forgiveness and.... bacon ?

It's early morning by the time I get back to the house. Well, I say house but it's more of a lodge or a cabin; it's thick brown walls are long dark logs, stacked on top of each other carefully. It's sloping roof was steep, rushing up to a point above the upstairs room, the front of which had a large window as it's front wall, like a single eye in the cabin's 'face' overlooking the crisp lake that lay to the front of the building. Large pine trees soared up above the house, their tips scraping the low fog that hung over the area. Slowly I fly down to the front door, the crisp white snow crunching under my black boots as I alight on the ground. I take a brief moment to take a look at the lake, it was so much more beautiful like this, shimmering in the darkness as moonbeams fell across is silky surface. Turning back from the mesmerising view, I pull my key from my pocket and stick it into the lock as quietly as I can. Yes, a real metal key. I told you I am old fashioned. Gripping the cold metal handle with one hand I slowly turn the key in the lock, wincing as it makes a very audible click. Opening the door a crack I slip into the house, grateful it is slightly warmer than it was out there.

"Where have you been?!" A tired and angry voice calls out in front of me, as the lamp in the hallway clicks on. I heard the gasp of shock that followed. "And where's your coat?!"

"Good morning to you too, Xavier." I yawn, as I realise, to my chagrin, that I'm not likely to get back to bed for a while now. Apparently I shouldn't have been so sarcastic because Xavier just explodes.

"How dare you disappear in the middle of the night, in a place we don't know at the end of autumn when it's already snowing, and then just turn up FIVE HOURS LATER saying good morning?!" Xavier all but screams at me.

I shuffle my feet uncomfortably. He was right and I know it, but it stings so much more to have someone else tell me how stupid I'd been. Seeing how upset I'm getting, Xavier takes a deep breath to calm himself down. "Could you not have just left a note at the least?" He asks, his voice strained.

"I-" I try to begin but cut myself off as a single tear rolls down my face. There's no excuse for what I've done so I decide not to make one up. "I'm sorry. I didn't think. I just... wanted some quiet time. I didn't think anyone would ever know anyways." I quickly brush away my tears with the back of my hand. Xavier's face softens as my cheeks became wetter. I rarely cry so he knows I'm sincere. He runs a critical eye over me as I stand here, shivering from the cold and from the cold truth that someone other than myself had finally told me. He sighs. "Let's get you into some dry clothes, then you can warm up by the fire."

I open my mouth to object that I just want to go to bed and forget I'd made anyone worry but think the better of it and just nod timidly instead. Xavier walks with me to my room, chuckling despite himself when he sees how messy it it.

"Right. You know what in this avalanche is clean and what's not so pick out some clothes." He tells me sternly, lounging against the doorframe. I glance around and eventually gather up a black woollen turtleneck, a pair of soft dark blue joggers, and some fresh socks and underwear.

"Right, you get changed," Xavier tells me, turning to leave, "and I'll go let the others know you're safe."

A tsunami of guilt crashes over me. The others are awake too?

Xavier stops suddenly in the hallway outside my room and turns back around like he's forgotten something. "Don't you go back to bed as soon as I leave, because if you're not by the fire in the living room in five minutes, me and Joel will drag you out of bed and carry you to that fire." He says, as if he's reading my mind.

I see a hint of humour in his eyes but I know he's being serious. "Okay." I whisper, closing the door behind him as he leaves. Once he's gone I turn around and lean back against the door, still feeling guilty. 'It could've been worse,' my brain helpfully points out.

'He could've found out that you often go out at night alone.' I roll my eyes at myself. That didn't stop me from feeling guilty. Remembering I only have a short amount of time to get dressed I quickly yank off my wet cold clothes (wet from lying on the snow beneath the tree), and start to put on my clean clothes. They aren't warm, but they're dry and slightly less cold than my other things so I'm glad for them nonetheless. I finish pulling on my thick socks and then there's a knock at my bedroom door. Reluctantly I stand up and open the door. It's Xavier. Without a word he marches into my room and grabs the duvet off my bed, shoving it into my arms as I look at him with pure bewilderment.

"The fire isn't that warm." He tells me, smiling at my expression. "The others are using their covers too."

