Far Away – Chapter Eight

"Lost? I heard Danny got kidnapped."

"No! He's like, in the hospital."

Chris slammed his locker shut as Wendy passed by with another classmate. Well, the rumor mill seemed to be alive and well. Chris wondered exactly what cover story had been offered to hide Danny's sudden disappearance.

He gritted his teeth and tried not to think about Danny, but even just looking at his locker made his heart sink again. He turned away from it and had to remind himself to limp… which brought his mind back to Danny.

His leg was actually fine, aside from still being a tinge of green that made it look like his foot had a weird case of seasickness. But when he had finally dragged himself home after – can't think about him - his mom flipped out that he wasn't wearing his brace or using his crutches.

He had played sick the next few days, milking it as long as he could. And it really wasn't that hard to 'act'… Chris had always thought the teen movies or chick flicks with the weepy girl locking herself in her room and losing her appetite were pretty pathetic and unrealistic. But after staring at his ceiling for a few hours just aching inside, he understood. It was a ball of pain he just wanted to make go away and couldn't. There wasn't a way to describe it. Everything, everything was different now – he had lost his best friend and the person he loved in one moment. Nothing would be the same.

Chris couldn't even look at his Monster Buster Club comm. Sam and Cathy had both called him several times, and Chris couldn't bring himself to answer. He listened to a few messages, asking him if he was okay. He couldn't reply. When Sam left the message that Danny was in the hospital, Chris took the comm off and buried it under his mattress so he couldn't hear it beep. He didn't want to talk to either of them, because then he'd think of-

All thoughts came back to him, he was so far into Chris' universe, he was the center of it. Chris had snorted through dried tears at that idea. Yes… like a sun. Because the earth couldn't live without the sun, but the sun…

The sun would be just fine without the earth.

The tears began again, and Chris cried himself to sleep.

But somehow, the world moved on even though Chris was sure it had broken into pieces. Eventually his mom got tired of his act and forced him to go to school. At least he had been able to ditch the crutches… which Mark decided was a target.

"Hey gimp, where's your second set of legs? Checked in with your buddy?"

Chris slammed his book into the locker by Mark's head. Mark jumped and shrieked a bit.

"First off, if you're going to insult me, be more original and sound more intelligent," Chris hissed through clenched teeth. "Second. I am not. In. The mood."

"Yeah, like, lay off, Mark." Wendy's sudden piping in did not help Chris' on-edge mood. "Danny's like, in a coma!"

"Coma?" Mark asked the question before Chris could.

"Yeah, they like… found this weird stuff inside him." Chris felt like his stomach had been punched. "And he hasn't woken up, y'know, at all."

Chris forced himself to stand up straight again, and put one foot in front of the other. He barely remembered he was supposed to be limping, but he ignored that in favor of his target who he countered at her desk.

Sam's eyes widened in surprise as he headed straight for her. "Chris!" she called out, half-relieved and half-scolding. "I tried calling you! What hap-"

"What's wrong with Danny?" he asked, his mind recoiling at the name he had been avoiding to even think for the past few days. "They said he was in a coma?"

"We tried to tell you…" Cathy began slowly. "That Zerellian jelly is stuck in his body."

"What?"

"It's bonded, Chris," Sam explained hurriedly. "We couldn't do anything. Technically, I think its still bond-ing."

" Which is why he hasn't woken up," Cathy added.

"The doctors are trying to figure out what it is, cause they said it's affecting the part of his body that controls hot and cold and stuff like that."

"But Grandpa says he'll wake up again if the bonding takes," Cathy finished.

"If it takes?" Chris demanded. "So Danny-" mental flinch, "-is going to be part alien?"

Cathy took a step back. "In a way…"

Sam stood up to stand between the two. "Chris, why didn't you answer us at all?" she asked sternly.

"Because."

"Because why?"

"Just…because!"

"Christopher, Samantha, Cathy, sit down. Class is starting," Mr. Fusster's nasal tone broke in.

They all hesitantly obeyed, and Mr. Fusster coughed before turning to the blackboard and beginning to lecture in his usual monotone.

Chris' head was full of thoughts concerning the person he had tried to not name all week, and feeling sick to his stomach. Danny was still suffering because of him.

Chris was on the verge of a small panic attack in the middle of class when a paper ball hit the back of his head. He looked down at it beside his chair leg, and glanced back to see Sam motioning to it. He carefully picked it up when Mr. Fusster wasn't looking, and smoothed the paper out against his leg. His breath caught in his chest as he read.

Zerellian mother missing, couldn't find her

Zerellians are pissed - battleship is coming

Soon.

To Be Continued...

A/N: I really toyed with the idea of leaving it hanging for about a week or so, making people think that was the end of the story... But got bored with waiting.