Disclaimer: I certainly do not own Zero ((but he's sooo cute)) nor do I own many other things Louis Sachar and Walt Disney have made up. HOLES belongs to Mr. Sachar, THINGS-YOU-DO-NOT-RECOGNISE probably belong to me.

My Angel, My Only

Chapter Thirteen ll Hi, Stanley

======

SMASH.

Satisfied, Zero brought the jar to his lips and took a gulp of the sploosh. It was his third jar.

It was the next morning. It was well over sunrise.

He wondered if he should try to walk back to Camp Green Lake.

He didn't think it was possible. He had spent hours walking to the Mar--ya Lou boat, and he definitely didn't have the strength to spend another few hours walking back.

Mr. Pendanski would probably try to strike him with a shovel.

But Zero didn't care.

He wasn't stupid. He'd probably get the shovel and hit him again. And the Warden. And Mr. Sir. And all those other stupid counselors. And Zigzag.

Zero thought about Stanley. His only friend.

He knew that however badly he felt now, Stanley probably felt worse. He had no way of knowing how Zero was at the moment, whether he was alive or not...

Zero knew that kind of feeling. He had no way of knowing if his mother was alive or not. But at least his mother was in civilization.

Zero was out here all alone in a frying pan.

That had to be worse.

Taking a deep breath, he leant against the boat. There were only thirteen jars of sploosh left. He'd run out. He had no water and no food.

He was going to die.

Zero cared about that. He didn't want to die, but he didn't want to return to the camp compound. Too many stupid people there. Ignorant people.

Magnet, Armpit and Squid had always looked out for him, though they tried not to make it obvious. But they weren't his friends. They were like... older brothers.

Zero took another gulp of the sploosh.

Stanley was his only friend.

He hated digging holes.

He was good at it. He knew that. But he hated it all the same.

Digging holes to Zero felt like digging towards the truth. Zero didn't know too much about his life. He had forgotten a whole chunk of it.

For the first time in ages, he felt tears sting into his eyes.

As he turned on his side, he realised the thing he wanted most of all was his mother.

---

Zero didn't have a whiff of an idea of how long he had stayed under the Mar--ya Lou boat. A couple of days, maybe.

He looked at the jars of sploosh in the corner.

Only two jars left.

With a sigh, he began to calculate.

Well, he had drank two jars on his first evening. Then Zero knew he had drank three a day after that. And now there were two jars left.

He had drank fourteen jars, that meant. Fourteen minus two was twelve. Twelve divided by three was four.

Four and a half days.

Zero spent most of his time napping and thinking. He felt so exhausted and tired. The sploosh helped, but what he really needed was clean water and good food.

He had a feeling it was almost noon.

Zero took the second last jar of sploosh and unscrewed the lid It came off easily, to his surprise. He usually had to smash the jars open.

He drank it down.

He set the empty jar in the corner with the other broken jars.

Zero could feel the sun's rays coming through the cracks in the boat.

His eyes felt heavy, and his head spun.

Zero started to slip away...

A pretty woman with dark skin and beautiful black hair was singing softly. She held onto my wrists and made my hands clap together.

I gurgled happily as she smiled and made me clap my hands together some more.

"If only, if only,
The moon speaks no reply,
Reflecting the sun and all that's gone by.
Be strong my weary wolf, turn around boldly,
Fly high, my baby bird,
My angel, my only."

She hummed the melody after, smiling at me. She hugged me, then picked me up. My eyes grew heavy as she gently rocked me.

"I love you, Hector."

"I love you, Zero."

"Zero."

"Zero."

"Zero?"

The sleep cleared from Zero's mind, and the image of the wood over him came back. He sighed.

He was hearing things.

"Zero?"

Yup. He was definitely hearing things. He was hearing Stanley calling him.

But as his vision cleared, he saw something orange hover over him, through the cracks of the boat.

He shifted his legs, and crawled out a bit. He stuck his head out, into the bright, bright sun.

"Stanley?"

"Zero!"

Zero suddenly felt someone's arm wrap around him for a moment. He struggled to lift his bleary eyes open, and made out the figure of Stanley.

Zero smiled weakly. He was glad Stanley had bothered to come for him.

He noticed the canteen strapped to him.

"Is that water?" Zero asked hopefully. His voice was dry and raspy.

"It's empty. I tried driving the whole water truck here but..." Stanley looked sheepish; "I drove it into a hole."

Zero chuckled weakly, "Figures." He leant his head against the boat and breathed heavily. The sun and thick dusty air made it hard to breathe.

"How you doing?" Stanley asked, his voice full of concern. He put his hand on Zero's forehead and lifted some of his brown curls off his face.

"Not too bad. C'mon, I have to take you back."

Zero shook his head determinedly, "I'm not going back."

"You have to," Stanley insisted, "We both have to."

Zero didn't say anything.

"Want some sploosh?" he suddenly asked, noting that Stanley's voice was dry and raspy like his'.

"Some what?" Stanley asked incredulously.

Zero shaded his eyes with his hand, trying to breathe properly.

"C'mon, it's cooler under the boat."

He slipped back in, and Stanley followed.

