Away From Home

[phantasmagoricStoner]

Glancing at his wristwatch, he frowned slightly, looking back at his younger sister who was giggling at the television programme that they were watching. He grabbed the remote and switched off the television, "Time to go to bed, Anya." Anya turned to Nikolai, giving him the puppy dog eyes, which he couldn't resist. "Please! Just another hour! Mother and father won't be back till an hour after midnight!"

She was literally begging by his knees. Nikolai sighed. If it was just a normal night when their parents were away, he would have let her stayed up as late as she wanted with him. He stood up, and carried his younger sister. "No. It's already 11pm and you should have been asleep by 8," he added, "Mother and father will back anytime. If they see you awake, brother will get a scolding."

He opened the door to her bedroom and lay her on the bed. He tucked her in, and kissed her forehead, "Goodnight, Anya. Remember, Nikolai loves you."

Soon after that, she fell asleep. Nikolai walked out of her room. He entered his room, where his bags were already packed. No, he didn't bring a luggage, it was just a simple duffel bag which contained his clothes, the money he had saved up and his passport for security reasons, and toiletries, his laptop bag and his guitar. Of course, he remembered to take his ipod along. He picked up the note he wrote the day before and pasted it on his room door.

Dear mother and Ivan,

By the time you read this, I'm sure you have realised that I'm not at home. I've left the house. Don't worry, I locked the doors and windows to ensure Anya will be safe. Don't bother looking for me because I won't be back. I'm 18, I can take care of myself. I have ran away to chase my dreams. And the day I come back, will be the day I am successful. ​

He carried his guitar case on his back and slung both his laptop bag and duffel bag on his right shoulder. After that, he walked out of his room before checking up on Anya again, to make sure she was asleep. He entered her room, and watched her sleeping form. He stood by the side of her bed, "I'm sorry Anya. Don't think badly of me." With that, he kissed her forehead and quickly walked out before she wakes up again.

To Anya, tell her I'm sorry. I know she will not accept my apology. I don't expect her too and I also don't expect her to understand as well. Just tell her I love her.​

Before he left, he locked the windows, making sure no one can enter the house from the outside. He would have escaped through his bedroom window but since his mother and father wasn't home, he just went out of the front door and locked it properly. He took out his phone and messaged the rest;

I'm out of the house. Where are you guys now? I'll be at the park by the time the clock strikes midnight.​

He shoved his hands into the pocket of his black hoodie, his dark bangs getting into his eyes. The walk to the park isn't a long one from his house.

To Ivan, take care of my mother. I don't want to see her hurt. I expect, by the time I come back after my success, I will still see you together with her, happy and enjoying retirement or whatever. To mother, for the past few years, ever since Anya and Ivan came into our lives, I felt like an outsider. You have finally gotten the family you have always wanted. If mother is happy, Nikolai is happy. Please don't cry for me. I doubt you will. Like grandmother says, I'm just an exact replica of my biological father, right? Both in attitude and physically. And, we both know how much you hate him.

So, I shall leave your happy family alone. Goodbye.

- Nikolai​

After a few minutes, he reached the park. His wristwatch read 12:00am. He stood at the entrance of the park, waiting for the rest to arrive. He knew running away would be a risk but it's a risk he is willing to take.

 

[Bibi]

Gemma stood by the doorway, bags in tow, chewing on her lip. Maybe I shouldn't do this.. My parents will be calling in the morning.. At least they're supposed to.. Maybe they actually won't. She shifted her weight to the other foot, then looked at her phone. 11:50. I should leave soon.. The park is a few minutes away from my house.. But is this actually the right decision? Gemma sighed loudly and stomped her foot. No, Gemma, you know this is what you have to do. Everyone decided this. All your friends.. You're doing this.

Smiling lightly, Gemma made her way through her house to check that everything was as it should be. She knew her parents were due to be home in a weeks time, so she had arranged for a neighbor to come and keep up the plants. She knew she was taking a huge risk. And she was definitely afraid. But she also knew this would be worth it. "Jesus, Gemma, get it together. You aren't a child. You are more than prepared for this." She went to her room, looked at all of her possessions. She'd be leaving it all behind, besides some clothes and the necessities. Sighing, she walked over to her desk and looked down at the note she had written, just in case her parents came looking for her around the house.

