That's What Bein' A Friend Is About

There Is Not A Thing That I Wouldn't Do

Lloyd stared at the ceiling.

He’d done everything else he could do. He’d yelled, cried, thrown things, yelled some more, until his voice started to give out.

In fact, Lloyd had yelled Major Payne right out of the house, insisting that he “didn’t drive fast enough” and “if they die, it’ll be his fault”. Neither of those things were true. Lloyd knew they weren’t, even while the words were still coming out of his mouth. That didn’t mean he wasn’t angry, just so furious at everything he even looked at.

The Major didn’t get angry in return, and once Lloyd had yelled his voice hoarse, had quietly told him to “get some rest, son”. He left the house after that.

How was Lloyd supposed to sleep knowing Ninten, Ana, and this Teddy guy were all burnt to a crisp and lying in beds, lives in the hands of a healer, just in the other room? How could he rest knowing he was too late?

Lloyd didn’t know if he could ever be like Ana or Ninten--going to church and all--but he’d said a couple of prayers anyways, so that maybe if there was someone up there after all, he’d take mercy on Lloyd’s friends.

It wasn’t like anyone was gonna descend from the sky and miraculously save the three of them. Lloyd knew that. Even if no one heard his prayers, he knew that any successful healing would take time. He had to wait. He had to calm down.

So how come nothing he’d tried to do with his feelings made them any better?

He felt like he was boiling. There was all kinds of anger rolling and burning inside of his body, with overwhelming sadness bubbling up between. It was boiling over, leaking, he was crying. But the thing is, all of the messy feelings didn’t make sense! The core of the Earth was supposed to be the hottest part, but deep down, Lloyd just felt cold. At his own core, he knew there… wasn’t much hope.

The healer had spoken to Lloyd shortly after the tank’s arrival, explaining the situation--explaining the extent of the injuries.

Third degree burns, at least. Those needed immediate treatment. Lloyd had been hours too late for that. Every one of them looked like they’d just been dragged out of a housefire, and left lying in the dirt to get infected and to heal all wrong and--

Lloyd wished he didn’t know what these burns could do to a person. He wished he hadn’t stayed up past his bedtime watching a documentary on TV and seeing all those pictures, lighting up a dark and dusty living room, with only one other source of light down the hall...

...There was one thing Lloyd hadn’t tried yet.

===

One ring. Two. Three.

“Hello?”

Lloyd took a shaky breath.

“Hi, Mom.”

“...Lloyd..?”

She sounded even more tired than usual. Did he wake her up? He hoped he didn’t, she needed rest...

“Yeah. It’s me.”

“Oh--oh, sweetie, I’m so glad you called… I’ve been so worried…”

“I’m sorry I haven’t been calling home. We haven’t talked since I was in Snowman, have we?”

Lloyd heard static, probably his mother fumbling with the phone.

“You were all the way in Snowman?! Where are you now? What’s going on? Are you okay?” she fired off, sounding much more alert.

“I’m, um, I’m at Mount Itoi. It’s near Valentine. And, uh, I’m okay. I mean, I’m not hurt or anything. I mean, not physically,” Lloyd stumbled.