Glitched

Chapter 25

((Laila's POV))

We all laid on the ground, staring up at the night sky.  Back in the New World, I was sure at the time I would've been fast asleep.  But instead, I was wide awake, laying in the grass, observing how the stars looked in the dark sky.  Timberland, who was on the right side of me, chatted on and on about many things, and it was mostly me who answered him back.  Grace, who laid next to Timberland, didn't talk much, unlike Timberland.  She liked to remain silent until she wanted to talk.  256 and 381 were silent as well, they didn't speak at all.  Their eyes were wide and their expressions were filled with 'awe.'  It took me a minute to remember how they never left the lab, so unlike Timberland, Grace, and I, they had never seen the stars before.  I wondered what they thought.

"What do you guys think of the stars?" I asked them, turning to the left to face 381 who laid next to me and 256 who was next to him.

"They're so pretty...  Is it like this every night?" 256 asked, turning to me.

I smile and nodded.  I never saw the stars back in the New World-I had to leave before I could see them, but I had seen the night sky out of the New World on my job.  And it was a sight that no information could possibly get the experience correct.  I had learned so much about stars back as a Youth, what they were, where they came from, what they looked like, but actually seeing them was so much different than processing them.

"I could stay out here forever, just laying here, looking at this sky.  It's...  it's incredible.  The way the stars shine, like small lights in the darkness, it's...  breathtaking.  I don't want the sun to come up.  This," he took a break, going silent for a moment, "is something I don't think I will ever forget.  I never knew the sky could look so beautiful." 381 said, smiling, his gaze never leaving the starry sky.

"That was deep, Buddy." Timberland said, 'shocked.'

381 turned to Timberland and narrowed his eyes at him, his smile disappearing immediately, turning into a frown.  "Don't call me Buddy!" 

256 and Timberland laughed, and I stayed silent, frowning.  

"Why do you still call him Buddy when he doesn't like it?" I asked.

"Yeah!" 381 crossed his arms.

Timberland stopped laughing, and bit his lip.  He ran his hand through his hair, and then through the grass, and sat up to face me, leaning on his elbow which was standing up in the grass.

"Well, because...  it's fun.  It annoys him.  But it's just teasing, really, I don't do it because I want to hurt him.  It's just funny to see him get so frustrated, that's all."

381 made a laugh like snort, and laid back down on his back, turning up to the sky.  

"But he still doesn't like to be called Buddy.  He wants to be called 381, his name." I pointed out.

"Would you like me to call him by his real name from now on, then?" he asked me.

I nodded.  "Yes, I would like that.  I'm sure 381 would like that as well-"

"And me.  Leave the poor guy alone, Timberland." Grace spoke up.

"Yeah, leave this poor guy alone." 381 grinned at Grace.

"Okay, okay.  No more Buddy then, just 381 from here on out." Timberland said, putting his hands up.

"Good," 381, Grace, 256, and I all said at the same time.

Timberland's eyes went wide, as he put his hands under his head, using them as a pillow.  

"Woah, freaky.  You all just said 'good' at the same exact time."

It was then when we all started laughing-even Grace gave a short, simple chuckle, but nothing too much.  We all then fell silent once more, and just stared at the sky.  Day two of my stay in the Old World was almost over, and I had about six more days left, and then the Viruses and I went back to the New World.  I actually realized that a small part of me didn't want to go, I wanted to stay with my new friends and just stare up at the night sky with them in the Old World.  Because, I had a feeling that when I went back that I would never see Timberland of Grace again.  And there was a very slim chance that I would ever see 256 and 381 as well, they'd go back to the lab, and maybe become Citizens after they were fixed.  But even though I had hope that they'd come join me in the New World, hope was very weak compared to the science and probability.  I didn't want to leave the people who I had become close to.  

But I knew, at the end of the week, I would have to head back to the New World and say goodbye.  I couldn't just leave the place that I had been prepared to live in for sixteen years of my life.  I had a duty to the New World, it was my home.  I had a job that I needed to preform and work on and complete in the New World, I couldn't let my fellow Citizens down.  I had to do my role, just as everyone else had to do theirs.  If one of us just suddenly stopped doing our jobs, that wouldn't be fair, and things could fall apart.  I was apart of the new World, and the New World was apart of me.  

I began to 'feel' 'sadness,' and it was almost...  painful.  I told myself that once I went back to the New World, I would get my chip working again, that the pain in my head would go away, that I would get to ride a hover machine again, that I would get to help out the Viruses, that I would get to do my part in the New World, and that I would have so many friends in the New World.

But for some reason, that still couldn't make the 'sadness' go away.

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((Question #26: What is the one sight that you wouldn't give up for the world, or what is one thing you think everyone should see?))