Feel

Ch 6: Trust

Approximate Reading Time: 9 Minutes

"Who is this?"

I snake my arm around Ryan's waist, pulling him closer to me and turning my nose up at Sky and Ty. "Ryan is my friend," I inform them, "and I intend on bringing him with me to meet your friends."

"That's- We don't even know him, we can't-"

"Oh, yes. I can trust two strangers enough to introduce me to a couple more strangers who may or may not be murderers or kidnappers, but you can't possibly make it through a single introduction to someone I trust."

"You trust me?" Ryan asks, eyes wide and innocent as he looks up at me.

I huff and refuse to make eye contact. "Shut up, Ryan." He squeals, and I decide to ignore him.

"Is this a recent development, uh, Ryan?" Sky asks mischievously, and I cringe.

"Yes, it certainly is," the poor Blank replies excitedly.

"Oh, well. Congratulations! What did you do to make him trust you?" Sky asks, surprising me quite a bit. I'd expected him to make some remark about how my point was invalid.

"I don't know, but I've been trying for years! He hasn't even let me over to his house before now!" Oh, wow, Ryan, ease off on the exclamation points. "He teaches me how to act Feeling, though, and maybe that has something to do with it."

"How to act-" Sky's eyes widen, and he freezes. Ty glances between Sky and Ryan quickly and then pushes Sky down onto the couch before he can pass out or something.

"You're a Blank?" Ty asks, voice sounding urgent and slightly panicked. He's trying to stay calm, though, that's fairly obvious by the way he pinches his thigh and bites his lip. Oh, wait. Did I goof? "You're a Blank," Ty breathes as Ryan nods eagerly. "Oh, Notch, no."

I done goofed.

"What's the problem?" I ask semi-nervously, holding Ryan closer still.

"He's- Tyler, no, you can't just introduce us to Blanks! We- Oh, Notch," Ty repeats, falling onto the couch next to Sky, who looks slightly dazed.

"We have failed epicly," Sky sighs. He swallows and stands up. "Look, it's fine. How much have you told him about us, Tyler?"

"I- Nothing much, just-"

"He bought me a sword, to fight any enemies on our adventure!"

I puff up my cheeks with air and then sigh. "Feeling people don't tell secrets to random people, Ryan."

"Apparently they do," Ty responds without a beat. I wilt a little under his accusing glare.

"Adventure? Enemies?" Sky asks curiously, seeming a much more inviting conversation partner.

"Well, I mean, you guys showed up on my land out of nowhere, how was I supposed to know you weren't psycho murderers? And, like, you were taking me to an unknown location, of course I'm going to bring a friend and a weapon or two! Only for self-defense, of course," I ramble as Ryan slips away from me to explore my house. Blank attention spans, I swear.

"So you brought along a Blank as your bodyguard," Ty says in a monotone, completely unamused.

"Not a bodyguard, a friend!"

"He's a Blank, Tyler."

"I'm aware," I hiss. "I haven't exactly had many opportunities to make Feeling friends around here."

"You had the opportunity to make several-"

"And he still has it," Sky interrupts, a warning tone in his voice. "Listen, Tyler, I know our appearance has been kind of sudden and unexpected, and we understand how that could throw you off. But we're... we're not supposed to be here, okay? We're with the Befo-"

"Sky!" Ty hisses, pulling him back down to sit next to him. "He clearly hasn't proven himself trustworthy, we can't just spout off classified information to him!"

"We haven't come across as very trustworthy, either, what with all our secretive behavior. Stand up and be polite, Ty."

"But he-"

"Do you really trust Ryan?" Sky asks, turning to face me.

"Yes."

"Then I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, and-" Sky turns to glare at Ty again. "-And Ty is, too." Sky's expression switches abruptly to one of happiness and eagerness, effectively startling the crap out of me. "Are we ready to go? Ryan, get in here!"

Ryan bounds into the room, fighting back a grin that seems to appear by habit at this point. "Tyler! Why haven't you let me over before, this is amazing!"

"Sorry, I... I don't know, really. My reasons kind of change daily. Sometimes I don't actually have a reason." I cut myself off before I can start hardcore rambling. "Uh, sorry, come on, Ryan."

"Ooh, we're going? Where are we going?"

"No idea. Ready?"

"Of course!" Ryan runs past me and out the door, only coming back after a few seconds that must have been very confusing for him. "Uh, could you lead?"

"No, but these two can," I respond, waving my hand towards Sky and Ty. "Right?"

Ty sighs. "Right," he echoes, finally standing up like Sky told him to. "Okay, follow me. Shouldn't take us long, the walk's short."

Sky and Ty lead us out the door, one with a smile and one with a very definite frown. We walk through the creepy forest, only getting distracted a few times by the various "attractions." Phan? Yes, I carved it into the tree, Ryan. No, it's not important.

