Then I would remember that the world still turns, with every dinosaur in it, and I continued to remain untouched; left to the shards that these parks had left behind, piecing together whatever I could; no one I could blame for it.
'You set the security alarm timer?' he calls out from our bedroom.
'Not yet,' I reply, tugging down on the last stretch of zip lining my backpack. The weight of it regrettably knocks a bit of wind out of me when I haul it over my shoulders.
The faint trinket of switches sounds from the bathroom, lights turning off as Alex trudges down the hallway. Faint lamplight reflects off of the glass, the sky behind NYC still pitch black.
'You got everything?' I ask him. My voice is pathetically quiet, as thought somebody in the building might watch us leave with the intention of inquiring where we might be going.
He thumbs through the sleeve of important documents on the island bench, murmuring each one to himself as he ticks them off in his head. He gently folds it into his inner jacket pocket, buttoning it back up. 'Luggage there... keys in pocket... I'm good.'
I swallow the colossal yawn at the base of my throat, propping the suitcase handle up. 'Good to go.'
But he's still mentally checking his list off with a slight frown. 'Laptop... thesis... phone...'
His hands fumble for his back pocket, body freezing up momentarily. 'That's right.'
He strides back down the hall for his tiny office made out from our bizarrely huge storage cupboard, flicking the lamp on. A draw tugs open, papers rustling about. 'You can set the alarm!' he calls back.
My bleary, bloodshot eyes squint to press down on each button, the little timer blinking back at me. I push the keys into the heavy door, hauling it open to the frigid hallway air biting at my ankles. The silhouettes of our plants and piles of books stacked in the living room look lonely amongst the dark.
The bedroom light flicks off, Alex's silhouette opening his suitcase and rummaging through the layers of clothes. He zips it up promptly and props it onto its wheels with a heavy sigh. 'That's definitely everything.'
I flick a glance to the watch around my wrist, stomach heavy as ever with paranoia. 'I think that might be the quickest you've ever gotten ready whilst we've been living here.'
The new record for such an event being 45 minutes.
I can feel his smile through the dark as he pulls our door shut behind him, rattling the lock free. 'I mean... considering I'm about to be paid to fly to Italy...'
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
