The Forgotten Light

16. Harlyn

It's already been a week since Harlyn returned to Florence with the boys. They hadn't heard from either Ritael or Fairlight for seven days. If the girls had somehow managed to survive their encounter with the Invicta Beings in the hut under the hill, they were probably dead now. A week had passed, they would have returned to the base in Florence by now... Had they gotten lost? No, they both knew the area very well. They would have returned home.

Harlyn stood in the doorway of the friends' small room leaning against the doorframe and staring at their unmoved beds. Ritael's bed was made and smoothed as usual. The one under the window, on the other hand... 

The boy almost smiled under his breath. "Just like Fairlight."

Her bedding looked as if a tornado had passed through it. The sheet along with the blanket seemed to fall to the wooden floor any moment, and the pillow lay curled up in a corner against the wall.

Harlyn didn't dare cross the threshold of this room. Instead, he knew that on Fairlight's bed he would also find the military jacket the girl had with her from the very beginning. Harlyn was aware that his friend always slept cuddled up in it, as if trying to fall asleep in her mother's arms.

MJ, who was passing by, stopped by when she saw him. "Harlyn! How are you feeling, bro? I thought Kailah grounded you in bed."

He smiled when the girl wrapped her skinny arms gently around his waist and returned her hug. He was so afraid that after everything that had happened, MJ wouldn't speak to him again.

"I feel well enough to walk on my own. Our doctor needs to chillax. These bandages on my face and stomach make me look like some kind of mummy."

"Oh yeah. Kailee was always the nicer of the twins," laughed MJ.

Then they stood silently side by side in the doorway of the empty room. Although it was small and designed for two people, this was where friends usually gathered and spent time together talking, playing games and fooling around.

"So empty here, so quiet... Things lie as they left them. I don't think anyone will ever come in here again," the girl said quietly.

He certainly wouldn't dare to do that.

Guilt hit him even before he was fully awake. He couldn't look his colleagues in the eye. He preferred to avoid Usain, because he couldn't stand the overwhelming sadness in his gaze. He was aware of everyone smiling at him and trying to bring him back to normalcy, but he knew that would never happen. He had the constant feeling that these smiles were forced, that behind them were grimaces of anger, disappointment and hatred.

He had failed them. He had failed them so terribly. He will never forgive himself that their camp lost these three wonderful people.

Deep down he regretted that they had decided to find the children that night. If it hadn't been for that, they would have returned to base before sunrise, as they always would, and then slept all day so they could sit on the roof at night, where they would have recognized constellations and told made-up stories.

He felt terrible about these thoughts and feelings, and he was well aware that if one of his friends knew them, he would get a decent bop on the head. They always had good hearts. It was just a pity that this kindness repaid them all so badly.

***

The sun was already setting, casting its last flame-like rays on the world of Silent Cities, when twenty-six rebels gathered in front of the camp. Usain stood at their head, in his hands he held three old orange paper lanterns and several black markers.