"What on earth! Did you steal five hundred and fifty syringes? Do you want to spend eternity in jail? What were you thinking?"

It took me a few seconds to process that the fact that dad had stumbled into my room and was yelling like mad was not a silly nightmare. I sat up in my bed, and with my hair messed up and my eyes half closed, I responded as calmly and professionally as I could manage:

"Okay, dad, you need to calm down. First, technically, I didn't steal anything, taking into account that it should all belong to me. And, second, I wouldn't forgive myself if one of us, or any other person in the street lost a life that can be saved." The sunlight flooded my window, so my eyes were still closed. "You know I can't sit around and wait."

Dad smirked and continued shouting at me.

"Oh, but you are going to, young lady, you're going to sit around and wait, for long, long years, in a damn prison!"

I noticed I hadn't asked myself how he had found out about the theft, and that's when the newspaper he was holding caught my eye. I was front page news. I withdrew it from him abruptly.

"Oh God. We are the main suspects." I said, and I covered my mouth with my hand.

"Who's we?" Lindsay asked, as she entered my room in her pink robe, and she jumped on the bed to sit next to me. "Oh. I'm part of the we."

"All of us are here, because they tracked the members of the Facebook group we created for the demonstration."

Lindsay stood up, and moved her arm to tell me I should follow her.

"Come on, Tessa. We have to do it before the police come here."

We started running down the stairs, but my dad run faster and stopped us.

"Hey. Look at me. I don't give a shit about living forever right now. I just want to spend the years I have left with you two... running free, and not behind bars. So please stop this and pack your things. We are leaving. Now."

Lindsay and I looked at each other with hesitant, frightened eyes. Before we could answer or move, mum stopped vacuuming the living room and responded:

"Well, I do care about being immortal. And you might want to care too. I don't think Tessa has risked as much as she has to be left alone forever. She's been very brave, so she should at least know for sure that she's going to have us through everything."

Dad sighed.

"Having us through everything means having us to support her. And supporting her right now means making sure she's far away from here, fast. So, please, don't be selfish, Emma, or at least don't claim you're doing it for Tessa."

"But she's doing it for me!" I shouted, still standing in the middle of our staircase. "I can't lose you, dad. Please, let me do it. It'll be less than half an hour."

I started crying. I always cried when I argued with dad. I cried because I felt frustrated at how stubborn he could be in trying to save me; how blindly and doubtlessly he thought that, by sacrificing himself, he achieved something better for me. Those sacrifices weren't sacrifices for him, and they surely weren't helpful to me. We never came to an agreement because we were mirror images of each other; we fought in the same way, our mutual love was endless and impeding.

"I'm not going anywhere, dad." I affirmed, trying to sound totally convinced, trying to sound cold and unmovable. "I'm going to stay here until the three of you can come with me forever. So, we better get to it quick."

To my surprise, dad stayed silent, looking down to the staircase and scratching the back of his head forcefully.

"Dad, you go first." I suggested, trying to take advantage of one of his scarce moments of calm.

He lifted his gaze and met my eyes. He didn't look like he was going to go along with my suggestion easily.

"No, Tessa. You can refuse to leave now. But I can also refuse to be treated until we are somewhere safer. So, please, be quick with mum, I'll start packing." he said, serenely and irrefutably, and he climbed the stairs he had left to the second floor and disappeared into his room.

I opened my mouth to try to make him change his mind, but I knew him all around, because the inflexible and irrational corners of his mind were the same as mine, so I stayed silent. Lindsay frowned and lifted her arms desperately, trying to make me react and make a hopeless effort to persuade him. But, because of how badly I wanted all of them to be immortal as soon as possible, I knew that the wisest thing to do was to respect his decision.

I run upstairs to my room, gripping Lindsay's hand to take her with me, and, at the same time, I yelled at mum to come with us. I removed the white carpet from the floor, extended a clean sheet, and instructed mum to get naked and lie down. As I picked up syringes from a box, I realized how exhausted I was, and my hands trembled at the fear that I might not be able to perform correctly because of my tiredness.

Mum looked so vulnerable on the floor. Back at David's house, and right then, it impressed me how everyone trusted me so easily. Mum held on to my arm as I kneeled next to her. I could tell she was nervous, but that she found reassurance in me. I put the syringes aside and I hugged her. I couldn't tell if it was me or her, or both of us, that was shaking.

"Why does this feel scary if it's something good?" she said, in a voice so sweet that I felt the urge to hug and protect her forever.

"Because it's life-altering, and everything that big is frightening, even if you've been looking forward to it."

That affirmation I had just stated made me think about Luke. Had I suddenly felt drifted away from him because it scared me that something that had been a dream for so long was actually real?

"It feels like there's a big risk in doing this, but, really, it isn't." Lindsay said.

She was holding on to me tightly.

"We feel the weight of an important decision. A decision that will affect every aspect of our lives. I reckon our mind perceives it that way, instead of understanding the situation rationally, and that's why we overthink it." I said, as she looked at me with frightened eyes.

