Just a warning, we're going to be changing view points again at some point. In fact, this is almost an interlude chapter save for the portion at the beginning.
The Files of Kazdan Kalinkas
Book Two: After the Storm
Chapter Eight: Stripping
"Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence in society." –Mark Twain
Garv wanted to wait but we all argued against him until he agreed to do it now.
The OverWorld Caretaker handed me a goblet of steaming, orange liquid and told me to drink it. I looked at it skeptically but did as I was told. It smelled like pumpkin pie and tasted like cough medicine. I made a disgusted face and H'earring laughed at me.
Then we had to wait.
Garv said that the drink was like a sedative; it would numb me and probably make me drowsy. I didn't mind. The less pain I went through, the better. I spent the time waiting for the stuff to kick in hanging out with my friends. We commandeered a small room off the main hall in which was a bunch of wooden furniture.
"So Kaz, what's the first thing you're going to do when you get back home?" Sarah asked, setting her chin in her hands and propping her elbows on her knees.
"Tell my parents that I love them." I answered honestly, "And then…I'm going to eat an entire Double Supreme, Stuffed Crust Pizza all by myself."
Peyton whooped and clapped his hands together enthusiastically and the others laughed. I joined in.
"Kazzer, I cannot see you eating a pizza that big all alone!" Peyton chuckled breathlessly, wiping a few tears from his eyes, "Maybe a half of a pizza…!"
"I could so eat a whole pizza!" I argued back and Sarah rolled her eyes.
"Okay, so what about school?" Tom tilted his head to the side with a grin.
"Uuhhhh…" I honestly hadn't been thinking about school at all. I'd been more concerned with getting home. But I had been gone for almost eight or nine months now and had no doubt missed a ton of homework, "I think that's one obstacle I'll worry about when I get there."
"Well, it's almost October now, you've got a lot of catching up to do." Tom said, raising an eyebrow.
I yawned in response, feeling heavy and tired. Perhaps the sedative was finally kicking in. I rubbed my eyes and felt the armor scrape against my skin. Soon it would be gone. Soon I would be myself again.
I leaned back against the chair I was sitting in and yawned again.
"Sleepy, sleepy…!" Peyton teased and I scowled at him, "Dude, think about it! Next time you wake up you'll be—."
"In your boxers." Sarah said. My face flushed again.
"You had to bring that up…" I muttered sleepily, slumping in my seat, "You guys port out for now…let your real world selves know…everything's…okay…"
I slid out of the chair and thumped against the floor, closing my eyes, falling into a dark sleep.
-After the Storm-
Tom watched Kaz sink to the floor, falling into the drug induced sleep. He hated how his best friend only looked peaceful because of the sedative. It wasn't fair. He gladly would have taken Kaz's place, had he had the chance to, and he still would. Kaz had never done anything to hurt anyone, he trusted Chaor and the rest of the UnderWorlders—even spied for them—and they had turned around and betrayed him, thrusting him into their world without a thought for how he felt.
Kaz had been forced to do things that went completely against his nature.
And it had caused him to break.
Tom had never hated anyone in his life as much as he hated Chaor and his tribe.
But Kaz…
He'd never realized how much he cared about his friend until he'd disappeared.
"Is he sleeping?" H'earring asked unnecessarily, raising one ear up as if to check whether Kaz was still breathing or not.
"Looks like it." Sarah responded, kneeling down beside the sleeping red head.
"Let's draw on his face." Peyton sniggered, hoisting Kaz into a sitting position and ruffled the boy's straggly bangs.
"Peyton…" Sarah sighed, shaking her head but wearing a friendly smile, "Be nice to the guy, he's been through a lot."
"Fun sucker." Peyton muttered jokingly.
"H'earring, can you go get Garv?" Tom crouched down beside his companions, "Tell him Kaz is asleep."
"Sure thing!" H'earring jumped off his seat and, one ear still slightly raised as though fearing Kaz might cease breathing, raced out of the room to send the message onto the OverWorld Caretaker.
