Forever Lost

Chapter Eighteen: It's Happened Once And It Will Happen Again

Sleep finds me easy, but not so much the dreams. I lie in the darkness, saying nothing, hearing nothing, tastings nothing, smelling nothing, doing nothing, breathing nothing, feeling nothing, seeing nothing, needing nothing, wanting nothing. But black, empty space.

But there are thoughts. Words like Your a killer and You know he's still alive float in my head, yet they hold no emotion. He should know, advises one. Why are you keeping secrets from him? wonders another.

But one stands out, still it holds no emotion.

It's happened once and it will happen again.

* * *

Morning comes as it always has. We leave at noon without speaking a word to anyone, not even each other. We left the building, Julie, Mask, Coe, and me, with our items in our bags in our hands. Within minutes, Coe has the engine running, and before we know it, we're on the road, headed for Jessica's house, and hours travel ahead of us.

It's silent for a while, Julie and Mask asleep in the back seat, Coe focused on the road, me swimming through my thoughts.

It's happened once and it will happen again.

"Hey, uh, Coe?" I mumble, turning away from my window.

"Chris," he corrects.

"Sorry, can I talk to you?"

"Yeah, of course." his hands guide the car to the right, the bug swiftly moving around the corner. "What's on your mind?"

I hesitate at first, but force it out of my throat, the words clumsily tumble out of my mouth. "I know Marks alive."

He jerks the car to a stop at the edge of the intersection, a horn blaring behind us. "What?" his expression becomes immediately distorted, anger, confusion, alarm, and disbelief all blurred into one. A faint yell is heard from behind and we turn our heads to see a guy behind us flicking us off. Coe rolls down the window and turns to holler back, "It's a red light you dumb ass!" he turns away, rolling down the window. He sighs. "Sorry, but what?"

My expression falls and I feel instant regret.

He should know.

He should know.

"Look, I have had some really creepy dreams recently that you need to know about."

He seems to relax slightly, casually directing the car through the intersection as the light switches to green.

"I already know the first one,"

"How?" I stare at him perplexed.

"I don't know exactly how, but -- never mind, you wouldn't believe me."

I stare at him, dumbfounded. "I'm so called, in Amane, I have the Sphere of Azar in my pocket, I lost my memory, and I'm almost certain that Mark is still alive. I'd believe anything at this point."

He sighs heavily. "I had a vision."

"A vision?"

He nods, not daring to take his eyes off the road.

I sit back, turning my eyes back to my window. "Okay, if you say so."

It's silent for a moment.

"But as for the other ones, I don't know."

I don't respond, too occupied swimming around in my mind to focus.

Why are you keeping secrets from him?