The Abstraction Chronicles: The Abstract

Chapter 9: A Heart To Heart

You'd imagine walking through your mind would be entertaining, seeing memories and

thoughts long forgotten right? Wrong! So far, we've been walking for hours with no end in sight. Not to mention the rain has kept up its light downpour and both of our clothes had become completely soaked.

"How much longer do we have to walk aimlessly before something happens?" I ask Cynthia who is panting from the continued walking and the sting of the cold rain.

"I don't know. I've never entered another's mindscape for this, but maybe since this is directly linked to your mind and feelings try thinking of something?" Cynthia offers while taking a moment to put her hands on her knees.

"Ok, I'll try it." Thinking back to what Alfur and Thaddeus told me about the Abstract I say, "I could try and imagine I had the Lock in my hand like what we did for the fish?"

"Sounds good to me."

Closing my eyes, I think of the Lock or just a Lock in general since I don't know what it looks like. Feeling a shift in the air, I open my eyes, and around me is nothing but pitch black. I'm staring at a void of nothingness.

"Cynthia are you there?" I ask. Continuing to look around I can't spot her anywhere. "Great! I'm all alone in my mindscape or whatever they call it." I say under my breath.

"Zane?" Hearing my name being called I turn to see my best friend Buster and, in that split, second, we were back at school.

"Is that you!?" I ask feeling my shoulders sink with relief. "You know it!"

"Awesome! You have no idea what I've been through, man do I have something to tell

you."

Walking over to hug him, he pushes me away. "I guess it's cool to see you again, but we were never friends. You were just someone I hung out with when my actual friends weren't around. Besides, who would I have to bring me lunch every day?"

"Buster?" I ask as I start to feel weak in my knees.

"You're a good for nothing loser that's been a thorn in my side ever since we've met.

Hey Collin, don't you feel the same?"

Calling over across the school's cafeteria Collin raises his head and says, "Stop wasting Busters' time he has better things to be doing and, on that note, don't talk to me either, we don't want to catch what you have."

"What do I have then!?" I say starting to feel like my world is being turned upside down.

Buster continuing to look at me stretches his face into a smile that couldn't be natural and exclaims, "You've always been complaining about life and how it's tough. It's bringing us down. Why don't you go bother someone else with your stuff?"

"That'd be better for everyone." I hear Collin say as he begins to eat his sandwich he pulled out.

"But we've been friends for so long." I say in a desperate attempt to get through to him.

Waving his finger Buster says, "Never friends, you were just someone to call to pass the time. Goodbye Zane, and if you try to talk to us again, we'll pretend we've never met you." Turning around Buster and the school seems to shrink out of view. The darkness once again enveloping me.

"No! Wait!" I say running as fast as I can trying to catch up to the image of Buster walking back to the table with Collin. Within a flash of a second, I was back where I was with nothing around me. Was that real? Was I just back in my world? I just need to calm down.