Chapter 12:
There was a cloud of dust and dirt and ashes. All around us. I hadn't noticed it before, but now I couldn't breathe. I coughed and gasped and sneezed.
"Cover your mouth and nose," Dave said. He lifted his shirt over his nose and breathed in. I did the same. It made the coughing stop.
Everything was silent. Still. It was just me and Dave standing in the middle of the cloud of dust. It was an oddly peaceful silence, and depressing and horrifying at the same time. The ground was covered in bits and pieces of cars and trucks and people.
I didn't think anyone else had survived.
It was horrible.
"Why would someone do this?" I asked.
"You're asking me?" Dave replied.
We started walking. Neither of us really knew which direction we were going, we just walked. The ground was covered in all kinds of things. Glass that was shattered into a million shards and scattered across the dark pavement. Doors and wheels and parts from a firetruck, a police car, an ambulance. Ashes, dirt, and dust. Lots of it.
Whatever kind of bomb they used, it was big enough to cause all of this destruction.
As we walked further into the cloud of dirt and ashes and dust, it got hard to see. If I could even open my eyes. If the dirt flying into them didn't make me close them, I could only see about a foot in front of me.
"Why is there so much dirt and dust?" I asked.
"I think the explosion brought down a building." Dave told me.
Sure enough, as we walked through the wreckage, we saw a pile of rubble where the cloud was the thickest.
"My gosh." I gasped. I stared at it for a moment. "Can we get out of this?" I asked. "I need to breathe."
"Yeah." Dave replied. We turned around and started going back the way we had come. The dust cloud got thinner and thinner and after a while we could breathe. We went and sat down under a street lamp.
Dave was covered in dirt, dust, and ashes, and I assumed I was too. I lifted my hand and trailed my finger across his cheek.
"This is terrible." I said as my finger turned black and his cheek had a line on it where the dirt had been wiped clean.
"It is." Dave took my arm and started tracing lines up it like the one I drew on his cheek. His fingers turned black and my arm had lines on it. I laughed.
Dave wrote his name on my arm and I wrote mine on his. I felt like a little child. But it felt good to act like a child. To laugh.
Dave wrote something on my forehead.
"What does it say?" I asked.
"You'll have to wait until you get a mirror to find out." He smiled. I lifted my hand and wrote something on his forehead.
"Now you'll have to find a mirror, too." I smiled teasingly. Dave lifted his hand and traced the outline of my lips. When he kissed me, it tasted like dust.
The police arrived a few minutes later. An officer came over to us and shined a bright light into our eyes. Then he had us come over to his car and tell him the story. When I got to the part where Jake died, I started crying.
"Sir, can we speak with you tomorrow? I think tonight we've both had enough of this." Dave asked as he rubbed my back soothingly.
The officer hesitated for a moment. He looked from me to Dave and back again. "Yes, that would be fine," He finally replied. He had Dave give him our phone numbers and where we would be staying and all that fun stuff.
"Thank you, sir." Dave said and we stepped away from the police car.
"We'll have to walk." Dave said as we walked away. "My car was parked near the van."
"Oh Dave!" I gasped. His truck! He'd parked it behind the van when we first got here. I'd completely forgotten about that! And now it was gone! "I'm so sorry!"
"Hey, don't worry about it. I'm just glad neither of us was blown up." He told me. I still couldn't believe his truck was gone, though.
"Why didn't you ask the officer to give us a ride?" I asked.
"Because. My house isn't that far, anyways. And plus, what could be better than going for a midnight walk with the girl I love?" He grinned.
"A midnight walk. Sounds good to me. Maybe we can just forget about everything that's happened for a little while." I said.
"Sounds like a plan." Dave grabbed my hand and intertwined our fingers. "For now it can just be you and me and me and you. The stars above our heads and the cement beneath our feet and the dust on our skin. Nothing else."
"I like the sound of that." I said. "Except for the dust part." Dave let out a laugh.
We started down the street, quickly at first, mostly to get away from the dust and debris and everything that happened. But then we slowed down, taking slow steps and just talking, trying to forget. Eventually, Dave told me he knew a shortcut so we turned and started walking through a grass field.