Yes, Ryan, someday I'll let you carve one, too.

No, Ryler is not an acceptable thing to carve. Why do I talk to you, again?

I'm sharply reminded when we walk up to the Blue Ridge High School, when a group of Blank teenagers spot me and open their mouths to yell out things that will inevitably make me doubt myself and my ability even more, when Ryan calls out a simple and yet loaded "Hello!" and they all immediately snap their mouths shut.

That's why I talk to Ryan. He sticks up for me, and I'm not even sure why, since he can't exactly "care" about me.

Ty walks casually, as though he's just another unfeeling student without a care in the world. He shows very little interest in the setting sun, though I catch Sky sneaking looks every once in a while out of the corner of his eyes. Granted, Ty slips a bit and lets both a blush and a clearly genuine smile peek through when Sky puts a hand on his arm to subtly point him toward the rosy sky. Ty glances at it, his smile widens, he forces it back and stomps lightly on Sky's foot.

"Whatever, I'll try to be a better ninja," Sky huffs, marching ahead of us all to weave around the back of the school. "It's not like I haven't seen a sunset in ages or anything."

"You'll get to see the sunrise tomorrow, if it helps," Ty whispers in reply, running a few steps to catch up with him. I grab Ryan's wrist and tug him forward to keep up.

"It does a little bit," Sky laughs quietly. "Ooh, d'ya think Jason will watch it with me? Oh my Notch, Ty, it'd be so romantic!"

Ty's smile immediately turns fake – and trust me, I know a fake smile when I see one, you know, since I'm constantly seeing them. "I don't know, maybe."

oh

oH

It's like in one of my Before books, oh my Jeb, Ty's in love with Sky and Sky is in love with whoever this Jason dude is and-

Oh my Notch, it's a love triangle!

I've read about these my whole life, but I've never actually seen one in action! This is amazing!

Mm, but there is a very pressing question held before us: What is their ship name?

I suppose I'll have to figure that out later. Ty waves for me and Ryan to hurry up, and then he puts a finger in front of his mouth. Sky nods in agreement and shushes us loudly, and Ty's eyes widen in horror.

"Sky!" he hisses. "We have to actually be quiet!"

"Oh," Sky giggles, "I didn't realize."

Ty lets out a long, controlled breath of air and then motions for us to follow them to the large rock wall behind the school. It stretches twenty feet high and several hundred feet long, and it marks the city limits. I've no idea what's on the other side of it – it takes an immense effort to get around it, and I've been told there's really nothing special on the other side of it, anyways.

Sky keeps watch, glaring into the growing shadows around us while Ty digs around in his backpack. "Are those people gone?" Ty asks, referring to the group of Blanks that Ryan politenessed away.

"I can't hear them – I think they are," Sky whispers back. "Go ahead, I think it's dark enough." Ty pulls a small, rectangular gray gadget out of his backpack, and Sky gently takes a tiny green orb out of his own. "Ready when you are."

Ty waits a few moments, and I can't hear anything but our quiet, steady breathing and the sound of a few crickets nearby.

"Cover your ears," he says finally, and then he throws the rectangle at the rock wall.

As soon as it leaves Ty's hands, Sky launches the orb into the air, where it floats for a few seconds while emitting a very quiet and low-pitched sound. "Go!" Sky shouts, running towards the rock wall. Ty waves him through, and Ryan and I stare in awe as Sky disappears through a hole that was certainly not there before. The hole is growing, too, like something is eating the rock away slowly, quickly.

"You heard him; go!" Ty prompts us impatiently, and I pull Ryan over to the break in the rock without a second thought. "And cover your freaking ears!"

The orb's low-pitched, continuous scream is getting higher and higher and louder and louder, and, yeah, I can see why it would be preferable to have our ears covered at this point. I crawl out of the hole with Ryan right beside me, and we tumble out just so Ty can jump out after us. "Throw it, Sky!"

Sky tosses another small rectangular thing, this one gray with a red stripe, towards the area right above the hole in the rock wall, which is now growing at an alarming rate. The orb's now high-pitched tone picks up volume and even a sort of bravado, and I know Ty is saying something but I don't know what 'cause I can't hear him and I can't read his lips 'cause the hole in the rock is closing back up, it's growing more stone, how does that even work?

The rock wall closes up entirely, looking good as new, and the orb reaches a whole new frequency that I know I shouldn't even be able to hear. Then it slides down to a low wail before shutting off entirely, and a puff of smoke pops up from over the rock wall.

"Could've warned us before setting that thing off," a brunette boy grumbles, seemingly popping in out of thin air. "Care to explain?"


THIS IS MY "OOPS I HAVE UPDATED IN FOREVER" CHAPTER

OOPS

I HAVENT UPDATED IN FOREVER XD