…It happened again. I regained consciousness once, not knowing I passed out. I think the Super Computer was attempting to further delete my avatar. It was probably pretty close to doing it too.

“Kalani? Are you there?” There was no answer. But oddly enough I had sensed she was still there but was probably sleeping. I felt so torn and tired at the same time. I just…I grabbed onto the nearest thing I could in the seemingly dream-like environment which was a vague, white, fluffy cloud-like thing. I grabbed onto it and hugged it as tight as I could. As I did, I seemed to doze off at my own will.

“Chad?” I got awoken from my slumber again.

“Yes?” I responded.

“Chad…It’s Christmas.” She said, a noticeable distressed sound in her voice.

I had nearly forgotten with everything going on. It was Christmas. The day before when I got trapped was Christmas Eve. “I..I know.” I responded. After a few moments, all I could hear was a sobbing sound.

“I'm...sorry...I didn't mean to get you worked up over this...I wish I could explain things a bit more, then maybe you would understand what's going on a bit better...But I know the other's would probably kill me if they found out.” I tried to plead with her, not really knowing what to do at the moment.

“Chad, it's not about where you are or how confused I am, it's that you’re not here!...I know it's not your fault.” She exclaimed.

I just felt worse and worse as these conversations went on. I think as time went on, my emotional pain overwhelmed the physical that I had from getting trapped in this place. "I'm so sorry...I...I...I just..." I tried to reason with her, just getting more and more frustrated. I grabbed onto the nearby cloud again and squeezed it tightly, trying to force myself to cry. But nothing came out.

"D-don't be sorry... Y-you didn't.... I had j-just thought you'd... be here.." she had uttered through her still noticeable crying.

“…Kalani?” I called her name again. I had thought of something just then. Something that may have helped my situation.

“W-what?” I heard echo from her teary voice.

“I don't mean to hurt your feelings or anything like that but...could you try and talk to Jesse again and see if he can help? Just tell him he knows where to find me and that Aelita can walk him through the process...I'm starting to become real weak again..." I told her, trying to remain conscious as best I could.

“Of course. Anything…Besides, I’m being rather selfish anyway.” She insisted, her voice seeming to calm a bit. I just sat there quietly, not really knowing the best way to respond. She had been through too much. I wanted it all to end.

“Chad? Are you still here?” she called back to me after a long pause.

“Y-yes…I’m here.” I responded simply.

“Take it easy, ok?” she said back in a sulky tone.

That was the last I heard as the silence took over for a good long while.

~~

I woke up and immediately I was greeted with a dark, almost black ceiling. I sat up slowly, still a little weak. ‘Where am I?’ I kept asking myself. As my vision cleared I finally saw the room around me. An all too familiar location. All the walls were covered in a kind of brushed metal with the occasional dirt blotch seen at the seams. I stood from the half-deflated air mattress and looked around. Everything seemed well in place. The beanbag chair in the corner. The ceiling hatch was shut. The hidden door in the wall was nowhere to be seen. But I still felt horrible. I guess I was still lost in the dream I had. Wishing it was real and not just a dream or simple flashback. But I was stuck there along with everyone else I cared about and forced to worry about our well beings every day.

Alas, I was stuck where I was. I began slowly brushing off my flat black skintight suit and walked over towards the hatch in the ceiling. I climbed up the wall and reached for the handle on the hatch, sliding it out of the way as the sound of screeching metal filled my ears. Nearly leaping out, I end up in the open plain behind the large leaning tree out in the distance. I slid the hatch shut again and fixed the patch of grass that had been covering it before I stood up and walked off.

I ran into the watering hole frantically and nearly leaped into the large lake with a splash. I wasn’t paying attention and had the huge lion on my ass. I learned never to get caught in a solo fight with one of those things or I was dead. I sat there floating in the water with just the top half of my head sticking out of the water. The tall, yellow grass surrounding the lake in the area did a good job of concealing my identity. The lion just stood there sniffing around quietly. Thankfully it soon gave up and wandered off out of sight. I let out a sigh of relief and pulled myself up halfway onto the bank of the lake as I tried to catch my breath. I guess I was in a particularly crabby mood that day. I couldn’t think of much else but Earth. I was willing to so much as join XANA, the very being that had threatened my life before and landed everyone here in the first place, just to get back home. I mean, Kalani had joined months before when I let my foolish pride get the best of me and she was still the same as she ever was. Though I regret to say that we hardly ever saw each other around anymore. What was I thinking? I couldn’t join XANA. It would go against everything I stood for. As much as I just wanted this whole war that began years ago to end and the hostilities towards the factions to cease, I wasn’t gonna join my own mortal enemy to do so.

