"Look! It's Halo!" Squishy jumped up and down.
Glitch sighed, as he stared at the floor, trying to ignore his friend.
"Halo! Halo!"
Squishy waved his Halo game near Glitch's face. Glitch only lowered his head, and cradled the PS2 that was in his arms. Squishy smiled, and started to smother his Halo Game.
"Truly this is my purpose in life." Squishy smiled.
Glitch stared at him.
"PS2 is better." Glitch said.
"Yeah right, sure."
"It is!" Glitch said.
"No, really, I believe you." Squishy rolled his eyes.
"Hmph." Glitch said, cradling his PS2.
Glitch was tempted to push Squishy as they began to walk down the stairs, but decided not to, since that would mean endangering his PS2. Squishy meanwhile began to copy Glitch and held his Halo game with care. Glitch turned.
"I hope Smith likes the games I brought." Glitch says.
"What did you bring?"
"Rachet and Clank, both of them, and some other stuff with Kung-Fu."
"Dude, I bet I could beat him in Halo."
"Urgh."
They continue to argue, stepping down the last few steps. Knowing they'd soon be welcomed by a bouncing Shadow, explaining an overwhelmed Smith how to beat Enter the Matrix. And Shadow would say PS2 rocks, but Halo rocks out loud, and so Squishy will jump in victory.
Of course that's not what they saw.
Shadow lay in the corner on the bed, crying.
"Oh my God." Squishy whispered.
"What they hell happened!?" Glitch yelled.
Shadow started to wipe her tears, she hated looking so weak in front of them, looking as if it was really all to much, as if she was just some little girl. Glitch ran over to her, placing the PS2 on the bed.
It was Squishy that first realized Smith wasn't there.
"Where's Smith, Shadow?" Squishy shook his head, walking over to her.
Shadow hid her eyes in her arms, trying to stop.
"Where's Smith!?" Squishy yelled.
Shadow put her hands over her ears.
"Squishy!" Glitch yelled at him.
"They took him!" Shadow yelled.
The two looked at her.
"They took him! They came in here and took him!" Shadow screamed.
"What the hell are you talking about!?" Squishy yelled at her.
Shadow screamed in frustration and retreated back into her arms.
"Agents! Matt! Agents came and took him!" She yelled at him.
Squishy didn't say much, he just looked at her, biting his lip. He started playing with his hands, grabbing his shirt and putting his hands in his pocket. While Glitch sat there, next to Shadow, not sure really want to do.
"They took him...They took him. He didn't run away, why didn't he run away?" Shadow mumbled through her arms.
"When did this happen?" Glitch finally spoke.
"Last night, they just came... I don't know how... Smith told me to hide, and well, I did..." She wiped her tears.
"Shit. Shit. Shit." Glitch said.
Shadow continued to cry. Squishy was left staring at her, and everything else, left untouched by the Agents. It's as if they were never here. It's as if Smith just...went out into the open. Maybe he went to get coffee, or something like that. Maybe he'll be walking down the stairs any minute.
But Shadow never cries, at least not in front of them. She can't even fake cry. It was strange watching her. It's strange watching anyone cry. You don't know what to do.
She just wouldn't stop.
"Stop crying!" Squishy yelled.
"Shut up, Matt!" She yelled. "You just shut up!" She pointed at him.
"She's right, Squish." Glitch said quietly.
"He's gone! Just stop! Stop crying!" Squishy yelled at her.
"He is gone! That's why I'm crying you fucking bastard!"
"Angst Bitch!"
"You guys, shut the hell up!" Glitch told them.
Shadow was left, looking at Squishy with a stare that matched Smith's. He hated that. He hated looking at her, and seeing him. He hated looking at her, and being reminded of him. So he looked away.
He's gone. He's gone, he's really gone.
They always feared it. They knew it would happen, maybe. But they denied it. They told him it was safe. They told him he would always be safe, he would never feel the pain he felt long ago.
