Dreamers- A Merome, Pooflan, Wroetostar and Minizerk Story

⋖Chapter 29⋗

Lachlan's P.O.V.

Over the years we had expanded quite a bit, our group shrinking from the original 9 to just us 6, and we began to just refer to ourselves as a collective as the Pack. I liked the name and it made sense because we were a pack, a group, a family. But it didn't remain as just us for very long- slowly, as more people came across our thriving group and decided to stay, our numbers grew.

The first people arrived a few months after Harry's death, two girls named Freya and Talia. I liked them and I was glad when they decided to stay- more information to add to our group and both were very, very knowledgeable of the land, especially this area. Following that, over about two years, more people arrived. JJ, Ethan and Tobi, then Cal and Cal, Gee, Randolph. And then still more, Morgan, Jess, Grace, Erica, Brianna, Lannan, Ilsa, Elliot, Bazza, Cray, Lufu, Marcus. So, so many. They all fit into the group like puzzle piece, but something was still missing.

After Harry's death, Vikk was a complete mess. He had cried for days, didn't move for weeks, barely spoke for months. He didn't want to see anyone- anyone other than me and I was glad to just sit with him in a room of the shelter, holding him tightly, whispering words of comfort, anything I could do to make him feel better. There wasn't much I could do, but I tried.

But slowly, something in our friendship started to change. I had realised that I would have to grow up very fast while Harry was fading in and out of consciousness so I could take care of Vikk but during that time nothing changed- it was only after he started to come out of the grieving process, cheering up a little, that there was a shift. But the thing was, my feelings started to shift as well.

I had never really had any feelings like that before since I had really own known Preston and Rob, who were my parents and brothers, but after I had a quiet conversation with Rob I think I understood. I liked him, like like-liked him. It took a little while to finally talk to him about it but, a year after Harry's death, I asked him to be my boyfriend. I think Harry would be glad to see Vikk so happy. We had spent the morning by his grave actually, so Vikk could say some quiet words and just think about everything that had happened in the past year without him. I knew he still missed him.

Shuffling my arms around Vikk's waist he leaned back against me, a little smile dancing on his face. Obviously he was still quite ill, his rickets would never go away, but it was better than it had been.

"Tired Vikky?" I whispered, pressing my chin onto his forehead, and he nodded.

"Mm. Wanna go to sleep." He mumbled, turning to tuck himself into my chest. Within a minute he was curled up in a little ball in my lap and my arms were around him tight, holding him close, and he was asleep too. I leaned up against the tree behind me, closing my eyes for a moment.

Across the clearing, the same clearing that we had all been in a year and a half earlier, I could see the others gathered around. Most of the new members of the groups were down by the river or on the farm, just inside my view, but the people I was most focused on were the original members.

Preston was shooting his bow towards his target tree about 10 feet from me, notching arrow after arrow to train his strength and accuracy. He had grown quite a bit in the last year, even growing some straggling facial hair, and he was almost as tall as Rob now, but he was still as cheeky and happy and kind as ever.

Rob was much the same as he had been a year earlier, taller than most of us, facial hair and a beard, that sort of thing. He had been increasing his knowledge of plants, roots and berries but I thought he was honestly more concerned about Preston, teaching him about nature and allowing him to teach him about shooting, and I understood why. They were together, obviously, and I think Rob wanted to take it one step further. There had been a lot of mentions of marriage in Preston's book, which I hadn't seen in a long time.

Mitch, well, he was asleep. In Jerome's lap none the less. He had been asleep a little while but then again he had been working hard all day and deserved a good long nap, and Jerome didn't seem to be complaining. He hadn't changed much but he had grown up a lot, taking on more and more as younger and less experienced people joined our group.

Jerome, he was much the same too. He was more in love with Mitch than ever but was stronger with an axe than ever too. He could throw one almost 30 feet and lodge it square into a tree with ease, which was incredibly impressive. I could probably say that he had kept Mitch's cheeky nature under control but then again I couldn't say much- I knew I was cheekier.

And then there was Vikk and I. Vikk had grown up a lot over the year, as had I, mostly because of the tragedy of Harry's death and the arrival of new members. Neither of us had grown height wise, Vikk because of his rickets and me because... well, I guess I just stopped growing. Our relationship was stronger than ever and I could really, really truly say that I loved him with all of my heart- other than the little parts reserved for the other boys of course.

So much had changed over the last year, yet so little had at the same time. We had lost some and gained many more, grown and shrunk, and learned so much more. Our new members were amazing but we would never forget the ones who were here first- Josh, Simon and Harry. I missed them so much, but there was so much more to look forward to.

Rob gave me a smile from where he was sitting and I returned it, my gaze shifting back to Vikk. He seemed so small yet he was everything to me and I loved him- I loved all of the boys.

We might have been dreamers but now, our dream was slowly becoming a reality.