Mall Rats Return

[Danni]

DANNI
’So many drinks,’ I agree with Zandra, I really wanted one now but I couldn’t see sight of any alcohol… maybe id ask a serpent.

Listening to Tally I look at her for a moment as Zandra replies, ’I did come back,’ I tell her after a moment. ’After hell, I did come back… only to discover something worse.’ I don’t elaborate, they can speculate on my situation as much as they want, but I feel like they need to know I came back.

’Why we are here, I have no idea. The only reason I came back was because my red letter knew too much and I felt that the people I was with weren’t safe… who wants us here, you know as much as I do.’

[Zwenja]

Tally

Well, when Danni also shows some hurt nerves I am close to calling it quiets. I mean… Is there a hidden camera somewhere, filming sort of an entertainment show for some nutty fruitcake who is bored with his sad poor life?

The tension between the old Mall Rats feels like suffocating me. Right on cue, Leo starts to sniffle in my arms. I jump up almost. “Excuse me… Mom duties. I’ll go out… You others… Well… Good luck with sorting… Things…”

I shake my head as Andy makes to follow me “You need to stay and listen for us…” I whisper to him. “We only know Alice and Salene and that we can trust them…” He nods and stays put.

“Be back in a while…” I mutter, leaving the Café. Hell as if anyobe cares. Those setpents guys are clearly only interested in getting their home Rats free as soon as possible and maybe getting in Zandra’s or Lottie pants…

“Shh Leo… It’s all fine… Mommy just needs to sit… Look…” I’ll sit down on the fountain and carefully shift my layers of clothes. To the guys here I probably look fat. But I am more hiding myself then anything else. I sigh a little as Leo starts to suck. It can be so uncomfortable if there is not a regular feeding rhythm.

I notice a small sound and look around worried. My eyes fall on Lex. He looks back at me. I swallow. “H-hi… Don’t know if… If you remember me at all. I am Tally. And this is… Leo. He needs his milk. I am not a big help in there any way…so…urm…you okay? I mean… I imagine… It’s a bit of a… Shock?!”

That must be literally the most I have ever talked to him!

@Salene

[Salene]

Lex

I sit with my head on my knees when I hear little whimpers and then fast footsteps… I don’t look when the red headded girl with a baby sits and fusses over her son, theres silence for a moment, then the sound of sucking that seems to echo in the quiet…

“H-hi… Don’t know if… If you remember me at all. I am Tally. And this is… Leo. He needs his milk. I am not a big help in there any way…so…urm…you okay? I mean… I imagine… It’s a bit of a… Shock?!”

I raise my head as she starts to talk… I see her feeding her son, the most natural thing in the world ever… Before I might have been a pig and said something rude, but not now, with food hard to come by unless you know where to look, and definately no baby formulas that are edible anymore a kids gotta eat… I stare at her, she told me her names Tally, her brother is Andy… It hits me like a wave… Ned’s siblings… Thank god he was dead, I think I’d go mad if he came back from the dead…

“A shock, sure thats one word for it” I sigh

I feel it’s rude sitting on the floor so I stand and walk to her, choosing to sit beside her on the fountain… She flinches a little at me being so close to her but thats understandable, I wasn’t exactly a nice person back then, I’m sure I would have shouted at her and her brother more than once although, most was in passing as she was shut here with the chosen and I was with the rebels trying to bring down the chosen… I look at the small boy at her breast, his eyes are closed as he nurses, I go to tpuch his hand but pull back, Tally looks at me with a soft smile, I reach my hand forward and gently run a finger over his clenched fist… I smile a small sad smile…

“When, I mean before, when Zandra and I were together, she was pregnant with my son…” I sigh “Then the explosion happened… I checked her pulse, I know I did, I couldn’t find one, I tried to check her breathing but it must have been soo shallow I didn’t see her chest move… I, how could I, it could have killed her, I, I…”

I pull my hand back from the baby boy… I sigh a deep sigh

“I didn’t know” I sigh on a whisper “She hates me, she has a right to hate me… I didn’t do enough”

Tally listens to my quiet rant as she nurses and gently rocks her son to sleep…

@Zwenja

[Zwenja]

Tally

Now well… Miracles do happen, I think to myself as Lex shows a vulnerable and soft side I would have never imagined. But then… I thought Zac was such a cool and perfect guy… And what did he? Fucked around with whomever, whenever…if a seemingly nice guy can be an ass deep down… Who says an ass can’t have a nice side too? Especially as So many, years have passed.

