In the middle of nowhere

Light in the darkness

Lamar pov

I startle awake and knock my head again the roof of the bus. "Ouch," I say quietly. "Who was that?" I hear Isaac ask half whispering, half talking. "The knock was me," I say quietly. "I mean the scream," he says. "I didn't hear a scream, but it's probably what woke me up," I say rubbing my head which feels unbelievable painful.

Isaac climbs out his bunk. "Where did it come from?" I ask. "I don't know, but it surprises my no one else woke up," he says, not bothering anymore to be silence. "Brittany isn't in her bunk, but everyone else is in their bunk asleep," he says, I hear in his voice that he's kind of scared. I now also climb out my bunk and shiver. "Why is it so cold?" I ask. "Welcome to winter in Canada," Isaac says sarcastically. "So then it's probably Brittany," I conclude. "Yea, but where is she?" he asks walking to the backlounge.

"Can you guys please be a little quieter?" I hear someone ask with a sleepy voice, I can't really place who's voice it is, but it is a voice of a girl. "Brittany?" I hear Isaac say, he did recognize the voice. "Yes?" the same voice says. I look confused to Isaac. "Where are you?" I ask grabbing my flashlight shining around. A arm appears out one of the bunks and I walk towards it. "What are you doing in Trevor's bunk?" I ask. "Do you know what pinguïns do when they're cold?" Trevor asks. He sounds a lot more awake then Brittany did. "They stand close to each other," he continues, "we were just cold and this works pretty good."

"10 points for creativity," I say and clap softly in my hands. "So why are you awake?" Trevor asks. "We heard a scream, or at least, Isaac did and the scream woke me up," I explain. "I thought it was in my dream," Trevor says.

"Guys can it be quiet again? I try to sleep!" Myles says. "Sorry," I say. "I'm going to look outside," I say and grab the windup flashlight. "Why are you going outside?" Jordan asks, oops, looks like almost everyone is awake now.

"We heard a scream," I say, "I want to know what it is." I throw on some clothes and walk to the door. I see some light coming from outside and as I stand outside I see where it is coming from. I jump scared back in the bus. "Mr. Carter is dead right?" I ask scared. "Ehm Yes Lamar," Isaac says, "we saw him." "So can you explain me why there's light coming out of his part of the bus??" I ask even more scared than I've ever been. "Wait, what do you mean?" Brittany asks, sounding a lot more awake then earlier. "You know there's the front of the bus, where the driver drives, there's this back part where we live. And between those two is a little space for the driver to live and sleep.

"Mr. Carter is dead," Trevor says clearly. "So who else can it be??" I ask confused. "Briar!" Myles screams jumping out his bunk and running to the door. "Oh my gosh," I say shocked, "I totally assumed she was dead."

Myles pov

I run to the driver's side of the bus and climb back in the bus again. There between the two seats is a door to the room behind it. As I open it I see Briar sitting in the corner of the little space. "Briar?!" I say cheerful walking towards her. She jumps up right into my arms. Tears run like rivers over my face as I hug her more tightly than ever. We stand like that crying for several minutes before I speak.

"Please never do that to me again," I whisper with a crack in my voice in her ear. "I'm so sorry," she says crying. "Why did you do it?" I ask her. "I'm so sorry," she says again, "I just couldn't handle it." "So why didn't you come back?" I ask. "Long story," she says, "not for now."

"Are you alright?" I ask her worried. "I'm fine," she says, "just a little shocked. Mr. Carter had a huge food stock here." "That's weird," I say. "You don't even want to know how weird he was," she says.

At some point after probably something around 10 minutes later we let go of the hug. "I missed you so much," I say still holding her hands and with tears in my eyes. "I missed you too Myles," she says, "I missed you everyday a little more." I let go of her left hand and cup the (for me) right side of her face. I wipe her tears away with my thumb.

"I love you Briar," I say quietly. "I love you too Myles," Briar says and she smiles. Then the flashlight dies and it's dark. I lean forward and give Briar a long intense kiss. I pull her back into a hug and press her close to my chest.

"Hello?" I hear Jordan then say. She opens the door and shines inside with her flashlight. "Oh my gosh Briar!!" she says cheerful and shocked at the same time. We let go of the hug again and Briar flies into Jordan's arms. "How could you stay here so long?" Jordan asks, "I get a weird feeling only being here less than a minute." "I don't know," Briar says, "but I'm pretty tired so I'll explain everything tomorrow." "Is there so much too explain?" I ask. "You don't even want to know," Briar says serious.

"Okay," I say, "lets go back then."

Back in the bus everyone is incredible happy to see Briar again. One by one they all hug Briar and I'm pretty sure everyone cries. "I'll explain everything tomorrow," Briar says once again at which almost everyone looks very confused. Everyone climbs back into their bunks and I see Briar climb into my bunk. I smile happily as I climb behind her.

Before we fall asleep I kiss her forehead and wrap my arms around her as she curls herself up besides me.