A Bonding Moment

5-Keith

After following my hall for what feels like deca-phoebs, I reach a dead end. What an amazing waste of time. I'll head back in Lance's direction and hope he's had more luck than I have. These empty halls give me the creeps. Or maybe I just can't stand the silence. All I can hear are the sounds of my own footsteps and my thoughts. I never like my thoughts. They are loud and obsessive and stronger than I am. I always think about my mother. Why she left. Who she is. If I look like her. Dad used to say I look like her. But then he left too. Right now, however, I'm thinking about the conversation I had with Lance.

If I'm being honest there was a time I thought I did hate him. He was everything I wanted to be. He had everything I wanted to have. A big family. Loads of friends. Turns out hate wasn't the strong feeling I'd always felt towards him.

I stop dead in my tracks. Voices up ahead. Not just Lance but someone else. I break into a sprint, he could be in trouble, we should have never split up.

I make it back to the intersection where we parted at and stop to listen. I can hear... singing? A woman. Who could that be? I continue running and calling Lance's name but I get no response. I shouldn't have left him. Dammit.

I find a doorway at the end of the hall. The door is cracked open, I push inside. The room is huge and in the distance I see Lance... walking towards a huge ravene... with his eyes closed? Dammit, Lance!

"Lance! Stop!" I scream and take off after him. He's closer to the pit than I am to him. Quiznak.

"Somewhere beyond the sea. Somewhere waiting for me..."

Is he singing? This has to be one of Haggar's tricks.

Moments before he takes a step off the edge I grab him by his collar and yank him back. He struggles against me.

"What are you doing?" I demand, "I'm trying to help you!"

"Let me go!" Lance cries and fights, tears pour down his face, "I have to go with her!"

"With who? Lance there's no one there!" I pull him from the edge by his shoulders.

"Let me go! I have to... I have to..." His voice trails off and he grows weaker in my arms. He finally gives up and lays against my chest, sobbing and reaching fraily towards the pit. I wrap my arms around him, scared he's going to bolt for it again.

"Lance, come back to me, buddy." I push the hair out of his eyes and look at him. His ocean blue eyes are empty and lost.

"She was there, she was right there." Lance says, his voice is so small and weak. He looks at me finally but this time he's actually looking at me.

"Keith?"

"I'm right here. Whatever you saw wasn't real."

His hand falls on my face and I stop myself from pulling away. "Your eyes look so pretty in the sun." His hand slips and his eyes flutter shut. His body goes limp. My eyes widen and I left his mouth to my ear. He's still breathing. Whatever just messed with him must have drained a lot of energy.