Dear Mother and Father,

I know that you both are very happy and successful, and that's what I want. I want to be successful as well, so this is what I need to do. I know you won't miss me, and that's okay. Maybe I'll see you both sometime along the way, maybe not. Either way, I hope you can accept my decision and wish me luck. Goodbye.

Gemma.

She sighed softly and turned away quickly before she could argue with herself anymore. It was 11:55 now, and she needed to leave. Her phone vibrated and she checked the text from Nikolai.

Okay, Gemma, it's time to go. Let's do this. And with that, she marched her little self down the stairs and right out the door, turning to lock it once she was out. She pulled her phone back out and shot a text to the group.

I'm heading that way now. I'll see you guys soon. xx

She tucked her phone back into her purse and took a deep breath before hauling her duffle bag over her shoulder, computer case in hand. She began the short walk to the park, heart thumping wildly with anticipation.

 

[GreatWest]

Raphaella stared at the clock on the wall, wishing that the time would pass faster. Inside her head, millions of thoughts raced, thoughts about the fight that she had earlier with her sister, thoughts about her baby brother, thoughts about what she was about to do.

10:59:55 p.m. "What the HECK is your problem?"

10:59:56 p.m. "You're always fighting! Do you wanna die?? Huh???"

10:59:57 p.m. "Or maybe you want to kill. Right? Is that it? Do you have lust for blood??"

10:59:58 p.m. "Or maybe you just want to have some fun."

10:59:59 p.m. "Wrong? Do you think I'm wrong? You almost killed Mike! Almost killed ME!"

11:00 p.m. "You don't care about this family! And you know what? We don't either! We HATE you! HATE!"
​

Suddenly, Raphaella threw the clock against the wall, and now, this clock was nothing more than a pile of cogs and glass. She stared at the mess she did and hoped that no one woke up with the sound of the clock against the wall. After minutes of silence, she sighed relieved. No one woke up. After cleaning up her mess, she turned off all the lights of the house and silently made her way out to the garage, where there was two cars, a Fit, and a Ford Taurus X, the latter being the one ready for the trip. All of her stuff was inside it as well, so she didn't have to worry about crossing the entrance of Leona's room when going to her own. She opened the garage door, trying to be as quiet as possible.

"Hey baby, ready for the trip?" Raph said quietly while lightly tapping the car. Without any other word, she got in the car and sat on the driver's seat. The red headed started the car and drove it out of the garage, then went to close the door, but not before she put a small piece of paper on the place that Taurus used to be. On her way back to the car, her phone vibrated.

I'm out of the house. Where are you guys now? I'll be at the park by the time the clock strikes midnight. - Nikolai.
​

It vibrated again.

I'm heading that way now. I'll see you guys soon. xx - Gemma

I'm on my way. Hang in there. 15 min.
​

Finally, she drove to the park. Stopping at a traffic light, her mind wandered to the letter she wrote, wishing she would've wrote more.

I'm sorry. For everything. Love ya'll.

PS.: Don't look for me, I know you won't but... Just don't.

PSS.: Also, I took Taurus, we never used him anyway. The poor thing was all dirty with dust. Hope you don't mind.

PSSS.: And you might wanna buy a new clock. You know, just sayin'.

-Raphaella
​

The horn of the car in the back is what brought Raph back to reality, stepping on the accelerator, she drove to the park. After 17 minutes, she finally arrived. Raphaella parked at the entrance of the park, seeing they wouldn't stay there for too long. Turning off the car, she started to search for Nikolai, spotting him in seconds.

"Hey!" She said while walking to him. "Huh, I guess we're still the only ones. At least Gemma is on her way." Raph got silence for a little bit, and then asked. "So, how ya' dealing with it?"



[Photos of the Taurus:

Spoiler

]

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​

 

[Lady B]

Rachel sat alone at the dining table. It was dark in the room, and the smell of her cooking coming from the kitchen had already grown cold and faded away. A couple of messages flashed by on her cellphone, lighting up her face. But her sight was too blurred for her to be able to read them. This night, her parents had promised they would be back at eight. Rachel had asked them several times, practically even begged that they would keep their promise this time, but they didn't. In truth, Rachel didn't want to run away. She wanted to tell her parents that she was moving, she wanted to say goodbye. She wanted to see their reaction when they realized she had grown up all without them noticing, show them that she had become a daughter anyone would've been proud of. But they weren't there for her. A single tear rolled down her cheek, leaving a wet trail on her face before landing on the cloth covering the dinner table that she had set so beautifully. It took a while before she wiped it off, rising from her seat. Slowly, she walked over to the hallway and grabbed her duffle bag, before turning around to take one final look at her empty house.

