Chapter Four—Kyra
“Wakey, wakey!” Tammy sings as she ruffles my hair. “Time to spill the beans!”
“What time is it?” I groan.
“9:22 in the morning, Ms. Lazy.”
I sit up quickly and push my hair back. “Why didn’t anyone wake me?”
“Because your lover told us to let you sleep in. He said you deserved a break,” she tells me.
“Tamsyn, he’s not my lover.”
“Yet!” she falls into giggles.
“Ever. He said I remind him of Faith and—”
“See! So he does looooooove you!”
“Let me finish.” I hold up a hand to silence her. “He said that I remind him of Faith and his little sister.”
“Wait, what? That makes no sense. He doesn’t have a little sister. He only has brothers,” she says as if she knows Danny better than he knows himself. I crawl out of my sleeping bag and start to get dressed.
“They were just boys after his sister died.”
“Oh. So you remind him of his possibly dead girlfriend and of his for sure dead sister. Well, isn’t that lovely.”
“When you put it like that it’s not. But it doesn’t matter. I’m not looking for a relationship, all right?” I pull my dad’s old Coldplay t-shirt over my head and head for the food storage where I smell breakfast.
“Kyra! You’re up,” Danny says with a smile.
“You might not be looking for a relationship, but it appears as if someone else is,” Tam murmurs in my ear.
I shrug her away and say, “Yea, thanks. I needed those few extra hours.”
“You’ve been doing so much for all of us, I thought maybe it was time that we give back to you. Even if it was just a couple hours extra of sleep, I thought at least it was something.” He smiles bashfully.
“Thank you. I appreciate it a lot, Danno.”
“Do you mind? I’m trying to eat over here,” Archer grumbles from the box he’s sitting on in the corner. I hadn’t even noticed he was here.
Izzie and Graham hand Tams and I each a bowl of oatmeal. The gray slime is something I would have refused to eat in the Before, but now I practically live off of the stuff. It hasn’t expired, is small and light, and doesn’t require a lot of effort and/or energy to cook. It’s perfect for us.
“Merci,” I say to Graham.
“De rien, la Patronne,” he replies without missing a beat.
“Graham! You speak French?”
“Un peu, mais pas couramment.”
“That’s pretty fluent if you ask me,” Tammy voices.
“I studied in high school,” he answers.
“Yea, so did I and all I remember is ‘Bonjour’ and ‘Au revoir’, and ‘Puis-j’avoir du fromage, s'il vous plaît?’”
“‘May I have some cheese please?’” Graham quotes, “When would you ever use that?”
“You’d be surprised,” Tammy responds.
“French is such a sexy language,” Jackie inputs giving Graham a wink.
“So you know French too then, Boss?” Danny asks, giving me a half smile.
Archer clears his throat from the corner and stands up. “There will be a meeting in the lounge in two minutes concerning the party.” And with that he leaves.
“Man, what’s eating at him? He’s never been this crabby before,” Isaiah notes aloud.
“I don’t know. I was wondering that myself,” Daniel answers.
“I think he’s been fine,” Bailey voices as if she actually paid attention to him before.
“I think maybe it has to do with how he li—” Jackie starts but Tams talks over her.
“He’s just moody sometimes. He keeps it all bottled up and then he snaps. It happens every once in awhile. Sometimes it’s not so bad, other times it can last for a few days. Either way, it’s best not to give him more fuel so let’s just go see what he wants, okay?” Tammy ushers us into the lounge.
I take a seat on a large rectangular crate. Danno sits beside me.
“All right, so we have a party to get ready for,” Archer says, rubbing his hands together, once we’ve all taken our seats.
“When is it exactly?” Daniel asks.
“It’s—” Archie turns to answer and notices me sitting with Dan. He pauses then takes a deep breath. “Tomorrow. I was thinking tomorrow. We have to leave the day after that so I thought we should leave this place with a bang.”
“Great idea,” Danny praises.
“Thanks,” Arch replies coolly.
