Memories

Sapphire, in a hurry, rushed into her room, where Lainey was, looking at the map on her wall. She quickly turned her around, EpiPen in hand, only for Lainey to back off.

"It's fine!" Lainey yelled out. I was just…freaking out a small bit, is all."

"Because of that…blonde man?" Sapphire asked.

"Uh, yeah." Lainey replied. "It's…nothing, don't worry about it."

"If…if you say so." Sapphire responded, looking towards Dominic's room. "He's fine, right?"

"I refuse to believe he could die quietly so yeah, he’s probably fine."

"Okay." Sapphire sighed in relief. "So, what are you looking at, exactly?"

"Hm? Oh, your map."

Lainey went back to looking at the world map Sapphire had handing in her room, next to her bookshelf. It was a fairly simple world map, something she'd have seen in an elementary school. With some red string attaching several countries together in what was more or less a circular motion. Probably how she sailed across the world, doing her merchant thing.

But the countries completely crossed out were something else entirely.

The countries from Egypt to Iran to Yemen were completely crossed out in what looked to be red marker.

"Hey, what's the deal with this?" Lainey asked. Judging by her skin, she assumed that she came from around those areas.

"Oh, the middle east?" Sapphire asked. "Went there a few times, but the people there didn't seem to like what I was selling. Not worth the supplies to get there, you know? It's the economy for you."

"Oh, that makes sense." Lainey replied. "I just kinda thought you would…be from…"

"Nah, I'm from Ontario. I get that a lot. Anyway, your name is pretty cool." Sapphire interjected rapidly, changing the topic.

"My…name?" Lainey replied, confused.

"Yeah! I mean, Lainey. Not really a name I've heard before."

"Oh, it's short for Eleanor. Not a name I really like that much, so I just use Lainey."

"What you got against the name, exactly?"

"Named after my grandmother. Problem is, she's a total bitch."

"Yeah, I get having bad grandmothers." Sapphire responded, solemnly nodding while clutching her necklace.

“Yeah, checks out.” Lainey sighed. “Lemme guess, hates the gays?”

"Basically." She sighed. "Then again, I haven't talked to any of my family in a while, so maybe she died…"

"Jesus." Lainey coughed. "Well, maybe when all this is over, we'll be able to meet god. You know, smack some sense into them." She smiled, and Sapphire gave a half-hearted smile back.

"Yeah, meeting god." Sapphire's voice and eyes trailed off, and then snapped back to Lainey.

"Hey, I gotta lock up some things on the boat, mind if you stay here for a few minutes?"

"Yeah, sure. Probably gonna go to sleep anyway."

Meanwhile, Ulrich came into Dominic's room, while he was just flicking through his uPhone. Ulrich looked at Dominic for a few seconds, scratched the back of his head, and briefly looked out of the window.

"Yeah…sorry about laughing back there." Ulrich spurted out rapidly, still not looking at Dominic.

Dominic gave a confused smile which Ulrich didn't notice and went back to his uPod.

"Hey, you like Fewer Than Jack?" Dominic asked.

Ulrich looked at him for a second in bewilderment and sighed. "Not really? I mean, my mom really liked them for whatever reason, so…maybe play a couple songs."

Dominic gave Ulrich a sombre nod and hit play.

Ulrich was punched with a wave of nostalgia when the music started. Story of a crappy town, his moms' favourite. When, without him even thinking about it, the sound of his mom singing it entered his ears. For a second, he took off his gloves and closed his eyes. Just trying to go back, even if it was for a second.

And it worked. The hammock started to feel like his old couch, where he was just casually watching an episode of East Park he recorded the night before. For a brief moment, everything was fine. The demons weren't a concern for him. He could rest easy. And finally, he heard his mother call out to him.

"The hell?"

Ulrich slowly crept out of the hammock with a quiet "yeah?"

He looked around, blinking at his new, or old surroundings. Dominic stood in front of the door to the room, looking mildly concerned.

"You doing okay, man?" He asked.

"Yeah?" Ulrich replied. The music was still playing, and Dominic was still looking at him.

"Were you…crying?" Dominic asked.

Ulrich ran his hand across his face, and sure enough, there were tears on it.

"Y-yeah. I'm fine." Ulrich responded, his face red from crying. "What are you even doing, anyway?"

"I was trying to open the door to get us some beers, but the door seems to be locked."

"Really? Let me try." Ulrich got out of bed and moved towards the door. He tried to open it, but the wooden door wouldn't budge. He tried prying the door open with his foot, and still nothing.

"So, are we locked in here?" Dominic asked.

Ulrich clicked his tongue. "Seems like it. Well, I'm going back to bed."

"Woah, now!" Dominic yelled, jumping in front of him. "Maybe use those fire gloves you got?"

"Yeah, set fire to a wooden boat. Can't see how that would fail." Ulrich replied, crawling back into his hammock.

"So what, we just go to bed?" Dominic asked.

"Yes." Ulrich glared. "Just…I gotta think about some things."

"Geez, fine." Dominic replied. "Then…good night, I guess."

"Yeah, night."