When Liza and I went to the nearest police station, one of the few operating facilities within a hundred miles of here, we parked near the front entrance. There wasn't any sense in having to walk from the end of the barely-lit parking lot to the doors.
Before we got out of the car, I looked over at Liza and caught her gaze in mine. She had taken her hair out of the braid while driving and I thought it looked nice blanketing her shoulders.
Her plump lips pursed in contemplation as she took the keys out of the ignition. "I'm sorry about your dad," she said, breaking the untroubling silence between us. I'd felt no need to disrupt the peace, even though I enjoyed talking to her. Liza's presence felt comforting enough, in my opinion.
"It's okay," I said. "Thanks for driving us out here."
"Yeah, no problem ..." Her eyes turned forward toward the police station, where we could see the lights on the inside through some large windows. It looked empty, save a few officers in blue suits. "You know," she started quietly, "this reminds me of the first time we went to that dark palace."
I considered the black sky above us and the silence of our surroundings, then nodded. "I remember it too. You're right. This is like that time."
"Only no exam."
"And no missing pencils," I added, trying to give myself a reason to smile. My present situation didn't call for any sort of joy, but Liza helped me forget it a bit. Forget the depressing reality of my father, whose corpse lay in his bed at our house.
Resting a gentle hand on my shoulder, Liza asked, "What do you think of most when that first time comes to mind? I dwell on the feeling of being forced against the sidewalk. Overwhelming."
Considering the question seriously, I reached an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. Giving each other a side-hug, I placed my free hand on the dashboard and felt its rough surface. "Well, I dwell on that too, but my mind always goes to you."
I felt her perk up a bit. "What do you mean, Kev?"
I closed my eyes, resting my temple against her shoulder. "We were there together, at the school taking our final exam, then outside, then in the palace with that freaky monster man. Even when we stopped meeting in person, we saw each other every time we slept around the same time. You've been there from the beginning, in my life, and throughout this weirdness with the Cloud."
She sighed, sounding relaxed. It took us a while to get out of the car since we felt so calm in each other's arms. But our spot facing the station must have disturbed some officers because a knock on the driver's side window pulled us away from our pleasant state.
"Great," I groaned out, eyeing the officer by Liza's car. "Time to tell 'em about Dad."