In Between

Chapter Thirty-three: Home

The fall was the most bizarre thing either of them had ever experienced. Draven's body responded automatically with the familiar swooping sensation in the pit of his stomach along with the shocked tensing of his muscles, but all of that would soon wear off. His first reaction was to look back over his shoulder for curiosity's sake. The dark mass that was the Inbetween had quickly shrunk from view, confirming that he was plummeting downwards into the nothingness of the Abyss, but once his homeland could no longer be used as a frame of reference, it seemed as though they were no longer moving at all.

"This is weird," Kieran commented in a thin whisper. He sounded as though he were about to be sick and looked it too. Draven was admittedly feeling quite queasy himself, and it didn't help that he could feel fresh blood soaking the back of his T-shirt.

"Do you think we'll hit a bottom?" Draven asked, even though he knew that there most likely wasn't a bottom—there wasn't anything at all.

"I hope not," Kieran answered. He glanced at Draven and commented, "This is really weird. Your hair should be flowing behind you, but it's not even moving. Are we still falling?"

Draven saw that this was true for Kieran's hair as well. It simply didn't make sense. They should've been able to feel the air hitting their faces as it moved past their skin and shaped their hair and clothes, but it appeared as though they were suspended in one place.

"Maybe we've started floating and we'll be stuck here until we die—or do you think we could have exited time and space itself? Maybe we've stopped aging and will live forever with nothing but each other for company," Draven mused.

"Please don't say things like that. I'll seriously freak out. We can't just exist and never die!" Kieran wailed, panicked.

"Calm down, will you? You're crushing my hand," Draven said, attempting to flex his fingers.

"No, no, no! Don't let me go! What if we get separated? And how the hell are you so...so calm?" Kieran asked, growing paler and paler every minute.

"Just trust me, okay? Try tilting forwards. If we are still moving than Apryl shouldn't be too far below us. Let's see if we can catch up to her," Draven suggested, dragging Kieran along until their heads were pointing towards what they estimated was downwards relative to the ledge where they had jumped from.

"It still doesn't feel like we're moving at all—wait, is that her?" Kieran asked.

"Apryl!" Draven called.

A flesh-colored dot some distance below them started to take form as they approached. Her blonde hair glowed in the darkness, once again defying all logic because they shouldn't be able to see anything in this lightless void.

"Oh God, what's happening?" Her terrified voice floated up to them as they moved towards her (or possibly the other way around), and Apryl reached out to clasp each of their free hands. They straightened out and clung to each other as if life depended on it.

"Did Calix throw you guys off too? Are Mel and Bri on their way?" she asked them desperately.

"I don't know if they sent the others down here. We sort of...jumped," Kieran admitted.

"You jumped after me?!" she squealed in disbelief.

"Hey, it was Draven's idea!" he explained quickly.

"Why?" she asked, turning angrily to him.

"Well excuse me for thinking that you might want a little company down here," Draven told her, but he couldn't hide the smile on his face.