“So what’s the key for?” I asked, my voice breaking through the silence that had formed between us. Sofia looked up, meeting my eyes quickly.

                She cleared her throat before speaking, “It’s… it’s a long story.”

                “We have plenty of time…” I trailed, hoping to get an answer.

                “Actually…” Sofia smirked, “We don’t.”

                “What do you mean?” I raised an eyebrow cautiously.

                She turned the control chair around, facing the window. I watched as she brought up a semi-transparent screen in front of the window. I could hear her fingers typing away furiously at a keyboard before her and within a few seconds, a familiar picture appeared before us.

                A sketchy map of the Girl’s Side stretched the whole way around the window. It was of the northern half of their side. She zoomed in on the sketch of the continent until what used to be England filled the entire space.

                The land was colored green, water a faint shade of gray. A beeping red dot moved upwards on the map very slowly.

                Sofia turned the chair around, pointing to the dot, “That’s us.”

                I nodded, waiting for her to continue.

                She traced her finger along an imaginary line, stopping at a solid yellow square only a few inches away from the dot.

                “That’s our destination.”

                “How far away?”

                “Well, do you want miles or minutes?”

                I rolled my eyes, “Minutes, please.”

                Her eyes scanned over the map, calculations buzzing through her head. After a few moments, Sofia came up with an answer, “Only a few hours away actually.”

                “…How many is a few?” I asked hesitantly

                “Two? Maybe?” She shrugged, leaning back in her chair. “But we’re very close.”

                “Wow.”

                Sofia waited to see if I would say any more before she spoke again, “Can I ask you something?”

                “Sure.” I said, stretching out across the bench. I let an arm lay off the side.

                “Why are we going here?” She asked, “And don’t just tell me because he killed Ellie.”

                “I want revenge.” I said, feeling the anger seep into my veins “She was my only love. I want revenge on that son of a bitch.”

                She rolled her eyes, “Alright, let’s start with Ellie.”

                “What about her?” I asked quietly, not wanting to speak about her. I felt physical pain when I thought about her. I didn’t want to imagine how bad talking would be.

                “Well, Ellie is a girl right?”

                “Was.”

                “Excuse me?”

                “Ellie was a girl.” I took a deep breath.

                Sofia hesitated, “Sorry. How did you meet her?”

                I ran a hand through my head, thinking back all the years to when we first met. I could remember it perfectly.

                John and I were returning from our ‘shopping’ at Douglas’s. He was a blind, cranky old man who was quickly going senile. He refused to take any medicine prescribed by the doctor which led him to his eccentric state of mind.

                Our stolen treasures jingled in our pockets as we walked along the dead leaves and broken sticks that scattered the ground.

                A soft moaning floated over to us.

                John stopped abruptly, causing me to nearly walk into him. He stuck out an arm, holding me back. He tilted his head towards the source of the sound.

                Putting a finger to his lips, he quietly walked towards the sound.

                I felt my heartbeat pick up as we tip-toed towards the sound. It was unfamiliar, yet at the same time, I had a gut feeling as to what it was.

                By the look on John’s face, it seemed the feeling was mutual.

                John stopped in his tracks, his body tensing in anger. I peered over his shoulder, glancing at way laid before us.

                A small figured was lying face up, hair covering most of her face. Her fingers twitched ever so slightly. I recognized the body form from school.

                This was a girl.

                “What’s she doing on our side?” I asked

                “Dude, like I know! I just found her here. I don’t know what to do!” John snapped at me.

                “Well what do we do?”

                “I don’t know!”

                She coughed, her body coming to life with each lurch. She curled her hand into a fist, holding it a few inches from her lips and coughing into it. A cloud of dirt shot out of her mouth with the first few coughs.

                Her eyes flew open, widening at the sight of us. I could hear her breathing pick up from fear as she took us in.

                “Uh…” I trailed off, not sure what to say.

                “Who are you?” She said, her voice weak, cracking.

                “Who are you?” I countered. I stood up, not having realized that I had knelt down to her level to speak to her. “What are you doing on our side?”

                “W-what?” She asked, utterly confused

                “You  heard him.” John said menacingly “Now answer the question.”

                “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She said ever so louder. “What do you want with me?”

                “Who was it?!” John growled, “Was it Trina?”

                “Who’s Trina?” She asked, her voice shaky. “I don’t even know where I am! Please stop!”