Zero took the last jar of sploosh, and tried to unscrew the cap.

"What is that?" Stanley asked anxiously.

"Sploosh!" Zero repeated, his voice strained as he struggled to get the top off, "That's what I call it. They were buried under the boat. I found sixteen jars."

He held the jar up towards the side of the boat, and smashed it.

The sploosh trickled down the jagged edges, and Stanley watched anxiously as Zero licked it off. He picked up the cracked lid and licked the sploosh off of that as well.

It tasted divine, as usual.

"Drink some," Zero offered, handing the jar to Stanley.

Stanley looked unsure as he took the jar of sploosh.

"It's good," Zero encouraged, still licking the cracked lid.

Stanley uncertainly lifted the jar to his lips, and drank some. He closed his eyes as he continued to drink some more.

Zero smiled, "I told you it was good."

Stanley nodded, "How many are left?"

"None," Zero replied contritely.

Stanley looked astonished. With a sigh, he set the jar down onto the dirt, "Now I really have to take you back."

Zero didn't say anything. He licked his fingers carelessly. He was definitely not going back, and even Stanley couldn't make him. His mind was made up.

But inside of him, he yearned to return back to civilization. He wanted to find his mother.

What were the odds of that?

"Look, I got a plan so you won't get in trouble," Stanley was saying, "Remember that gold lipstick thing? Remember how I gave it to X-Ray, and the Warden went crazy making us dig where she thought X-Ray found it? I think if I tell her where I really found it, she'll let us off."

Zero hadn't listened. He was trying not to. He wasn't going back. He wasn't digging any more holes.

He remembered the funny words written on the boat.

"What's Mar--ya Luh--oh--oo?" he asked, sucking the sploosh off of his thumb.

Stanley frowned. He was obviously annoyed that Zero hadn't paid attention to what he had said.

"What?"

"Mar--ya Luh--oh--oo," Zero tried again, concentrating hard.

Stanley leant back and sighed, "I have no idea."

Zero said nothing, "C'mon, I'll show you," he finally said. He crawled out from under the boat. Stanley followed.

They were both sitting on the dirt, their feet under the boat but their top part of their body out in the sun.

Zero pointed at the peeling letters.

"Mar--ya Luh--oh--oo."

"Mary Lou. It's the name of the boat," Stanley said with a smile.

"Mary Lou," Zero repeated slowly, confused, "But I thought 'y' made the 'yuh' sound."

"It does," Stanley said, his eyes focusing on the distant cliffs, "But not when it's at the end of a word. Sometimes 'y' is a vowel and sometimes it's a consonant."

"Oh..." Zero thought it was still a big load of complication.

He suddenly moaned as a wrenching feeling attacked his stomach. He leant forward and clutched at his stomach, groaning. For a terrifying moment, Zero was afraid he'd throw up, but the moment passed.

He straightened up, and took a couple of deep breaths. Stanley was watching him, looking very worried.

"I'm taking you back."

Zero shook his head determinedly, "I'm not digging anymore holes," he said seriously.

"You have to."

"I'm not going back," Zero said with the air of finality. No one could force him.

Stanley stared long and hard at him, "You'll die out here."

"Then I'll die out here," Zero said stubbornly, though he was terrified at the very thought.

Stanley just stared at him. Then his eyes drifted towards the mountain again.

Zero didn't know what to do. Stanley probably wouldn't leave until he had taken Zero back, but he was determined not to go back and face Mr. Pendanski, the Warden and all those other evil people...

That would mean the death of two boys. One innocent boy, too.

Zero glanced helplessly at Stanley.

It was his entire fault.

Those stupid shoes, he thought wretchedly, If I had only kept them...

"I want you to look at something," Stanley said suddenly.

"I'm not going--" Zero started, with a small sigh.

"I just want you to look at that mountain over there. See the one that has something sticking up out of it?"

Zero shielded his eyes and looked over to where Stanley was pointing.

"Yeah, I think."

"What does it look like to you? Does it look like anything?"

Zero never knew Stanley was capable of asking stupid questions. But he'd answer it for his sake--

Zero stared at the mountain. It did look a bit like something...

Suddenly, his hand formed into a fist and he raised his thumb. He supported it on his other hand, and looked at Stanley.

Stanley looked at it, with a small smile. He also raised his thumb.

The two boys glanced over the mountain, then back to their hands.

======

---- A/N: Hello everyone... I got a really bad cold on Thursday and slept at 7PM. =] 'Twas nice. Mummy woke me up in the middle of the night and gave me a pill. Muahahaha. Then on Friday morning, I felt better, so I decided to go to school. Mum didn't want me to, but I actually felt like it. Anyway, I got really sick again on Friday night (last night.) This morning, I woke up feeling TERRIBLE. In fact, I was in so much pain I screwed up my face and then started crying. I don't even know why. Well, I've just been sick and that's why I haven't updated. Lol. And also, my computer has gone odd and did not let me connect with the internet. Now it's working again. =]

Zero: ((hugs Jaffy)) Mornin' evewyone. Pweathe do not eat my cwookieth... ((falls asleep))

YAWN.

I feel like sleeping too... byebye... --MSQ.