Waiting for War

Luke

kally is not having an easy time turning into her animal. i haven't either but it's been easier than her. i can get feathers to grow. even if i can't turn into whatever bird i might be. honestly it's kind of funny watching the others try to transform. There's one kid who has a pig snout he can't get to go away.

The teacher keeps insisting that this will be essential for our adventures through the levels, and Ken hasn't come back yet, as expected. The teacher even asks us where he is. The truth is I don't know. not that I want to know. He's been on a downward spiral I don't want to know where it's lead him but he's my best friend and I can't let him go alone. Finally, I ask the teacher if I can go to the restroom. She sighs and finally agrees. I need to find him. Whatever, wherever, however he is I need to be there too because that's what best friends do.

I search through the many rooms in this cathedral of a building. The spiraling stairs, the marble floors. The large cavernous expanse shooting up from the center. And there I find a hand laying over the edge of the highest floor. I start mounting the floors, my feet covering two steps at a time. My heart races as I reach the top. I'm right. Ken is the one at the top, his body leaning over the edge, his hood covering his upper body except for his hands, his hands laying over the edge, his elbows holding up his weight. I step up next to him and rest my arms against the metal bar, looking down over the interior organs of the school.

"If I jump I just regenerate," Ken looks over the edge with a vacancy between his eyes.

"Must mean you have more to do in this world," I state.

"Thanks," he snarls. "Why are you up here anyway?"

"My best friend disappeared so I was worried something happened."

"What are you going to do when you can't find me," he grins sarcastically.

"I'll keep looking," I look back at him. "You wouldn't be alive if there was no reason to be," I finally tell him.

"I seriously doubt that, or else why would I be dying," his smile is cold and calculated.

"You haven't died yet," I counter.

He looks at me and sighs.

"Why do you want me to live so bad Luke, you're the only one that cares about me like this, why?"

"I'm your best friend Ken. Try anything you want, I'm not leaving. I was charged with keeping you alive, and I'm not throwing in the towel any time soon," my fists clench as I see the vacancy filling his eyes. It feels almost hopeless. And that makes me feel anxious.

In the distance i hear the bell, and a crowd swarms around us. If he was just one of those other alasians, one of the many lost in the crowd would I know how desperately alone he was. Would I care this deeply if he wanted to die?