Lost In Lucidity

Clairvoyance

Val and I thump from the roof of the shed into the backyard of the red house. Once I land, I pull my jacket aside to check the hack bandage job over my latest wound. The cloth is already stained entirely red and leaking into my shirt. My head certainly feels dizzy from all the blood loss, and the cycle ride back home definitely didn't help, but all we have left to do is get back to the med bay. Then I can rest....

We start down the sidewalk toward the barracks, but I stop Val before we round the block by the park.

"Hang on, can we cut through Tom's backyard?" I ask.

She looks confused, "Huh, why?"

"I told Claireese I was going with my dad to the dam, and that's why I'd be gone. I don't want her to see that I lied."

"Oh, um, okay...."

We hang a left into the alley beside Tom's house, then begin crossing through his backyard. His house is on the corner of a block, and Claire's is across the street in the farthest corner of the 'L', so we avoid the sightline altogether by cutting through.

Val speaks as we exit back onto the walkway, "You've been hanging out with her a lot lately, huh?"

"Oh, um, yeah. I mean, not a whole lot, just a few times now." I nervously stumble out, feeling a clear cold air coming from Valentine.

"Is that what you do when I go visit Morgan?"

The cold feeling turns frigid, "Um, sometimes, yeah."

"Oh."

It's a strange feeling to have just gotten back from a life-threatening journey only to be thrust back into lowly social disputes. It's even stranger that it somehow scares me more.

"I-Is that okay?"

Val snickers and gives me an incredulous look, "Yeah, why wouldn't it be?"

"Oh, I don't know, I just- you seemed..." The girl stares at me blankly, waiting for me to finish. "Um, never mind."

"I'm not your mom, Wes. I don't care what you do."

I wince a bit at her statement. I can't tell what aspect of me seeing Claire bothers her, but instead of shutting up and letting it go, my brain decides to try and push back a bit, "I'm sure she misses you too, Val. If you reached out, I'm sure she'd-"

"Wes, we really don't need to talk about this right now. There's way more important things at hand. Besides, she's made it plenty clear that she doesn't want to be around me maybe, hmm, I don't know- every time that I'm around?"

"O-Okay. Sorry I said anything."

"Wes. Stop. Apologizing. All the time." She spits a little harsher than she probably means to. I recoil away from her and look straight ahead, which she certainly notices. Sighing, she places a hand to her forehead, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean- I just... I feel like shit right now, y'know? Six probably hates us...."

"Yeah..." I softly mutter. When I look over to Val, I see that she isn't looking at me and is instead inspecting every crack of the sidewalk below her.

'Don't let her stew like that, Wes..."

"I can talk to her." I offer. "She's always liked you more anyway. I'll tell her I convinced you to go. It technically wouldn't even be lying."

I can see my effort gives her at least some comfort in knowing that I care, but her forced smile says it all, "None of that is even slightly true, but thanks."

I nod, then let the rest of the walk land in silence.

Heading up the steps to the med bay feels like climbing the tallest mountain in the world, both physically and mentally. Knowing what awaits us on the other side of that door makes me wish I had time to go home and rest first. Unfortunately, we have to face the music, and Val reluctantly knocks.