"Do you remember that one time in fifth grade when the fire alarm went off and Mr. Terns jumped out of his seat and hit his head on the wall?" Dave asked. I laughed as the memory surfaced in my mind.
"Yeah, what about it?" I replied.
"Nothing. I was just thinking about it and it made me want to laugh." Dave replied. I was silent for a moment, the only sounds were our footsteps and the far away noise of the sirens.
"Why is it that you still manage to make me laugh during the worst night of my life?" I asked, a smile still on my face.
"I'm not quite sure." He replied. "Does it matter?"
"No, it doesn't. Actually, I was going to ask you to make me laugh again. It helps." I told him.
"How am I supposed to make you laugh?"
"Say something funny."
"Something funny." Dave said. I slapped his arm playfully, giggling.
"You know what I mean!"
"You know what I mean!" He mimicked me in a really high pitched squeaky voice.
"I don't sound like that!" I protested, giggling even more now.
"I don't sound like that!" Dave copied me again, this time stopping and crossing his arms over his chest and speaking in a valley-girl tone with an annoyed expression on his face.
"Stop it!" I said, trying to act mad but failing miserably when laugh escaped my lips.
"Stop it!" He repeated.
"I mean it!" I said, turning away from him and trying my hardest not to laugh.
"I mean it!" He echoed.
"Dave!" I turned back. He couldn't hold it in any longer. He burst out laughing. Then he tried to take a step towards me but slipped in the grass and fell onto his back. When he stood up, the back of his shirt was covered in mud.
I laughed, pointing at him like a child. "Ha! That's what you get!" I said. He looked at me with a raised eyebrow, then took a step forward, this time slipping and landing on his front side. Now he was entirely covered in mud. I couldn't stop laughing. I was laughing so hard, I think I was crying, too.
"It's not funny!" He said, standing up again and stepping out of the mud puddle carefully.
"To me it is!" I told him.
"Oh, it won't be funny for much longer!" He said, suddenly jumping forward to attack me with a hug. I jumped backwards, barely avoiding him, then turned and ran as fast as I could, laughing all the while.
It wasn't long until he caught up to me; Dave was a faster runner that I was. I let out a little squeal as his arms wrapped around my waist and he turned me around, pressing my body against his muddy one.
"No!" I said, still unable to stop my laughing. Then he let go, and I stepped back, spreading my arms apart to see that I was now just as muddy as he was.
"Oh, you're gonna get it!" I said.
"And what is it, exactly, that I am going to get?" He asked, raising one eyebrow.
"I don't know!" I said after a moments hesitation.
"Well you know what I hope I get?" He asked, his tone playful and a smile on his lips.
"What?" I asked, smiling myself.
"This," He said before stepping forward and pulling me into a kiss. It took me by surprise, and for a moment I didn't know what to do. Then all I did was wrap my arms around him and enjoy the moment. When he pulled away, his eyes were still closed and he was smiling.
"It looks like you got what you hoped." I told him, grinning.
"Looks like I did," He agreed, finally opening his eyes.
"Come on, let's go." I said, grabbing his hand. He led the way through the remainder of the field, being careful to look for mud puddles. When we got back onto the street, I yawned as a wave of tiredness swept over me, trying to pull me into sleep.
"You're tired." Dave said.
"Really?" I pretended to be amazed. "What gave it away? The yawn, the droopy eyes, or the time of night?" I asked. Dave laughed.
"Actually, what gave it away was the way you're walking. You look like a drunk person." Dave said. "I sure hope a police man doesn't show up and tell you to walk in a straight line."
"Yeah," I said. A weak laugh came out of my mouth and then I started leaning against Dave as we walked. I felt like I was going to fall over from fatigue.
"Here." Dave said. He wrapped one arm around my shoulders and the other behind my knees. Then he was carrying me.
"Thank. . . you. . ." I said. I closed my eyes. I was drifting off into sleep now. I felt my breathing slow and my surroundings started to fade.
"I love you." Was the last thing I heard before I was swallowed into a deep, dreamless sleep.