I shook my head violently at the thought and just turned around to look at the middle of the lake. I didn’t particularly want to see anyone at the moment. Just wanted some time to myself. I took as deep a breath as I could, grimacing at what was coming next, and dove under the surface of the water. I swam and swam further towards the bottom. The light dimmed more and more the farther I went down before I could barely see anything in front of me and had to go in by feel alone. Eventually I felt the familiar soft patch of sludge at the bottom and pushed my way through as hard as I could.

I surfaced into the damp and muddy cave, covered in layers of mud and sludge. I frantically pulled myself to the solid edge and wiped enough mud from my face so I could breathe. Once my mouth was cleared, I emitted a loud gasp and began catching my breath. As I slowly regained my strength, I sat up and began wiping the rest of the mud off my suit and out of my hair. I absolutely loathed coming in that way, but it was the only entry available at the time.

I got up and quickly began to walk through the adjacent tunnel into the rest of the caves. The whole place, all dark, rocky, and damp, reminded me too much of the underground caves my family and I used to visit back in America when I was only 10…Oh god, my mom. She was probably worried to tears after not being on Earth for nearly a full year with no contact. As far as what the newer arrivals have mentioned, XANA’s focus has only been on the general area of France so the rest of the world was out of his reach. But the whole war that he started between France and all the other countries of the world probably had her worried about my safety. It just made me want to get back to Earth even more. If just to tell her that I was safe.

A loud, fear-inducing snarl came up from behind me, snapping me out of my daydream fairly quickly. I turn around as fast as I could to see a dark blue-green dragon, a miniature one in comparison to normal size to fit into the cramped caves. My reflexes weren’t fast enough though as the beast opened its mouth and spewed a large stream of flames at me. My suit was protective, but it was certainly no fire retardant suit. I could instantly feel the scorching heat against my skin. A few sections of the suit had quickly begun to burn away, revealing bare flesh out in the open. The attack continued for what seemed like forever. When the dragon gave up, I opened my eyes again and tried to regain my bearings as well as launch whatever attack I could before it attacked again. I placed a palm behind my back and focused a bit as a small black shuriken materialized out of thin air. Gripping it firmly and bringing it in front of me, I aimed as best as I could on the dragon and tossed it quickly at the beast. It seemed to aim well but merely bounced off of its scaly hide with a ‘clank’ sound. It didn’t take long and the dragon had launched another attack, spewing more flames in my direction. I was backed up into a corner with nowhere to go. And already having existing burns from the previous attack, it didn’t take much to create an unbearable atmosphere for me. As it let up, I scrambled as best I could past the dragon and ran off, almost tripping over myself as I did. My life points were pretty drained. I needed to find a place to lay low for a while and recoup. I ran off as fast as I could down the nearest dark corridor before the dragon had a chance to attack again. Where I had wandered into was an extremely small crawlspace. Even crawling along on my stomach, I felt trapped. And the existing burns I had didn’t help the situation as the open flesh rubbed against the smoothed, but jagged rock on the ground.

As soon as I forced my way into the next corridor, all I could hear was another loud snarl. I felt an extreme blaze of heat as a stream of flames enveloped my whole body.

~~

I woke up in a slight shiver. Something was missing. I absentmindedly wrapped up tighter in the covers as I opened my eyes and glanced up, the only window in the room letting in a stream of sunlight and making it difficult to go back to sleep. But I couldn’t sleep. I had work that day. Looking at the other side of the bed and finding it empty once again, I frowned a bit and sat up, running my fingers through my overly messy hair before pushing my legs off onto the floor. I was already feeling a bit chilled the moment I crawled out from under the covers so I walked to the end of the bed on my tiptoes and grabbed the clothes I had laid out the night before and stepped out of the room and walked right into the nearby bathroom door, promptly closing the door shut behind me.

Quickly flipping on the water in the bath of this fairly small apartment bathroom, I began to strip out of my PJ’s as I waited for the water to heat up. As I sat there waiting, I kept thinking about what happened the past few weeks with the random disappearances. Before I had time to really think much about it, the steam began to waft into the rest of the bathroom. I quickly stepped in and shut the glass door as I began to take my morning shower.

