Dragonfly; Phan

VI

The asylum was predictably different when Dan was alone. Silence rang somewhere deep in his ears, pulsing softly in time with his heart. He wandered down the ward with a torch and a mask (in his pocket) and found Skye sitting huddled with blankets in the corner of the secret room, lights off.

"Hey," Dan shone the torch at him and gave him a half-wave.

"Oh, hello," Skye sat upright, rubbing his eyes. "Dan."

"Skye," Dan smiled. "I didn't know where you'd be, so I just wandered down here. PJ couldn't come tonight, he's too tired."

"That's okay."

Dan nodded. He walked slowly across the room and sat down, crossing his legs beside Skye. He let the torch sit between them to provide just enough light. "How are you?"

Skye blinked. "Me?"

"Yeah," Dan nudged his shoulder softly. "You."

"Oh, um—I'm good. Yeah. Are you?"

"Good."

"Did you go to school today?"

Dan nodded. "It was shit."

"What did you learn?" Skye settled back against the wall. "Anything good?"

"Uh," Dan pushed through the mess in his mind to the day's lessons. "We learnt some Greek Mythology."

"What sort?"

"Theseus and the Minotaur."

"Oh," Skye paused. "What's that about then?"

Dan gave him a look. "Do you really want me to tell you?"

"Of course. Why?"

"Because—Well, I ramble a bit. Everyone says so. I don't wanna bore you."

"You won't," Skye shook his head. "Promise. I want you to tell me, it's interesting."

"Really? You think so?"

"Yeah," Skye said gently. "It's been a while since I heard a story."

"Well, okay," They shared an adorning smile that resulted in a moment's silence, before Dan began with: "So, Theseus and the Minotaur. There's a horrible monster in a labyrinth that eats people called the Minotaur. A labyrinth is kinda like a maze-thing and the whole point is that you can't get out. Anyway, so here's this guy, Theseus, and he thinks he's all something. He tells the King he can defeat the Minotaur but the King knows he hasn't got a chance, and even if he did manage to, he wouldn't be able to get out."

"Because it's impossible to?"

Dan nodded, smiling at the way Skye's eyes danced as he followed the story. "But Theseus is in love with the King's daughter, the princess, and she gives him some string to take into the labyrinth with him. So he can find his way out when he's defeated the Minotaur. Before he travels over, his father asks for something. He says that, when the boat is travelling back, he will see the sails first and so he wants them to answer his question. Whether his son has lived or not. He wants white sails for life and black sails for death. Follow?"

Skye nodded.

"Everything goes to plan with Theseus in the labyrinth. He kills the Minotaur and gets out using the string the princess gave. They travel back, but the captain forgets to change the sails from black to white. Theseus' father sees the colour of the sails and, thinking his son has died, jumps into the water and dies."

"But Theseus was okay."

"Exactly. But he trusted the colour of the sail, and their system let him down."