I even let Lex touch Leo.

I listen while he tells me how Zandra had been pregnant. I wonder a little how he can be sure it would have been a boy, but maybe it was just their wish to have a son?!

He then tells me how he checked her life signs. “I wouldn’t have done more. I don’t know more even. Pulse, heartbeat, breathing. Her survival seems a miracle even. That she had the strength to dig herself out. She must have a huge will of survival.”

Leo’s eyes flutter close. After I winded him. Back the days I am pretty sure Lex would have made a rude joke about breast sucking, but now he respectfully didn’t stare at all. But maybe I am also still the child to him?

“Don’t beat yourself up. You all had the fear of the virus over you… Then this explosion… You all would have gotten hits to the head… Shocks… Traumas… Of course she’s angry and hurt. But maybe with time she’ll learn that there are more sides to a story. She now seems to think no one cared… No one griefed…it’s years and years ago. No one can change the past…” I look down at Leo.

“I wished a while I had never fallen for his father… But then… I wouldn’t have him. I try looking at the positive things. To me it’s the only way to not go insane…”

@Salene

[Salene]

Lex

Tally says how she wouldn’t have known what to check for, we were all in shock and traumatised, that much is true… Bray’s words scream in my head, after I told him Amber had died…
Tally goes on to say Zandra must have had a stong survival instict to dig herself from a grave of rocks, many would have given up…

“My son died because of that explosion, I grieved for him and for her, I messed aroubd soo much back then, didn’t want to settle down and have a family, I was a player, I cheated on her…” I sigh and look towards the cafe “My best friend loved her, he worshipped the ground she walked on, I refused to give her up, I was possessive… I wanted my cake and to eat it, I didn’t care for people’s feelings, I was only looking out for me, I got worse after I thought she was dead, god I was such an ass… I still can be”

I give a slight chuckle…

“I destroyed everything I had, by being selfish, I lost my son… Now I may never get to experience being a father… I have had many years alone to think about things, about how I treated people, the changes I needed to make, many years to soul search” I say with a sigh “I’m sorry if I ever did anything to hurt or upset you”

I see the look of shock and surprise in her face that I am apologising, ME big bad Lex, swallowing whats left of my pride and apologising…

@Zwenja

[Zwenja]

Tally

My mouth drops open as Lex apologizes for whatever hurt he might have caused me. Lex?! Apologizing? I didn’t even think that word exists in his vocabulary!

“I… Urm… It’s… Okay. I don’t remember very much from my time here. Just many people, faces… Lots of dramas… Andy and I tried to erase the mall from our minds. I mean… I can’t even really judge after what our stupid older brother did. If he’d only would have accepted Amber’s and Brays decisions about the Guardian… He’d maybe be happy with Alice. Maybe the four of us would have lived on the farm…” I sigh “But see? Exactly this… What ifs and possibilities… Thinking about those doesn’t make us happy. It doesn’t help. Seeing that everyone seems to have come here with getting another letter… Actually… The more I think about that… It’s creepy. And none if the old leaders is here… I hope it wasn’t a mistake to come here!” I whisper, looking over to the Cafe…

@Salene

[Salene]

Lex

As if reading my mind Tally voices whats in my mind

“I hope it wasn’t a mistake to come here”

“While we are here, if you have any problems with these assholes, you come and find me… Don’t leave it, if these guys want to mess with us, they have me to answer too” I tell Tally straight out “Enough is enough, time to face my past”