                “You stop bullshitting me!” John yelled, “Either you tell me who sent you, or you’re not going back.”

                “What? Please, I don’t understand—Who’s Trina?” Her eyes shimmered in the light as they filled with water. Was she going to cry?

                I looked at John. He took a step back, keeping an eye on the girl at our feet.

                “I think her memory may have temporarily been erased before she fell unconscious.” John whispered so that only I could hear. 

                “What do we do?”

                “Kill her.”

                “No, John, what if she has vital information?”

                He hesitated, “Fine. We’ll take her back long enough to get what we need. Then, she’s dead.”

                I nodded, satisfied with that plan. If we did in fact get information for our government, who knew how they would repay us for this? If not, we got to eliminate one of the enemies.

                “Alright,” John said, turning back to the girl, “Get up.”

                “What-what are you going to do with me?” She asked quietly

                “I didn’t say you could talk so shut the fuck up girl!” He snapped, grabbing onto the front of her shirt. He pulled her face close to his, looking into her eyes with a level of hatred that made me shiver in my spot.

                John dragged her along as we walked, ignoring her cries of terror and pain.

                I blinked, a new level of anger filling in for not only John, but at myself. How could I have treated her like that? She was confused, hurt, scared. And we tormented her.

                I was ashamed.

                “Clay?” Sofia asked softly, bringing my attention back to reality.

                I looked up, blinking roughly. I was surprised when I realized that my eyes held more water than normal.

                “She… She was Awakened.” I mumbled, “We thought she was a spy. We treated her like shit. I… I can’t believe some of what we did to her.”

                Sofia paused before speaking again, “What did you do?”

                “John tortured her. I went along with it.” My voice cracked at the end at the realization of how true my words were. I never defended her when John was around, always settling to comfort when he was gone.

                How could I have done that to her?

                “Why would you do that?” She asked. “I didn’t do that to you…”

                “I know.” I groaned, “That’s the worst part! You showed me that what John and I had done… it was worse than wrong! It was cruel, stupid, pathetic!”

                “Got that right.”

                I sighed, “I… I hate myself for that.”

                “Hey now, you didn’t know what would happen.” Sofia made an attempt to comfort. I knew she was annoyed with the fact that I had helped in harming such an innocent girl.

                I was silent, waiting for her next question.

                “So what happened to make you hate John?”

                “When we realized that Ellie had been Awakened, not sent over as a spy, we made an attempt to get her onto the Girls’ Side.” I summarized, “Basically, that never worked.”

                “Clearly.” Sofia mumbled under her breath. I knew I wasn’t supposed to hear. I didn’t make any comment of it.

                “We had just escaped from my government.” I said, speaking the words from my memory, “Can you believe that? My own government was out trying to kill us. We were at John’s friend, CJ’s. He was supposed to get us Speed to get here. Or home. Or… anywhere.”

                Sofia snorted at the thought of Speed. “He didn’t know it always sent you to the Girls’ Side either?”

                “No one did. We all thought it glitched.”

                “The only time it glitched was when it sent you to somewhere on the Boys’ Side instead of the Girls’ Side.”

                I shrugged, “I figure as much now. But we didn’t know then. We just needed to get away. We were going to rest for the night and go in the morning.

                “We were sleeping when we heard the sound of a gun starting up. CJ had been lined-up the night before. He didn’t know that Ellie was a girl. Somehow he had found out—probably from John. Who else would have betrayed Ellie?—and she woke up with a gun on her.

                “John ended up getting the gun from him and shooting Ellie in the stomach. It was a nearly fatal wound. He told me to run, get her to safety, and I did.

                “I remember hearing screams. He shot CJ.”

                I took a deep breath, pacing myself. I knew I was speeding up, trying to rush through the worst part. I needed to slow down. Sofia shot me an encouraging look.

                “Ellie and I stayed at this man’s house for years to come. She managed to live and… we were in love. But one day… I left to go to work… and she stayed home; she always did. Where could she go anyways?”

                I shook my head, feeling my eyes water once more.

                “I came home because I had forgotten something. John was there, in the living room, smirking. Ellie’s body was on the floor. There was blood, so much fucking blood.”

                I shuddered at the mental image, unable to go anymore.

                Sofia wrapped an arm around my shoulders, pulling me into her side. Hesitantly, I rested my head on her shoulder, staring at the ground. I wasn’t going to cry, but it felt nice.

