Down | Tyrus

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"Okay, I'm completely on board with getting the city to go to the land," Buffy says, "but there are several issues with this plan, or should I say with this lack of a plan."

We sit in Buffy's room, the same way we always do when we need to discuss something. The tin lamp on her nightstand flickers, causing our shadows to switch in and out with the light. 

"First of all," Buffy starts, "none of us know how to navigate. Even if we did, we have no way of getting the pilot to change course. We aren't in the position to be able to do anything."

"TJ would be," I mutter. 

But he wouldn't help us. He wouldn't even let us into the library. There's no way he would agree to helping us redirect the whole city. But if I did ask him, he wouldn't tell anyone of my plan. At least I don't think he would. He may not want to get involved, but if I could convince him that this is what's right, then he would probably at least not try to stop me. 

"I could try to ask him," I say.

"Are you sure he'd agree to help?" Andi asks. 

I shake my head. 

"I don't think trusting him is smart anyway," Buffy says. "He could tell his dad, and then we could be arrested for trying to tamper with the city."

"He wouldn't," I respond. "He's afraid of his father, but he's not the same as him. TJ would understand the importance of this."

"I know you think you know him," Buffy says, "but he's a top-level boy like the rest of them. By nature, he's not on our side."

"I don't really think we have a choice," I say. "Nobody we know is able to help us, and he's the best option we have."

Buffy goes silent as she contemplates that. Finally after a moment, she sighs and says, "Okay. Ask him."

________________________________________

It's dark out, and the fog doesn't help my visibility, so I end up watching the floor to know where I'm going. My friends and I always end up spending way longer at Buffy's than we should, because we often end up playing some card game that her grandpa taught us when we were young. Today was Whist, a game I'm positively awful at, but somehow Jonah can't lose. Jonah is like that. He just has Lady Luck on his side.

The fourth floor is empty, which is expected since it is after eleven, and everyone needs to get up and work tomorrow. I do too, but Buffy always manages to convince me that sleeping is just the unnecessary giving in to one's mortality. Taking one more step forward toward my house, a dark figure catches my eye through the fog, and I realize I am in fact not the only one out. But the person I see shocks me. Why is he out here? 

"TJ?" 

I go up to the edge of the city where he's leaning with his arms on a railing, looking out at the nothingness of the cloudy void. At the sound of my voice, he spins around and spots me. 

"Cyrus," he says with a smile. "Hey."

"What are you doing here at night?" I ask. "Shouldn't you be at home?"

"I was, uh... I was at home. But I couldn't sleep, so I wanted to go out for a walk."

"And you stopped your walk here?"

He remains quiet for a minute, his eyes wandering from me to the buildings behind me and out to the sky. 

"We haven't talked in a few days," he says out of the blue. "I wanted to make sure you weren't mad at me or something."

I haven't purposefully been trying to avoid him. I've just had a lot on my mind that's kept me moving fast at all times. 

"No, of course not," I reply. "I'm just busy. That's all."