The cold night air turned her breath into fog, which she ran her fingers through and played with. She remembered walking on this exact road with her parents once during the winter as a kid. She didn't remember why or where they were going, but she remembered that she was happy. Memories like that were rare for Rachel, so she treasured them as best she could. Looking up, she could see the moon glistening in the sky. The duffel bag slid off her shoulder, and she could feel the tears trying to force their way up. But she had to hold them back, there was no turning around at this point. She needed to remind herself why she was doing this.

"'Cause there's a silent storm inside me..."
​

She sang slowly.

"Looking for a home"
​

Her legs started moving, twirling her around. The skirt of her dress lifted as it catched the slight breeze.

"I hope that someone's gonna find me, and say that I belong..."
​

She was now spinning around, lifting her arms up in a fairy like dance.

"I'll wait forever and a lifetime, to find I'm not alone. There's a silent storm inside me, but someday I'll be calm... Yes someday, I'll surely be calm."
​

Standing still, she allowed herself a moment slowsly breathe, in and out. After having gathered herself, she picked up the bag again, and continued walking. She was finally going to find a place to call home.

Arriving at the park, she was now wearing a gentle smile, as though all her doubts and regrets had been washed away. "Hi guys, sorry if I'm late!" She looked around. "It doesn't seem like I'm the last to arrive, though. Are the others on their way?"

 

[Bibi]

Why. Why did I wear these shoes. She should have been to the park quickly, in five to seven minutes time. But instead, she was still treading along through the dew soaked grass, heels sinking. Every other step she had to rip her feet from the ground just to keep moving. Any normal person would probably remove the shoes, but Gemma despised wet ground, and besides, she was wearing her favorite stockings. There was no way she'd risk dirtying them, or ripping them.

She takes another step and her heel catches again, causing her to almost trip. Sighing loudly, she quickly removed her heels and stockings, and with them both in tow, stomped angrily toward the park.

"Hey, kittens. I'm sorry it took me so long.." She looked down at her heels and stockings, then looked back up at the others sheepishly.

 

[Merry Berry]

Joel was lying in bed, completely silent. He wanted to make sure his parents were asleep before trying to leave. Once the clock struck midnight, he knew it was time. His parents were way too old fashioned to even consider staying up any later than this. Hastily, he pulled the covers off, revealing that he was fully dressed. Considering the fact that he was very hot and slightly sweaty it might not have been the best idea, but who cared? He was running away, nothing mattered anymore! As slowly as possible he opened his bedroom door, carefully lifting up his bags so it wouldn't make any noise dragging along the hardwood floors, and knowing he would have to pass two main obstacles on his way out. The first was his parents bedroom, which was right next to his, and the second was the stairs that had a tendency to creak. Thankfully, it was pretty much smooth sailing after that. Tipping on his toes, not caring abut closing his door because that was completely unnecessary at this point, he slooowly made his way down to the dark hallway.

Just as he thought he was safe and about to put his shoes on, he stubbed his toe on something. "SON OF A!--" He exclaimed loudly, dropping the bag to the floor with a thud before covering his mouth with his hands, jumping around on one leg. "Who the hell put that chair there!? Never, EVER in my life has there been a chair in that place, and it had to have been there NOW of all times!?" Thinking all this to himself, a cold sweat was rolling down his back. What if his parents were going to wake up? He forced himself to calm down, biting his lips. Luckily, there were no signs of activity from the floor above, so he continued getting dressed, putting on his jacket and some shoes. After the slight mishap, he wiftly removed himself from the house, disappearing into the night.

As the ones waiting for him in the park came into view, he ran up to them "Hi guys, nice to see you! Gosh, this is pretty exciting, isn't it?"

The only traces of Joel left in his house was his room, which he couldn't have taken everything from to run away with, and a note on the front door.

