longer.blue

Before we begin regularly posting, a recap.... Part 7 of 8 The Skye Sisters Saga with Raine Skye (@@romanticraine.bsky.social) and Billie Skye (@billieskye.bsky.social) Billie Continued “Billie!” Raine was calling me. I broke into a run. The mist peeled away in quick, nervous ribbons until the street opened wide and there she was, standing in the streetlight, her face drawn tight with panic and relief. I didn’t stop until I collided with her, arms tight around her neck as she tethered me to the earth. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Raine Reaching for my phone on habit, I turned it over in my hand, frowning as it was completely black and lifeless, as though it were no more than a hunk of plastic and metal. My eyes began to scan the streets and as I turned back even the car I had raced here in had disappeared into the mist. Older, heavier, worn autos scattered the streets in limited numbers. A squeak of metal against metal filled my ears and I turned to see the Bingley Arms sign swinging in the now heavy breeze behind me. Thunder rapped heavily over head, startling me back to the moment, sending a shiver up my spine. Thick fog began to roll in, the buildings slipping in and out of view in its heaviness. The air was heavy and suffocating, my head swimming as it tried to make sense of it all. A heavy clock, surely from the village church, chimed loudly announcing the hour, each chime reverberating through my heart. Heavy rain drops began to fall as I stood in the middle of the street, each pelt of the fat drops of water stinging as I turned around and around. Finally, my fists clenched and I let out a bellowing scream from the pit of my stomach, frustration and fear pouring from me. Tears were streaming down my cheeks as I called out her name* Billie! Billie Blue! *Louder and louder each call came. Surely the shop owners and pub owners could hear me, but no one emerged. My voice was ragged and torn* Billie Blue Skye! *My body was giving out in sheer exhaustion as I cried out once more* Billie! *It was then that the fog parted, the rain still falling and gleaming in the streetlights, revealing the village to me once more. I hadn’t even focused before Billie’s body crashed into mine, her arms clinging to me like a lifeline, her own body wracked with sobs matching my own. I threw my arms around her, holding her to me as I did when she was a child, waking from a nightmare, hoping somehow the two of us were going to find our way out of this one together.* +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Billie Raine’s arms locked around me, her breath catching against my ear. Everything pressed in, the rain, the night, the weight of the air. I buried my face in her shoulder, shaking, my whole body trembling from exhaustion and shock. My fingers dug into her coat like I might fall straight through the cobblestones if I let go. The fog still clung to my skin, cloying and cold, as if it hadn’t quite finished with me. Her chest hitched under mine, a quiet sob breaking through the rhythm of her breathing. The sound hollowed something in me, guilt flooding fast and sharp. “I’m sorry, Raine…” The words caught, splintered, and trailed off as my throat closed. “I saw her,” I rasped, my voice barely a thread of sound. “Raine… I saw Mam.” Her arms tightened, but I barely noticed. The words kept spilling out, jagged and uneven. “She was in a bar, not a dream, not like the nightmares, she was there. I talked to her. She said she ran away from Dad once, after Stanford. She came here. Right here.” My chest ached; the air felt thick enough to drown in. “She said love had to be faced… that some ties don’t break. And then she told me to go. Said you were calling me.” The rain tapped against the street in slow, heavy rhythm. I pressed my forehead to Raine’s shoulder, trying to catch my breath. My voice came out small again. “I don’t know what’s real anymore. She looked so alive, Raine. She felt real. I think she was trying to warn us.” Raine’s hand found the back of my neck, her fingers steady but shaking. I could feel her heartbeat through her coat, quick and frightened like mine. The silence between us wasn’t empty, it hummed, thick with what neither of us could say. “Can we go?” I whispered, then louder, more frantic. “Raine, we need to go. Please… we have to get off the street.” My breath hitched, half sob, half plea. “I can’t stay here. Not one more second.” She nodded, tightening her hold, and pulled me forward. My legs barely worked, but she kept me upright, guiding me step by step through the rain. The air shifted around us; the fog that had once felt alive began to thin, losing its pulse. The rain was just rain again, steady and cold. Somewhere above the rooftops came the rough, distant cry of seagulls, a sound so ordinary it broke something open in me. Dawn was coming. The night was finally loosening its grip. I clung to Raine as she led me down the empty street, her arm locked firm around my waist. The first, pale hint of morning was crawling up through the mist. The world was still shaking under my skin, but I didn’t dare look back. