A LEAP OF FAITH

Chapter 24: Swaying in the wind.

In just a few minutes, they made it back to Earth. Cerus dropped them off right in front of the staircase.

"It was nice hangin' out with you kids. Thanks for helping my brother, I couldn't stand seeing him all sad and depressed." They chuckled softly and waved to the hall of elements.

Sugar smiled, "No problem, dude. Thanks for taking us back down here."
They said their goodbyes and parted their ways. They walked for about an hour until they made it to a good spot to rest.

"Today's been a long day, huh?" Sugar said as she stretched her arms into the air.

"For sure." Kiren chuckled and sat down onto the grass. Everyone stuffed their faces with half-way moldy food and hoped that they wouldn't get food poisoning. After they finished eating, they decided that they should go to bed.

"Goodnight, fellas," Sugar said before crawling into her sleeping bag.

"Goodnight," everyone responded in unison.

After about two hours passed, it was the middle of the night. Everyone was sleeping, everyone except for Malcolm. He tossed and turned, not being able to fall asleep. He knew that if he went to sleep, he'd have terrible nightmares, just as he does every night. Every nightmare he had reminded him about his past and the things he did, so he tried to avoid sleeping at every chance he could, especially after the day he had. He could never forgive himself for yelling at Kiren like that, so he decided to do the next best thing. The thing he's been yearning to do for the past few years. He stood up, taking his backpack along with him. The wind blew cold on his exposed skin, salty tears pricked into his eyes. He unzipped his backpack, taking out what he needed. Walking back over to Kiren, he took one last look at him. He bent down, planting a kiss on his forehead. Malcolm then stood back up, clutching the particular item in his hand. He stood before a large oak tree, smiling softly. He glanced back at his guilty conscience, taking one last look at it.

"I hope you're happy."

Kiren woke up, the sun was just about to come up. Surprisingly, Ari was still asleep. Perhaps he was just tired. Though, Kiren typically slept in. He felt something was... off. He looked next to him, noticing that Malcolm wasn't there.

"Malcolm...?" He whispered before standing up. Maybe he just went for a walk to clear his mind. Kiren strolled around, trying to find where Malcolm could've gone. But... that was when he saw it. He couldn't scream, he couldn't cry, he just stared in shock. The large tree that stood before him held the one person he loved most.

Malcolm used the rope that was stored in his pack to take his own life.

Kiren finally snapped back to reality. He let out a blood-curdling scream as he stared at Malcolm's corpse that swayed in the wind. Everyone woke up, including Maverick after Ari powered him on, immediately and went to see what happened. One by one, everyone appeared behind Kiren, just staring at their now-deceased friend. Kiren fell to the grass, sobbing and shaking. Steam emitted from his face, it hurt a lot, but he didn't care. What hurt more is that he could've prevented Malcolm's disappearance had he tried hard enough. "It's all my fault..." he whispered, clenching the grass below him in his hands. "WHY?!" He screamed, "WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE THIS WAY?!" His sadness quickly turned to anger. He's never felt so furious, it coursed through his skin like fire. That was when he realized... he was on fire. The others stepped back as they watched his anger take form. Sugar had read about this once. If a fire element gets angry enough, they will ignite into flames. It doesn't hurt the person in question, but it does pose a problem for the people around them. Kiren screamed and cried, begging for all of this to be just a dream. His voice grew raspy, and it cracked with every inaudible word he screamed. Sugar looked at Sharlet, motioning towards the boy on fire. She gave a quick nod and casted a spell, dumping water onto Kiren. The flames quickly extinguished, but his screams of anger quickly turned into screams of pain. All life in him was drained from the water spell, he lay limply on the floor, shakily reaching out to Malcolm.