"Hi, mom and dad.
I'm sorry if this may come off as sudden, but I've decided to run away.
Now, there's no point in looking for me, because I'll be gone far away when you read this.
But there's no need to worry, I'll be in safe hands the entire time.
I love you both, and say bye to Nana for me.

P.S: The academic path was never my cup of tea, anyway"​

 

[phantasmagoricStoner]

Fifteen minutes after receiving the text from Raphaella, he could see her approaching him. He was relieved to say the least. Despite the fact that there were street lamps illuminating the park entrance, he was slightly creeped out by being alone in the park at midnight. He used to hear stories from his ex-bandmates that bad things happen at this park but those were just rumors. He waved at her greeting, smiling slightly. "I'm good, I guess. I have a feeling mother wouldn't mind me gone. She has to hire a babysitter to babysit Anya whenever they're gone." he said bitterly, clenching his hands that were hidden in the pockets of his hoodie, into a fist.

He added, mumbling slightly, "I don't know how Anya will take it though..."

A few minutes later, Rachel came along. Then Gemma arrived, followed by an enthusiastic Joel. A big smile broke out of his face after seeing Joel's enthusiasm, "It's like an adventure, no?"

 

[N/A]

Dear mommy,
I'm finally moving out. Sell my stuff, I don't care. Bye.

Was what Cassius wrote exactly. He wasn't good with letters, not to mention used foamed stickers placing it out his room door and the male chuckled stepping back and taking a quick view before running down his stairs and dashing out the door.

His iPhone was blowing up with numerous texts as he began to ride on his skateboard and he read while riding as he began texting, occasionally looking up. Cassius was multitasking and also a fast texting person and his text read in the group chat:

"AM I THE LAST ONE GUYS?!"

Indicating that he's on his way. Cassius wore a black tank top that said ' I ♥ Boobies! ' while he wore some fitted jeans that were somewhat stretchable and sagged down from his bottom despite having a Burberry belt on. He wore simple black and white chucks or 'converses' that were low top and seemed to have a snap back hat hanging from the back of his pants through one of the belt holes. Cassius held his phone in his hand skating to the park and also did some simple easy tricks along the way and had soon made it, opening his arms up in the air.

"MADE IT!" He chuckled kick flipping onto the edges of a fountain before attempting to kick flip off, only to miss landing on his skateboard and instead lands on his feet flatly. The blonde walked over to his skateboard, bending over slightly and grabbing it and grinned. He then looked at Nikolai and nodded towards him.

"Sup Lai (pronounced 'lie')!" He greeted as he jokingly blew kiss his friend while holding onto his skateboard and looking around. Cassius flicked out his phone now reading the previous text messages and stayed quiet momentarily. His wrists containing some thick and thin rubber bands with words on them and those 'rubber band loom' bracelets some girls made for him.​

 

[GreatWest]

Raphaella only nodded as Nikolai explained. She understood that feeling, she was pretty sure that her father and her sister wouldn't mind she far away, but Mike... He's a different story.

"Don't worry, she'll be fine." She said trying to comfort his friend, though she didn't really know what to say. A few moments later, Rachel, Gemma, Joel and Cassius arrived, respectively. Raph rolled her eyes at Cassius' behaviour, and then crossed her arms.

"You're late." She said in a deadpan voice. "But that ain't a surprise." A tiny side smile could be seen in Raph's face, though it disappeared just as quick as it appeared.

"Anyway, I don't know 'bout you guys, but I don't want to stay in a dark ass park in the middle of the night, so I recommend we decide what we're going to do next."

 

[Lady B]

Rachel gazed over the gathering of friends, happy that noone had decided not to do it, but at the same time thinking if anyone were to chicken out it would have probably been her. "Well, since everyone has arrived, should we get going? As you said, we shouldn't be standing around here for too long, or we'll catch unwanted attention..." She heaved her luggage into the trunk of the car. "Raph, you were taking the first shift, right? Are you sure you're not too sleepy? If you'd like we could stop by a gas station or something and grab a cup of coffee."

 

[N/A]

"You're late, but that ain't a surprise." Mimicked the male out of mockery in a mock tone with a pinched up face. He then laughed afterwards jokingly and shrugged."Well, they don't call me your modern day version of the old school Marty mcfly for nothing." He chuckled. That witty brain of his with a sharp tongue, always having the last say someway somehow.

