Sunlight

by Gwen Cole

  “As long as I pick out the next one,” I agreed

  He shrugged uncaring. “Sure thing, but it won’t be as good as mine.”

  I huffed. “Anything will be better than the one we just witnessed.” I stood and walked over to the cabinet that held the movies and scanned through them. I recognized most of the movies—there were very few that I didn’t—and was pleased to see a few older titles among them. That’s what I was really looking for.

  People rarely watched older movies these days, now that technology was advancing, people loved watching up-to-date movies with extraordinary graphics, passing over the classics without a second glance.

  I slid the movie from the shelf and wondered if West would know it. It was amazing that he had known—let alone quote—Monty Python and the Holy Grail the previous day. Ethan wouldn’t even watch that one with me anymore, saying it was too lame.

  West’s face had a curiosity about it as I turned back around, probably because I couldn’t hold back the small smile spreading across my lips.

  “What did you find?” he asked, eyebrow raised.

  “A flux capacitor,” I said staring into his eyes. They narrowed slightly as he leaned forward.

  “You mean . . . the one that will only work if you’re traveling at approximately eighty-eight miles per hour?”

  I held up a finger. “Only if you have plutonium,” I reminded him.

  “Great Scott!” he whispered and I let out a laugh. His eyes were bright as he grinned again.

  As the beginning credits rolled out, West asked, “How is it that you’re the only person that I’ve ever met that even knows what these movies are? Besides the people old enough to be my grandparents that is.”

  “It’s actually the same way with me. I usually make my brother watch them with me but he gets bored. But I don’t see why.” I threw up my hands in a dramatic gesture, “Movies these days are practically all remakes of older versions. Unlike the older films where they were so . . .”

  “Original?” West finished for me and there was a moment of silence between us as we looked into each others eyes. I nodded and looked away, a little intimidated by his presence.

  “Yeah, that’s exactly what it is.”

  We watched in silence as Marty McFly rolled up on his skateboard and attempted to blare music from a gigantic speaker. My mind was only half paying attention though, and the other half was aware of West shifting into another comfortable position. I wouldn’t have noticed, or paid attention, if it hadn’t brought him closer to me.

  It was like that for the entire time. I watched the movie but I was also watching West out of the corner of my eye. He was almost memorizing to watch. Towards the end of the film, I found myself eager for the parts I knew would make him laugh, just so I could hear him and see his smile. He was contagious.

  I didn’t feel like myself. I didn’t watch guys out of the corner of my eye while watching a movie. I was on foreign territory and didn’t know how to turn back.

  “It’s over.”

  I jumped a little. “What?” It was dark outside and the movie was indeed over.

  “Are you all right?” He lifted an eyebrow.

  “Yeah,” I answered a bit too quickly.

  West nodded slowly. “Okay, well . . . do you want to sleep? Are you tired?”

  I actually wasn’t so I shook my head. “I’m not, but if you want to sleep, I can . . . sit in the corner quietly or something.” Then I realized what I said. “Not stalkerish, of course.”

  What was coming from my mouth?

  “No, I’m not tired yet either.”

  We sat in silence, watching the clock turn to midnight. The only light came from the lamp in the corner.

  “It’s too quiet here,” West murmured.

  “I know,” I said. “It’s so strange.”

  “Do you think you’ll find your family?” he asked softly, not entirely sure if he should be asking something on such a raw subject. He looked over at me and I avoided his gaze, already feeling the emotions rushing back. I opened my mouth but no words were said.

  “I’m sorry.” West shook his head and ran his hand through his hair. “I had no right to ask you—”

  “I don’t know,” I replied suddenly.

  He stared hard into my eyes. They were so strong that I had the urge to look away. Then his face changed to something I wasn’t expecting. Remorse. Then his eyebrows slowly stitched together with his breathing coming on faster. I would’ve given anything to know what was going on through his head. Then before I knew it, he stood up in rush.

  “This was a mistake,” he said, not looking at me. “I shouldn’t have come with you.” He kept shaking his head and looked like he wanted to jump out of the window. “I don’t know what I was thinking . . .”

  “W—What?” My tone gave away the panic in my voice. His mood had changed so suddenly that I wasn’t ready for it. Why did he want to leave so suddenly? Had I done something?

  There was a moment of silence between us and I couldn’t let myself pull my eyes away from him, dreading that this might be the last time I saw him.

  “I’m sorry, Reese” West said. “I don’t want to ruin your life more than I already have. You’ll be better off without me.”

  West took a step past me but I grabbed his wrist, hoping to anchor him to where he stood. I didn’t know what else to do, but I knew I didn’t want him to leave.

  “Stop,” I said. “Please, don’t go.”

  He turned and faced me but with his eyes on the ground.

  “Please don’t leave.” I sighed softly but still clung to his hand, worried maybe that he would pull away from my grip. “I don’t know how you’ve come to think that I’m better off without you, but you’re wrong.”

  “You don’t even know me.” He shook his head slightly. “I’m not safe to be around, they’re looking for me, and if they find me, you’ll go down too.”

