Chapter Nine

She stopped as she listened to her brother fill her in on the news. Around her, the crew wavered between talking and dancing, but everyone had their attention on her. Her face fell as she continued to listen to Tyler speak, and the tears came to her eyes as she continued to listen.

"Does that sound like the person you mentioned, Camille?" he asked slowly, his voice deep and rich through the speaker. She chuckled as she cried.

"No wonder he never told me his full name," she blubbered, trying to hold back the frenzy that fought with knives inside her chest. She breathed out as her friend's gathered around her, hands on her back and shoulders as she heard soothing voices tap her down.

"He's about to be taken off life support, Camille. I don't know when, or if it has already happened, but you need to think of it this way: he's in a better place now, right?"

"Yeah, but I just wish I got the chance to know him better," she murmured, her eyes waltzing through the silent dance hall, where he usually always was now that she made friends. This was her fault. She should've run for it when she heard them come, or she should've screamed bloody murder and threatened the cops were on their way when they had broken in.

That whole mess was the reason he was so silent. The fact that he really was about to cross over was the reason why he'd forgotten to show up. It was his way of leaving, of saying goodbye.

"I wish I could have that. That friendship, that belief that you can always be counted on, that no matter what, you're there for them, that you're real."

"I think it's cute"

"Please, just go home."

"How do you know that, when I've got nowhere to go to?"

She clicked the phone off, her heart not interested in doing anything anymore. That boy had left something inside of her, and now he was about to die. He was never dead in the first place: he was drifting between one place and the next, and now he-

Her shoulders slumped and she looked to the ceiling, the tears streaking down her cheeks. Without a word of warning to the others, she left them. She ran to the corridor, and looked up to the arch, where she first saw him, and then down to the locker, where he saved her. She continued to walk, all the way to the bottom of the hall, before she took a left and went down to the bathrooms.

"I wish you'd come out," she whispered. "I just want to see you." She tumbled through the school, her hands flying wildly out around her as she blundered through hall after hall, but nowhere could she feel his presence. Was he really already gone? "I really need you, Robert."

It was getting dark outside, and the lights were off in the halls. It was silent, deadly, and it transformed her, made her feel lonely. Was this what he felt all these months as he rested here, wandering the halls? Did he really feel so alone? He stayed between the students and their lives, and the world outside, where he couldn't venture. While she didn't know why the barrier was between him and the outside world, she did know that here he was safe, and he was trapped.

He danced in the background, he watched from the shadows. He was everywhere in this school, and yet he was never seen by anyone else, except her. She clasped her elbows, searching, wondering, waiting for a feeling, something that was him.

"I miss you, you dolt," she commented to herself, feeling the tears well up in her. "I miss you, and you aren't even dead, Robert Alexander. I want you to come back, please, just one last time, and I want to tell you that I think I love you." She stood in the silence between one corridor and another, hearing nothing but the faint sound of her breathing.

She felt so cut off from everywhere else, and it terrified her. This was how he felt all this time, and no-one was there for him. Why didn't she see him earlier? Why didn't she see him five months ago? Did it have something to do with this being his last few days here on earth? She shook her head, at a complete loss. She shivered, and sighed, her voice as soft as the melody of music she wished to hear, the one unique melody that was, of course, his voice.

"I love you, Robert. I love you, Moose, and I wish we could've met, in the real world, or even up there," she looked up to the ceiling, wondering if somehow her voice would reach him, wherever he was. "I wish we could've been together, having fun and making up silly dances together." She sat down on the steps of a stairway as she had turned another corridor, lost in the maze of the darkened school.

"I would've liked to have touched you, you know," she said, a minor blush raising itself up her cheeks as she gripped her hands. "I would've loved to have felt your heartbeat, right under my hand. But even without it," she shook her head, "I would just be happy to be beside you, even if you were a ghost."

She heard nothing, and felt stupid speaking to the quiet. It felt weird, being in the school all by herself, waiting for the boy who would never come again. She smiled, before she said, "Goodnight, Robert Alexander. Sweet dreams."

A/N:: God, I feel like an awful writer, just doing that... and feeling no remorse, until now... T.T Well, it's not over... hmmm, all the angst to come! God, I love angst, I love depression and sadness, and I'm terribly sorry if I sound like a horrible person...

Love you all, guys, and thank you so much for the reviews!

xoxox