Deceiving Souls

Chapter 24 - Life after death

Raven walked through the hallway, humming a little tune to himself. He spotted Leela and Galaxy leaned against the lockers while talking and he walked over to them.
"Hi Leela!" He purposefully made no acknowledgement of Galaxy's presence.
"Oh, hi Raven!" Leela said in a cheerful voice. He always did thing that her cheerfulness was adorable. An eerie thought hit the back of his mind and he remembered Galaxy standing there. A shame that she was so attached to that purple hairball. He didn't deserve someone as kind as Leela.
"You okay Raven?" Leela asked him. Raven looked up at her.
"No problem here." He reassured her and gave a thumbs up. "I should probably go now." He turned around and walked away. His fur bristling as he shot one last threatening glance at Galaxy who stared blankly back at him.

Galaxy watched Raven walk away. He felt unnerved and he didn't know why. He turned back to Leela.
"What's up with him?" He asked. Leela simply shrugged.
"I don't see the problem." She replied simply. Galaxy's tail twitched uneasily but ignored the knotting feeling in his stomach.
Will I ever properly asked her out? He questioned himself. As the bell rang indicating their break was over Leela picked up her stuff she had sat down and turn back to him.
"See you later! My house?" She asked. Galaxy nodded.
"I'll be there!" He responded as they both rushed off to their classes.

Galaxy stared at his paper. He read the question over and over again but couldn't understand it. The class was silent apart from the quiet tick of the clock. He was growing tired and rested his head on the table. The hand that held his pencil hung over the side of the desk and as darkness surrounded his thoughts, he dropped it, barley hearing the click of it hitting the floor before his consciousness faded.

"FIND HIM"
"DON'T LET IT OVERCOME..."
"TIME IS RUNNING OUT"
Voices faded in and out. And suddenly he heard the cold, calm voice of Echo.
"Wake up."

Galaxy gasped as his head shot up. The bell ringing had awoken him and he looked around to see his classmates walking out of the room. He quickly grabbed his things and walked out of class. His legs still trembled and he felt like he would collapse any moment. He walked to his locker and grabbed the rest of his things, shoving them in his bag and putting it on his back. He turned around and walked towards the exit. His ears shot up and he stopped walking. A ringing sounded in his ears and lured him farther into the crowd of people. The ringing overwhelmed him. He could sense someone but there was too many people. He kept walking and the ringing became stronger. Through the crowd of people he saw a pair of wide eyes catch his. He knew it was them. The eyes were a light blue surrounded by light brown fur. He knew they could feel what he felt but yet the frightened pair of eyes vanished in the crowd. Galaxy stood there as the crowd left him.
"Galaxy?" He turned to see Lexi. "What is it?" She asked. He hesitated.
"I sensed the fourth again... but I was too late to catch them..." He muttered. Lexi reached her hand up and ruffled his hair.
"Oh well, no big deal. there's always tomorrow!" She walked away with that familiar jump to her walk he knew so well. He stared after her and his smile faded. What if there's not tomorrow? They're running out of time. He didn't want to see her get hurt, the closest thing he has to family. He walked after her and to the bus. Sitting down next to the one he calls a sister.

Raven tapped on the door to his mother's room before entering. His mother, Alia Talakan, a light skin colored sphinx-like cat, sat in a chair staring out the window. She wore a pink sweater and black sweatpants. Her furless neck covered with jewelry.
"Hi mom." He said as he shut the door behind him. His mother looked back at him with a smile. He sat down neck to her chair on his knees.
"You're not getting better are you?" He asked. Alia looked out the window. Her smile didn't fade and she didn't look back at him.
"Take a look outside." She told him. Raven looked out the window, all he saw was nature and birds.
"Everything out there is beautiful isn't it? The sky... the trees... the grass... everything has it's place, and so do we. Someday we will all become one with this world. Our bodies will belong with the soil... the trees... and the grass that the animals feed upon. Our souls will belong with the sky and the stars and our memories will belong with those around us in our lives. When we die we will never be gone. No one is ever truly gone." Raven's ears pinned back. Alia turned to him and put his hands in hers.