“Fuck!” Kylie stopped to catch her breath, panting from exhaustion. “Did we lose it?”
“I think so, but… K?” Jude spoke up the same way they usually did, quietly and hesitantly. “I… think we need to retreat.”
“Yeah.” Tyler chimed in with a calm, gruff, matter-of-fact tone. “We’re out of our depth here. Just running isn’t good enough, we need to get the hell out of this mindscape.”
“No!” Kylie snapped briefly, raising her voice for just a single word before catching herself and lowering it back down. “No. We can’t just… leave him.” She looked around the room she was in. It was just another empty floor in the towering building they’d hidden themselves away inside - cowering in fear of the local Nightmare. She hated this. “He’s… I mean, he…” The walls were cracked and dripping with hate goo. Her shoes were caked in the black gunk as well - couldn’t go three feet without stepping in a blob of the stuff. The three young dreamwalkers knew Rudy’s home life was bad when they’d set out to enter his head, but… this was so much worse than they could have ever imagined. “…we…” Her eyes lingered on the large quantities of stubborn blue Will to Live leaking out of Tyler’s side. The Nightmare had gotten him good. “…you’re right. You two go first, I’ll be right behind you.”
Kylie tightened her grip on her microphone, on her Defiance - a tangible manifestation of her refusal to shut up and accept all the brutal injustice in the world that every adult just dismissed with an apathetic “life isn’t fair”. She couldn’t just walk away and abandon Rudy, no matter how impossible it was to save him - but she couldn’t drag her friends down with this sinking ship of hers, either.
“Now, now. It’s not good to lie to your friends, you know.” A familiar voice came from one of the room’s corners, alongside the familiar smell of an office that Kylie had been sent to dozens of times.
“Ky… lie…?” Jude raised their voice, a twinge of nervous urgency pushing forth every word. “Why is our school counselor here?”
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Kylie turned around to see Cedric Lepton goddamn Galilei, a forty something thorn in her side. He had an unfortunate knack for seeing through every facade Kylie put up, even though she couldn't get a read on him even if her life depended on it - leading her to view him as something of a nemesis. Still, he wasn’t the worst. He was basically the only member of the faculty that Jude trusted… and the only one that didn’t seem willing to sweep Rudy’s problems under the rug.
“I had a hunch it would be you three.” A hint of a smirk grew on the counselor’s face. “Tyler has always been a busybody, yet he often seems to suddenly start minding his own business with the strangest of timing. Jude is living proof that caution might hide courage, but never dampen it. And Kylie, you surprised me… the least. Always angry, always rebelling, and yet… never violent. Not an ounce of hatred behind those eyes. You’ve always reminded me of two old friends.” He paused. “Still, this mindscape is in bad shape. It might be best if the fledgling dreamwalkers left this one to the adults.”
“Well…” Kylie narrowed her eyes. She didn’t trust Cedric… but she didn’t actively distrust him like she did most adults. “Will the adults actually do something this time?”
“Rudy is one of the students that have been on my radar for a while now. I’ve moved cautiously for fear of destabilizing an already volatile situation…” He looked out the window of the building. “But what I’ve seen here changes things. The situation is worse than anticipated, and tactical recklessness seems required. I think I’m going to have to go to CPS directly, first thing tomorrow morning.” He shrugged with an emotionless conviction. “…the principal won’t like that. But if I get fired, I can find work at another school.” He waved a hand dismissively. “Nothing to worry about until tomorrow morning, however. Your friend picked a very convenient day to have a breakdown.”
Kylie scowled. “The fuck do you mean convenient!?”
“I mean that if one must have a heart attack, the best place for it is probably right next to the hospital.” A flicker of nostalgia ran through the counselor’s eyes. “And if one must have a mental health crisis, the best time for it…” A thunderous boom rocked the mind scape as a flash of brilliant orange flaming light came rocketing down from the sky - startling the three young dreamwalkers, but evoking only a soft chuckle from Cedric. “Well, let’s just say that one of those two old friends I mentioned earlier is back in town for the first time in months.”