Max to Ben

Live from Koko Boarding House:

Ben turned on his laptop and got online. He logged onto Skype. Right away, he noticed a chat invite. Hm? Who is it now? He clicked on the box. The young man raised an eyebrow at the name.

Who is QuickSilver? Usually, he would hit decline, close the box, and that was end of it. But, this name was different. For one, Ben had seen it somewhere else before. But I can't remember where. He dug through his brain to find the source. As he did so, the young man clicked accept. A new chat window popped up on the spot.

QuickSilver: Ben! It's been so long. How have you been?

*Ben*

Okay I stared at the message and began to type.

Wired Little Geek: Uh who are you? And how do you know me? Have we met before?

I sat back and waited. Then, a reply popped up.

QuickSilver: It's me, Max!

Wired Little Geek: Huh?

QuickSilver: Max Thaws. Remember?

Wired Little Geek: No

QuickSilver: Oko Elementary School. Did you go there?

Wired Little Geek: Yes... Did you?

The next response blew me completely out of my mind.

QuickSilver: I drew on the classroom wall on the day of the fire.

Puzzled, I typed:

Wired Little Geek: What did you draw?

QuickSilver: Kamion, the dragon. You remember him?

Wired Little Geek: Vaguely? Red eyes and yellow teeth?

QuickSilver: Yes!

Wired Little Geek: And black wings?

QuickSilver: Yes!

Wired Little Geek: With the stumpy arms and legs.

QuickSilver: YES!

Thats when the lights all flipped on in my brain. Crap!

Wired Little Geek: Max? Maxxie?

Then, a video feed request popped up for me. I looked up at my webcam. Couldn't hurt to see this guy, could it? I turned on my webcam and clicked accept. The channel popped up on my screen. A guy with dark jet black hair and white blonde streaks stared back at me. He had on some black pajamas. I blinked at him as I slid on my microphone. Max gave me a little wave.

"Sup?" he asked.

'What happened to your hair and did you just get out of bed?" I asked.

"I highlighted it years ago," he said. "And yes."

"Okay how did you find me?" I asked.

"Your webcam journals," Max said. I blinked at him in a blank way. People are actually watching those things? Max gave me a little grin.

"I don't get it," I said.

Get what? Max asked me back.

"Why get in contact with me after all of these years?" I asked. He just gave me a small shrug.

"Felt like it," he said. "But, you're not the only one I need to find."

"I'm not?" I asked as I cocked my head at him. He shook his head at me.

"Uh-uh," Maxxie said.

"Who else?" I asked. He took a moment to run back all of the names in his head.

"Let's see, there's Lisa, Gordon, Russell, Robin, Krista, Matt, Kele, and Julie," he answered. Wow, that many people?

I then unintentionally said, "I don't know how to get in contact with the others, but I can give you the work e-mails of Kele and Julie." Max's deep red eyes looked really big and amazed.

"You would really do that?" he asked.

"Yeah sure, hang on," I said. I brought up my e-mail, wrote a quick message with my best friend and girlfriend's e-mails, and hit send.

"Got them?" I asked.

"Just did. Thank you so much!" my old friend cheered.

"Anytime," I said with a smile. I don't know what happened in that hour I was alone in that apartment of the boarding house, but I think I just opened us all up into one complicated curveball into another.

And for that my friends and girlfriend, my bad. Seriously and utterly my bad.