Whenever Lindsay was scared or confused, my sister-status obliged me to comfort her, and to convince her of things I wasn't even sure about. I wanted to give her a guarantee, but, most of the time, the only real thing I offered was the intense way in which I wanted the things that I told her to be true. The few times when mum and dad left us alone at home when we were little, Lindsay used to get nervous at every little sound she heard, and I pretended I was sure it was the neighbours' dog, even if really I was in the dark on whether they still had a dog or not.

I spent the whole time mum had her eyes closed praying for her, for all of us, for a long life together, and I laughed internally when I realized how paradoxical, and, at the same time, how human it was that I was using science to make us transcendental, but still turned to something spiritual or conceptual to feel calmer.

Just as the last syringe emptied, I was startled by the ringing of my phone. I run to it, and almost choked when I saw Luke's name on the screen.

"Luke?" I asked, guardedly.

"Tess, listen to me!" he sounded stressed and out of breath. "There's police here, they passed my house two seconds ago, and they were driving in your direction! Tell me you're not in Brighton!"

"I am." I said, unable to say anything else.

I did not want to go to jail. Not right then. Not while dad was still mortal. I felt trapped already. Tears filled my eyes.

"What am I going to do?" I asked Luke, failing to hide my tears.

Lindsay must have heard me, because she came running into my room, with a pile of folded clothing in her hand, dropped it on the floor, and threw herself on me. I made a gesture to her indicating she had to stay quiet, because I didn't want mum and dad to worry anymore. But they will in a couple of seconds, a voice inside my head told me, when the police come and take you away. Maybe you'd like to say goodbye.

"Tessa." Luke said, startling me. "Listen, listen to me. I had a feeling you were going to be here, so I'm already in my car, with the engine started, waiting for you. So, run. Now. Jump out of the window and run! Now!"

Lindsay was listening to the conversation, and she looked puzzled and scared, unable to let me go.

"Police are coming. I have to go. Meet me at Oxford tonight, okay? Explain everything to mum and dad."

I started running downstairs, and Lindsay shouted:

"Tessa! Wait! What about this?" she said, pointing at the box of material.

"Damn it! Give me two sports bags."

"But you are not going to be able to carry it!"

Dad stormed into the room.

"Who's leaving?"

"Police are coming. Luke is waiting for me in his car." I explained while I put the material into an old bag that didn't look particularly resistant. "We're going to Oxford. Meet us there this evening."

"What?" dad blurted, but he realized we didn't have much time, and he helped us pack.

"Tessa and I are going to Oxford with Luke."

"With Luke? Wait. No. I'm going with you. I'll drive you further away."

"What's happening?" mum asked, as she entered the room and found us on the floor.

We didn't have time to explain again, but she looked at our hysterical faces and the bags and she gaped in realization.

"No, dad, really. You and mum should stay here." Lindsay said, and I thanked her silently, because I couldn't speak. "It's going to be very suspicious if they come here and it's empty. You should tell them that Tess is in London, to get them there this evening, while we are in Oxford."

We zipped the sports bags and each of us took one of them. Dad was hugging us both, heartbroken, when the doorbell rang. My heart pounded, strong and fast. I really thought I was going to faint. Thankfully, Lindsay was reacting quickly, and she led me, running, to the kitchen window. She scanned the outside, and she jumped to Rock Grove. I followed her, regretting that I had changed into a dress when I had arrived home. My ankle twisted as I landed on the street, and I felt as if I couldn't move, as if I was already caught.

"Come on, T-!" Lindsay said, her mind working fast enough to prevent her from pronouncing my name.

We run up Rock Street to Eastern Road. It was the fastest way to Luke's house, because he lived further in that same road, but, as I observed the crowded streets and packed buses, I realized we should have chosen a less transited way. I looked behind my back constantly, making me run slower, but I did it because, every few seconds, I was sure they were following us. Lindsay realized I was paralyzed by fear, so she took my hand and made me run faster. She was the one acting as if she could save us this time. She performed my role even better, with an even more reassuring fake calm, than I used to. People looked at us amused, like we were high school kids playing a summer camp game. We looked way too innocent to be fugitives. The flow of adrenaline through my body got me confused as well. I didn't exactly feel like I was playing hide and seek, but neither did I picture the different possible deviations that moment could have. I didn't feel the weight we had talked about when I had treated mum.

My legs kept moving like a well-oiled, automatic machine, and I was suspended in a parenthesis of my life. Just like when I fell on the floor at the lobby in New York, or when David kissed my neck at The Bridge. I was only vaguely conscious, and, quite strangely, the feeling that stood out among the blurred out mess in my mind was not panic, but a slight, embarrassed glimpse of pleasure. It was a rush.

"Give me your phone!" Lindsay shouted, without stopping.

 "What"

"Just give me your phone, Tessa!"

I did as she said, clumsily retrieving my cell phone from my trench coat and handing it over to her.

"Damn it!" she screamed, as she looked at my screen.

"What?"

It seemed like that was the only word I could blurt out.

What did you think of this chapter? Do you think that Tess and Lindsay will make it to Oxford? Let me know in the comments! I am entering the Wattys 2016, so, if you enjoyed it, please don't forget to vote :)

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