I stand and leave Tally by the fountain and walk back to the cafe, the least I can do is tell Zandra how sorry I am… Walking in I stop as eyes turn to me…

“Zandra” I say in a clear and commanding voice… “You hate me right now, thats only natural, I haven’t now or ever given you any cause to love me, leaving you and our son in a grave on eagle mountian was the worst thing I have EVER done… In that moment I knew how much you meant to me… I was selfish and didn’t deserve the love you gave me… If I had known you were alive, I would have done everything I could, but we were kids trying to deal with adult things and I fucked up… I’m sorry, if I could change things, I would but I can’t… We were all in shock, traumatised after the explosion, you don’t know how it was when we got outside… I can’t take my actions back, I can only learm from them”

I look at her face and hope what I have said is enough to start to build bridges

[Patsy]

Gel:
I smile as a man asks me if Im there for the mallrats reunion. I nod. “I am! I wonder who asked me here, witch one of them was it, were you a mallrat as well? Before or are you one of the serpents? the one at the entrance told me this was your home now” I say babbling on. I look towards the cafe. What if none of the mallrats I know are there? I worry.

@Danni

[Danni]

CALLAN

There’s a bit of a commotion from the cafe but I hope Luc has it all under control, while I speak to the brunette.

She asks a lot of questions, and I wait for her to finish until I respond, ’no, I wasn’t a mallrat, I’m a serpent, names Callan.’ she looks towards the cafe and I can only imagine what she’s feeling ’I didn’t catch everyone’s names, but there’s a fair few in there,’ I pause, watching her for a moment, ’I can walk you in, if that would help?’

@Patsy

[Patsy]

Gel:

He says he wasn’t a mallrat but a serpent and his name was Callan. Such a fancy name! I think to myself. He says there’s quite a few people there, he says he can walk me in. “Id like that, that would help very much.” I say and smile. "Oh I am Gel, I was only mallrat for a short time, " I tell him. “What if there’s only the original mallrats there?” I ask
@Danni

[Danni]

CALLAN

She agrees for me to accompany her and then introduces herself as Gel, ’lovely to meet you.’ she seems really nervous but I can understand that, the impression I got was that most of them hadn’t seen each other in a long time. ’Im sure you’ll be fine, lots of old friends to welcome you back until this situation is resolved.’

I offer her my arm so I can escort her, ’come on, it’s like ripping off a plaster, quicker you do it the easier it is.’

@Patsy

[Patsy]

Gel:
He says he’s sure ill be fine. “Your probably right but like its been like 17 years, I have to say I’m mostly worried about not recognizing them, like what if they’ve changed so much?” I say with a little laugh. He speaks about ripping of plasters. quicker the easier.

I place my hand on his as he offers. Plasters tends to leave marks, no fun… “Im sure your right but plasters leaves that horrible gluemark and that’s never been or never will be pretty”

@Danni

[Danni]

CALLAN

I laugh quietly when she comments about the plaster leaving a mark, not in a nasty way just that her comment made me smile, ’you’re right, sometimes they do, but still, better to be over and done with than waiting ages and worrying.’

I place my free hand on top of the hand she had on my arm and guide her towards the cafe, ’I get the impression that you’re going to be just fine Gel.’

@Patsy

[Zandra]

Zan

I look at Lex, listening to his speech but in all honesty it doesn’t take away any of the anger “You’ll never understand how it feels to wake up with some many rocks covering your entire body that even breathing is painful. The trauma of literally digging out of a grave, i cant even stand being in a small space anymore because it takes me right back to that moment. Your mistake changed my life. I didnt even want to go to that god damn mountain and I wish that I was the woman I am now because when I said I didnt want to go that would have been the final word on the topic”

I suck in my cheeks for a moment trying to keep calm but its not easy “I really dont care that you’re sorry or that you wish you could change it, that doesnt change my feelings or what I went through so lets cut this conversation here because nothing good is going to come from it” I tell him firmly.

