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morphed back into a relaxed and humored state.
“Holy moldy, you scared the juice out of me.” Zeph laughed lightly
and released Sky. “Sorry there, kiddo.” He continued to laugh to
himself as he walked away from the two stunned boys.
    Sky rubbed at his throat and yelled hoarsely
at Zeph’s back, “Hey,”
    “ Sorry, sorry, I have to
get back to the snooze fest.” He called back without even
turning.
    “ Zeph!” Sky shouted as
best he could.
    “ Lifts are at the end of
the hall to the right.” Zeph sang back merrily before turning a
corner out of sight.
    Al turned to Sky with a look of concern,
“Wow. What was that? Are you okay, man?”
    He didn’t have an answer
to that question. He looked back briefly in the direction Zeph had
left. What was with that look? What was with that reaction? But
those were questions he just didn’t have time to find an answer to.
“Come on, we’ve got to get going.”
    They rushed down the hall.
They were running against time at this point, and he was quite
certain they were about to lose. Even though they found their way
out, it was still a bit of a jaunt to the closest station. The only
bit of luck they had was having the transport, ready and waiting
for them at the stop.
    “ Thought you boys might be
coming.” Driver Calhoun laughed as they dragged their wheezing
butts up the stairs onto the transport.
    Sky fell into the closest open seat near the
back with Al dropping noisily down beside him. A few seats up some
kid with flame red hair gave them a brief glance back. Normally he
wouldn’t have paid this any mind, but there was something about
that guy that caught his eye. Was it his hulking size? Or the way
he was overdressed for the desert in a turtleneck and long sleeves?
But, no, that wasn’t it. There was definitely something different
about him that Sky couldn’t quite put his finger on.
    “ Aw, man. I didn’t think
we were going to make it.” Al leaned back in his seat and closed
his eyes briefly.
    “We still haven’t made it,
Al. You’re still going to be late.” Sky felt his stomach churn as
he looked over at his friend, “I don’t want you getting in trouble
again with your dad. Maybe I can have my dad explain things, or
maybe your uncle Zero could.”
    “Explain what – that I
wasn’t where I said I was going to be since you decided to bail on
your own going away party and then proceeded to drag me all the way
down to Capital City? Yeah, I’ll pass. It’s fine anyway. I haven’t
been disobedient in a while so the old man should cut me some
slack.”
    Sky didn’t know if he believed him. Al’s
father had a hard time distinguishing between home and work and
treated everyone like they were under strict military order. “I
hope so.” He muttered as he looked out the window while the
transport lurched forward.
    The ride home was a quiet one. There was
plenty to say, but somehow neither knew how to start.
    When they arrived at their
stop, Sky could visibly see Al’s anxiety grow and they began the
race down the Mainway, towards where the paths would split. The
sparse spattering of plant life that had begun accumulating by the
sides of the dusty road, soon became a thick layer of green
foliage, by the time they reached the Crossroad.
    Al was going to be late -
there was no doubt about that now. It was Sky’s fault. He should
have just gone to the party, pretended like it was all okay and had
a proper send off like any other normal kid. But no, he blew it,
and now his last moments with Al were rushed and
meaningless.
    Al had time to throw up a
wave as they split - Al going left towards his life, and Sky
staying straight until the road came to an end.
    “ Wait!” He shouted,
stopping dead in the middle of the road.
    “ It’s not forever, Sky,”
Al shouted back. “It’s just school. I’ll see you in a few months!”
He reassured him as he continued on his way.
    It’s not forever…funny, that’s the same
thing Soul had said.

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