I finished, shutting off the faucet with an audible squeak and stepped out of the bathtub, dripping water profusely on the rug. Grabbing a towel I dried off as quickly as I could. While doing so though, I hear a noise from outside the bathroom door. I quickly walk over and crack the door open, looking outside.

“Kalani? You back?” I called out. But I got no response. I shrugged and closed the door again as I continued drying myself while looking in the mirror over the sink. My hair had begun to look like a big fluffy mess as it always did after a shower. I quickly finished up and got dressed before I grabbed a brush and ran out of the bathroom. I glanced at my watch and noticed it was already 8. I was going to be late for work again. I quickly brushed my hair as I ran over towards the TV and used the only free hand I had to pick up my backpack and grab the keys that were lying on top. I finished with the brush and tossed it to the couch before I ran towards the door. I frantically shut it behind me and nearly forgot to lock up as I wandered down the narrow, open air walkway looking over the yard in front of the apartment complex. Coming up to apartment 2, I knock quietly on the door and hear a muffled ‘Come in’. Opening the door quietly, I step in to see Kalani and Jordan sitting together on the couch in the middle of the living room while I could hear the TV going in the corner. I smile weakly and head inside, closing the door quietly.

“Hey.” I said in a quiet tone. “You guys doing ok?”

Jordan smiled back and nodded before turning back to the TV and grabbing a handful of popcorn that was in a bowl on the coffee table in front of them. I continued walking over towards the couch.

“Good...Better.” Kalani responded.

I leaned over the back of the couch between the two girls and rested my chin on the fabric.

“Take it you still haven’t heard anything?” I asked cautiously, not wanting to bring up bad feelings again. Though everyone was a little on edge those past few weeks. Too many odd disappearances in the area. And a few of them hit close to home. Wanre had disappeared early on without warning. Kalani hadn’t taken it too well and nearly had another attack when she found out he had went missing. No one knew anything about what happened to him. Even Jordan was having a difficult time with his disappearance.

“Nothing. I’ve kept my phone on all night hoping he’d call. Still nothing.” Jordan noted.

“Chad?” I heard Kalani ask right after Jordan finished. I looked over at her and tilted my head a bit.

“Promise me you won’t disappear like Wanre did? If you do, at least make sure to call, huh?” she said with a small smile.

I smiled in return and gave her a quick peck on the lips as I assured her. “Promise. Cross my heart.” And almost immediately stood up off the floor. “Look, I gotta hurry before I’m late. Stay safe you two, huh?” I said as I reached down and wrapped both arms around them in a strong hug. “I’d hate to have either of you go missing as well.” I then let go and started off for the door again, opening it as I turned around to look back at them. “Call me if anything new comes up, huh?” I said as I began stepping out of the apartment.

“We will. Have a good day.” Kalani said as she waved weakly back right before averting her attention to the TV. I then stepped out completely and shut the door behind me.

I exited out on Constellation Blvd. Even at nearly 8 AM it was nice and sunny out. I walked down the sidewalk, hearing the bell nearby at the school. It was breakfast time. I had about an hour remaining. I neared the corner by the school gate before I heard a loud commotion nearby. I stopped and glance around a set of shrubs in a yard of a house that I was standing in front of. Looked like the whole family was outside. I wasn’t usually one for snooping on people’s private business, but I heard something about the disappearance and it was nice to get any information I could get on the matter. I probably stood there for half an hour but didn’t hear anything new except the mother and father fighting over their son running away from home. I shrugged it off and continued on towards the school grounds.

I walked inside the gate following a large pack of students. The grounds were always well manicured and looked like a forest some days with all the trees. I took the long path through the shaded area.

“Chad?! Hey Chad!” I heard a familiar voice behind me. I promptly turned around to spot the individual. It was Yumi.

“Hey! You’re here early.” I said, surprised to see her here before noon.

“Yeah. Hey, was there going to be anything specific in class today that I need to worry about?” She asked.

I blinked a bit and shook my head as I answered. “No. Just notes mostly. I don’t know about Mrs. Hertz though.”

She nodded and stopped in the middle of the path. “Good. Just tell the boys I won’t be in today, huh? I have some…family issues at home.”

“Sure. Take care, huh?” I said in her direction. But she had already begun to walk off back towards the school gate. I turned back around and continued towards the main school building.

