The rest of us finished our service for the day without even a glimpse of Nathan. It was weird, him not being around. He was a member of our group and it was odd when he wasn't here.

After everyone else left, I made my way up to the roof, stopping along the way to get changed and grab my bag. I smiled to myself as I opened the door. Sure, it smelt like shit but it was also quite a nice area to relax in. There really wasn't anyone to bother you and it was peaceful.

I sat down in one of the chairs and put my bag down, pulling out my book as I did so. I opened the page to where I was up to and took a deep breath, immersing myself into the stories.

"Mara?"

I looked up. Nathan stood in front of me. When did he get here? Wait, when did it get dark?

"How long've you been standing there?" I asked, rubbing my tired eyes.

"Long enough," he answered. I blushed and closed the book. So close to finishing it.

"How long have you been up here?" He asked, crashing into the chair beside mine.

"I don't know. It was still light out when I started reading," I answered thoughtfully. He shook his head.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked, referring to the way he'd strode off without a second glance earlier.

"Look, to be honest, no. I'm not alright," he sighed. Oh, this was not the reply I'd been expecting.

"Do-do you want to talk about it?" I asked hesitantly. He shrugged, taking a sip of the beer I hadn't realised he had.

"I went to see her," he said, looking at the ground. "This afternoon," he elaborated. I nodded.

"The door was unlocked so I went inside, and she was just," he paused. "She was just sittin' there. Dead."

"Oh, I'm sorry," I said, giving him a sad smile.

"She had this fucking ancient photo album in her hands so I had a look through it," he sighed again. This was a side of Nathan I'd never seen before. To be completely honest it was a little unnerving. "She looked so happy in those photos," he coughed, taking another drink.

"Listen, I'm sorry that the others were such twats earlier," I apologised. He looked at me, pale green eyes shining in the moonlight.

"Its not your fault. I just didn't want them to know," he said. I nodded, knowing completely what he meant. I didn't really want anyone to know about the research I'd done either.

We sat in silence, looking out at the lake.

"This whole thing is really fucked up," I said softly, not taking my eyes off the water. He hummed in agreement.

"Yeah. You know what else is really fucked up?" He asked, looking at me. I turned, raised a brow and waited silently for him to say something. "You lot have some kind of superpower and what have I got? Nothin'. Its bullshit," his eyebrows furrowed in frustration.

"You've got your looks," I chuckled. He smirked at me.

"Mara, are-are you flirting with me?" He asked, mouth opening in mock-shock. I laughed, shoving his shoulder. He grinned at me.

"You know, I could easily just take them away," I suggested, smirking. His mouth opened.

"You keep threatening but I have yet to see you do it," he teased. My smirk widened. Challenge accepted.

I focussed on his hair. I imagined it to be a bright, bright red and straight, down to his shoulders. I watched as it did as I bid. Nathan freaked, watching his hair morph without warning.

"Oh, you didn't! My beautiful hair!" He exclaimed dramatically. I laughed as he touched it gingerly. His mouth was open in horror and it merely fuelled my laughter. I couldn't stop laughing.

"Stop laughin'! This ain't funny," he yelled, jumping to his feet. He was smiling, so I knew he wasn't really angry. He stepped forward toward me.

"Change it back," he ordered, a menacing look in his eye.

"No," I replied through my laughter.

He stepped forward again and I leapt to my feet, jumping back as he moved closer. The night air was cold against my skin and I couldn't help but shiver.

"Change it back," he said again, louder this time. I shook my head, biting my lip to keep from bursting out in laughter again.

He was on me in seconds. He pushed me to the ground, grinning. I broke out into another fit of laughter.

His hair suddenly began to fix itself without me telling it to. It turned back to its normal colour, size and shape. That was... odd. My laughter died down and then we were looking into each others eyes. We were deathly quiet and I held my breath. His eyes travelled down my face and back up again. I did the same to him. I took notice of the couple of small moles on his face. I watched as the lines in-between his eyebrows deepened the longer he looked at me. I realised he was still on me. He was lying on top of me, hip against hip, his leg between mine. His arms were holding him up, the muscles straining from the effort.

Then a car honked a couple of streets over and whatever the hell was happening was gone. The connection was broken.

He got off me slowly, smirking.

"You know, if you wanted sex you could have just asked," I joked.

"Wait, really?" He asked, extremely excited about the prospect.

"No," I laughed, still on the floor.

"Why would you say somethin' like tha' only to shut me down? Thats not fair," he pouted. I laughed, sitting up.

"You're such a twat," I giggled, standing up and retrieving my bag. He watched me silently.

"Are y'eh leavin'?" He asked. I nodded.

"Its cold and I'm tired," I answered.

"I could warm you up," he suggested with a waggle of his eyebrows.

"Yeah, maybe later. I've got to get home. Natalie's going to freak," I said. He nodded.

"I'll see you tomorrow then, yeah?" I asked, stopping in the doorway.

"Yeah... see you," he said, looking out at the lake. I smiled a little and closed the door behind me. What just happened? Surely I couldn't be developing feelings for Nathan? No, I can't be. And yet I couldn't exactly deny the way my heart skipped a beat or two, or the way that I felt almost at home between his arms, under his gaze.

I shivered and began my descent to the lobby. I needed to go home.

I didn't really want to walk home in the dark. Not in this neighbourhood in any case but I had no choice. So, without much more delay, I began my adventure home.

~~~~

"I told you there were other people who got fucked up by The Storm," Kelly said, fixing her shirt. Another day of community service over.

"Yeah, well, I was wrong," Nathan said, leaning against his locker. "There's a whole hurricane of weird shit out there."

Alisha made a vulgar gesture with her hands and tongue and I scrunched my face up. Gross.

"Oh, another oral sex gag. Brilliant," Nathan said sarcastically, seemingly unaffected by her actions.

I watched the others as they finished getting dressed.

"We need to be ready for when they come after us," Simon spoke up, closing his locker with a bang.

"What are you talkin' abou'?" Kelly asked, also closing her locker.

"The other people who got stuck up in the storm," he answered as if it were obvious.

"Why would they be coming after us?" I asked him, fixing my eye-liner in the mirror.

"Because thats what people do," he responded. He had a point. Humans weren't exactly the most docile species out there.

"Yeah, well, if they do, we'll jus' tell them it was your fault," Nathan smiled sarcastically, turning to open his locker.

"Uh, you know that note that was in your locker? I think it might have been about the probation worker after all," Nathan said, addressing the group. Stuck in his locker was a missing poster for Tony, our original probation worker. Then, in black marker, there was a note that read: "I know." Once I read it, I felt my blood run cold. No. How could anyone know? But we were careful, right?

We all crowded around it, whatever else we'd been thinking about gone from our minds.

"Fuck," was all I managed to say.

Updated on the 23rd of May, 2016.