The strange pain is there again. Since losing his hearing years ago Eli had forgotten sound but this eerie feeling seemed to be invading his silent mind, almost as if he could see it instead.

"Is it possible to see sound?"

"What?" Anaki asked, sitting up in confusion. Eli shook his head, feeling foolish for bringing it up. He had mustered the courage to share this unsettling experience after it lingered for days, but now he felt it was a silly concern. With a forced smile, he signed, "Forget it—"

"It's possible." Anaki's words took him by surprise. "Think about it, we are no longer bound by the laws of nature." He looks outside at the starless sky, they had parked the van to rest for the night. Anaki was atop keeping watch and Eli joined him when those sounds grew louder in his mind.

"By feeling sound, can you explain it?" Anaki's gears were turning, he was formulating several possibilities. Of course he doesn't discard the chances that Eli is starting to get mentally strained by the horrific events. A thought he buries.

"I don't know how to explain." Eli lets his hands hang after signing. "Don't worry too much about it, if it's bothering you we can figure out a way to silence it."

"Silence it?" Instead of relief Eli felt afraid, this sound was visible in his mind and it was as if his hearing was returning does he really want to silence it?

"—or you can try to understand it." Eli's jolts up meeting Anaki's earnest eyes. He felt his finger tips tremble as he signed, "how?"

"Um, try explaining how you can see sound. It doesn't matter if it doesn't make sense." Eli nodded, his hands moving anxiously to convey his thoughts. "It's like this funny feeling in my head. I can't hear any sounds, but it feels like I'm seeing them, like they're taking shape in my mind."

"Eli." Anaki's signs felt distant and blurred to Eli. He struggled to make out the shapes, a gnawing fear creeping in that Anaki might think he's lost his mind. The thought that no one would want to be friends with someone who seemed so strange weighed heavily on his chest. "You have a special way of seeing things." He blinks at Anaki's conclusion. "Probably because your brain is really good at mixing up what's real with what it's imagining."

Anaki continued, trying to convey his thoughts through to Eli carefully. "It's like if you were looking at a picture and suddenly started seeing extra colors or shapes that aren't actually there." Eli nods ecstatic, that is exactly how he feels it.

"Maybe you could try to figure out what's real and what's just your brain playing tricks on you." Anaki scratches his cheek, struggling with words to explain, "I guess it's a bit like a really tricky puzzle, I don't know if it'll help. But try understanding it."

Eli clasps his hands, "understand..." he muttered. Maybe this is a better option.

Anaki looks at the empty sky, the stars have yet to return. Slowly over time they will return and each star will represent a soul like in the folktales. He shuts his eyes bitter thoughts reeling memories of his past. It seems that Miss Yaryu is one of the soulbound, though he never expected her to have a deep connection with light. Eli could be showing symptoms but for now he can't ignore the possibility of it being after-effects of trauma. He rubs his face, how is going to explain the concepts 'soulbound' and 'link' to the others? This apocalypse had drained his mental state to the brim.

"What're you two doing?" Orion pokes his head out, he wasn't too pleased to see Anaki be alone with his friend. Reading the obvious discomfort on his face, Anaki leaps down the van, "you can ask Eli for the details, let's head in for now. We have to move again."

"Let my aunt rest, she has been driving nonstop for the past few days like a slave."

"I know." Anaki wished he could link already, "but we don't have a choice until we make it to the base."

"Is there even a base?" Orion felt frustration build up in his throat. He knows he is acting immature but he can't suppress his doubts anymore.

"Yes—"

"—how do you know?" Eli grabs Orion's arm, "calm down." They flinch at the empty void in Anaki's eyes, that sight terrified him more, is he even the Anaki they knew a few days ago?

"One week," Anaki avoids their frightened gazes, "after that you can do whatever you want. Until then we have to survive." He climbs into the van and shuts the door. He sighs burying his face in his lap, "this is hard."

"I am scared, too." Eli holds onto Orion's hand and gives him a reassuring smile. Orion nods burying his uneasy emotions once more and signed, "thanks." There is no one out here who can understand Orion more than his trusted friend and he will protect this friendship, it's the only thing keeping him alive.

He enters the van, his aunt was busy speaking with Anaki. He clicks his tongue and sits down but Eli was still outside. He was staring straight at the vast railway. "What's wrong?" Orion asks. Eli doesn't shift his gaze from the gravitating darkness, "nothing I thought I heard something..." he signed.

"Heard?"

"It's nothing, I'm just tired." Eli climbs aboard looking once more at the tracks ahead, the sound is showing him something. Something that feels out of his nightmares and it's making its way towards them. He shuts his eyes tightly and felt his pounding heart, please, make it just be my thoughts. But he failed to shake off that eerie presence.