                We sat that for God knows how long. She didn’t say anything, didn’t do anything. She let me sit and think about everything.

                I kept my thoughts happy, remembering the good times with Ellie. How she always knew how to make me laugh, how she always knew how to make me happy.

                When Blasé and I would come home and the sweet smell of her cooking would fill the household. We ate a lot of peesh over the years. That was Ellie’s favorite food. Though Blasé introduced her to a plethora of foods, she always made her way back to peesh.

                I didn’t mind it either.

                Whatever made Ellie happy, made me happy.

                She was my love, my beauty, my everything. She countered everything the schools taught us. She was the exception.

                A beeping brought me back to reality. Sofia pulled away, standing up to check on what caused it. I laid down on my back, staring at the ceiling.

                I could hear her typing again, the beeping ceased.

                Sofia spun around in her chair, a smirk on her lips.

                I looked at her curiously

                “Well, Clayton, I have good news for you.” She said calmly.

                I sat up, looking at her excitedly, “Continue…”

                A grin crossed her lips, “Currently, the Craft is landing as we speak.”

                I took notice of the dip the Craft had taken as she spoke. I bit my lip, hoping that my predictions were going to be proven correct.

                “We’re going to be landing in less than one minute.”

                “Sofia, please” I begged, the suspension killing.

                Her lips pulled back into a small, “Patience, Clay.”

                “I have been patient this long! Hurry up!”

                She paused. There was a slightly jolt as we landed. The lights dimmed as the Craft began to shut down. I stood up eagerly, ready for her next words.

                “We have landed in London, Tatiana.”

                “John’s here.” I whispered to myself.

                She nodded, “Probably, if he’s still alive.”

                She stood up, leading the way to the door. Sofia opened it, walking out first. I followed quickly, closing it behind me.

                “Remember you’re still a DQ if anyone asks.” She whispered silently to me.

                I glanced down, having forgotten entirely about my ridiculous get-up.

                “Gotcha.” I mumbled.

                Sofia led the way up to a house. I stood beside her.

                “Is this it?” I asked quietly.

                She nodded, “According to the charts…”

                “Are they ever wrong?”

                “Rarely.”

                I crossed my fingers hoping this wasn’t one of the times.

                Sofia reached out her finger, pressing the doorbell.

                I could feel my heart beating faster and faster with each passing moment. My hands twitched, yearning for something so that I could bash John’s filthy face in.

                It seemed like a year had passed by the time the door opened.

                A small girl, though taller than Sofia, stood before us. She looked confused, hiding the disgust when she took in my appearance.

                “Hello?” She asked.

                “Hi, I’m Sofia” Sofia introduced “And this is my friend, Clayt—Clarisse.”

                “Can I help you?” The strange girl asked quietly.

                I stepped in, figuring if John was around, this would be the only way for me to get him to realize we were here, “I was wondering if you knew anyone by the name of Ellie?”

                The girl bit her lip, thinking, “Nope, sorry, I don’t know an Ellie.”

                “Are you sure you don’t know an ELLIE?” I said, emphasizing Ellie’s name. He had to hear.

                The girl frowned, “I heard you the first time.”

                Sofia sighed, looking at me, “It’s no use, he’s gone.”

                “Excuse me, did you just say he?” The girl questioned suspiciously.

                Sofia blinked, “What? No, I said ‘she’”   

                “I could’ve sworn…” She eyed us carefully.

                I clenched my fists, scanning the house behind her. Any sight of John, anything at all would be reassuring.

                We didn’t come all the way here for nothing.

                “What about a Zee?” I asked desperately, “CJ? Blasé? John? Any familiar?”

                “I’m sorry” The girl said, beginning to close the door, “I don’t know any of them… please ma’am, go away.”

                “Wait, please, you need to tell me! Do you know any of those names? I’m desperate!” I begged. Sofia grabbed my arm, pulling me away.

                “I’m sorry, ma’am, Clarisse is a little…” She motion her finger in a circle around her ear.

                “No, Stop Sofia, Please!” I said, “You have to help! Do you know the names?”

                “I already said no! Go away!”

                “Cassie, let them go.” A deep, familiar voice said.

                An eerie silence fell upon the three of us at the sound of that voice. Anger flooded my veins as his footsteps reverberated against the walls of the house.

                John’s figure appeared next to the girl. He leaned against the wall, staying in the shadows, a malicious smirk across his lips.

                “Hey Clayton, long time no see”