How could they lie to him?
"What the hell do we do now?" Glitch whispered.
"We have to get out of here now. Get rid of all these pictures of us, get rid of it all, in case the Agents come back." Squishy said shakily.
"What about, Smith!?" Shadow yelled.
Squishy lowered his head.
"He's probably dead." He said.
"Shut up, Matt! Don't even say that!" Shadow yelled.
"My name is Squishy! And he's dead! I bet he is! Agents found him, and now he's dead!"
"You don't know what you're talking about!" Shadow yelled.
"No matter how much we want it to happen! No matter how much we wish it! It doesn't change a thing! Agents came and took him away, and now he's probably dead!" Squishy yelled.
Shadow laid back on the wall.
"You're wrong. You're wrong. He's not dead. They would've shot him here, right in front of me if they wanted him dead now. They would've shot him, that's how they are. They get a mission, and they fulfill it as soon as possible. He would be lying there on the floor right now, if they wanted him dead." Shadow whispered, calmly.
"Then they shot him in the street." Squishy said.
"No. They wouldn't let him off so easily. They'd interigate him, ask him how he has been able to survive so long, how he became a Virus, what he has been doing all this time, if he knows anything about Neo...Then....Then they'll shoot him, and he'll be dead. But that won't be for a long time."
Squishy turned his head away from her.
"Then we got to save him!" Glitch said.
"We can't save what's already lost." Squishy said.
"Shut the fuck up, Matt." Shadow said. "Glitch is right, we have to go save him."
Squishy wiped his eyes.
"We can't, we're just kids." Squishy told them. "What chance do we have against Agents?"
"We don't." Shadow lowered her head. "But I know a few people who do."
Squishy turned to her. He didn't want to do this. There was no way he was going to do this. They couldn't save him, even if he was alive. They're just kids. They're just kids who happen to like Agents a lot. They're just kids, they're not Neo and Trinity and Morpheus. They've never been to the Oracle's, they've never seen the Real World.
They're just kids.
"Jones and Brown." Shadow said.
"Jones and Brown!?" Glitch repeated.
"No, Shadow. We couldn't... There's no way in hell we could pull this off." Squishy told her.
"Matt..." Shadow got up. "We have to do something..."
"What then? Get ourselves killed!?" Squishy yelled. "They'll kill us, Shadow! You know that of all people! They'll blow our brains out, without a second thought! That's an Agent's purpose!"
"But they can't touch us! Ever since the peace, they're not allowed to hurt anyone that isn't unplugged!" Shadow yelled. "Hurting us is an act of war!"
"What makes you think they don't want that!?"
"Guys, shut up." Glitch told them.
"I don't want to die, Shadow! I want to live! I want to get out of this God forsaken place, I want to see the Real World!" Squishy told her.
"They won't touch us..." She shook her head.
"Shut up!" Glitch told them.
"I don't care how much you love Smith! That doesn't mean it'll end like your stories! We'll die if we do this! Smith wouldn't want that!" Squishy yelled.
"My stories..." Shadow smiled. "My stories end in pain and suffering! You know that!"
"Shut up!" Glitch pushed them both.
"I don't care how much you want Smith to take you away, and hold you, and protect you, and tell you he loves you, that is never going to happen!" Squishy yelled.
Shadow stared at him, her mouth open. Then she turned away, and put her head in her eyes, she didn't even want to look at him anymore.
"I told you...shut up." Glitch looked over at Squishy.
"Shadow... I won't let you do this. We'll die." Squishy told her.
Shadow raised her head.
"I want to try, Squishy. Then one day if Smith comes back here, half dead, we can tell him we tried. We tried to help him, we tried so hard, but we couldn't do it. I want to try. I want to save him... We have to." Shadow turned back to him.
Squishy turned his head, and started to pace around.
"Gah!" He yelled. "We are so dead!"
"No we're not." Glitch told him.
"We can't do this!"