Cassius wasn't cold at all, not one bit. Though it was pretty warm out for the night and ever so slightly windy he looked at the others."I need to take a whizz*." He said slowly grinning before laughing and taking off his backpack, resting it against nikolais foot."Careful. I got stuff in there." He said. Then getting on his skateboard, skateboarding himself some distance away from his group of friends he said in a raised voice -not a yell-."Oh yeah, forgot. You guys aren't hood rats like me. Or much 'street slang'. I got to take a piss." He clarified as he raised a hand over the back of his head, flicking his pointing finger to the right indicating he was going to piss somewhere Infront of a tree he was skating to.

Cassius then abruptly stopped Infront of a tree and jumped off his skateboard, back facing his group of friends and began doing his thing. His skateboard was behind his feet and within a few seconds, he finished. Getting onto his skateboard with ease and skating back to his bag with his hands up in the air."Hey Baby, wanna see what's hanging?" He said grabbing his crotch momentarily before bursting out with playful and joking laughter. He then uses his feet pointing at the front zipper of his bag."Someone get me wet wipes in that zipper please. you'll see it trust me." Ordered Cassius politely. His ear phones were hanging over his tank top around the neck hole (since the wire was under his shirt and phone in his pockets- and the song 'Don't be gone to long' by Chris brown and Ariana grande can be heard.

He stands around then was handed a wet wipe by one of his friends and wiped his hands. He simply loitered on the ground without hesitation and stepped on the end of his skateboard roughly, grabbing then holding it as he listened to the conversation."I call seats between my boyfriends Nikolai and and Joel." He chuckled with a sneer jokingly."That way I have one shoulder to sleep on and the other to cry on." He adds.

-----
Whizz: to urinate. A slang word.
Bag:
[spoili]

[/spoili]​

 

[Merry Berry]

Joel sighed as Cassius skated away to take a leak. "Everyone knows what 'take a whizz' means, Cass. You're not as hip and cool as you think you are." He said it sarcastically, but with a playful tone. As Cassius asked about the wet wipes, Joel sighed again before going over to hand him them to him. "Can't you even do a simple thing like this yourself? I'm seriously beginning to doubt whether you're really ready for this or not." Joel spoke from the other side of the tree, making sure not to accidentally sneak a peek on his buddy. After they went back and Cassius exclaimed how he'd like to sit, Joel was so embarrassed his face turned strikingly red. "W-well, it's not like I particularly mind or anything, I... I'm okay with that."

 

[Bibi]

Gemma laughed at Cassius, her nerves already easing up. She kind of stood by, waiting for everyone to make all the decisions, since she hated making decisions. She yawned loudly, "Maybe stopping for coffee would be a good idea." She stood next to Rachel and bumped into her shoulder playfully. "How are you holding up? Excited?" She smiled at the tall girl and then sighed heavily.

"I would like to sit in the very back, if thats okay?" Gemma got carsick kind of easily, so she brought along some medicine to help with the motion sickness, but she needed to be able to sleep while she wasn't driving. At least, that was the plan.

 

[phantasmagoricStoner]

Nikolai's hand shot up next to his head and grabbed the flying kiss Cassius blew, in mid air. "You missed." Nikolai smirked. Seeing Cassius going to a tree to 'whizz', Nikolai furrowed his eyebrows in irritation, watching the blonde's back, "Dude, why didn't you just go before you left?"

Hearing what Rachel said, he nodded in agreement. "We should most probably drive a few miles away from this town. Some place where locals won't be able to recognize us." he stated, heaving his duffel bag and laptop bag up since it was sliding down his shoulder. Listening to what Cassius said about seating arrangements, Nikolai sweat dropped. He sighed, "As long as you don't drool in your sleep..."

"By the way, let's load our things into the car, my shoulders are killing me..." Nikolai suggested.

 

[GreatWest]

Raphaella raised an eyebrown at Cassius' mockery and only shrugged, hiding a side smile. Turning her attention to Rachel, she only waved a hand.