We don’t stay in one place for more than seven days. We all agreed that after that we’d have to move on to another place for two reasons: 1) So we don’t run out of supplies and 2) If others come through here, they’ll be in need of supplies as well and we do not want to rid each town of their storage. Plus I just don’t like staying in one place for any longer. It gives me a weird feeling and I’m scared I’ll become attached to the place and be devastated yet again when another home is destroyed.
“I was thinking we should prepare today,” Archer continues, “That way we could focus all our time tomorrow on having fun and not working. Sounds good?”
Everyone agrees.
“So how do you want us to help?” Jackie asks.
“Good question, little one. I was thinking, Iz and Tam could decorate, you and Graham could make some of the food, me and Bailey...no wait...Danno and Bailey can clear up the area a bit, and Kyra and I can plan some more,” Arch dishes out the work.
“Plan some more for what?” Danny inquires.
“It’s a surprise,” Archer answers. “Now let’s get this party ready!”
They all go off to start the tasks. Arch and I stay in the lounge.
“‘Plan some more’? You and I both know that’s bullshit. You just didn’t want me paired with Daniel,” I say once everyone is out of earshot.
“So? What’s wrong with that?” he replies.
“I don’t know, what is wrong with that, Archer? Up until yesterday you were fine with me and Danny talking, but now you just can’t stand the guy. What’s going on?”
He kicks at the ground. “I dunno,” he mumbles.
“Do you not like him?”
“No, Danno’s great it’s just...” he trails off.
“Just what, Arch?”
“I don’t like the idea of the two of you, you know, together.”
“Oh you are such a hypocrite! I can’t be with him even if I wanted, which I don’t want, but you can paw all over Bailey?”
“That’s different!” he argues.
“Different how? I fail to see the difference, Arch!” My voice starts to rise.
“What Bails and I have is just casual whereas you and Danny would get all serious. I don’t want that happening!”
“Why not?!” I yell.
He ducks his head. “I don’t know.”
I laugh meanly. “How did I know you were going to say that?”
He opens his mouth to reply but I storm out of the room, slamming the door behind me, before he gets the chance. I turn right and march down the hall and out the north door to my shed. I whip the door open and kick it closed behind me leaving myself in almost complete darkness. Then I remember my dream and start to panic, imagining I can hear Sebastian calling for me from the shadows. I scuttle backwards and fall out the door as someone opens it. They catch me just in time.
“I am so sorry!” Danny says.
I realize I’m clutching his shirt, so I let go and pat his chest awkwardly. “It’s all right. Uh, thanks for catching me.”
“It’s the least I could do for causing your fall in the first place,” he laughs and sets me up right.
“So what did you come out here for anyway?” I question.
“I heard you and Archer yelling and then I heard you leave and head out here, so I wanted to make sure you were okay.” He rubs the back of his neck as he says this.
“That was sweet of you. Thanks, I appreciate it. And I’m all right, Arch can just be such a dumbass sometimes.”
He laughs again. “Yea, he can be, but we all love him anyway.” He leans against the side of the building and looks out over the forest. It’s so intriguing when Danno gets lost in his own thoughts. You just know that they’re not superficial things but rather deep thoughts.
“What are you thinking?” I ask in a quiet voice.
He turns to me and smiles. “If I told you, it would ruin the surprise.”
“There’s a surprise! What surprise?” I ask excitedly.
“I just said I couldn’t tell you,” he grins.
“Aw, come on! Why not?”
“The fun is in the mystery,” he says with a smirk. “Now I’m going to get back to cleaning since Bailey isn’t doing any of it. I’ll send her up to the roof to lookout since Archie forgot about that part. If you need anything, I’ll be moving things into the storage room.” He tells me as he starts walking backwards in the directions of the building. A flicker of white catches my eye. Archer leans in the doorway watching Dan and I. He sees me looking at him and disappears back inside.
“Okay, thanks,” I say to Danny with a little smile.
He waves then vanishes inside.
I go back into my shed, leaving the door open this time, and take out my journal.