Zrrrrrrrrchtiiiiizrrrrrrrcht

Hello? Is someone there? Asked Timothy, politely. I thought I heard something.

Zrrrrrrch- Tim- Zrrrrrrch

Tim? Oh yes, that’s me… You’re back again, aren’t you? Look, I don’t want to be rude to you, but this is my brain and I’d prefer to be alone in it, so please just leave me be.

Zch- Tim… othy… Zcht

Oh, I know what you want! You want me to put that helmet back on, don’t you? Well listen, the first time I wore it I nearly died, it gave my poor friends quite the shock. Yes, the second time nothing horrible happened, but now two of my best friends are angry with each other! Nothing good comes out of that helmet, and I’m not putting it back on unless I absolutely have to!

Timothy… Zch…comp…isson…Zcht

I’m sorry, but I don’t understand you… no, Alex talked to me about apologizing… I’m not sorry! Just go away! Please…

CLANG!

Timothy jolted awake at the noise, taking in a deep breath of alarm as he waited for whatever assailant was coming for him. He looked all around the room, searching for the first dangerous thing he could find. The giant machine with a million little buttons? No that’s not dangerous, hopefully. The giant room of chairs and tables made out of the same black metal as the rest of the Lavender. No, that’s not it either. Perhaps in the doorway where the words printed above it read ‘Caf?’ Maybe in an earthquake? It would seem that there were no assailants, but there was a friend.

Neil stood next to his slumbering friend, a look of ‘oh crap’ printed all over his face like a newsletter. “Sorry, Tim, my bad.” He bent over and retrieved the metal cylinder he had dropped. “Clumsy fingers, I guess.”

The startled boy looked around; how did he even get here? “Oh, it’s fine.” He replied, wobbling to his feet in a way that only the tired can accomplish. “How did I…”

“We all crashed last night.” Neil cut in, predicting the question. “After that day I guess it just finally caught up to us. I just woke up myself, ‘was in the hallway. All things considering I’m surprised you made it as far as the Caf room.”

“Caf room?” Timothy echoed.

Neil raised his arms in the air and spun around. “Cafeteria, I guess. Alien ship though, ‘Caf’ could really mean anything when you think about it.”

Timothy nodded. “So, this is where you get food and stuff?”

He received a friendly nod from Neil, but not without the slightest hint of sarcasm. “Yep, we get it in these little can things.” He held up his metal cylinder. “I nearly starved to death before I figured out what button to press, that was a rough week.”

Taking his can of food, Neil wandered over to a nearby table. He sat down and popped the can open with a squeeze of his fist. Timothy nearly gagged at what came out of it. “Oh dear, that doesn’t look very pleasant, what is it?”

Neil gave a forlorn look up at his friend and managed a tired, knowing smile. “It’s food Tim, really bad, really disgusting food.”

The slop from the can oozed out onto a plate on the table, and like any type of food that is described with the word ‘ooze,’ it did not look edible. It was a pile of slimy, grey, and bunched-up muck with little bits and pieces sticking out in unflattering parts. Timothy noticed, much to his stomach’s chagrin, that those little things were actually tiny, insect-like legs.

“I don’t want to knock your taste pallet, but that doesn’t seem appetizing.” Timothy said, taking a seat across from his pal.

He chuckled, “Oh man, wait till you eat it. It feels like it flows through your stomach slowly, like it’s climbing down you’re throat!” His smile faded for a second. “But that first day, when I got it to work, it was like the best thing I ever tasted.”

Timothy didn’t want to pry, but he caved into his curiosity. “Alex told me that you were the first one to get here, that must have been really scary for you.”

Neil saw where the conversation was going, “Yep, totally scary.” He desperately tried to think of a way to shift the subject, but he was too slow.

“Once, back at MGHUC, some of the kids decided that they wanted to run away.” Timothy began. “They didn’t invite me, I didn’t really get invited to anything really, but I tagged along just behind them. I don’t know why I did it, I guess I just was curious about what the real world looked like. After a while, the sky got dark, and the kids decided they wanted to go back. But they didn’t tell me, and I got lost. The night air was super cold, I forgot my coat, silly me. I walked and walked but I couldn’t find any way back, or any body to help me. It felt so…” Timothy bit his lip and stopped himself from going any further, he didn’t like that memory. “I can only imagine how you must have felt here, of all places!”

The boy in the tattered coat wanted to make a joke, but he couldn’t find one. “It wasn’t fun, I’ll give you that.” He responded, figuring opening up was better than eating his sludge breakfast. “I kept walking up and down the corridors, feeling the walls for any secret exits or stuff. Heh, I guess I must’ve looked pretty stupid doing that.”

“I bet you just looked inquisitive!” Timothy said with a smile.

“Ha, maybe…” Suddenly Neil looked away, it took him a moment to speak. “You know what was the worst part was, spending all those months alone? It wasn’t being in the ship, it wasn’t being ripped away from Earth, or even the boredom. It was not knowing what time it was!”

Timothy tilted his head, “really?”

“I didn’t have a watch on me when I came here, just this stupid coat I found in a dumpster. If you look around, you’ll notice there isn’t any clocks, well maybe there is and it’s just too alien to recognize, you never know. It doesn’t seem like a big deal but give it a few weeks and it will! You’ll just sit there, not knowing where you are or what time of day it is. You’ll wonder to yourself, is it day or is it night? Should I be sleeping, or should I just be waking up? Such a little thing, but it drives you mad after a while.” Timothy watched as his friend went inside himself, going someplace that was very dark. “You know… you get tired of being here, of just existing. You get tired of calling out in the corridors and pretending that the echo is someone calling back to you, because you just can’t stand the sound of their voice anymore. The walls start to seem smaller, though of course they aren’t, and you know that, but still, they seem smaller. You start to get lost sometimes, even though you know the place like the back of your hand! Maybe it’s because you forgot where you were going, maybe it’s because you don’t care? The time elapses, and the only question you can think to ask is ‘has it only been a minute?’”

The room was silent. Timothy, unsurprisingly, had no idea how to respond to that. “Wow, umm, that’s ah, not very good.”

Neil said nothing as he raised his food to his mouth and took a bite. His face scrunched up, “god, this tastes like shit.” He stammered, spitting it out. “Anyway, we’d better check on Alex and Sophia, stop them tarring each other apart!”

Timothy was surprised to see Neil had somehow pulled himself out of that dark place almost instantly, which seemed to be too quick. However, he certainly wasn’t going to complain. “Are they still upset?”

“Alex and Sophia? Probably, things got pretty heated earlier.”

With a nod, Timothy followed his friend out of the Caf room. He wondered if he should mention the voice he was hearing inside his head again, but he figured that now wasn’t the best time.