Clair de Lune

26. Sunlight

The elevator jerked to a stop beneath me, and this time I was holding onto the windowsill in an attempt to stay upright. Lily ran out in front of me and Necro was close behind, leaving myself to take up the rear. The sunlight hitting through the branches was warmer than I'd expected; in fact, it felt a little too warm up here. It was humid and I was doing my best to just keep up with the two.

"Come on Aggie!"

I flinched a little at the sound of her voice, but I couldn't blame Lily. She didn't know the pain that came along with that nickname and I shrugged it off as I caught up to the pair.

We were on the edge of Silver Lake, no PASCI building visible on the far shores. In fact, no buildings were visible around us at all, which made me feel a little safer being out here in the open. Lily had been getting a little bit of cabin fever knowing we were surrounded by forests. It was easy to forget with everything going on that it was mid-May and it would be nicer outside than it had been in past months. Someone had thrown a rope swing over the branch of a tree and Lily's squeals hit my ears when she reached it. I couldn't help but giggle a little as I watched her clamor on and play.

"It's nice out, isn't it?" Necro genuinely asked, holding his hand out into the sunlight.

"It's really nice out," I told him, "it's May now, it'll just keep getting warmer from this point on."

"I'm looking forward to it." He smiled, taking a seat on the edge of an eroded embankment. I plopped down next to him and leaned back, closing my eyes and letting the sun seep into my skin.

"I'm just glad the thunderstorms should be over now since the rainy season is." I looked over at him, realizing there were a few things I'd missed; he had bags beneath his eyes, barely visible among the ink blotches on his skin. He hadn't been sleeping well at all this last week and I heard him some nights, whispering back to whoever was whispering to him.

"Has the astraphobia gotten better or worse since you've left the PASCI facility? I'm asking out of curiosity."

"Worse," I dug my fingers into the ground beside me, "the first night here, I was crying my eyes out in the piano room because the one thing I needed to hear-"

"-you couldn't, because the person that used to play for you is gone." He cut me off, his eyes staring out at the lake.

"I need to stop talking about him," I whispered, hugging my knees up to my chest while I stared out at the water.

"You loved him, it's not just something you can forget about and bottle up so easily." Necro told me, leaning back on his elbows and letting the sun hit his face. "Your aura, it all changed when you heard Murmur and Tammy playing the piano. You were in love and in pain, all at the same time."

"I need to forget about it though," I choked up slightly as I thought about it, "he's never coming back and all it's doing is making me lose my mind. It's...painful."

"I know," His shoe knocked against mine in an act of comfort, "I've been having dreams, about before. It's like, everything is right on the edge of me knowing, but something is keeping it blocked."

"Do you remember anything from then?" I took the chance to shift the conversation and instead turned my head to look at him.

"Someone screaming my name, a blue sky, and eyes." Necro paused. "So many eyes, I couldn't tell which ones were supposed to be mine." He looked over at me, his eyes locking with mine as he blinked, "I think I died, Agnes. I died and they dumped my body where they didn't think anyone would find it."

"Oh my God..." My stomach twisted a little, "Necro, I'm so sorry."

"None of it's your fault, don't be," he told me, "Honestly I almost look forward to sleeping every night. Just because they're nightmares doesn't mean I can't learn a little bit more about myself."