Cursed

The ride is silent, filled with tension. It’s not like I don’t want to talk to Finn. It’s more like I can’t. Tears keep coming to my eyes and I know if I speak, I’ll break down. I can feel, even without talking, that my voice is on the verge of cracking. I’m still shaking from earlier and my hands are continuously scrubbing each other, thinking that they’re still soaked in blood.

My mom…my dad…Caleb…I’m never going to see them again. I didn’t have the opportunity to say good-bye. I didn’t get to tell them that I’m all right, that I’m going to be ok and not to worry. I’m sure, one way or another, Kendra will tell them the truth but I’d feel much better if I were the one to do it…just so I could see them one more time.

No. I can’t think that way. I’m sure Karla thought when she ran away with her lover she’d never see her family again but she still spends time with Finn and his parents. I’m sure, somehow, I will see them again and when I do I’ll apologize and tell them how much I love them. Until then, I’ll just hope that they’ll be ok.

It’s getting dark and my eyelids are becoming heavy. The harder I try to stay awake, the more tired I become until finally, I pass out with my head on the seat.

When I come to I’m on a bed in a small room. Beside me is a nightstand with a digital alarm clock blinking 8:47am. Someone is lying beside me with their arm across my waist. Turning in bed, I see Finn sleeping soundly behind me.

“Finn…” I whisper. Normally, I would go back to sleep but since I have no idea where we’re at or if we’re even safe-though Finn sleeping should tell me that we are-I can’t keep quiet. “Finn…wake up.” I shake him a few times until he groans. “Wake up.”

“Kieran?” Finn grumbles, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

“W-Where are we?”

“The apartment complex.” Finn sits up, pulling me into his lap. He looks exhausted with those dark bags under his eyes. “We got here about an hour ago.”

“How long were we driving?” It wasn’t that late when Finn and I…ran off. It had to have been 12 hours or more.

Finn hums to himself then yawns. “Probably 13 hours.”

“Oh…I’m sorry…I shouldn’t have woken you up.” Great, now I feel bad. Finn only got an hour of sleep while I probably slept 8 to 10 of those hours.

“It’s fine.” Finn presses his lips to my temple then my cheek, my nose and my mouth. The tension that I had no idea I had disappears at the feeling. “But if you don’t mind…I’d like to go back to sleep for a little longer. If you want, you can look around. This apartment is pretty nice for the two of us.”

“Nah…I rather sleep with you,” I giggle, pushing Finn back onto the mattress and curling up into his chest. With his arms around me and his face buried in my hair, I easily fall back into a comfortable slumber.

~

It’s around noon when Finn and I finally wake up. Just like Finn said, this place is pretty nice for us. There’s one bedroom that looks out onto the city street below. There’s a small kitchen attached to a living room and a single bathroom.

And the best part about this place is…no gnomes! They couldn’t possibly have been able to follow us. We left too quickly. Now those bastards will never touch my socks, ever again! But…what if new ones move in? They’re sneaky little things.

Sighing, I take a seat on the couch. It’s not the nicest thing in the world but it’ll do. Behind me I hear Finn in the kitchen, making something that his aunt gave us before we left. Once again, we’re both silent. I’m not sure what to talk about. All I can think about is my family.

I already miss them.

“Kieran…you know, you can go back.”

I turn to look at Finn. He has his back facing me with his hands gripping the counter. He’s slightly bent over and if I didn’t know any better I’d say he was on the verge of puking. However, he doesn’t and continues speaking, “I’m the one that’s in trouble, not you. You can go home and be with your-”

“Can we not talk about that?” I hiss, moving from the couch to Finn. I throw my arms around his waist and bury my face in his back. Finn only becomes more tense but he doesn’t push me away. “I love you, Finn. I’ve told you once and I’ll tell you again, I don’t care. I want to be with you even if this is how it has to be. Things will be fine.”

“How do you know?” Finn growls and he pushes me back so he can face me. I move an arm from his waist to wrap around his neck, pulling him down so our foreheads rest together. “How do you know this’ll be fine?”

I shrug. “Karla is fine, isn’t she?”

Finn sighs. I got him on that one! Damn, I am good. Seriously, why hasn’t the world realized my greatness? They should be worshipping me by now.

Smiling, I kiss Finn over and over and over until his cheeks become so red he resembles a fire hydrant. He pulls away from me, making an excuse about the food but really it’s just because he’s embarrassed. Man, Finn is so fucking cute! I just wanna have sex with him a thousand times over then cuddle for hours on end.

“Finn, I may not know for sure that this will work but I have faith in Shailey to keep us safe and I have faith in you. We’ll make it through this, no matter what and I’m going to stay by your side so just accept it.”

“I love you,” Finn says, grabbing me and pulling me in front of him so I can help him cook and so he can rest his flushing face in my neck. “I love you more and more everyday Kieran.”

I shall repeat myself once again. Finn. Is. So. Fucking. Cute. I am going to keep him with me forever even if one day he doesn’t want me anymore. I don’t care. I will keep him with me for all eternity.

There’s a knock on the door. Both of us stiffen but when Finn hears the mans voice he relaxes. Sighing, he kisses my cheek and heads for the door. After swinging it open, a man walks in and smiles at me.

“It’s nice to see you’re finally awake,” he says. “I’m Denis.”

“Hello!” I chirp, skipping over to Finn to wrap one of my arms around his. When Denis sees this he chuckles and smiles kindly at us, which makes me sigh in relief. If he ended up being homophobic then I’d go crazy because there is no way we’d be that unlucky. “I’m Kieran and um…so is everything…ok?”

“By ok do you mean that you’re safe? For now, yes. Karla has informed me that Tommy and Dana are still searching but she’s heard Shailey hasn’t said a word. I’ve already got plans to transfer money from your parents to here-”

“My parents!” I shout, wondering if Denis had heard anything about them. “Did you hear about them? Did anyone tell them where I’m at? Are they-”

“Calm down,” Denis says and Finn squeezes me closer to him. “I haven’t heard anything about them but I’m sure if something had happened Karla would inform me. Next time we get in touch I’ll ask but for now if you two need anything, ask me.”

“Do you think it’d be safe if we tried to get jobs?” Finn asks, rubbing my shoulder affectionately.

“Right now, I’d say no. Try laying low for a while. Well, I’ve got to get going. If you need anything, my number is on the fridge.” Denis says good-bye and leaves. Once he’s gone, I look up at Finn to see a frown marring his face. I kiss him to make it go away.

“We’re going to be ok.” I pull on his arm to lead the way back to the kitchen.

“Yeah,” Finn smiles. “We will.”