Page 100 of In Between Darkness
I beg him playfully with my hands to take it easy on me, but he smirks and lobs the large cloud my way. The foam flies at me and disperses midair, attacking me with a deadly sweet scent from all sides. It sticks to my hair and creates a structure like a white afro.
Ryder laughs genuinely, which makes me chuckle. I don’t think I have ever heard him laugh before. He’s always so serious. I peel the foam off my head and aim for him again, but he just ignores my attempt and crashes his juicy lips onto mine, taking my hands into his own. I kiss him back. The quiet fizz of the bubbles trickles tranquillity into the room. He nibbles at my bottom lip, so lightly it tickles, instigating another giggle from me and a smile to spread across his face. That smile. It’s a rarity. It’s hard to believe I have witnessed such vulnerability from the cold, stone-hearted boy. Don’t get me wrong, he is still a full-blown fortress, but I am starting to see the drawbridge lower. I think back to the first time I met him and the events that led me here, to this very moment with him.
“I can’t believe I’m here…with you.” I play with the airy bed of snow around us, averting my gaze from his.
“Got somewhere else to be?” He raises an eyebrow, and a smirk forms on his face as he pretends not to understand the point I am making.
“I’m serious.” I throw bubbles his way, but they fade before they can make contact. “A few hours ago, I imagined myself all but a burden to you, and now, well…” I motion to his emperor-like body and comically whistle at his powerful physique.
“You were never a burden to me…” His tone is serious, and his dark eyes pierce through me. Even though his stare ismenacing, his words heal an insecurity within me I didn’t know was hiding. “And youwillnever be a burden to me.” Ryder’s face grows softer, but his words are still deep and serious. I know he means it. “Do you understand?” he asks, and I nod my head in response, still averting my gaze from his.
He cups my face and claims my eyes, so they meet with his.
“I knew there was something there the first moment I saw you… a connection I have never felt with anyone.” His eyes bleed into mine as his gentle words escape his lips, as soft as the blanket of bubbles that surround us. “Like an elastic band, the harder I try to pull away, the faster I collide with you.”
He takes my hand into his own and kisses its soft skin. “And I’m done pulling away.”
***
My charcoal grey towel falls to the wooden floor as I step into my red panties. Ryder is still in the bathroom shaving; he wants to look smart when he leads the search party in less than an hour. I know a lot of students look up to him, so it makes sense for Ryder to want to present them with the smartest and strongest version of himself. My eyes roam the room. I can’t seem to find the location of my red sports bra anywhere. I search his room, starting with the bed first, lifting his satin sheets in the air to see if a red bra-like object flings from their depths, but nothing appears. Crouching to my knees, I squint my eyes beneath his bed in search of them, but the darkness is too overwhelming to see anything. I stretch my arm out and conjure an orb of light to guide my eyes in the depths of the shadows. Nope, not here either. My attention turns to the opposite side of the room, specifically to his desk and the dark oak chair that hugsits frame. I twist the chair back, spinning it around, and lo and behold, my bra lies strung out across its arm.
“There you are,” I whisper to myself before picking it up and pulling it down over my head so that it sits nicely under my breasts.
Moonlight feeds into the room from the cracks in his blinds, enticing me into the moon’s glow. My index finger gently pulls at a ridge of the blind so my eyes can feast more efficiently on its beauty. An involuntary smile curves my lips at the view. It hangs like a silver coin in the inky sky, its light a ghostly whisper across Palidonia. I hear footsteps approach me, and Ryder wraps his arms around me; the warmth of his body soothes me.
“Isn’t it beautiful?” I say to him whilst not taking my eyes from its glow.
“I know something far more beautiful.” Ryder squeezes me, and I blush… Again. My cheeks ought to stay this colour with him around.
He kisses my cheek then breaks away and walks over to his desk, spraying a few squirts of his usual aftershave, the scent that makes him, him. The same smell I crave when he is not in my presence. My eyes roll slightly at his familiar smell, but refocus when he walks back in and picks up a stack of papers, holding them close to his chest.
“What are those?” I ask, stepping the distance between us as curiosity takes over me.
“Missing person printouts.” His eyes move off into another place, and I can see the sullen expression on his face. “It seems like every week we’re adding a new photo.”
I give him a comforting smile.
“Can I have a look?”
He shrugs, and I take the pile, flicking through the pages and studying each one. A pit in my stomach forms as realisation hits me, I knew about the missing Moons before, but somehowit feels more real when you see their faces. I stop on a page and study it further. In large letters it reads out:
‘HAVE YOU SEEN ME?’
With a photo of a boy around Ryder’s age. He has jet-black hair, almost as black as Ryder’s but not quite, and kind eyes. His eyebrows are bushy and seem to take up a lot of his face, and three sharp slits run through his left one. Below the photo, the name‘Tommy’ isspelt out in print a little smaller than the rest.
“This is your friend.” I look to Ryder.
“Yes,” he abruptly states as his body language changes, and he folds his arms as if reinstating his invisible armour, hiding his emotions from me again.
My hand attempts to comfort him by gently rubbing his shoulder, but he backs away from my touch and proceeds to walk into the bathroom out of my sight.
I wish I could say that this coldness is unfamiliar to me, but that would be a lie. I brush it off, nevertheless. His friend is missing, and that must hurt.
I peel the page of Tommy away and look through images of more missing Moons. There are so many. How has this gone unnoticed for so long? An uneasy feeling rests in my stomach as I stare into the eyes of Maddox. He looks like a regular Moon, so I don’t know why I have such strong feelings about him. I furrow my brows, inspecting his photograph further, and the pit in my stomach rises when I realise where I know him from.
“Ryder!” I call out loud enough for my voice to penetrate the bathroom door.
“What is it?” He sighs, still visually angry at the world, and walks out into the room.
