One Hundred Ways To Leave The Planet

Chapter 5: Torn Apart

Two walked down the dark street to One's house. Excited as always to see his best friend, Two knocked.

To his surprise, the door opened by itself, creaking as it did so.

The usually bright, clean house was now bleak and unkept. Two looked around nervously, wondering where One had gone to. Wandering back toward her room, Two squealed in fear when a cobweb dropped down by his pristine dancing shoes.

"Cobwebs might mean spiders... One hates spiders... What's going on here?"

Two entered One's room, jumping out of the way when the door fell off its hinges.

There was no sign of life at all in the room or the house. Two's anxiety went through the roof when a voice boomed, "What are you doing here!?"

"I-i-i... I'm l-looking for O-o-o-one," Two stuttered, holding back tears of pure terror.

The voice laughed mockingly. It reminded Two of a comforting laugh he had heard one or twice before. "One? One is long gone."

"W-Wh... What?"

"She's been taken," the voice informed flippantly.

A numbness flooded Two. "T-taken?" Two whispered, half to himself. "Taken by wh-who?"

The voice chuckled evilly. "Why, me, of course."

A rush of anger surged through Two, at the same time he recognized the voice. "Twenty-One!?" Two screamed incredulously. It was more of a statement than a question. "Where's One!? What have you done with her!?"

"It's not your concern."

"Of course it is!" Two spat, crying tears of rage. "Have you hurt her? I swear if you've hurt her–"

"I haven't hurt her, just you."

"Wh–"

"Oh, Two, everyone knows about your isolophobia. By taking One, I've taken your whole life too. And I've done her a favor."

"By kidnapping her!?"

"Yes. She wouldn't have wanted to stay here, what with you pestering her all the time. One was a fake friend. She didn't really care about you. Surely you must have noticed?"

Two stood completely still, shocked that anyone would even imply such a horrible thing, let alone say it as a fact.

"You didn't?" asked Twenty-One, cackling. "Oh, Two, you shouldn't be so naive. No-one here is a friend to you, but you want to believe otherwise."

Two fell to his knees, crying tears of fear, anger, and hurt.

"No-one is your friend, Two," Twenty-One repeated. "No-one."

Two hadn't realized that the room had started to get darker. He screamed when the cold darkness closed in around him.

***

"Two? Two!"

Two sat up in his bed, kicking his legs and yelling with his eyes closed tightly. "No! No! Not again! One is my friend!"

"Two! I'm over here," One tapped her friend on his shoulder, but the action only made him panic more.

"No! One cares! She does! You're lying!"

"Two!" One shrieked, climbing on to the bed and shaking Two. "Calm down!"

Two opened his eyes to see One's frantic face. "O-one?"

"Yes. I'm here."

Two began to cry and threw his arms around One.

"It's okay. I'm here, I'm not leaving you," One comforted him. "These nightmares are becoming more and more frequent with you. Are you alright?"

"N-no," Two sobbed. "You're leaving me..."

"It's okay. You're okay–"

"No! We're not okay! You keep saying it's okay but it's not!"

"We've been through dark things before–"

"But not like this! Everything we've been through before, we've been through together! This is not the same! This is... cold... this is empty, this is numb... You're leaving me and there's nothing I can do!"

"Listen to me, Two. Nothing is gonna happen to our friendship. I'm never going to leave you."

Two sniffled. "How can you be sure?"

"Because you're my best friend and I would do anything for you. Because I know you would do anything for me. Because, well... everything is better with two," One sang, eye sparkling.

Two laughed, despite everything. "The two of us together, just me and you," he finished. He smiled fondly at the memory of their first week together. Everything good in his life took root and grew on that day.

"I'm going to miss you," One said, interrupting his thoughts. "But I'm never going to leave you. You are my best friend."

Two wiped his eyes and hugged One. "And you're mine."

Anyone would be convinced that Two's anxious feelings had dissipated, but Two was a good actor.

'It's not okay,' Twenty-One's voice whispered in his mind. 'It never will be.'