No Turning Back [REWRITTEN]

Chapter 5

Near the stairwell back to the building above, there were two devices set aside on the ground, in the shape of short cylinders. Both of them lit up as I came near, and as I stepped on the one on the right the surroundings abruptly changed. Suddenly, instead of an old church basement, I stood in the hallway of a very different structure. The walls were still grey, but were made of smooth, sleek metal, as was both the floor and ceiling. My shoes on the floor made a hollow, echoing sound in the empty hall as I stepped forwards.

Milo, who was holding on to my shoulder in order to teleport with me, let go of me, and urged me to go and sit in my room. I obliged, and ended up crashing on the bottom bunk of an empty bunk bed. Only my bed was made. The top bunk was an empty mattress.

"See? You need rest," Milo pointed out at my exhaustion.

"I feel like we know that by now," I sighed, verbally accepting defeat at last. My hoodie, which was originally held in my hand, had fallen onto the ground. I didn't feel like picking it up.

"Seriously. Why are you so reluctant to take a break every now and then?"

"Look, I would if I could, it's just..." I sighed again. "It's... hard to explain. Dad's just... hard to please. So I try to please him any way I can, and that's part of it. Not taking a break or giving up."

Both of us knew I was lying. I couldn't care less if he was pleased with what I was doing so long as he wasn't mad at me.

"You know... you could always leave," Milo suggested.

"Hm?" I wasn't quite sure if I'd heard him right.

"Leave," Milo repeated. "Run away. Your dad doesn't know this planet. If you disappeared, and went far enough away, he might not find you."

I scoffed. "Yeah. Right. When Valanor walks with the living again."

"Huh?"

I shook my head. "Nevermind. Essentially, no. I can't do that. He'd find me."

"No he wouldn't! That's the thing!" Milo exclaimed. "He'd never find you if you flew off to, like... I don't know, somewhere else!"

"You don't know him like I do," I glared at him with a side-eye. "Besides. I wouldn't last a day out there, and if 'you' went missing, all of your friends would get suspicious. You don't have any family or caretakers besides Lionel, so it'd be weird if you just up and left, right?"

Milo slowly nodded, getting my point. "Okay, yeah, I... guess that makes sense. But wouldn't that just help them find out about your dad?"

"Yeah. Then he'd kill them and be more pissed that his big plans were foiled."

"...oh." Milo seemed disappointed. The little red X on his forehead pulsed a glowing hue, the way it does when he's annoyed. "There's gotta be some way to get you away from him!"

"Believe me. If I could... I wouldn't hesitate. But for now I can't leave, so I'll follow what he says."

"And where did that get Twilight?"

I froze, not expecting the name to be spoken. I stared at Milo in disbelief, biting back words that were trying to claw their way up my throat and attack Milo for something he obviously didn't mean to do. The ghost seemed almost angry for a moment before immediately realizing what he'd done. He covered his mouth with his hand, accompanied by a slight gasp.

"Sorry," he squeaked, his hand slightly falling from his face.

I took a deep breath and exhaled, letting out the emotion that was building in my head. "It's... it's fine. I get it, you're... you're right, but..."