I nod, still worried about the 'others'. He's mentioned Joel so he must be up, but is everyone else? I hope not. Swiftly we walk over to the living room, just across the hallway from my room. Already I can see the firelight dancing through the crack below the door. Xavier pushes open the door and I step through, looking around the large room.

'Ah.' I think. 'Shoot.'

***

I feel Xavier prod my back a little so I shuffle into the room, heading towards the chair in the far shadowy corner by the window where I usually sit. Instead of getting there however, I find Xavier's hands on my shoulders, steering me towards to fire... and people! There's only two seats left on the three two-seater couches and I make my way over to the one closest to the fire as Xavier sinks down besides Joel, pulling his duvet back over himself. I slump down onto the remaining seat, silently soaking up the warmth of the crackling fire. I wrap my dark green duvet around my shivering body, wishing the covers were heated. I stare hard at the patterns on the covers silently, refusing to look at the others. Xavier was right,

everyone is here.

"Where have you been?" A voice asks me. Still not looking up I sigh.

"I didn't go far. Just to the top of a hill. I..." my breath catches in my throat for a moment. "I just wanted to see the stars. I'm sorry guys. I didn't think anyone would notice." I end in almost a whisper, fingering my soft duvet.

"You should've at least left a note!" A rather exasperated voice chides me. I sink further into my seat. Forget being warm by the fire, right now I just want to go back to bed so I'll be away from them all. Finally I look up. All five of them were staring at me. "Will you-" I begin, before starting again, "Can you forgive me?" I want to slap myself - my voice sounded so high-pitched and shaky.

"Yeah." Another voice sighs from beside me. "We can forgive you."

I smile at the girl sat beside me. Of all of them, I know Grace the best. I know them all of course, but some better than others.

"Jai, you're only 15! You need to be careful, you can't just go out into the wilderness without telling anyone!" Exclaims the girl who'd just told me I should've left a note. "Anything could've happened!"

"I... I know. I'm sorry Georgia." I apologise. Seeing as no one seemed to be about to tell me off anymore, whilst I warm up anyways, I lay back and close my eyes, just soaking up the warmth from the fire.

I suppose I should explain who we all are, and what we're doing in this snowy lodge. Let me start with myself. My name is Jai Evans, but I don't like my last name so I tell everyone I don't have a last name. I'm a 15 year old boy, but I'm far from normal. Like I said, I'm quite old fashioned, preferring old technology, music, books and movies to what we have now. I've been home taught my entire life but I'm doing fine academically. I don't think there's much else to say, other than that I'm a huge bookworm and love being outside. Then there's Grace. Of all my friends I'm definitely closest to Grace. She lives not far from me and is my cousin-once-removed so we see each other fairly regularly. Also home taught, Grace also enjoys books but not quite so much as me. At 15 she's the same age as me, although she loves to lord over me the 28 days she has over me. On the other side of the fire is Georgia. Recently out of school, Georgia is one of my newest friends. At 14 she's the youngest of all of us, but cares about how she looks much more than the rest of us. We get on fairly well as we have similar senses of humour but as she lives far away I don't see her often. Next to her is Kianna. Easily excitable, Kianna is quite outgoing despite being the second youngest of the group at 15. We get on well although she's much louder than I am, but we think alike. On the last couch are Xavier and Joel. Joel is the oldest of the six of us at 16, but acts as silly as the rest of us. Tall and curly-haired, I know Joel least but we're getting there. Last but by no means least is Xavier. The daredevil of the group, he's three months younger than me. Sometimes quite crazy, he can be very serious when he wants to, such as when he apprehended me in the hallway. We've known each other quite a while but didn't talk much until recently. The six of us ended up as friends all together and grew quite close quite fast, taking trips out to places together and having fun, we all are very similar. Fed up with schoolwork and boring ordinary life, we volunteered to come stay up here for two months together while exploring and charting the wilderness of the Scottish highlands. They used to be charged of course, but about ten years ago an experiment went wrong, releasing radioactive liquid into the ground and causing such explosions that the ground shifted, changing the layout of the land. For the past ten years it's been impossible to come here, but the radiation levels have decreased to such a point that life here may be possible. We've only been here two days, and barely explored what's around us. All three nights we've stayed here I've gone out at night, but the others don't need to know that.

Eventually the heat of the fire and the fact that we'd been up most of the night works its magic and we all fall asleep one by one, into deep and pleasant slumber. And even though I know that I'll still be in trouble tomorrow, I sleep better than I have in weeks, warm by the fire as I drift of to dream of flying again.

