The last strands (#Tronnor)

Chapter 20: The city of sunsets

Do not let your heart be fooled for a toy.

... Way to go, Troye boy...

Back to where he had started. Ever still and vibrant, home called for the young lost boy, back in the city of sunsets and into the valleys of crimson sand.

How long had it been? It was hard to tell. Probably less than what it seemed, at least to his understanding. But it didn't matter, not really, at least not for him. What is done is done, regardless of when.

Funny, how time can become such an insignificant thing, especially when you compare it to the bigger picture. Like the one described by his eyes in that very moment. The bright colored sunlight adorned the tall green grass and the red sand, and made the pavement glisten like black marble stone. With sunglasses on, it almost seemed like a moving photograph taken through his eyes. The movement of the car ride was smooth and fast, and the streets were marvelously empty in comparison to the ones in LA. A song was playing on the radio, he wasn't sure by whom, but he wasn't really listening to it from the backseat. His mind was on the sky and on the road, and his eyes looked towards the distance. If he stretched his eyesight far enough, he could make out a little bit of blue from the seashore.

It was starting to Dusk, and it was particularly warm. He had forgotten how it was summer around this time of the year here, unlike the winter lived in America and the UK. Yeah, it was kind of hard keeping up with the climate and the time zone changes. But he wasn't really affected by it. At least not this time.

-"Sir? We're already across from the street you requested."-said the taxi driver, a man in his mid-fifties with ashen skin and a thick eastern European accent.

Troye's attention went towards the front windshield. He could see the avenue that crossed with his. He knew this neighborhood like the back of his hand after all.

-"... Take the next turn to the left."

-"The one with the palm tree?"

-"Yeah. It's the fourth house."

The driver did as he was told and turned left. At the fourth house, the car stopped. Troye looked at it like it was out of a long lost memory. Even though it hadn't been that awfully long since he had left, it still seemed different. Emptier, for sure, but different otherwise. Its white and grey walls hid the greenery of his front yard, and he remembered how his mum had asked him to water the plants.

-"That'll be 13 dollars..."

Troye handed the money to the driver and exited the car, taking his luggage with him. In the end he hadn't really taken as many clothes as he had thought, and that was a relief when he did his bags back in Brighton. One of the few reliefs he could spare himself of as of late.

The taxi driver gave his farewell and drove off, and the blue eyed boy was left alone to enter the Mellet household.

The first thing Troye did was drop his bags on the lobby's floor, close the door, lay on the floor himself and then take it all in. The wooden tile floors, the cerulean walls, the scent of sea salts that his mom like so much. There really is no place like home. Even when you're away from everyone you love.

But this loneliness had been intentional. He felt like he needed to be away. At least for a while. Away from his parents being worried, away from his siblings asking questions, away from the responsibilities he had with the studio and the label record, away from Emma's calls and away from the internet, most importantly.

That's why he decided to return to Perth to spend some time on his own, while his family was spending the Holidays in the UK like they had planned.