  “I know you enough for me to trust you,” I told him. “And if they find us . . . I don’t care. That’s a risk I’m willing to take.”

  He shook his head. “You don’t know me. How could you want to risk that for someone you don’t know. For your enemy.”

  “Well, that’s not saying much on the account that we haven’t known each other for more than two days.” I just stared at him, not willing to give up so easily. “But I never would have saved you if I thought differently. Sometimes our hearts know better than our heads.” Then I said again, “Please, don’t go. I don’t think I can do this alone.”

  West’s expression soften and he sat down and I pulled my hand away. “I want you to promise me that whenever there comes a point when you no longer want to travel with me, you have to tell me.”

  “I promise.” I promised because I was sure that time would never come.

  “I still hate the thought of you being in danger because of me. I don’t know if they’re looking for me, but I can’t count out the possibility.”

  “They really hate you that much?”

  “I think they hate the thought me more,” he said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Because I know your country isn’t at fault. Those bombings that have been happening lately, they had nothing to do with you guys. But the government needed to blame someone and everyone was more than happy to point a finger.”

  I thought of all those nights Dad watched the news, almost knowing something like this was going to happen. And it was all for nothing.

  West continued.

  “I didn’t want this war to happen; a lot of people didn’t and still don’t. But they didn’t give us a choice by drafting everyone that was the right age. Nobody had a choice in going. They may have forced me to sign up, but I promised myself I wouldn’t kill anyone. Then, after the initial attack, they had that group of people they were going to execute. And I couldn’t let it happen.” West shook his head and looked down. “They hate the thought of me because I had the courage to stand against them.

 
; “They know there are others like me, not wanting this war and thinking everything with it is wrong. But they don’t want to loose control of the army they have. So, after they found out what I did, they made sure it stayed quiet. I was locked away until they could take me somewhere to be killed without anyone knowing.”

  Everything started making sense now. They wanted to kill West because he stood for something good. And if one person made the move, everyone else would follow. That’s what they didn’t want.

  I looked up to see West smiling at me; a small one, one I haven’t seen before.

  “What?” I asked.

  West shrugged. “You’re just a mystery to me. But I’m glad for it, or else I wouldn’t be here. ”

  Then I smiled back and said. “I’m glad, too.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  We left before the sun was up. Neither of us could sleep well, so we stepped out into the early morning and walked passed the houses with only the street lamps to light our way.

  “Why do you think the power is still on here?” I asked. I can’t believe I hadn’t thought of it before now.

  West walked along beside me, his hands holding the straps of his backpack near his shoulders. “They sent out teams to all the power plants in the surrounding area, but maybe they never got to the one around here. I really can’t say.”

  I didn’t have a response to this, so we walked along in silence, heading north by using the stars.

  I noticed West had a permanent smile across his lips, and when he saw me staring at him, he stopped.

  “What?” he asked.

  “You’re . . . smiling.” I grimaced, realizing that was an odd statement. “It’s weird.”

  West grinned even wider, not even phased from my question. “What exactly is considered weird?”

  “If you haven’t noticed—though, I think you have—we’re sort of in a war right now. What is there to be happy about?”

  I felt bad about putting a damper on his mood but it was true, though for some odd reason I was feeling strangely happy myself despite our current situation. But West always seemed happy. He was like one big sun, illuminating everything around him, including me, even though I hadn’t noticed before now. He was like a magnet, something I couldn’t leave, like an orbiting moon with a strong gravitational pull. His eyes were always bright and he smiled so easily.

  West shrugged at my question. “I guess it’s because you’re here.” He said it so simply as he turned back to his non-existent path and continued on his way like he hadn’t said anything out of the ordinary. As he entered the woods, I could only stare back at him.

  He was happy because of me? What was so special about me? I shook my head and ran to catch up to him, and he smiled again as I walked to keep pace with his stride, and I couldn’t help but grin back like an idiot.

  We were quiet the rest of the early morning, and kept on walking until the sun broke over the horizon, its light lacing through the trees. We came to a field and started walking along the tree line with the sun on our right. My legs were finally starting to wake up from the long night indoors. The muscles that were once sore and aching no longer bothered me.

  “Reese, did you ever go camping with you’re family?” West asked.

  “Uh, yeah, all the time. Actually—” I paused, thinking of my family again which seemed to get worse every time I did. “We were going to go this week. My mom usually spends her time inventing new ‘all natural’ recipes for dinner and I would disappear with my dad for hours, either fishing or being taught how to shoot. Our goal was to catch at least one fish so we wouldn’t have to suffer through a meal without meat.”

  I smiled thinking of my mom and her odd ways. “Ethan usually spends his time either playing with the fire or walking around in the woods with his axe searching for small trees to practice his swing on. He really has a mind of his own . . .” I trailed off, missing him so much that it hurt to talk about him. I shook my head, ridding of them of my mind. “Why do you ask?”

