Panic Mode

A Fair Trade

The next few weeks passed by like lightning, but Ace didn't do anything. He sat there, on his bed, cold and numb. He didn't cry at all to mourn Katie. He never cried in times of death, he would only shut down and keep an empty expression.

The others worried about him, he knew they were. Sometimes he'd hear their voices outside the door, arguing about entering. The only voice missing was Sebastian, who Ace assumed was mad at him. There was a lock with a passcode on his door. Ace had locked himself in his room, only letting Carl in for check-ups. Neva tried to get in, but Carl stopped him.

He hadn't heard anything about James.

The air was heavy with guilt. He was there, they both were there. But he couldn't do anything. On top of that, James knew something was wrong, but Ace ignored him.

"Stop that," Carl said in front of him. Ace lifted his head to stare into his eyes. Since when was Carl here? Ace remembered that he had given him the passcode to Ace's room. He opened his mouth, but he couldn't say anything. Someone was dead because of him.

"You're forgetting that I can see your thoughts," Carl snapped. Ace flinched and shrank back as he looked down again. The corners of Carl's mouth twitched into a frown. He sank to his knees and attempted to make eye contact with Ace, but he looked away.

"it wasn't your fault," Carl stressed. "Never blame yourself for something you didn't see coming"

"I should have," Ace replied. It was the first time he said something in weeks.

"The point is that you didn't," Carl sighed, placing a hand on Ace's knee. Ace didn't reply but instead glared at Carl.

"Fine, think what you want." Carl shook his head. " I don't know what to say but that's only my opinion. You need to see someone certified for this type of thing."

"You aren't?" Ace said, "why are you here then?" Carl stood up again.

"Well, I want to make sure my student is OK, right?" Carl smiled. When Ace's expression refused to budge, Carl sighed again. "My friend used to do this thing where he wrote down what happened each day and how he felt about it. It could help you express yourself. Here." Carl stuck out his hand. Ace glanced up to see an old voice recorder with a cassette. He grabbed it, inspected it, then sniffled.

"What am I supposed to do with the cassettes?" Ace asked snarkily.

Carl shrugged, "I guess you can do whatever you want." Ace looked back up at Carl again. What would he do with them? It felt awkward to leave them lying around.

"Could I send them to someone?" Ace asked. Carl shrugged again but nodded. Ace sniffled again and Carl ruffled his hair.

"Do you want me to leave now?" Carl asked, his voice just above a whisper. Ace nodded and Carl moved his hand away, leaving to climb down the ladder. At the top of the spiraling staircase, he stopped again to look at Ace again.

"You don't want to hear this, but," Carl drew in a sharp breath. "James wants to talk to you." Ace flopped back onto his bed and ignored his now frantic thoughts as he listened for Carl's footsteps. He was right, Ace didn't want to hear that. But James deserved to know. Ace sat up again and glanced over to his nightstand, where the small Soul Jar sat.

Inside, a glowing blue orb floated, it's edges fuzzy. Occasionally it bumped the sides of the jar and flickered. Katie was dead, but Ace found a large fragment of her soul drifting in the woods.

♠♠♠♠♠

James was in the library when Ace found him. He was reading a book on dragons when Ace walked up behind him. His footsteps were now quiet enough for him to go unnoticed in the library.