"Nah, I'm fine. But I agree with Gemma and Nikolai, we should make a stop to grab somethin' to eat, though not in this town. And Gemma, yeah, it's fine." Raph made a "come on" motion with her hand to the group, leading them to the car. "Guys, Taurus. Taurus, guys. This is the bad boy that we're going to use, it's a little bit old, but don't underestimate it." She said proudly. Reaching in the pocket of her pants, she took the key of the car and opened the door of the driver.

"Put your things in the trunk, and be careful with mine. Also, who's going on the passenger seat?" She said while sitting on the driver's side.

 

[Lady B]

Rachel was a bit startled at first when Gemma bumped her, but when she looked down and saw her friend she smiled in relief. It made her realize that her nerves were still on edge. "I'm fine, it's just... A bit nerve racking, you know?" Rae really didn't expect to feel this way. Normally she would just go with the flow and not care much about it, but this was such a huge deal. She would probably feel a lot better one they were on the road, though.

As the others began loading their stuff in as well, she gently patted Taurus and laughed at Raph's remark at its age. "I like old cars. It's easy to customize them, change bits and parts here and there, really make it your own personal vehicle which is a bit difficult with modern cars." After Raph sat down on the drivers seat, Rae slipped in next to her and buckled her seat belt. "I'll go. If the others fall asleep I can chat with you to help keep your concentration up, and if something goes wrong I can just reach over and step on the brakes. Won't be much of a problem with these gams." Rae tried to stretch her legs out, but they didn't really fit. She moved her seat back to allow some space, which helped a little.

 

[N/A]

As everyone got in the car, Cassius had did exactly what he said he'd do--Sit between his two bestest friends Nikolai and Joel. He saw a power outlit infront of him and took off his backpack, placing it over his lap and went to the front and small zipper taking out a car charger and plugging it in his phone before plugging the charger itself into the outlit. Cassius looked down at his phone putting it on airplane mode -as that one and simple trick mostly charged the phone faster and save the battery more-- and continued to listen to his music as he dropped his bag between his feet. Not to mention he also dimmed down the brightness since he didn't want the car to look like some movie theatre and the male yawns, swiping through his phone apps. Despite having his white beats by dre earphones, the music can be heard. Glory and Gore by Lorde. Though only heard if it was extra extra quiet or if you were really close to him.

Soon an idea sparked Cassius. He grinned. "What if this turns out to be like our own horror stories?" He asks."Y'know. the cliché ones where a car breaks down and theres a group. Find shelter and die or walk around and die." He chuckled slightly as he turned off his airplane mode. Within minutes his phone was from a 50% to a 62% but he wanted to use kik so airplane mode had to be turned off.

Scrolling through his kik account, it seemed limitless as to when it will stop. Whenever he scrolled there was always a new message and he yawned. Most were breakup text messages, but the male seemed unfazed by these. He was known to be in multiple relationships no matter what, and this simply couldn't be helped. Others call it 'cheating' he calls it 'polygamous'. Cassius just for whatever reason couldn't stick to one person, however he is faithful though even though that is only half believed.

Soon an actual text popped up. It was his known and most longest and current relationship. Cassius easily grinned. His lover was just as popular and awesome as him and he shrugged thinking this was no big deal happily. It was a long 'essay' text and cassius tilted his head back."Ughhh." he said before reading it. Cassius then got frustrated and unplugged his phone from the charger, locking his phone before tossing aside. That breakup text. Cassius then leaned over to joels shoulder. "Shoulder to frustratingly cry on." He mumbles letting out a deep and harsh sigh. "And guys, We broke up. By we, you know what I mean. The one I only consider 'lover' rather then the 'others'." he mumbles."So if anyone was going to ask about him, his name will f*cking not be spoken." muttered Cassius disappointedly yet in a flat tone. One of cassius rule amongst his friends, anyone he truly considers his 'lover' if they breakup-- the name of that ex in particular cant be spoken around him, and yet the one that had just broken up with him was the first.​

( Cassius now ex 8D
[spoili]

[/spoili]

 

[GreatWest]

Raphaella listened to Rachel as she talked about old cars, and keeping Raph's concentration if everybody fall asleep. She cracked a smile when the girl mentioned her "gams".

"Well, nice gams ya have there." She said jokingly. "And if ya see me faintin' while drivin', punch me. Trust me, I'll stay awake for the next 24 hours."