I stepped into the empty classroom, oddly sighing as I walked up to the teacher’s desk and plopped down in the chair as I set the backpack on the floor in front of me. I sat there as I glanced at it, getting lost in a daze momentarily. Something just didn’t feel right about anything those days. Like I was in a parallel universe. I lazily pulled out my laptop and dropped it on the desk and grabbed out a foil wrapped pack of pop tarts and ripped them open, shoving a single pastry in my mouth as I stood up and walked over to the blackboard and picked up a piece of chalk. I began to idly write the notes out on the board, going by memory alone, as I grabbed the pop tart out of my mouth and began munching on it. As I completed the notes, I heard a knock at the door and looked over, still having a mouth full of pastry. I looked over and a girl of about 5 foot, 5 and having dark brown hair was standing in the doorway.

“Hey Michelle.” I tried to utter through a full mouth but only managed out muffled, incoherent words. I held up a finger as I swallowed my food and tried to speak up again, chuckling lightly this time around. “Hey Michelle. Something you needed?”

“Not really. You seen my cousin yet this morning?” she asked as she continued leaning against the doorway.

“Of course. Why do you ask?” I responded, turning back to the board as I finished up the last bit of notes and promptly brushed off my hands accomplishedly.

“Just curious. No word about Wanre yet, huh?” she noted.

I merely shook my head and plopped down in the chair and opened up my laptop as I continued to watch the girl. “Unfortunately. Not a peep.”

She sighed a bit and glanced at the floor. “Alright. Well…See you later in class then.” She said just as she began leaving the room.

I waved weakly at her and swiveled the chair back around to the desk. “See you, Michelle.”

I glanced up at the clock momentarily and it was nearly 9AM. A few students were already beginning to pile into the classroom. Amidst the dozen or so that had wandered in I spotted Jeremie and Ulrich who were real quietly heading for their seats. I glanced back down at my laptop screen as I called out to the students.

“You all can get started on the notes for today. There are no lessons but you will be getting a worksheet at the end of the class.” I noted simply. I was Miss Meyer’s replacement while she was on Maternity leave. I was the math class’s student teacher. More students continued to enter the classroom while I was slowly taking attendance. The first bell was still about 10 minutes off.

The class had went on for about half an hour before I heard a heard a racket in the corner of the room. Looking up, I saw Jeremie and Ulrich arguing back and forth. “Hey!” I exclaimed, trying to get their attention. “Jeremie. Ulrich. Outside.” I insisted, pointing at the door. They didn’t seem to have any objection as they promptly walked out of the room.

“Everyone else, please finish your notes.” I noted as I followed the two outside into the hallway.

“So what’s with all this arguing going on?” I asked.

“You know exactly what’s going on. The argument that took place last night!” Ulrich exclaimed, seeming to be a bit perturbed.

“I told you I was sorry!” Jeremie rebutted.

“Look guys. I may be your friend, but my job as a teacher takes precedent here. If you guys are going to continue to argue, I’m going to have to send you to detention. We already covered this last night. It was a minor slipup.” I mentioned.

“Oh really? Then why isn’t Yumi here? She’s obviously still annoyed that /JEREMIE/ nearly left us all stranded.” Ulrich exclaimed again.

“Hold on!” I yelled. “Is that what this is all about? I just talked to Yumi this morning before class and she said she had some family problems. That’s all. She mentioned nothing about being annoyed about last night.” I had nearly forgotten about the drama that had taken place the night before. The rest of the warriors were off at another replica placed in Antarctica and were once again supposed to destroy this one. Jeremie had sent in a virtual clone of himself to aid the others when XANA had wiped them out. But he had made the mistake of destroying the super computer holding the replica without giving the group any warnings. They had barely escaped onto the network before the whole server disappeared. Yumi was the most vocal about this, being the most mature of the group, and explaining over and over that Jeremie could have given the fair warning to escape.

“Right. You know how well she keeps these things to herself.” Ulrich muttered, not seeming to agree with me.

“I said I was sorry, alright! If Yumi has a problem, she can easily come talk to me.” Jeremie added.

It looked like the two were going to be immature about it and continue arguing so I intervened. “Alright. Detention with the both of you. Immediately.” I said as I leaned partially into the classroom. “Class, I want you all to finish your notes. When you are done, there’s a stack of worksheets on the front of the desk you need to complete for tomorrow.” And turned back around. Jeremie and Ulrich were still looking at me oddly as if they didn’t believe me.

