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BLANK. It was all blank. Aurora never thought that the day would come where nothing would go through her mind. Everything was empty and a shade of gray monochromatics in her head. Not a single bright color in sight. In her mind, she was sitting on the middle of a small room. No doors, no windows, no anything that could produce a light inside. She was covered with four, dull walls. It was claustrophobic, more so than the tightness when inside her recent bunker. A single girl sitting at the middle, crouched down with her arms on her knees and her head leaning on it, staring blankly at the more blank room. It was boredom.
She didn't know what to do. It was just her and the blankness of her mind with her. Come to think of it, Aurora Kingsley, has never in her life felt like this. Perhaps it was just because she was being dramatic or it's for the reason that she just didn't know what to do since her only mission now was to lead her best friend to his special someone.
It has been several days since they have parted ways with the experienced survivalists duo. Those days considered of just Joel and Aurora walking, basked in silence with the exception of Aurora sometimes silently talking to Boy. The two hasn't spoken since their argument and both have itched to blurt things out to each other. But both were also very prideful. Thinking that they were on the right with their sides. Joel thinking that Aurora was being selfish since she wasn't going to stay with him and the latter thinking the boy was being a daft son of a bitch who was inconsiderate of her feelings. It was the challenge of who would break first and speak to the other party. Their argument, if others were to judge, was just a mere small bicker but the both knew better. It was an argument where they were fighting for what they believed in, a big deal where they spoke their truths and only truths.
The duo was so keen on avoiding each other, which was very hard considering they were journeying together, that Boy was also flabbergasted on which side he would be on. But him being a dog just shrugged it off and decided to comfort both of them if they were so down.
Break. Break. Break. Who is the first to break. That is the real question. The twosome have been too away from each other that both of them were feeling a deep longing in their hearts. Pride. Petty. Pathetic. That's what they thought was reason of their argument, thinking both were different but a nagging whisper in the corner was yelling that it was for the same cause. What was the reason and who is the first to break?
"I'm sorry."
And as the words were said, the other was cut off from their thoughts and bit their lip, still not facing the other.
"Rory, please," Joel begged as he continued to stare sadly at the girl. "Please look at me."
Aurora released a sigh and folded the map that she was idly holding. The sound of cracking was heard as her ocean blue eyes finally met with the boy's dazzling but broken and watery blue eyes.
"I'm sorry," He said and closed his eyes for a second, taking a deep breath to soothe his emotions but he failed. The first small droplet of water was finally falling from his eye.
Pain flashed through Aurora's own eyes and she quickly stood up to sit next to Joel. Just before she could sit down, arms were already wrapped around her form. It was warm. It was securing. It was Joel. She was quick to wrap her own arms on his body and rubbed soothing circles to his back as he sniffed. Aurora could feel her shoulders' clothes getting wet from his tears.
"I missed you," Joel finally said after what seemed like hours being wrapped in each others arms. "I missed you so so much."
It was then that Aurora knew that she actually didn't know what she would do without Joel by her side. True, she was alone on her first years outside the bunker but she quickly got comfortable with someone there. Making her realize that travelling alone was never a good thing to do. Yes, she was free. But it was more fun to be free with someone. Someone you love. Cheesy. That's what she thought, but it was true. Right then, that she knew, she was never complete without Joel by her side. He was the cause of her dullness and yet he was also the cause of bringing color to her life. The color pencil of her roughly sketched life.
"I missed you too," She answered. "More than someone would imagine."
This moment was very heartfelt but it was still something that didn't get to bring tears down the girl's eyes. But one day, maybe it would.
Joel wiped the tears from his face. "I'm sorry for being inconsiderate," And as he looked up at Aurora, he saw that their faces were now mere inches apart causing him to gulp. "I-I'm sorry for being an asshole."
Aurora shushed him. "You aren't the only one who was at fault," She said. "I'm sorry for being a bitch too."
"No. No you weren't. You were just saying that you-" Joel was cut off by her.
"Bitch, shut the fuck up," She glared at him playfully. "We were both fools and idiots. I get it. Now enough of this crap, I'm not good with situations like these."
Joel chuckled slightly and then raised his pinky finger. "Promise to never do that again?"
Although Aurora thought he looked adorable, she still gave him a look of disbelief. "What are you, like, four?"
The boy's face dropped and looked at her with a blank stare. "Says the one who did an unbreakable vow."
"Well, the unbreakable vow is the legit thing. But whatever. No more quarrels."
Clasping their pinkies together, a new thought settled to Aurora's mind. I think it's time to finally fulfill my namesake. She hated being like her past self. It was so dull, boring and not entertaining. Despite loving drama, she didn't want that type of one. She was so busy on thinking about negative things that she forgot the reason on why she did this journey. She was here to find herself, not lose herself more. A missing piece was still missing and she didn't need to crack herself more and find more things. It's time to stop being an emo girl and start cracking lame jokes again.
"Hey, Joel," She said to Joel who was grinning cutely. "I still think the unbreakable vow is better."
And then Joel's face dropped slightly and just rolled his eyes. "I wonder how they didn't fire you for always ruining good moments."
"I wonder how you graduated elementary." She raised her eyebrows at him.
"Excuse me?" Joel gaped at her.
"Excuse you what? Did you fart?" She bit the inside of her cheek to hide her grin. Joel only huffed and then proceeded to continue eating his canned food like nothing ever happened. But deep down, Joel felt a huge weight being lifted off his shoulders that he was having a hard time suppressing a happy grin.
"Do you ever wonder what would happen if you die?" Aurora suddenly asked which got a weird look from Joel.
The boy just shrugged and took a spoonful of canned beans. "Sometimes, yeah."
Aurora faced him with a shit-eating grin. "Wanna experience it yourself?"
