It strikes me how well Sandra
knew all these people, how much she must be hurting inside after losing so
many.
‘They got tired of waiting,’
explains one man with an arm around his partner. ‘After everything, I can’t
blame them. Where’s Teague? A lot of us would like to talk to him.’
‘We’ll be finding Teague, you
mark my words,’ Sandra replies with fire in her eyes. I’d like to talk to the
man myself. Still the knot of quilt squirms in my stomach and I don’t think it
will go away. But then, should I feel bad? I mistrusted Teague with good
reason. It didn’t mean he had to switch back to his old ways just because I
thought he might. Even so, my excuse doesn’t help me unclench.
‘We’re going to go somewhere
safe,’ Elle explains. ‘Just while we find out what’s happened.’
‘We want to go back,’ someone
shouts, a woman’s voice from the back of the crowd. ‘We didn’t choose this.’
My anger rises at the injustice
of it all. I didn’t choose this for these people either and now they want me to
fix it. They’ll stand there like sheep waiting to be led, and then complain
when they don’t like the direction they’re taken in; never considering that
they could lead themselves.
‘By all means, feel free to
leave,’ I say before I stop myself. ‘I didn’t want this for any of you, but
we’re going to do our best to make sure you all find a home where you want it.’
I pause before saying. ‘This world isn’t perfect, but no world was. I was
forced to become a member of yours but I met some brilliant people. Isn’t that
all that matters?’
Elle reaches over and squeezes my
arm. In that second I consider how far I’ve come. From the day I died in a car
crash to now. The Easton of a year ago would have never stood up for himself,
or even spoke in front of a crowd of people. I’ve grown. And not through easy
means, but then I guess no one does. If this isn’t alive then I don’t know what
is.
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