Spirit Unbound [on indefinite hold]

Chapter 4

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

William fell silent, and we walked quietly for a while. So far, it had been a comfortable walk, with us talking about our situation at hand. There were a few comfortable and awkward silences and gaps between conversation, and sometimes I really wanted to skin him (pretty sure he felt the same way) but refrained.

Which is how we got to this stage.

"Saffron?"

"Yeah?"

"Are we there yet?"

I cuffed him swiftly over the head, eliciting a low groan from him.

"You're so violent."

"Well, you're a clever boy, aren't you?"

"No need to be rude."

"Look, we won't be there for another two hours."

"Two hours? I can't walk that much."

"I'm a girl, and I'm perfectly fine with this."

"You're floating. Your feet aren't touching the ground. This does not apply to you."

I looked down, and sure enough, my shoes were off the ground, hovering above the gravel as William crunched beside me with his beat up sneakers.

"Oh. Right." I laughed nervously.

"So.......can we take a break?"

"No."

William's face dropped and his shoulders slumped a little as we plodded on (well, he did. I floated on because I'm fabulous).

I sneaked a look at him, and saw the drag in his step. It wasn't the "I'm-tired-of-this-stuff" drag, It was the "I'm-dead-beat-exhausted-and-I-wanna-die" drag.

So I grabbed his upper arm and steered him to a close-by alleyway. It was relatively clean, with a few tiny puddles here and there, but nothing too disgusting.

"What-"

"You wanted a break, you're going to have a break."

"Oh!" He grinned and my heart beat a little quicker.

Just a little.

We crouched down at the entrance of the alley, leaning against the wall. William breathed heavily, his shoulders heaving as he let his head loll back unto the damp bricks behind him.

"What time is it?" I asked, wondering how much time we had till people started emerging from their houses.

"It's 3:47." William replied, taking a look at his watch.

"Only 2 more hours till the earliest work time. C'mon, we have to find somewhere to rest that you won't be noticed."

I got up and disappeared through the wall, with William waiting patiently while I searched through the houses to see if there was a spare room anywhere. I felt like a a perve because I had to pass by bathrooms. And through bathrooms.

Occupied bathrooms.

Yes, I did get a little traumatised in there. A 50 year old man sitting on the toilet with his pants down, giggling over a Seventeen magazine is not the best sight ever. And I don't know what he was doing at nearly 4 in the morning.

Constipation, much?

My excuse is that I don't know which room is which, and that's that.

While I looked through the nearby rooms and townhouses, I found an attic.