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Raine *I wasn’t sure who was shaking more as I guided us down the street, Billie or me. I hadn’t said a word. I couldn’t find them. My head was screaming and my heart was thumping hard in my ears, but I was in survival mode…whether it was mine or Billie’s, I wasn’t sure. I hadn’t taken a moment to look at her yet, for my eyes were frantically scanning every inch of the village I could see. There was…something out there in the dark and it made my blood run cold. I picked up the pace of our steps, my boots near slipping on the now wet cobblestone. I was practically lifting Billie off the stone as I ushered her down the street, the fog beginning to roll back in from the corners of my eyes as I threw open the card door, sliding her into the passenger seat before racing around to slide behind the wheel. I started the car and skidded and swerved as the car struggled on the wet pavement. My knuckles were white as I gripped the wheel, racing through the heavy rain until after ten minutes it miraculously stopped. As I pulled into the village of Bramham, I squealed the tires as I pulled to the curb in front of the All Saints Church. With shaking hands I pushed my door open and stood on shaking legs. For a long while I paced back and forth, my mind trying to make sense of what you’d shared when you suddenly appeared in the middle of the street. I turned and stumbled, dropping down on the old stone steps leading to the church, my whole body shaking as I reached into my coat pocked instinctively for something that never should have been there, pulling out a pack of cigarettes. I pulled one out, lifting it to my lips before flicking a match over the bottom of my boot and holding it to the end, sucking in the flame until smoke was emanating into the night sky, fat, hot, nervous, fearful tears sliding down my cheeks, trying to figure out how to get my prodigal sister now seated in my car and me out of whatever the hell this mess we were in* +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Billie ~Safe Enough to Breathe~ I don’t remember the drive. Just flashes, the wipers slapping against the glass, the smell of wet leather, the kind of cold that gets into your bones, and fear. When the car finally stopped, I didn’t move right away. My body felt heavy, like I’d been poured back into it wrong. The door creaked open, and even colder air slid over my skin. Raine was pacing on the church steps, shoulders tight, until she wasn’t. I watched her stumble, catch herself, then drop to the steps, suddenly a cigarette between her fingers. For a second longer, I just stood there, still shaking, still trying to breathe through whatever this was. It was all I could do. I pushed the car door open and stepped out, not limping exactly, but not steady either. The kind of half-drunk, half-shell-shocked walk that comes from keeping it together too long. My boots scraped the cobblestones, arms wrapped tight around myself to keep from spilling out, letting Raine take one more drag before I spoke. “Since when do you smoke?” I asked, voice low and hoarse. Her head barely tilted toward me, that blank stare I knew too well. I waited another beat. She didn’t answer, just took another long drag, like she needed the burn to prove she was still real. I climbed the few steps, stopped beside her, and exhaled a laugh that came out cracked and half-crazed. “You’re over here shaking like the world’s ending, and I’m the one playing sane. That’s how I know we’re in the bloody Twilight Zone.” I took the cigarette from her fingers, drew in slow, familiar smoke, and let it curl out in a thin ghost between us. The air tasted real again. My hands still trembled, but it felt good to do something ordinary, to remind myself the world hadn’t completely slipped off its axis. I’d seen enough nights fall apart to know this was how you steadied the edges: one breath, one small ritual at a time. She’d curse the smell come morning, but for now, the smoke was the only thing keeping us tethered. I passed it back, my shoulder brushing hers. “We have to keep moving,” I said quietly. “We won’t be safe until we’re back at your room.” She hesitated, eyes flicking toward the church door. I cut her off with a look. “No,” I said. “We’re not doing holy ground and breakdowns tonight. You’re spooked. I’m wrecked. But I know how to function like this.” I rubbed my face, forcing a breath that didn’t quite steady. “Come on,” I murmured, soft but firm. “Let’s go before I change my mind about pretending to have it together.”