While everyone was getting in the car, the red head started it, making Taurus vibrate with the now running engine. As soon as the car started, Highway to Hell by AC/DC burst from the stereo, making Raphaella jump on her seat. "F*ckin' shit, scarin' me like that. I'm gonna punch yo ass, Taurus. Next time you do this to me I'll make sure ya end up in the trash. F*ckin' shit almost givin' me a heart attack." She mumbled grumpily to herself as she turned down the volume of the radio. Already annoyed, she heard Cassius' idea. She turned her head to look at him, and, with a glare, spoke in a flat tone. "Well, if that comes to happen, we'll make sure to use ya as a distraction while we run away. What will happen after that is not my concern."

Turning her gaze to the radio, Raphaella switched through the musics, stopping when she heard Fear of the Dark by Iron Maiden, silently humming to the melody of the song. When she heard the harsh sigh from Cassius, she lowered the volume and turned her gaze to him. Raph listened to the news, the break up, and stayed silent. She returned her gaze to the radio and said in a quiet voice. "Sorry 'bout that." And increased the volume of the song, leaving it not so high and not so low.

"Well, everybody ready? We don't have the whole night!" Raph yelled as the solo of the song came up, with her hand already on the gear shift.

 

[phantasmagoricStoner]

Nikolai placed his duffel bag into the trunk before carefully putting his precious guitar on top of it. He got into the car. sitting next to Cassius as promised. He placed his laptop bag on his lap. He chuckled at Raphaella's reaction to the radio. Hearing Cassius's idea, Nikolai groaned, punching Cassius's arm lightly, "Don't say something like that!" Nikolai then thought about it further, getting slightly paranoid. "The car has enough gas, right? It won't run out that easily, right?"

Trying to calm down, he decided to listen to Cassius's break up. Nikolai remained silent as he was really inexperience in matters relating to relationships. The only relationship he had were amongst his ex-bandmates and younger sister. Well, he got rejection from his ex-bandmates and only a sibling bond from his sister, other than that, he knew nothing about intimate relationships. He remembered, after getting thrown out of the band, which he formed, he sat in his room for days, not wanting to leave the house. The band was his life. But, getting kicked out of the band made him reflect on his playing skills.

Hearing the intro of the song that was currently playing on the radio, he felt nostalgic. He remembered practicing the song with his band mates, constantly having to restart the whole thing as most of them were pretty much amateur when it came to syncing together. He chuckled bitterly at the memory. Looking down at the front zipper of his laptop bag, he remembered a CD which he recorded by himself the week before, that was left in there. He took it out, the words 'War March', in cursive, written on the CD. The sound of the drums in the instrumental song were arranged by a music software he found where else the lead guitar was played by him.

"I recorded this last week. Do you mind playing it?" He held the CD towards Raphaella. He added, "Tell me what you think."

 

[Bibi]

After she put all of her bags in the car, Gemma climbed into the very back, a thousand thoughts running through her mind. Most of them being nerves fueling stupid little scenarios in her head. She smiled at the backs of the three boys' heads, giggling slightly at their little trio. Hearing Cassuis' remark about being in a horror movie, Gemma full on laughed out loud. Nikolai's face and reaction made her laugh even harder. "Or we'll get stuck in some kind of paradox where we're forced to keep repeating the same road over and over no matter what, and then eventually the demon who caused it will come and eat our souls?" Gemma laughed again, glad that the easy banter had eased her nerves some.

Gemma watched Cassius lean his head on Joel's shoulder and frowned when she heard his words of breakup. Gemma wasn't sure what to say, she hadn't ever been in a relationship, the only people in her life she's ever gotten close to, other than her parents, were the other five people in this car. Hoping it wouldn't annoy him, Gemma reached forward and ran her fingers lovingly through Cassius' blonde hair, trying to soothe him a little. She knew he was stubborn, but she still hoped he wouldn't push her away.

She looked over at Nikolai while she continued running her fingers through Cassius' hair, to make sure they hadn't given him too much of a scare. He appeared to be lost in thought, but then suddenly he produced a CD and was handing it to Raph. Gemma got excited at his words, she loved hearing Nikolai's guitar. She smiled as she waited for the music, trying hard not to think about her parents.