Always & Forever

Chapter 14

--Keefe's POV--

          I try to call Sophie but she doesn't respond. Transmitting doesn't work and neither does the blue breezes. We call Mr. Forkel in right as we notice somethings up. He searches her mind and says that it's gone. I don't understand what that means and apparently no one else does either. Mr. Forkel says that it seems that her mind is either in hiding or she's completely gone.

          "She can't be completely gone. She's still breathing," I say checking her pulse.

          "Keefe, she's done this before. Remember when she started to fade? She hid in a nook of her brain where her mind couldn't be touched. The likely explanation is when she woke up the monster she couldn't stop it so she ran to the closest safe spot," Mr. Forkel explained.

          "When will she wake up then?" Tam asked.

          "It depends, it could be a day, it could be a year. A Telepath could go look for her but she's the only one to have ever found someone hiding in the nook of their brain." Mr. Forkel runs a hand down his face. "Keefe, since you are a strong Telepath, you can try if you want."

          I hear him mumble something along the lines of, I'm going to regret this, but I ignore him.

          "What am I looking for?" I ask just before pressing my fingers to Sophie's temple.

          "Sophie always described it as, a trail of warmth, so try looking for that." 

          I nod and place my fingers on Sophie's temples. Right as I enter her mind I notice how organized it is. She has paths leading to different places. She even has signs up that say what that path leads to. I notice one that says, happy moments, and I wander down that path. 

          I see my face in most of the memories but I see more of her little sister. But what makes me sad is the fact that all these memories, Sophie isn't apart of them. I mean she was there, but she was only watching. Not interacting with whoever is in that memory.

          I make my way back to where all the paths form and stray down the path marked sad times. I look around and see the time she had to leave her human life, when I left to join the Neverseen, and when I was in a coma. There are more sad memories than there are happy ones and it pains me to see that. To realize how hard this war has been on her. 

          Sophie's mind sifts and I'm in one of her memories. She's laying on her bed looking through a Spyball. I look over her shoulder to see her watching me as I'm lying in bed at a Neverseen hideout. I see tears on her cheeks as she whispers,

          "It's all my fault..."

          I nearly start crying when I realize that what I did could have broken her sanity. Her mind shifts again and now she's sitting under Calla's tree. She's crying again but then stops at the sound of a twig snapping. I'm walking up to her and she stands up and throws her arms around me. Then the memory ends. 

          I remember what I'm here to do, so I search for a trail of warmth. I find it once I transmit Sophie's name. I follow it and find her curled up in a ball in a corner. Or a nook. So this is what she means by a nook.

          I offer my hand and she takes it. I lead her up and out of her mind and right as we leave her mind I pull my hand off her temple, she woke up. She looked around and when she saw me she wrapped her arms around my neck and buried her face where my shoulder and neck meet.

          How did you know to find me there?

          Forkel told me that you liked to hide in the nook of your mind. So I looked for the nook.