  “My family used to go camping, too,” he said. “Almost every summer around this time of year.” He laughed to himself. “My dad once wanted to make a chair out of wood that he cut himself. He found a few small trees, cut them down, and he actually did it. It was big enough to seat a giant, but it was great.”

  I liked hearing about his past and the experiences he had. It made me feel closer to him and hoped he would continue. West opened his mouth to say more but suddenly stopped dead in his tracks.

  “What is—”

  West snapped his hand up, stopping me from saying anymore with his eyes staring into nothingness, just listening intently. I also listened, but couldn’t hear anything past the breeze and birds hidden in the trees.

  Then he whispered just one word.

  “Helicopter.”

  ✢✢✢

  My heart skipped a beat just hearing the unexpected word.

  West was still standing like a stone, trying to hear what direction our pursuers were coming from. His eyes were practically on fire—though it was blue fire, like ice. I had never seen him so fierce, and it was at that moment when I realized . . . I had no idea what he was truly capable of.

  I didn’t know anything about the soldier side of West.

  My ears finally picked up a faint beating in the wind, but I didn’t know what direction it was coming from. It sounded like it was everywhere at once.

  In the next moment, we both knew we had been fooled. We hadn’t moved yet because we thought the machine was far in the distance but now it was raising over the trees tops on the opposite end of the field. They had misled us by flying low to the ground so we wouldn’t be able to hear them until they were right on top of us. Now they were here, and we had nowhere to hide.

  It was the United.

  West spun around, eyes blazing, and grabbed my hand, pulling me into the forest as the black helicopter came straight towards us. We sprinted through the trees, trying not to go in a straight line and avoided any clearings. The helicopter blades behind us made our feet move faster. Adrenaline was pumping through me again, something I was feeling a lot lately, but it was something I could never get used to.

  “I’m sorry, Reese!” West yelled over our running feet and the loud machine behind us. He really meant it; it was written all over his face. I didn’t have enough air to spare for saying anything in return but I squeezed his hand, trying to say that it was all right.

  Minutes dragged by—I wasn’t sure how many—and my lungs and legs screamed for me to stop and rest.

  We couldn’t lose them. We tried many times by switching directions and running for a while, but the forest was always too thin and too spread out.

  We were so close to losing them that I could feel it, or maybe it was just my tired legs talking—I couldn’t be sure. They were a ways behind us, catching glimpses of us as we went from tree to tree, running like the wind chased us. Trees flew by in streaking blurs and my lungs burned.

  West veered sharply to his right for about a hundred yards, holding my hand tightly, and stopped suddenly under a large oak with thick roots protruding from the ground. He pressed himself flat against the trunk as I did the same, breathing heavily and hardly getting any air. The forest was denser now with the trees bigger and closer together. I was beginning to think we might have finally caught a break.

  “This isn’t working,” West gasped in between breathes.

  “No—but the forest—is thicker now.”

  He nodded. “You’re right.”

  We watched from our cover of tree limbs as the aircraft circled back around trying to spot us again. It was getting closer, hovering just above the treetops, just searching the forest floor for any movement. As it got closer to our tree, the urge to run became stronger, but West put his hand on my arm, making sure I stayed as if he were sensing the same thing.

  I looked up at him and found that he was already staring down at me. His hair was matted down with sweat, making his skin shine, and I could feel dr
ops running the side of my face as well. My breathing wasn’t slowing any and my lungs still burned. We couldn’t run any longer.

  They were so close I could almost see the pilot from where I was. Just the branches separated us from them, it was the difference between being seen and escaping. The blades sliced through the air like they were cutting through my courage. My breathing was shaky, but not from running or fear for myself.

  It was fear for the boy beside me.

  I was afraid they would find him, and steal him away from me. Because being with West was the only thing good in my life right now. Taking away West would be like taking away sun. I didn’t know if I could go on without him. My family was gone and I had no way of knowing if they were still alive. West was the only person keeping me going right now.

  As I stared at the aircraft just above us through the trees, I knew I would do anything to keep him out of their hands. The image of West being beaten while he laid on the ground kept flashing through my mind. It was wrong. My stomach became sick every time I pictured him in their hands again, being committed of doing something that was right.

  Then something amazing happened.

  The helicopter turned its tail—switching direction—and going on the search again. I watched it leave and would have sighed in relief but I afraid of making any noise. Almost as if they could hear me from all the way up there and know exactly where we were. As childish it may be, I was still afraid.

  A hand came up to my face, causing me to jump before I realized it was only West. His touch made my skin prickle and my stomach dance. I let my gaze drift up to his but the hand stayed where it was.

  “Are you all right?” West searched my face until he realized his hand was still there and quickly dropped it. “Sorry.” He mumbled barely audible, suddenly interested in his shoes.

  “I’m fine,” I said. “You aren’t going to pass out, are you? You’re still—”

  “Not fit as a dime?” West smiled, almost glad to have the awkward moment gone. “I’m all right. One of my ribs ache but it’s nothing horrible.” He shrugged it off and gazed towards the sky for a moment.