Chapter Eight

Taking Notes

"Is there anything else?"

"No, Ruby… I think that's it." Tanzi rubbed her temples. "If I'm being honest, I think my brain is going to give up on me if I'm not careful." She looked up at Ruby who was standing, scribbling in a worn notebook.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," Tanzi nodded firmly.

"…Good…" Ruby wrote one final word and looked down to Tanzi. "And you haven't had any kind of vision?"

"You said I'd know it if I got one, so no, I haven't," Tanzi replied. "Besides, didn't you say that nearly a week passed before anything happened in London?"

"Yes, but I don't know if that's the rule or if that was just coincidence." Ruby finally sat down opposite Tanzi, looking tired but also somewhat triumphant. "So, just to recap – I want to make sure we got this down. The driver of the minibus was the first person. Next was someone you suspect to be homeless. Then our dear friend Jay Scythe. Now, you heard all the names of the students during your vision, which is a blessing if I've ever heard of one. So it was… Lacey… then Zach, Naomi, and Jade?" Ruby rubbed the insides of her eyes, around the bridge of her nose. "Then… Then me." Saying this, Ruby squeezed her eyes shut. "That… That really doesn't feel good. It makes it feel like everything Sabrina did for me… It makes it feel like it was useless."

"Don't say that," Tanzi said. "If it wasn't for her, you wouldn't be here to guide me like you are."

"…You're right." Ruby stretched out her shoulders before continuing. "And then the girl called Paige and finally yourself. Now, what were the personalities like?"

"The one that stands out is that Paige girl. She seemed to take a leadership role. She also seemed to know how to make the hard decisions. In the vision, when Lacey was trapped, you refused to leave her but Paige knew she had to get out before the minibus erupted in flames."

"…You didn't mention that…" Ruby said, frowning. "I refused to leave her?"

"Yes. You care very much about human life, Ruby. I didn't need a vision to know that. I mean, that's why you sacrificed yourself to save Paige and I, right?"

"I guess I would have been thinking that… Shit… this is so weird."

"You think it's weird? This is completely new to me, Ruby."

"I know, but… in a way, it's completely new to me as well. I never got to discuss the vision with Sabrina. She didn't want to share the facts. Being able to talk with you and converse about what the people were like… I think it will really help us going in to save everyone. So other than Paige, anyone else stand out?"

"While he didn't show anything particular… I think Zach may be a real help."

"How so?"

"He didn't really panic throughout the whole thing. He definitely retained his composure. Naomi, on the other hand… She started off seemingly in shock but she lost it, big time."

"Okay…" Ruby consulted her list. "So I think we've got everything we need to start with."

"Have we? Don't we need to find them first?"

Ruby grinned. "You underestimate me, Tanzi. The minibus had the words 'Sussex Downs' written on the side. And there can't be that many students named Jade, Zach, Paige, Naomi and Lacey, can there? Plus, it should be relatively simple to find out who was driving the bus. We know Jay Scythes name and he's not going anywhere without this…" With a flick of her hand, Ruby pulled out a thin leather wallet.

"You… stole his wallet?!"

"Eh… I needed a way to find him. Besides, he got right in my face – he was practically begging for me to take it. And look at this," Ruby pulled out a thin black card. "This is for the Nationwide Bank. I reckon with a little bit of smooth talking I may be able to get us an address."

"…You're resourceful, you know that?"

"I know," Ruby smiled. "The hard part is the homeless man. We can't just go under the bridge to his home. It would be far too dangerous – you said he didn't exactly feel like the friendliest guy in the room."

"…We could look around shelters," Tanzi said thoughtfully. "The blankets in his… home… looked relatively clean. I know the shelter's give out things like that. I think there are only a few in town."

"Well, there we go. That covers everything we need." Ruby said confidently. "I think we should—" Ruby's voice trailed off as she noticed Tanzi's expression. It looked like she was staring at something long in the distance, as if looking straight through the wall of the house and anything else in her way.

The slow chug-chug of a ceiling fan swirled around a dark grey room, rattling as it moved. There were no discernible objects in this room other than the fan itself, just black blotches against the grey background. Perhaps it was a table; perhaps it was a chair, perhaps something else entirely. A door opens and a figure steps inside, tall and proud yet growing weak. She could see it in the figure's posture, in the flickering flame that once burned bright in the eyes. This figure – whether man or woman she could not tell – seemed to bounce between confident and scared.

Then the figure was gone, the room was gone, the fan was gone. She found herself looking at a screen – a computer screen? A TV screen? She couldn't be sure. A blurred image rested on the screen – that of a woman. Young, beautiful, a million-dollar smile. But She could see past this image – She could see the pain of this woman, could see that there was some kind of history. Fake. That was the word that came to mind. False. Phoney. Nothing more than a sham. But… something else… something smaller… at the very recesses of this blurred image… hope?