"Yes we can!" Shadow yelled at him. "I've got it all in my head!"
Squishy shook his head, as he finally just walked up to Shadow, and grabbed her.
"We are not going to do this." He told.
He picked her up off the ground, and started heading for the stairs.
"Let go of me!" She yelled.
"After all he's done to the world. After he has hated us, killed us, and ruled the entire world, you want to save him! You want to save the cancer, the Virus of the Matrix! You want to sacrifice everything for that thing! Well I won't let you." Squishy told her.
"Let go of me you fucker! Let me go!" She squirmed in his arm.
Glitch stood near the bed, watching the two bicker. He bit his lower lip, turning to the television he had worked along side Smith for so long to try and fix. He shook his head, and he sat down on the bed, listening to the other two scream their heads off.
"I won't let you die."
"Let go! Let go! Let go! I hate you! I hate you so much!" Shadow yelled.
She finally kicked him in the chest, and fell to the floor. She crawled away as fast as she could, as Squishy stumbled.
"I hate you!" She pointed at him.
Squishy stared at her at the wall.
"Don't ever say that you bastard! Don't ever talk like that! You know it! I know it! He's not like that! He was never like that! If he was you would've told by now! He would be dead by now!" She screamed at him.
He shook his head, and grabbed her again by the hands.
"I want him back too. I really do." He told her.
"Then let's get him!"
"It's not that easy."
"I know!"
She ripped her arms away from him, and ran beside to Glitch, who had a rather blank stare.
"I have the money! Have you ever seen me spend money! I have like eight hundred dollars! I know where Jones and Brown live! It'll take like two days by bus! That's all! Then it's in their hands! That's all we have to do! Agents won't even know about us! They can't even touch us!" She screamed.
"And what about after that?" Squishy asked.
Shadow looked away.
"What about when he's safe, with us. And the Agents come after him again. And he has to run away. What about when he spends the rest of his life running? What about after all that, and we have to say goodbye, and we never see him again?" Squishy asked, keeping his distance.
Shadow turned to Glitch, as if expecting him to say something, but he didn't, he just stared off into space. Then she turned to Squishy.
"At least then, he would have a life." She told him.
Squishy sighed, as he sat down on the couch, across from them.
"At least then, he may be happy." She continued. "Everyone deserves to be happy, don't they? That's why...Jones and Brown were pleaded innocent after the trials after the war. That's why programs are treated as humans here. That's why...Sentinels are thanked whenever they recharge a ship..."
Squishy sighed again, and Glitch moved his stare to the bookshelf.
They all wanted him back.
"So...What do we do then?" Squishy looked at her.
She didn't bother looking at him back.
"We say are goodbyes, explain we'll be back soon. Leave notes for parents I guess. Pack for the nights we'll spend sleeping somewhere else. I guess we could get a cheap motel, cheap ones don't care who you are as long as you got money... I'll buy the bus tickets, get a map and everything. Find Jones and Brown, which should be easier, they live in what few hills are in New York. Tell them, they should know where the Agents are keeping Smith. After all, they were Agents. The Interigation room is like a Construct, it's a place outside the Matrix, but still part of it... We get Smith, and if we can, we'll take care of him. If we can't...we say goodbye. Then we'll come back home... As if nothing ever happened. Blame it all on hormones or something." Shadow told them all.
"Okay." Glitch finally spoke.
Squishy still shook his head.
"Fine." He said.
"We won't get hurt. They won't even know..." She whispered.
lllllllllllllllll
"We have to go now." Shadow told everyone.
"But, I don't understand. Where are you going!?" Yuki yelled at them.
"It's just something we got to do." Squishy told her.
"But...You can't!" Yuki yelled at him.
Squishy turned his head.
"The less you know, the better. We're just leaving, we'll be back soon." Shadow said.
"This doesn't make any sense!" Switch told them.
"It doesn't have to, can't you just trust us?" Shadow asked them.