Tom waited until the door was shut again before he reached down and hugged his sleeping best friend. Then he sat back and looked around to find Sarah and Peyton staring at him in wonder. His cheeks turned pink and he turned his gaze to the floor.
"He's like a brother to me." He said huskily, "I'd love to trade places with him right now, I'd do anything to make it so that none of this would ever have happened. But I can't…all I can do is stand by and watch him deal with this and I hate myself for it. I feel useless. Weak. Pathetic."
"You're helping him." Sarah said, putting a hand on his shoulder, "We all are."
"Dude, if you weren't here Kazzer would probably be better off in a strait jacket right now." Peyton pointed out, "You're his best friend. Sure, he's gonna be a little sore for a while but he'll get over it and he'll need your help to do it."
Tom looked like he was going to say something in return but the door opened again and Garv stepped into the room followed by H'earring. He cast a glance at the sleeping Kaz, stepped across the room in a few, large strides, and scooped him up in his wide arms. Then he left the room, taking Kaz with him. The four companions looked after him.
"H'earring," Tom said suddenly, "We're going to port out of here to let our real world selves know what's going on. Then we're coming right back. Okay?"
"You should let yourselves sleep." Said the little Creature, stifling a yawn, "You've been running around Perim since…I don't even know. I'm going to sleep until Garv gets done with Kaz."
"H'earring's right, Tom." Sarah got to her feet and the other two followed her example, "Even our Chaotic selves need rest. We'll spend the night at home and then port back here tomorrow to check on Kaz."
"Alright…" Tom grumbled but pulled out his Code Scanner anyway.
"H'earring, man, tell Kaz what we're up to, my bro'." Peyton said, holding his own Code Scanner in hand.
"You know what," Sarah knelt back down to H'earring's eye level, "I would never normally do this—maybe I'm just exhausted—but I think you deserve this. You're a sweet Creature." And she kissed him on the top of the head.
H'earring looked like he was going to swoon on his feet. He grinned stupidly and wiggled his fingers as the three of them ported out in a flash of blue-white and a sound like the bending of reality.
Tom was sitting on his bed, staring at his World History homework. He'd read the same line in his text book almost fifteen times had not retained a single bit of it. His mind was elsewhere, wondering where his Chaotic self was and what it was up to. He was worried about Kaz.
So when his Code Scanner beeped pleasantly at him from his desk across the room, Tom erupted from the top of his bed and flew across the room. He slammed into the chair in front of his desk, coughed, and snatched the Scanner from the desktop. He hit the button on the top so hard that he jammed his finger.
He stood there for a while in silence, letting his Code sink in, siphoning through days worth of memories.
Then he sank to the floor with a relieved sigh, feeling as though a heavy weight had lifted off his shoulders. They had made it safely through the OverWorld and Kaz was in Garv's care. The next time he ported back, Kaz would be all set and ready to come home again. Tom could almost see the happy reunion in his mind's eye…
Kaz running up to his parents and throwing his arms around them…
Tears and laughter…
The words "I love you" being repeated over and over again…
Everyone together again…
Everything the way it should be…
I was floating around in a field of giant sunflowers.
It was beautiful.
And I knew it was all in my head.
But it was wonderful.
I felt like I was more free than I had been in a long time.
I was lost in a completely unrealistic world.
But I didn't care.
I didn't care about anything.
I just was.
Floating.
Dreaming.
Hmmmm…flowers…
That drug had totally messed with my head.
Not that I knew that.
All I knew was the giant sunflowers, the purple sky, the white grass, and the giant red butterflies fluttering around.
And I enjoyed the peace while it lasted.
Okay, this crappin' chapter was supposed to be longer but it ended up not being that way because if I had tried to make it that way it would have been filler. Like the end. The end was so filler.
I keep promising better chapters, but they're not getting better. Suckish.
You people want Nice To Be Loved, don't you? That's what you people want! You want NTBL! Hmph. Fine.
Okay, sorry, I'm just pouting and being crabby.
I'll try to work on NTBL soon. Sorry.
Thank you for all the lovely reviews! I really get excited when I get one! I love reading them! Please keep reviewing! Thanks guys!
