ambush him. One thing was for sure though.

There was no way to find Paul.

The tree was John's only idea, for now anyway. Maybe more ideas would come to him in the future. He was determined to see Paul again, but deep down, he felt it was a situation as rare as Mimi not having a go at him for skipping class or school in general.

Just before he walked away, John turned to look back at the tree. He smiled at the carved names, brushing over all of them with his hand, gently. It seemed different, though... The carvings didn't seem... As new? Especially not John and Paul's names, in which he had calved really not long before. They seemed settled in the bark.

He forgot the thought, remarking it as bullshit.

With a final look at the tree, John turned, heading the way he knew best. Towards the exit from strawberry fields...

...

...

But the closer he got to the gate, the weirder things seemed to feel. He could hear the sound of cars, except it sounded like they were speeding. It was a cool sound. Then there was the loud car radio, playing a song that sounded so unrecognisable to him it may have been composed before Christ.

When he finally reached the red gates, he hopped the wall, having pushed the observations to the back of his mind. As John landed his jump, he was faced directly with the blank, cold wall.

He sighed to himself, preparing to continue the reign of depression.

Once he turned around, everything changed.

The first thing he saw was a car. A car like no car he had ever seen before. It was shaped weird, like a sports car (one of those Paul had seen on the television raving others) but cooler and with four doors. It wasn't round, it was more square.

He could hear something to his right, and when he turned to see what it was, he the saw the wheels of a pram coming round the corner. Soon enough, he saw the full pram, and the child inside. It looked odd, nothing like he had ever seen before. It was like a seat that moved.