“Let’s get going. Library.” I insisted to the both of them, getting my point across firmly.

I sat in the school library at one of the vacant tables, idly reading a book. Jeremie and Ulrich were fairly quiet on the other side doing homework. It had already been nearly a half an hour. I suspected class would be over soon. I looked over my book at the two and put the book down on the tabletop.

“So are you two off this fighting business yet?” The two merely snorted lightly at the question. I shrugged it off but before I could do anything else, the sound of a set of alarms went off. The all too familiar alarms. Almost simultaneously, Jeremie and I pulled out our laptops and glanced at them. Jeremie was about ready to stand up but I stopped him in his tracks.

“Ah ah ah! Jeremie, I think it’s best you stay behind so you don’t get in more trouble with the rest of the group.” I insisted as I got up and grabbed my backpack. Jeremie had an expression on his face as if he was about to protest to the idea but he quieted down and didn’t say another word. I followed Ulrich out and watched behind me to see if Jeremie was going to follow but he did not.

The factory was brightly lit this morning from the clear skies. Ulrich and I swung down effortlessly to the floor below and rushed into the elevator while I tried to urge Aelita over the phone.

“Aelita!...Yes, I just got the notice a few minutes ago. We’re in the elevator now…Notify the others if you can. I’m sending Ulrich in A-S-A-P…Ok. See you.” Just as I hung up, the elevator doors swung open on the lab. I quickly trotted towards the center of the room where the all too familiar holosphere stood and the console hung from the ceiling. As I did, I heard the elevator close once again behind me.

I had been with the gang for a few years now. One could have considered me Jeremie’s personal assistant. I had nearly learned everything he knew about operating the super computer. I sat down in the chair and begin frantically tapping at the keyboard. I stopped momentarily just long enough to put on the headset and continued at the keyboard. “Ok. The skid’s already booted up. Ulrich. You know the drill. Get to the platform and wait for the others to arrive.” Some days I surprised myself. I sounded like a more fitting commander than Jeremie. Then again I had him beat in age and maturity by about 5 years.

“What do you mean ‘wait for us to arrive’?” I heard over the intercom from a familiar female voice. “Just send us all in already.” She insisted. Without hesitation, I began by calling up Ulrich, Aelita, and Odd’s avatars. I was never much for the over-dramatic command exclamations like Jeremie was so I just rapidly sent them on their way.

“Yumi? You’re next.” I called through the headset and immediately brought up her avatar as well. As they all arrived I switched the screen to the player tracking map to keep a close eye on them. It was a boring job, but since the last few incidents I had when going to Lyoko, I’ve shied away from doing it any further. Much safer for me to spectate from the outside.

“Chad, you idiot! You should have just let Jeremie do it!” … “Yeah, Chad! He made a mistake but at least we could have made it back! You nearly KILLED us!!” … “Maybe you should just go back to teaching and just keep the other students safe, huh?”

~~

I woke up in an odd manner. I was shivering erratically, but not from cold. It might have been subconscious. The dream I had brought back not-too-fond memories for me. I gathered all my willpower to push myself up off the cave floor. I was still weak and my form was badly mutilated with scattered burns and singe marks. Thankfully there were no dragons around. Or at least none that I could immediately notice. But I didn’t want to give them any time to find me. I got up on my feet and wobbled off as straight as I could to the nearest opening I could spot.

…It almost seemed like hours. Like I had nearly travelled the whole caves many times over. I’m just glad I wasn’t caught. Even though I was never in any real mortal danger, those dragons scared me and they really hurt. I’d take fighting Wanre any day over them. It was about that time I heard some trickling water off in the distance. I followed the sound as best I could. Even though my vision was fairly blurry, I saw what could only be surmised as an inviting sight: A trickling fountain which glowed a calm blue-ish green. But I couldn’t make it all the way over so I just turned into the room and collapsed onto the floor with my head up against the wall.

“Ugh…Those dragons are incessant bastards.” I uttered out in pain, probably involuntarily out of all the mess.

“Get attacked again, huh?” Though I couldn’t see anyone, the voice was familiar. It was Kalani’s. I sat up a little bit painfully.

“Yeah. Barely took a few steps in here and had one right up in my face.” I uttered. I could hear the pattering of wet feet coming closer. Her form soon came into view as she leaned down in front of me and reached for my arm.

