Don't Forget Me

One

Keefe

The loud slam when he shut the door to his apartment, must have echoed through the entire building.

Another job interview, lost. He was an idiot if he thought he could get by with just luck. He could hear his father's distant voice scolding him: "Keefe, why can't you pull your act together. You are a disappointment to the Sencen name." like Keefe had ever cared.

But that wasn't what was distracting him. Today, would mark the precise day she might show up. He hadn't seen her in eight years; he hadn't even said her name. But it wasn't like he had anything left here to stay for.

With a sigh, he walked into the kitchen, and opened the fridge.

"Wow, how have you survived without Mallowmelt this long?" Keefe froze. No, it wasn't her, but he knew that voice.

"Biana, how did you get into my apartment?"

She laughed, though it sounded like she was slightly annoyed. "It's been so long that you've forgotten I'm a Vanisher? Wow, you're way different than you used to be."

"It's been eight years. What did you expect?"

"I honestly don't know what I expected to find."

"Did she send you?" he closed the fridge and turned around to face her. She sat at the island counter. She looked so much like her mother, Della, it was freaky. She was dressed in, wait, is that a noble's cloak? what's with the kelpie patch? She looked so much like her mother, Della, it was freaky.

"Why won't you say her name?" she was avoiding the question, he could tell.

"I don't have to tell you that."

"Then I don't have to tell you why I'm here." Annoying as ever.

"Then get out of my apartment."

"I can't do that."

Biana was starting to get on his nerves. What was so important that she had to be here? "Why not, Vacker?"

"Don't use that name. It's not mine anymore." Not hers? She was being really weird.

"Then What do I call you?"

She bit her lip nervously, twisting her fingers over one another; a nervous habit she'd had longer than he'd known her. "It's Dizznee now."

Keefe could help but laugh. "You're married, to Dex?! I can't tell if that's hilarious or embarrassing."

Biana's face flushed bright red. "Please don't make fun of him, Keefe. You may see him as a joke, but he's more than that."

He shrugged. "Fine, but that means you have to explain yourself. Why are you here?" she was silent for a while, a move I used whenever I was stalling for an answer.

"She didn't send me, but I am here to bring you back." Of course she was.

"I was hoping you would all forget about that."

"That was never going to happen. You're still our friend, even though.." Even though he'd abandoned them, he finished in his head. Keefe didn't have to read her emotions to know how angry she was with him.

"Why should I go back? I have a good life here." Biana laughed again, this time it was a true laugh.

"I've been following you for a few days, and I'm pretty sure jobless, broke, and alone is not a good life. I think. Human ways are strange."

He scowled. "FIne, but I have one more question before I agree to go back."

"What is it?" she asked warily.

"Why couldn't she come here herself? Why did she have you come instead?"

Biana looked at the counter, and then straight at me. "Because she can't come. She is in a coma. Sophie hasn't woken up in an entire year."