They're right outside her door now, number 327. Her grandma's rocking chair is still on the front porch, swaying back and forth from the slight breeze. Sydney can still see the fracture line in the wooden plank she accidentally broke in the fence when she was younger. And the roses she and her sister planted are still flourishing. It's not like a wave, it not like everything's coming back all at once. Instead it's like wallowing on the ocean and finally seeing the shore.
"Home sweet home." Sydney says, her fist hovering over the door, and just as she's about to knock, she flakes and turns around.
"Guys what are we doing here? I can't do this."
Axel places his hands on her shoulders and turns her around. "Yes you can."
"But- but what if by being here I'm putting them in danger. We could have been followed this whole time."
"We're fine Sydney." Axel reassures her. "If they were following us they would have captured us by now."
Sydney thinks back to them sitting in the rain and sleeping on the field. There were a lot of opportunities for them to be captured, and like Axel said, the clan would have done it by now.
"I'm scared." She admits.
"The scariest part is now. But the second they open the door you'll be fine."
"You know what? You're right. I just need to man up and-"
"Who's there?! I already told you I don't want no damn cookies."
"Grandma? Grandma! It's me."
The elderly woman peers through her curtains and gasps as she lays her eyes on Sydney.
"Sydney? Is that you?" The woman says, and then the sound of chains and key locks follows after. She swings the door open and covers her mouth in shock. "Oh Sydney, it is you."
Sydney's grandma pulls her into a tight hug and Sydney melts into the feeling. "Hey Grandma." She says, her eyes welling up.
Axel was right. Waiting at the door is the scariest part.
"Jasmine, get your ass down here this instant! Your big sister's home!"
"Damn grandma, right in my ear?" Sydney flinches.
"I'm sorry baby, I'm just excited is all. Jasmine!"
"For goodness sake grandma, if this is dementia, I'm sending you to a home!"
Sydney smiles at the sound of her 15 year old sister's voice, and smiles even harder when she sees her descending from the stairs.
"No. Way." She says, frozen halfway down the staircase. "Syd?"
"In the flesh."
Jasmine runs into her sister's arms and Sydney picks her up.
She's like a carbon copy of Sydney except younger and shorter and with a slightly lighter skin tone.
"Why didn't you tell us you were coming home? I could have baked a cake or something." Sydney's grandma, Beatrice, says as she lays a hand on her shoulder.
"I didn't even know I was coming back."
"Well I'm glad you did." Jasmine says.
The two family members then take notice of Miles and Axel who are standing behind Sydney. Axel waves and smiles while Miles wipes away his tears from the heartwarming exchange.
"Guys these are my friends, Miles and Axel." Sydney says, pointing to them accordingly.
"It's very nice to meet you." Axel says with a friendly tone.
"We've heard so much about you." Miles adds, even though it isn't exactly true. He panicked because Axel had stolen his line.
"Welcome, welcome." Beatrice says as she ushers them into the house.
It's cosy and warm and has an older feel to it, like it's been lived in for years. They take a seat on one of the sofas.
"I'm Sydney's grandma, Beatrice, and this is Jasmine, her younger sister." Jasmine waves. "Now why don't you go get these boys a drink dear." Beatrice says as Jasmine goes off to the kitchen.
"So, how did y'all meet?" She asks, waving a finger at the three of them. "College I suppose?"
"Yep, that's exactly how we met. We're all in the same textile class." Sydney answers.
Textile class. Axel mouths, Miles just shrugs his shoulders.
"We met over a group project." Sydney adds, turning to the boys and giving them a just go with it look.
Luckily Jasmine enters back into the living room with a tray of 4 glasses of juice.
"Is apple juice okay?" She asks as she hands a glass to her grandmother.
"Apple juice will do just fine." Axel says as he grabs a glass.
"Thank you." Miles replies as he takes the other.
"Umm Jas, what about me?" Sydney asks as Jasmine keeps the last glass for herself.
"You're not a guest in this house, go get your own juice." She smirks as she takes a sip.
"So, tell me more about college."
"Well you see grandma, I would love to talk to you about college, but I really want to show Axel and Miles my old bedroom. So maybe later?" Sydney says as she grabs Miles' arm. He tries not to spill his drink as he stands. "Come on guys, right this way." Sydney leads them upstairs to her bedroom and closes the door behind her, sighing in relief.
"So, since you're not going to tell your grandma about college, how about you tell us." Axel says as he takes a seat in Sydney's desk chair.
"Look, I didn't know my grandma was going to bring up college. It's all just a lie that I told her."
"So why did you lie?" Miles asks, drinking away at his apple juice.
"Because I needed a reason to leave. I told her that I wanted to go to fashion school, I even made up this fake scholarship and everything. Luckily she fell for it and I left for "college" about a year ago. Now we just have to keep up the act."
"So we're fashion school students? That should be fun." Miles adds.
"I don't know a thing about fashion." Axel says, getting a little worried now.
"Neither does my grandma, we're good."
Axel relaxes a little bit and looks around Sydney's bedroom. The walls are painted yellow, and have hand-painted flowers going across the middle in some sort of flower chain. Her desk is opposite her queen-sized bed, with a circular mirror situated on it. She's still got a lot of things in her room, it doesn't look like she took much stuff with her when she left.
There's a picture of her family on her bedside table. Miles picks it up.
"Hey Sydney? Were you in the hospital?" Miles asks as he turns the photo around, showing Sydney. She was in a hospital bed, being hugged by her sister and grandma. They all had the same smile except hers looked a little weaker.
"Yeah, I was." Miles hands her the picture and she traces her finger over it. "I got sick. Like really sick. Like on the verge of dying type sick. Like oh shit I actually did die type of sick."
"You died?" Miles whispers. He knows the conditions, he knows the rule, and yet it still never registered in his mind.
You die.
"That's how you become a vampire right?"
YOU ARE READING
Infinite Miles
Teen Fiction"Because you Miles, are infinite." It was never supposed to go that way for Axel and Miles. And it was definitely not supposed to end like that too. But this is the story about what happens after the end. Follow Axel, Miles and Sydney through their...