***

It's 11:45 when I wake up, and most of the others are up already, the high sun is glaring in through the tall window making sure I don't go straight back to sleep like I normally would. Kianna and Joel are still asleep as I slip from the chair and tiptoe across to my room. The fire died during the night and I'm now freezing so I head into my room to forage for something to warm me up. Eventually I find what I'm looking for and my sleep crusted eyes crinkle slightly in a grin as I toss the heavy black cloak round my shoulders and fasten the lion head clasp at the front. Yes, a real cloak. I am very old fashioned. My friends are used to my oddities so I pull it around myself tightly before heading down the stairs to the kitchen where I guess everyone will be. As I suspected I find the others in the kitchen, all looking very sleepy as they lounge around with cups of strong dark liquid. Stood by the stove, Xavier is guzzling the coffee straight from the machine as he half-blindly gropes for the cereal. Off to the right, Grace has a very large cup of coffee which she's sipping between mouthfuls of pancakes. Georgia also has a mug of coffee, and although her's is smaller than Grace's it's being drunk much faster. Slumping into a chair my stomach growls loudly as I watch Georgia eat her cereal. 'Food,' my mind informs me, 'is good for you and is delicious so you should get some. Right now.' Commending my brain on its infallible logic, I yank open the fridge and stare at its contents. My eyes skim shelf after shelf until I find what I'm looking for. Wordless I grab a pan from the cupboard and nudge Xavier far enough out of the way for me to light the stove and stick some oil in the pan. Before long several strips of bacon are sizzling in the hot oil as I tiredly push them round the pan. I turn to grab the bread cakes to see Kianna walk in. Without a word she plucks the coffee machine from Xavier before he can drink his third lot of liquid caffeine, wipes the spout, and drinks the whole think in one before putting some more on. I chuckle and open my dry lips for the first time that morning.

"Bacon sandwich Kianna?" I ask, my voice slightly horse from not using it for a while.

"Sure." She replies, coming and slicing the bread cakes in half. Out of the corner of my eye I see our resident vegetarian - AKA Georgia - roll her eyes. Seeing that the bacon is nearly done, I put down the spatula and head towards the door.

"I'm gonna go wake Joel up." I tell no one in particular, before walking up the stairs and into the room we'd all collapsed into last night. Joel's still laid there, curled up against the arm of the sofa. I contemplate how best to wake him, and decide to just clean out the fire and make as much noise as possible while doing so. I meander over to the fireplace and start brushing the ashes down into the compartment below the grille, knocking the metal handle of the brush against the metal fireguard every so often. I finish cleaning out the fire, but Joel still isn't awake. I walk over to where he's slumbering with a sigh. Reaching out I gently shake his left shoulder. Nothing. I shake him again, harder this time, but still nothing happens.

"My apologies Joel." I mutter under my breath, before I pick up the vase of flowers from the side table and chuck it's contents over him, water and flowers. Thankfully there was only a small amount of water in the vase when I picked it up so the couch isn't too wet now. Joel, however, is. He wakes up with a splutter, water droplets and orchid petals flying from where they'd rested on his lips. As soon as he starts to sit up though I run, calling something about breakfast as I flee down the stairs. Joel must've got my message because he walks into the kitchen a minute or so after I get there, still soggy but no longer dripping. Grace chokes on her coffee when she sees him and disguises a laugh as a coughing fit. Or maybe that coffee really did just go down to wrong way. Xavier smirks when he sees his friend, drops of water hanging from his eyebrows and a peony accidentally tucked behind his ear.

"Did you attack the flower goblins again Joel?" Xavier asks, causing me to snort.

"No he attacked me unprovoked!" Joel complained, shooting a half hearted glare at me.

"Unprovoked?!" I question incredulously as I plop bacon into some bread rolls. "I was very much provoked! You wouldn't wake up!"

Joel rolled his eyes at me as I grinned back. "Bacon?" I ask.

The ridiculous sincerity and normality of that question, although phrased oddly, combined with our over tired morning-minds tips us over the edge of silly and we all burst into giggles. Including Joel. Eventually Joel manages to tell me that yes he would like some bacon and I set to cooking some more, still chuckling every so often.