I could feel all eyes on me and at this moment in time I hated it.

[Patsy]

Gel:
I nod slightly at his comment, he does have a point. Waiting putting things off, a specialty. I feel that he places his other hand on top of mine and let him guide me towards the cafe. I take a deep breath. He says he has got an impression that ill be fine. I watch him slightly before nodding my head. “I believe you” I say and look at towards the cafe. “How long have you and the serpents been living here?” I ask, trying to use more time. Besides someone sounds angry out there in the cafe.

@Danni

[Tribelover15]

Cloe

The reunion with Ryan felt good once I had gotten over my shock, I had yet to talk to Lex or Alice but I would probably have the chance once things settle down. I followed along KC and Ryan into the cafe and soon came Danni and Zandra, “Zandra?” I held my head in my hands for a moment as I took a deep breath. Other’s response to Zandra saying they all thought she was dead confirmed what I thought I remembered, I remembered an explosion, Amber and Zandra being dead but then Amber wasn’t dead, and now Zandra. “We were foolish then, Amber didn’t die why should we have believed Zandra had died then too” I spoke quietly and wasn’t sure if it was to myself.

I looked up when Danni talked and I gently nodded my head, “I have the same reason for being here, the letters started to threaten the people I care about… but I have no idea who and why it want us back”

[Salene]

Lex

Being here was a mistake, I knew I shouldn’t have come… Zandra’s words cut me in half, I try to apologise and I get hate back, I’ll never understand what she went through the same as she will never understand my feelings… She looks away after saying her piece, every ones eyes are on us… I say nothing, I storm off from the cafe, before I say something I will regret or worse, I walk past a serpant guy who’s escorting another girl in, I grab my bag as I go and head for the sewers, not looking around for anyone, just walking in sheer anger… I go through the sewer, up the ladder and in to the evenings light… Once outside I take a deep breath and yell as loud as my lungs can, shouting off all of the bad feelings i have right now…

[Danni]

CALLAN

’Not really sure,’ I tell her when she asks how long we’ve been in the mall, ’time is such a weird concept now, but over 5 winters now.’

There are raised voices from the mall and then one of them storms out, so the reunion is going really well then.

’You’ve got this,’ I reassure Gel quietly before we enter the cafe, I guide her towards a table before glancing over at Luc, I give him a questioning look trying to figure out what the hell is going on.

@Patsy @Zandra

[Danni]

DANNI

I stay quiet as Lex and Zandra talk, well, I don’t know if you could call it talking. As Zandra explains what happened I’m horrified, but at the same time it makes the Amber situation look slightly different. Maybe Bray really did think she was dead… maybe? It seems unbelievable but at the same time we were nothing but stupid children who knew nothing about signs of life, or how to do resuscitation. Reaching out I gently put my hand on Zandra’s, just hoping to offer her something calming although well aware she might pull her hand away.

Lex storms out rather than responding to Zandra and I shake my head slightly, it wasn’t my place to comment on their past, or the trauma but running away from it probably wasn’t going to help.

’I don’t know why anyone would want us here, what they get from having us all here, but I think we need to be on guard… us and the serpents!’

@zandra @tribelover15

[Zandra]

Luc

I sit taking in everything that was going on, as Callan walked in with other girl I grin, I motion him towards me, I cant exactly call across the room with the gossip.

While waiting I look atound the room “God knows if any more ex Mallrats will be coming back but I’ll just get everyone caught up.
We are The Serpents, my name is Luc and I am the leader of our tribe though I have deligated the task of handling this to Callan, as most of you have probably found out by now I am not particularly tactful or any good at politics” I pause “Jaz and Liam are over there. Zane is outside and Alix and Bekah will be back shortly. We arent a big tribe but we are a close tribe and we rely on each other, its going to just as strange for us adjusting to this as it will be for you so please remember we have opened our home up to you all”

I nod towards Danni "I agree, we will discuss security "