The screen disappeared and now She found herself high up in the sky, looking down upon a building, whose shape seemed to flicker and move. Some parts remained constant; others disappeared as if the wind swept it away. One moment a road snaked north past the building, then south, then was gone entirely before appearing once again. She could tell that it was a place of learning but also a place of pain. A place of happiness but a place of anger. A place that would decide your future – good or bad. Conflicting emotions, that was what this place represented.

Tanzi suddenly drew in air in a panic, realising that she hadn't taken a breath in nearly a minute. She clutched at her chest, panting, sucking in the air as best as she could.

"Woah, woah, hey, slow… breath slow…" Ruby quickly moved over to her friend and put a hand on her shoulder. "What just happened?"

"…Hah… Hah…" Tanzi's breath grew normal again as she rubbed the sweat from her forehead. "It must have… have been the vision you said I'd have…"

"I never saw Sabrina react like that, though." Ruby gently rubbed Tanzi's shoulder in a comforting manner as she spoke. "She never told me about her visions but she always retained her concentration. What did you see?"

Tanzi described her vision though it was almost like a dream. She found the facts twisting and turning in her mind and she had to focus to ensure she got them correct. As she spoke, Ruby hurriedly wrote it down in that notepad, obviously afraid that Tanzi would forget the vision's details.

"That's it… that's all I can remember…" Tanzi said, holding a hand on her forehead. "If I saw anything else… I can't remember it."

"We know the first person on the list is the bus driver. We know that he was driving a bus for the Sussex Downs University. So using that, I reckon we can narrow down what those three segments mean."

"The third segment must have been the college," Tanzi said, thinking. "The feelings I felt… the emotions, they matched up to what school is like. That feeling of not knowing where you're heading for the future. Friendships, enemies… that matches the conflicting nature without a doubt."

"So that confirms that we'll likely find him at the college," Ruby nodded. "And the first one had a fan prominent?"

"A ceiling fan, yes. I couldn't understand the room but the figure seemed worn out but trying to keep hold of their pride. Maybe it represents the driver?"

"That seems like a safe bet. You described him as old in the original vision. I'd expect an old man would fight to keep a hold of his younger ideals." Ruby continued to scribble in the notepad. She was writing down the ideas they were talking about, wanting to write down as much information as she could possibly could. The big failure last time with Sabrina was the lack of communication and the lack of information. That, and the fact Sabrina was unwilling to put her or Ruby into danger.

"But the second segment…" Tanzi shrugged. "I didn't understand that. It was a woman's face and I felt those emotions of hiding from oneself, but otherwise… I have no clue who this woman could be or why it matters to the bus driver. Perhaps a loved one, a girlfriend… hell, it could be a daughter or something else completely."

"Hmm… I think that with what we know from the first two segments, we have enough to get going with." Ruby took in a breath. "We need to act quickly if we want to save that driver's life. But… We also need to prepare for the homeless man, who was next."

"What does that mean?"

"It means I will head to Sussex Downs college, and you will head for the homeless shelters."

"But—"

"We need to find the homeless man before his time comes up, otherwise we won't have time to find him before Death does. For the moment, Tanzi, there are only two of us. I don't want to separate but in order to save everyone we have to."

Tanzi shook her head. "I'm not happy about that. It'll be dangerous if you go alone to find the bus driver. What if something happens to you?"

"It will be dangerous," Ruby sighed, flipping the notepad shut. "But it will only get more dangerous as time goes on." Ruby frowned and looked to Tanzi. "Look… If I'm being honest, Tanzi… I feel like if I slow down I'm going to… lose control. With Sabrina… I nearly died. For a while I couldn't feel my legs… I was so scared that everything was over. Ever since Epsilon I felt useless. All I could do was speak a couple of hopeful lines. I never actually did anything… I never saved anyone… I was just… there, watching, trying to keep my smile on my face." Ruby turned around, crossing her arms. "…I refuse to just sit back this time, Tanzi. I'll keep smiling, certainly… but I will also go out there and put my life at risk in order to save human lives. The bus driver… the homeless man… Jay, the students, you… I will not abandon it just because things are a little bit dangerous. I will put my life on the line to ensure everyone makes it out of this unharmed."

Ruby took a deep breath, turning back around to look at Tanzi. "So… I will head to Sussex Downs college and I will find this bus driver and I will be careful. Nothing will happen to me. Tanzi, you need to go to the homeless shelters and see if you can't find out any leads on this homeless man. But we'll keep in contact with each other, okay? I'll phone you when I get to the school and you phone me if you find any clues."

Tanzi nodded, still not entirely happy about splitting up with Ruby but understanding that with just two of them, it was inevitable. "Okay. Keep safe, Ruby."

"Of course," Ruby smiled wide, lighting up her face. "You too."