When your world dies, you do. That’s what the books I’ve read say. Then why am I still here? Why am I still alive?

I stare up at the dark, starless sky, wishing it would suck me up into its depths of oblivion. The moon watches me from its perch, a full moon shining ever so bright. I here the crunching of leaves behind me before the sound stops and I feel a warm body beside me.

“James, you look like you could use some company.” Katrina pats my shoulder before sighing and looking to where my gaze is. “It’s such a beautiful night tonight, isn’t it? Karl would’ve loved this.”

My body tenses instantly. _Karl would’ve loved this_ is ringing in my ears. The sky above me turns blurry, unreal. I faintly hear Katrina try to gain my attention. Past tense. There’s no need to use past tense—he’s here; he has to be alive still.

I don’t even realize I’m crying until Katrina starts to wipe them off with the back of her hand. I lurch up, hands coming to wrap around my knees. Katrina holds my face in her hands; she’s crying too.

“Hey, James, hey. We’ll be fine without him—“

“What are you talking about!” I push her away and wipe my tears away roughly, quickly, biting down on my lip to knock some sense into myself. I was doing so well with hiding this—this—

_Don’t be selfish, James. For me, just for me, do what you can to help all of us. Every Disordered alive._

I calm my breath and look back to the sky. The moon seems paler now, distant then before. Katrina is staring at me, waiting. Although she had the power to know my location and personal information, she doesn’t have the power her brother had—_has_. She can’t impact or know what my emotions are. So she waits.

“Yeah,” it’s better just to go along with her for now. I’ll find soon when I interrogate that thing. “We can try….” I stand up, wiping the back of my trousers and I continue to stare at the sky. Although Katrina doesn’t have the same ability as Karl, she can still read people. “Let’s go now.”

The quicker we get back, the quicker I can find answers.

—//—

_(Sorry it’s so short. Fall break; Imma be hanging out with my biological father for the week. yay? I wanna add more characters to the world of Blanks and Disordered so if you wanna help with that, I would appreciate it. If you wanna know details just ask me. I’ll put my ideas in the comments below._

_Thanks for reading and have a great day. ♡!)_