Time flies as I watch the city pass by on the bus. Trace is off in the back of the bus snoring, and I'm sitting near Blue. I think to myself. About school, the boy using Phoenix Shade, the boy we just saved...

“Hey.” Blue sits on the other side of the bus, right across from me. He looks up in response to my calling him. “How do you feel?”

He smiles. Maybe he's just happy that I care. “I'll be fine. Thank you.” It's quiet again. I usually don't like it when it gets quiet like this... Blue seems to see this and speaks. “Oh, we haven't really been properly introduced yet, have we? In case you didn't hear me in the classroom, I'm--”

“Azul 'Blue' Ryukawa. Of course I know your name, silly.” Blue just stares at me, confused. “...oh. You've forgotten about me, haven't you?”

He suddenly seems a little embarrassed. “I guess I did. I'm sorry.” He stops looking at me, as if to hide from my eyes. I kind of feel bad for him, but how did he just forget? Did he hit his head or something? I haven't changed that much... have I?

“Blue, listen... it's me, Cleo Arkald. We went to the same middle school, remember? We had the same class and everything...” I lean over, hoping he responds.

“Um, were we friends?”

I don't know what to say. “Kind of. like, we knew each others names and stuff.” A lie. “I don't blame you for forgetting. Nothing great happened between you and me, nothing you need to worry about happened during those times...” Another lie. A bigger one. I probably look sad, saying this.

Then, all of a sudden, Blue laughs. He's not laughing at me, though. It seems more like he's laughing at himself. “Come on, you're making me feel bad.” He starts smiling again. I like to see him smile... When he smiles, I feel like I can forget whatever bad things are happening. Back then, Blue would worry a lot, and it seems like he still does. Even if everything was fine, Blue would find something to get upset about, and he would end up obsessing over it, so he was almost never happy when I talked to him.

When he smiles, I just feel like things are right, you know what I mean? I kind of wish he could keep smiling like this... “Wait a second...” Blue's face changes. He seems to be in thought... “Oh! Yeah, I remember you now! The girl I was with at the park... you used to be adorable back then." He grins. "You still are.”

This made me smile. “How have you been, Blue?”

“Everything's fine. Little Miko started middle school today, Gramps is okay as always... Everything's fine.”

I'm glad to hear that. “That's good. I've been doing well, myself.”

He looks over, seeming a little confused. “You had brown hair back then... Did you change it?”

I guess he's worried about the pink color I decided to dye my hair. “Yeah,” I answer. “No real reason, I just thought it would look nice. It's not bad, is it?” I ask, again, hiding the full truth.

Blue shakes his head, saying, “No, it's fine. It looks good on you.” We just sort of talked like this for a while...

Maybe I have changed since then, but I can tell Blue has changed a lot, himself... He used to be so shy and depressed, and I always thought he looked and acted kind of like a girl. But now here he is, smiling and enjoying life, he's shed his girly looks and he's grown to be so handsome in such a short amount of time... I ask him if he's remembered anything else, and we talk more about things like the field trip they took us on near the end of our last year of middle school.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

We went to an amusement park that day, and this was the last time I'd see Blue before he was sent to the hospital after...

...anyway, he was alone when I saw him there, and he had no one to go around the park with. It just so happened that I got separated from my friends, so I went over to him. We spent the rest of the day together... I don't think I had ever been happier.

After a while, Blue, who has since moved out of his seat to sit right next to me, decides to change the subject. “I remembered something else. Remember those murders around the school back in eighth grade?” This is an unpleasant surprise. Of all the things to suddenly remember... “Do you think... Do you think they ever caught them?”

I hesitate. What should I say to something like that? “The murders did stop, so I assume that they did...”

Blue goes on, talking about the killings some more. “I mean, I was afraid to go outside then. It was like being in a nightmare... They said that this killer would come out at night and drain victims of their blood for some reason... The whole thing felt like something out of a vampire horror story...” Now I'm just feeling depressed... “In fact, I've never believed the vampire stories, but maybe... Cleo, do you think it was a vamp--” He looks at my face for a second. “...I'm sorry.”

“No, don't worry, Blue. It's not like anything was your fault. I'm okay, see?”

He goes back to smiling at me. “I was worried. Back then, I thought they might have come after my family, after me, after you... but we're all okay... I feel terrible for those who lost their loved ones, but we're okay... I'm so happy to see you safe...” Blue puts his hand on my shoulder and gives me a warm smile. I'm so happy that he can be close to me, and yet so sad... because soon, he might remember “that”...

“Uh, come on, Blue. Let's not...” I feel embarrassed as I say this. Unable to come up with a real excuse, I just clumsily push him away... but he still lets me go and goes back to his seat.

"O-okay, my bad," he says, laughing at himself a bit.

Blue now sits silently, then he asks one more question... “Just about an hour ago, I had thought it was either help you and Trace or keep me and my family safe...” I look over. Blue is looking at his hands. “...but Cleo, do you think I might be able to do both?”

“I dunno,” I say, softly. “I'd say it's worth a try.” Blue seems a little surprised that I answered.

“Hm? Oh, you didn't have to answer me. Sorry.” He raises his hand up. “Still, maybe I can't, but what if I can? I feel like I should try... but what if I screw up? I can't take it back...” He forms a fist, looking determined.

“Well, Blue, the decision is yours. Trace trusts you to make the right choice, and so do I,” I say, smiling. "Just know that, whatever you decide to do, I'll support you, like I've always wanted to." I look out the window and see that the bus is going through my familiar neighborhood. “Okay, this is my stop, Blue. I gotta go.” As I walk away, I say to him, “Take care of yourself, at least until tomorrow, okay?” He smiles and nods. I wave goodbye to him, get off the bus, walk home, and go to sleep, thinking of when I'll see my friend again...