It was Monday, they took Sunday to pack and think about it all. Shadow wondered if this is how Neo felt staring Agent Jones before he started firing his gun. Or perhaps it is like right before you take your first jump. When you stare down at the far away ground, knowing you have to do this. Squishy compared it to rescuing Morpheus like Neo and Trinity did long ago. Shadow pointed out that their rescue was a success. It wasn't that hard to get out of the school bus or that car, to know that they would not return for a long time. They were in the Matrix, they were fighting for what they believed, they have to forget about the rest. It wasn't that hard. It wasn't that hard to sit through two classes, not taking notes or paying attention. Just tapping their pencils.
Besides, they'll be back soon.
So they stood there now, during Nutrition, their back packs full of clothes and food, and anything they'll need. Within Shadow's pockets she carefully held three bus tickets. The three wore all black, looking ready for this.
Glitch who stood off to the side, silently waiting to leave. Squishy who had an orange shirt in his back pack, looked pretty good in black. And Shadow, leaving the trench coat in her closet. It was just a burden, she could barely run in it anyway.
"You guys are crazy!" Yuki yelled. "I won't let you go!"
"Too late, I already tried that." Squishy told her.
Yuki shook her head at them. Switch was reacting much like Glitch, staying silent. Mouse was twitching his head like he always did, but this time their was a purpose behind it.
Shadow looked back behind them.
"There he is." She told Squishy.
Squishy nodded.
"Bye guys, we'll see you when we see you." Shadow told them.
Squishy nodded, as he started walking towards John, who was just trying to get his locker open. Squishy bit his lower lip, grabbing him by the back collar.
"What the fuck!?" John yelled.
"Shut up." Squishy told him.
Then Squishy picked him up, and slammed him into the lockers by the face, and pushed his head into the steel. He turned John around and put his arm around his throat.
"You did this John. This is all your fault." Squishy told him.
"What the hell are you talking about!?" John was able to gag out.
"Can you feel that? That's me crushing your windpipe. If you survive this, you probably won't be able to speak anymore. You'll probably become a vegetable by then, because of the lack of oxygen." Squishy told him, pressing harder on his throat. "This is all your fault, John. Why? Why did you have to tell?"
John was gagging against the lockers.
"Let him go." Shadow said. "We're not murderers, or Rebels, or Agents. We're just kids."
Squishy sighed, dropping John to the ground, who started to cough and gag for air.
"What the hell was that!?" John coughed.
"You told! You fucker told! They came, John! Agents came and took him away! You told!" Shadow yelled at him.
"I didn't tell!" John yelled.
"Whatever, everything was fine until you saw him. Until he saw you. Now he's gone. Everything used to be fine." Shadow told him.
John lay on the cold school ground, holding his throat.
"It doesn't matter, let's go." Shadow said turning around.
She started walking away, towards the street. Glitch already was waiting for them, his hands in his pockets. And Squishy stared at John, before turning, and following Shadow.
"What the fuck, Agent girl!?" Some eight grader yelled. "Hey, I don't care how much you like those Agents, you can't go around doing that shit to people!"
Shadow lowered her head.
"Today is not a good day, sir." She told the eight grader.
"Yeah, well I don't give a shit!"
"Not today!" Squishy yelled, punching the eight grader in the face.
Squishy shook his fist, almost enjoying letting al the anger out. The three watched as the eight grader stumbled today the floor.
"Not today!" Squishy repeated.
"Not ever again." Shadow told him.
And Glitch, Glitch just smiled, and nodded.
The eight grader held his face in his hands, as he stumbled to get up. Then a teacher started to run towards the three of them. Shadow almost laughed.
"Now what?" Glitch asked.
"We run." Squishy said.
Then they started running as the teachers and their friends screamed at them. But they kept running. Running down the streets into the buildings where Rebels once fought a war in. Run and fly away.
lllllllllllllll
Next Chapter: Walking the Path
Squishy and I had good fun deciding the dialogue in this.
