Understanding - Repkyle

fourteen

Song: Reflecting Light
by Sam Phillips
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Kyle's POV

I've been scared plenty of times in my life, but I've only ever been terrified twice. Once, when Bow appeared as a hologram in the sky and literally hundreds of Hordak clones started to surround us, and the other time being when I had a nightmare and thought that Rogelio had died in real life, not realising it was a twisted dream.

It's a sinking feeling in your stomach, one that finds its way around your body and settles there, eventually getting to your head and forcing you to overthink all of the horrible things that could happen.

That's how I feel now as I slide down into the hole in the ship roof, landing on my hands and knees behind Rogelio in a hot silver vent. He looks over his shoulder to check that I got in through his night vision visor that he kept from our cadet days, and starts to crawl almost immediately, not wasting any time on me.

I follow him and count my breaths to calm myself down. One... We pass by a passageway that looks identical to the one we're crawling through, only shorter. Two... I accidentally grab Rogelio's tail but he doesn't say anything. Three... we stop crawling.

"What's wrong?"

I ask, not sure if I'm even getting a reply. Rogelio starts up again and nods towards another passageway, which he turns in to. I follow him and wish that we were a little quieter rather than clanging and smacking off the walls of the vent with even the slightest of movements.

I try to listen for Scorpia and Bow, but since they're at the opposite end of the ship to us it sounds like we're on our own. Maybe we'll meet in the middle.

What I can hear is faint clicking, from what can only be one of those glass people patrolling the corridors underneath us. Images of their creepy blank faces fill my mind.

"Hey, Ro? You know where we're going, right?"

I hiss. Rogelio nods and I sigh. Why is this so awkward? I know why, obviously, but it still feels unfamiliar. We take another turn and I almost crash into him, but thankfully I steady myself before that can happen.

The air in the vent is so hot that when I breathe it in it feels almost damp and heavy, like it's clogging my throat and slowing my breaths down. I'm too preoccupied to fight off the flashback.

-

I was at home, in bed, but nobody was there with me. It was hot yet I had a cold from visiting Frosta's kingdom, so my nose was blocked and I could hardly speak. I could barely inhale for over one second and my chest felt like somebody was pressing down on it, limiting me.

Rogelio came in and sat on the edge of the bed beside my legs and told me to try and relax, to count my breaths and notice my surroundings, so I did.

I started to count in my head, and I looked out the window to the busy street. Then I looked over to our shoes lined up on the floor, and smiled at how much smaller mine were than his.

"Thank you."

-

I focus on Rogelio's tail and try to count as many scales as I can as a distraction, but they all blur up until I can only see a green blob.

"Are we-"

He lifts a finger for me to stop talking so I bite the inside of my cheek in annoyance, not noticing that he had stopped crawling and smacking into him.

I open my mouth to say something, but Rogelio lifts his tail to cover my mouth without even having to look.

'This is it. This is the room.'