Next Up

Chapter 30

Zoe was motionless in a cross-legged seated position; her posture was perfectly straight, her breathing was flawlessly rhythmic, and her eyes were closed.

Colson plopped down next to her in the grass, breathing hard. Zoe stayed undisturbed, not reacting to a single sound around her. She registered Colson existed, but at that moment, it was as if he was a leaf slowly falling from a tree—totally oblivious.

Images floated from the subconscious to the forefront of her mind. Embarrassing moments and events that she'd spent months trying to forget. The harder she tried to push against her thoughts more memories flooded in. That feeling she felt from Jashin's energy, Ivy telling her what happened earlier that day. The bar. Her stomach felt like it was twisting into knots and her airways closing. The sound like a hammer hitting a watermelon, the way the man's body went limp...She opened her eyes, sniffling, her cheeks wet. She glanced away and wiped her eyes when she saw Colon watching her, eyebrows raised with surprise.

"You good?"

"Yes," she sighed.

"Alright," Colson shrugged.

"I just don't get it. Doing this is like trying to solve an unsolvable math problem."

Colson thought for a moment, "I could try doing what Jashin did. Just shoot my energy at you and see if that helps."

"No, I'll figure something out. Plus, I don't want to be any more brain-dead than I already am."

"Oh yea, I forgot about that," Colson said, staring wistfully into the afternoon sun. "Well, if you need anything...Do you think that both you and Ivy can figure it out in the next day or so? Cause I think it's almost been a week, right?"

Zoe nodded, "Tomorrow will be seven days, but I think they said they could get us two weeks at most. It's just...Ugh!" She let herself fall backward. Colson looked over, seeing she had placed both hands over her eyes.

"Umm."

"I don't know why I'm here, Colson! Okay? I knew this whole thing was dumb. You guys are always so far ahead of me, and I can barely focus for two minutes without thinking of that guy's head exploding!"

Colson looked ahead silently, not sure of what to say. Zoe's voice was shaky.

"What am I supposed to do against any of those three? I don't care about this mission! I don't want to die for some place I barely knew existed! I don't care if I'm being selfish, but I just don't wanna die for this!"

"You know..." Colson said after a long silence.

"What?" Zoe mumbled, her hands still covering her eyes.

Colson got to his feet, "Here, get up," he said, leaning over her and extending his hand. She removed one hand from her face and begrudgingly grabbed onto his, getting to her feet, stretching as she did so.

"Now what?"

"I'm just saying, if a dumbass like Reiza can do it, you should too. Probably due to teacher error," he said, smiling to himself.

"I don't know. I'll figure it out, though," Zoe thought for a moment. "Idea: so what you were saying earlier about what Jashin did; what if we do that again, but different."

"Different how?"

She sat back down in a meditative position, "Just use like a small bit, maybe."

Colson glanced warily at his hands, "I mean, I can try. I don't really know how to do that. I know I suggested it, but I'm not actually sure how to do that yet."