Beautiful Wilting Flowers

I Tripped...

Vek POV:

Heyden and I leave alarmed and gaping Liana and Dean in the hotel lobby, hopefully looking to go to the library and do the job they were assigned. We start down the sidewalk, and I go around to the side closer to the road so that Heyden doesn't accidentally trip onto the street and get hit by a car. I'm replaceable; he isn't.

Heyden is staring at his phone screen, zooming in on maps and looking around.

"There's a few spots we could try, but I'm not sure it would help the search... they all just seem like 'haunted' tourist sights." He swipes around, trying to look closer.

"Well, lets try them all." I nod. "I would say we have the time of day, but I guess we don't,.. still, we want to be sure we checked all possible locations."

"Okay." Heyden sighs. "Just so you know, all of the locations are kind of spread apart, so we ought to be doing a lot of walking today."

"Okay, well, maybe we can stop for some ice cream someplace, on the way back, when we've checked all the spots." I suggest. "Where to first?"

"Um..." Heyden squints at the screen, pausing in his stride. "We'll start with the closest one. I'll lead the way." 

We talk as we walk for a while, and even though we have a four year age gap, which I feel like mattered when you were playing as kids, we have a lot in common. Age starts to matter less on friendship terms as you get older, that's one thing I noticed. Heydens awesome; he's talkative, and holds his own (mostly against Dean, heh), but is also thoughtful and sweet, and he just kind of makes my heart-

Ohhh no.

Oh no, oh no, oh no.

So, uh,... the worst part about being reborn is forgetting things about yourself that you didn't even know were a part of you.

For instance; 

I forgot I liked books. I learned that again, early on.

I forgot I liked drawing,  and I learned that all over again too.

I forgot I maaaaaaaay or may not like guys, and well,... I guess I'm learning that again right now.

...Most people don't have two gay awakenings.

But I guess I 'aint most people.

💜💜💜

"Here we are," Heyden nods to an old shack on an abandoned street. "It says on maps that it's last owner died in the attic, and his spirit still lives there. And it's never been lived in since."

"How long ago?" I crane my neck up at the tall wooden structure, the wood moldy and wet, the windows dusty and cobwebbed, and the entire mansion creaking under the pressure of time.

"Forty two years."

I choke on a cough.

"Forty two years?!" I exclaim. "That's an insane amount of time. Are you sure it's safe to go in?"

"Positive." Heyden says. "And um... can we talk before we go in?"

"Yeah, shoot." I nod.

"Um... your ability to transfer an image onto paper." He hesitantly looks up. "Does that also work for illusions as well?"

"What do you mean?" I tilt my head to the side.

"Like this," 

Heyden closes his eyes, and at first, nothing happens. Just quiet. Then I feel a surge of energy, and light shines up from the ground, and an illusion of the lobby scene plays around us, of Ina marching around, giving orders at us.