How To Love A Dead Boy

Chapter 30 | Sunrise

SUNRISE

It’s amazing how just one slip up, one moment of pure temptation and idiocy, could have led to my inevitable death.

Ryden couldn’t forgive himself for what he’d done, and I couldn’t believe I’d been such a dumbass to not realise what I was doing. For goodness sakes, I have always been the straight out, no shit , person, and not even three days ago, I had almost thrown away absolutely everything, and for what? A kiss? I’ve kissed boys before; it certainly isn’t anything worth throwing my whole future away for.

Yeah, but it wasn’t going to be just a kiss with a boy: it could have been a kiss with Ryden.

“Don’t you think that it’s strange, you know, to think that he could be sitting in this very car? After everything we did to him,” a hushed voice causes me to surface from my dreamless sleep.

“I think we made it up to him. It’s not every day a group of kids put a shitload of time and effort into writing someone their book,” a quiet male voice replies. I keep my eyes closed and body still, curious as to where this conversation could be going.

“Yeah, I guess. I wonder when he struck his interest in writing. He never mentioned anything to me. Did he ever say anything about it to you?”

“No… I was talking to Christopher about it. He said that he just spontaneously asked him, after not speaking to him for days and days on end. As Christopher sees it, he just came up with the idea, and thought he’d be able to learn some writing skills off Chris,” the male voice continues.

“He was so strange. It was just like him to do something like that… I was such a bitch to him Cameron; do you think he’ll ever forgive me?”

“Why don’t you ask him yourself? I’m sure Lu won’t mind translating, or passing on the answer,” Cameron replies, I notice the hint of humour in his voice. I can tell that he’s never going to be able to get past the fact that Ryden is still here.

I don’t hear the rest of the conversation between Cameron and Emma; I drift off back to sleep, the hum of the car engine easing me into slumber.

I wake again, this time to a feeling of weak warmth on my cheek. Opening my eyes, I have to squint due to the sunshine shining through the car window onto my face. I’m leaning against the car door, my head against the window pane. In the seat in front of me, I can see Cameron’s messy brown hair as he drives the car.

As my eyes look over to the passenger seat, I see Emma’s auburn hair. Her head is back, and her mouth is wide open, with her eyes closed. Sitting up straighter, I stretch my upper back and roll my shoulders back in a couple of circles.

The radio is on, the volume down and some song plays. Cameron quietly hums along with the tune. I look over to the rest of the back seat, where Ryden sits, staring out at the golden fields flashing by in a blur.

“How’d you sleep?” Cameron asks and I look up to the rear view mirror, meeting his eyes for a second.

“Not too bad… What time is it?” I ask him.

“Uh, just going on nine o’clock. We’ve been on the road for six hours, so we should be in London in  another three or so hours… but I’ve got a really numb arse; you mind if we pull over for five?” he asks.

“No… that’s fine,” I reply in between a yawn.

Cameron pulls over on the little highway, onto the dirt on the side of the road. He turns off the car and gets out. I copy his actions, getting out of the car when there aren’t any cars or trucks driving past. Before I leave, I ask Ryden is he wants to get some fresh air, but he stays in the car with Emma.