“Here. Come sit in the fountain. It’ll cool off the burns.” I pushed myself up off the floor as best I could with her help and wobbled over to the fountain under her support. When we approached the water, I slipped down in carefully, hissing in pain as the water began meeting the fresh burns on my body. But the water was cool and relaxing. Felt like I could fall asleep right there. My eyes slowly began to focus as I regained a bit of energy.

“In a few minutes the burns should be cooled off.” She mentioned as she looked down at her feet which were dangling in the translucent water. “And the water still feels nice on mine.” Even through the rippling water, I could notice a fairly large burn on her pale skinned foot.

“Eesh. That looks painful.” I winced at the thought. “I take it the dragons weren’t too friendly to you either?”

“One attacked me, but it only managed to burn my feet before I was able to run.” She noted as she stood straight up in the small fountain. “Burned a few holes in my boots, unfortunately. Glad that none of my stuff fell out.” She began to walk to the other side of the fairly small fountain and sat down in the water.

I sat there quietly for a bit, relaxing as best I could in the circumstances. I inadvertently stretched my legs out, taking up almost all the space in the pool. But she didn’t seem to mind. In fact, I don’t think she noticed. She just continued staring blankly into the water.

“Something wrong?” I asked curiously.

“No…Not really.” She began to scratch at the back of her neck. “Just…a little homesick I guess.”

“Yeah. I know what the feeling’s like.” I tried to sympathize, which wasn’t too difficult at the moment. “I’d give anything to go back home right now.” I finished, a small sigh escaping from my lips.

She stood up and began sloshing through the water in my direction. I involuntarily pulled in my legs, scrunching them up towards my chest. She eventually plopped down on the small lily pad formations circling the fountain next to me. “At least you know what your home really is.” She murmured as she rested her elbows on her knees in a sullen pose. I had nearly forgotten about the whole mess only a month or so ago. I guess I was so happy for her to finally have her memories back that I let everything else slide to the back of my head since then.

I slowly pulled myself out of the water, wincing slightly as the pain from the burns decided to arise again. “I’m sorry.” I carefully reached my hand around her back, avoiding the thin, fragile bumblebee-like wings that protruded from her like-designed suit. “You know I’ll do whatever I can to help you find your real home…Regardless of where it’ll lead.” I hesitated, not sure exactly where ‘it’ was or what it was for that matter.

“Thanks.” I heard as her head dropped on my shoulder. “No problem. I’m really curious to find out where you came from anyhow.”

“Thanks. Me too.” She reached a hand over to my knee and scooted a bit closer. I couldn’t help but wonder exactly where she came from. For as long as I’d known her up to when she first got sent to Lyoko, I had assumed she was just a normal human being like me and everyone else. But the moment she arrived abruptly to Lyoko and lost all her memories, the truth began to come out. She had been a program originally; Created to help the guardians, whom were the Lyoko warriors before XANA had us all trapped here. But no one knows who created her.

Snapping out of my sudden daze, I glanced over at her, looking at her feet dangling in the water. “Feet feeling any better?”

She glanced up at me, smiling a bit as she wiggled her toes. “My feet have been feeling better for a long time. I should be the one asking if your burns feel better, yours are fresher.”

I paused momentarily but threw my hand up in a ‘don’t worry’ kind of gesture. “Oh. They’re fine. Slightly tender, but I think I’ll manage.” I lied slightly, beginning to fidget with the frayed edges of my suit where the burns were. The smile on her face faded as she looked down at my legs and pressed gently on one of the open burns. I winced at the slight but noticeable pain. She quickly pulled her hand away and sighed a bit. “What? Something wrong?” I asked in a quit tone, trying not to harbor bad feelings.

“No.” She responded simply as she shook her head in a gentle motion. I didn’t respond much but lowered my head onto her shoulder gently as I closed my eyes, relaxing. I could hear the calm sounding trickle of the water and the light sloshing from moving feet which I could only guess as being hers.

I sat there quietly in the calm and cool atmosphere, feeling like I was about to fall asleep. “I…I miss the old days.” I murmured almost involuntarily.

At this, she reached over and lightly grabbed onto my hand with her fingers as she asked quietly herself. “…What about them do you miss?”

That was a loaded question. I missed everything really. “…Everything…Hanging out together...Some of the fun times we had with our friends...Our apartment...Even school was fun some days in comparison.” All I could hear from her was a small agreeing noise. I opened my eyes long enough to look over at her. She looked like she was about to fall asleep herself. I closed my eyes again sleepily.