"Why are we friends again?"
"Same reason why you're breathing." Aurora said nonchalantly and then ate her sandwich.
Joel thought about her sentence for a moment and then nodded his head with a hint of smile. It was far from being a good connection but he decided to make it easy. She was the reason why he was still breathing. Without Aurora, he would probably die from being alone. But of course, he didn't want to tell her that, she would cut his head off from saying that he wouldn't do good on his own. Joel then glanced around and spotted the sandwich on Aurora's hands.
"This has always bugged me but how in the destroyed world do you have that much bread with you to make a sandwich?"
Aurora looked at him and then back at her sandwich with a smile. "Don't tell anyone, but I have an endless supply of bread in the bunker," She bit her sandwich. "I got it from my last hunt. It was like, last month or something."
Joel just chuckled. Thinking about what would Ray's reaction be if he knew that a girl had a secret stash of food that could last them weeks. He wasn't complaining though, Aurora's sandwich was one of the best and he was very grateful that she gave him some of it since he still hasn't adjusted to lesson number two, which was a good night sleep or a hot meal, never both. But in his case, Aurora was his salvation. She was the one preventing him on dying from starvation.
"Werewolf guy," Aurora snapped him from his reverie with a snap of her fingers while giving him an odd look on why he was grinning madly. She just shrugged it off and took another bite from her sandwich. "Did you ever think about the consequences on eating those beans before even proceeding to devour it?"
Joel, shook the heat from his cheeks away from thinking of the girl and furrowed his brows. "What do you mean? They're just beans."
"That's what Jack's mother said too, you know," She said as she wiped her mouth from the bread crumbs and licked her lip. "But Jack was always the believer and that attitude didn't disappoint him."
Joel made a look at her. "Are we seriously talking about a child's bedtime story?"
The girl only hummed and had a teasing glint in her eyes. "By child, do you mean you?" She then patted his stomach. "Don't worry, your death won't be in vain. I'll be the very first one to climb the beanstalk that grew out of your body and play a golden harp for your funeral."
"You have a very twisted mind."
"And you'll soon have a torn body with twisted vines growing from it."
"Rory, what the fuck?" Joel scowled at her.
Aurora snickered which made the boy's scowling expression morph into a chuckling state. "Okay, I'll stop."
The both of them just let the comfortable silence pass by them as they just stared at what was in front of them. Aurora had already long gone finished eating her sandwich and just sat there happily. Of course she didn't eat just one. She's always eat as many as she liked. The silence was like a warm blanket embracing both of them. They felt light about being on speaking terms from their little but large argument. These were always the times when someone would cut off what she was thinking but she didn't want that to happen this time. It was now her turn to return the favor.
"Hey," Joel was quick to cut off his thoughts about Aimee, he was happy with it. But not with the aforementioned name, it was what happened next on his mind. It was memories of him and Aurora.
Joel cleared his throat and looked at her, seeing the small sincere smile on her face. "Yeah?"
"I just want you to know that I'm so proud of what you've achieved these past few days and that I knew you could do it since day one."
And as heat began to, once again, rise to his cheeks. He felt the steady flow of his heartbeat vanquish and get replaced by a rapid rhythm. It was loud for him and he was afraid that the girl would hear it. Gulping, he closed his eyes for a second and tried to soothe his heart. It wasn't from nervousness. It was the heart wanting to escape from its locked cage that was labeled as Aimee's and go towards its desired destination. Towards the beautiful lady sitting in front of him with the most ethereal face he has seen.
"Thank you . . ," He trailed off, his gaze flickering from her dazzling ocean eyes to her pink plump lips. "For always believing in me."
It was happening. Joel Dawson was bedazzled by the girl before him. It was like a drug that he got addicted to, his mind fuzzy with desire. And that was his desire to suddenly kiss her. Aurora's state was no better. She, like him, wanted to do it. But in comparison to the boy, she still had some sense in her. Kissing a boy was no stranger to her. She could feel that she would be doing the right decision- but it wasn't. The french brunette knew that however bad she had fallen for Joel Dawson, he still has a somewhat loose tie stringed up to him. And she was not going to let her dignity be taken away from her just because she kissed a boy with a girlfriend.
But the odds seemed to be on her favor as the moment was cut short by the sound of something dropping to the ground, creating a scrunch sound from the dead leaves under it. The duo got out from their dazes and faced their new company.
Boy gestured towards the object he dropped and looked at both of them innocently. Joel was silently cursing at his mind, letting out a string of colorful words while Aurora was just looking at Boy, amused.
"He wants you to take it, Joel." Aurora mused. The mentioned boy looked at her with an almost hurt look but that soon disappeared when he saw the lingering blush on the girl's face. He was confused why she was quick to move on like nothing was about to happen but let out a smile as he saw that he wasn't the only one who was affected. Maybe there was still a chance. What? Joel thought. I have a girlfriend what am I thinking.
"Oh, I'm okay," Joel said to Boy. "I'm just gonna- you can have that."
Aurora took a glance at what Boy brought for them and saw that it was a dead meat thingy.
"I'll stick to the . . . beans," Boy still insisted and moved the uncooked object closer to them making Aurora chuckle. "I'm- We're good. Not gonna eat that, so . . ."
The girl crouched down and cooed at the dog. "Thank you for being such a good boy. We appreciate your effort." She said and smiled while patting the dog, receiving countless of licks and small barks from him.
Joel just glanced at them while the two played together. He was happy. Very happy to finally complete their trio again without the silence killing him. But his thoughts once again went to the possibility of what it would be like to not have Aurora physically. Maybe he'll know what it would really be like since they were almost nearing their destination. He tried to think about something good which was to finally reunite with the girl he loves but only ended up with one question that bothered him to the fullest. Do I really still love her?