From The Ashes.

Chapter 3

The sky blazed with the bright colours of sunset as I leaned back in my chair, the cold breeze blowing across my face, somewhat soothing the throbbing headache that pounded behind my eyes.

"You okay? You've been grumpy all day." I groaned, sitting up as Rachel placed my cup of hot chocolate on the table before us.

"Have I? Didn't mean to, I have the worst migraine. I didn't get much sleep last night." Rachel slipped into her seat, eyeing me as she sipped on her mocha, the familiar smell of coffee making me wrinkle my nose.

"Oh? Why's that? You normally don't have a problem with sleep." I snorted, taking a sip of my drink I sighed as the warmth trickled down my throat and through out my body.

"That's an understatement. I had a weird dream. It was so realistic that I couldn't get back to sleep. In fact, I don't remember sleeping at all." Rachel frowned, leaning back in her chair as she sipped her drink.

"Weird. Maybe you sleep so much that you don't remember getting into bed anymore?" I shrugged, resting my head on my arm as the quietness of the day swept through me.

"You have to go home early today, don't you?" I asked, yawning as the thought occurred to me. Rachel nodded, tapping on her cup absently.

"Yeah, Ceres wants to have a date night or something. But besides that, guess what he told me yesterday?" I frowned, resting my chin on my hands as I looked up at her. Her dark green eyes were narrowed, crinkling at the sides, her mouth pulled down at the edges as she stared at me intently. I sighed, a heavy feeling settling in my stomach.

"You're going away for a bit?" Rachel blinked in surprise, shaking her head at me.

"How did you-? You know what, I'm not going to ask. Yeah. Ceres wants us to visit his family for a celebration in a couple of weeks. He wants us to go for a month." I groaned, scowling at the thought of my best friend being amongst that assholes family for a month.

"I'm guessing you have about two days to prepare?" I asked, the heavy feeling in my stomach now solidifying into a stone, weighing down on my heart. She nodded, tossing her cup back as she drained the last of the mocha.

"Yup. Apparently we leave tomorrow. When I'm supposed to pack my bag, I'm not entirely sure since Ceres wants us to cuddle all night, but yeah." A dark feeling fell over us as we stared at the cups sitting on the table in front of us.

"Are you going to be alright?" Rachel asked, her voice low and heavy with concern. Leaning back in my chair, I shrugged.

"It's only a month, right? What could possibly happen in a month? I'll be alright. What about you?" She shrugged, picking at the empty cup.

"I don't know. I'm not sure I'll have the strength to deal with those people for a month. But, I promise I'll come back." I smiled at her, shaking my head as I downed the rest of my hot chocolate.

"Pinky swear that we'll meet back here in a month?" I asked, sticking out my pinkie as we simultaneously rose from the table. Rachel snorted, shaking her head as she wrapped her finger around mine.

"I promise." We said together, smiling at each other. We tossed our empty cups into the bin and turned to give each other a hug.

"Thank you, Tera, for everything. I love you." I smiled, hugging her tighter before we pulled apart.

"Nah Rach, thank you. I love you more." We giggled before Rach looked down at the watch on her wrist and turned away, waving as she headed in the direction of her home. I sighed, burying my hands in the pockets of my jumper as the temperature seemed to drop several degrees.

"Damn it." I muttered, pulling the thick wool closer around myself. I really needed to get a thicker jumper but I always forgot whenever I left the house.