Those sounds surged and writhed towards him, an insidious force drawing nearer with every heartbeat. It wasn't just darkness coming to him—he was being pulled towards it, an invisible tether tightening with each step. The suffocating presence reaches out with cold, grasping tendrils that closed around his face. Eli tried to scream, but no sound escaped his lips, only a silent terror.

Tears welled up and spilled over his cheeks and dripped vanishing into this abyss. The black goo encircled him like a malevolent net, tightening around his chest and throat, constricting his every breath—

"Eli!" A voice pierced through the nightmare, jolting him awake. He blinked rapidly, the terror of the shadows fading as his surroundings came into focus. Orion's pale face loomed before him, his eyes wide with concern. His friend was holding onto his shoulders, he seemed pale and there was a familiar fear in his eyes that he hadn't seen in a long time. "What's wrong?" Eli spoke but he couldn't hear how broken his own voice was.

Eli's face felt wet, and he suddenly became aware of the tears that had streamed down his cheeks in his sleep. He hadn't realized he was crying or that his body had been wracked with silent, painful wails. The frightened faces of the other children stare at him in stunned silence. Miss Yaryu opens the door, a warm breeze brushes back his curly bangs. The air felt cold against his sweat-drenched skin. "Was it a nightmare?" She holds out her hand, "come on out and take a breather."

Orion helps him out the van, Eli clasps his arm he could barely stand properly. His knees were trembling, every hair strand on his flesh were standing on ends and a thick fog clogged his mind. But in that instance, when he stood before the great city bathed in the warmth of the sun all his worries melted and only the vastness of the world remained. Was he really in a nightmare? It felt far too surreal. He took in deep breath after the other.

Miss Yaryu's genteel face lowers to him, she signed still worried, "are you feeling better?"

"Yes." He croaked but his mind was elsewhere. He glances back and forth at Anaki, who was standing guard but he could see those occasional glimpses towards him, too. Eli wants to talk to him, he has to tell him his dream. Only Anaki could understand these strange and unsettling experiences.

"Here." Orion holds out a water bottle at him, "drink."

"Will he be alright?" Laura asks, she was holding onto her skirt anxious by the turn of events. Miss Yaryu smiles, "yes, he just had a bad dream. Lets have a short break, sounds good?"

"I want to go home." One of the children sparked. "I don't like this. I want to see my mommy."

"Nonsense." Laura spoke up, arms crossed over her chest. "No one is returning. We are going to see this to the end. I can't believe you want to ditch our one chance to meet Sukiyaki-sama. You traitor!"

"Stop being a child, Laura," another child snapped. "It's Anaki who made the promise, and he's from a poor family. We don't know if we'll ever meet our hero."

"Now you're being mean," Laura shot back, brushing her bangs aside. "I'm from the same background, but I still share what I have with others."

"You aren't poor," a boy pointed out. "Ross is, and I want to go home too. The zombies are scary."

"We're all scared!" Laura shouted, fists clenched. "We're tired of waiting. We need to see if Anaki's promise is real."

"See! Even you don't fully trust him!"

"What is going on?" Orion rubs his bridge, he could feel a headache surging. The children's voices grew louder, their fears overwhelming their excitement. "I don't feel so good." Ross grasps onto his belly, "I think I ate something weird."

"Everyone calm down." Miss Yaryu pats Ross on the back gently while her words struggled to juggle from one child to the other. "Alright, everyone, I need you to stop for a moment and look at me." The chaos rose into an uproar, her teacher instincts kick in and she claps her hand with a violent force. "Okay, listen up!" Her voice cuts through the noise, she could feel anger pour through her throbbing veins. The children lower their voices into hushed whispers but their focus is warily on her. "What's the meaning of this behavior?"

 Eli couldn't hear them but he could read their lips and he knew this was his fault. There is no home for them to return—it was his fault they began to yearn it. Will all of Anaki's efforts to get them to safety be in vain? In this situation? When there are those monsters roaming about? Tears welled up again, although he couldn't relate with the children's homesickness since his parents were rarely home he still yearned the old life. His fumbling fingers finally open the bottles cap, he shuts his eyes drowning his fears to quench his thirst. The water squeezed itself down his tight throat, he endured the few that managed to choke his wind pipe.  

"Where is Anaki?" Orion's voice was heard in the silence Miss Yaryu so hardly achieved. He was nowhere to be seen. Eli jolts up and points far ahead, "he's there."

Miss Yaryu gestures at the van, "single file inside. I am going to cut down on your treats for the next two days. The children complained but complied and once she was assured of them, she left searching to where Anaki went. Orion watches her figure shrink with rails. "He really went far." His gaze falls on Eli, "how'd you know he went there?"

"I saw him leave." Eli signed then shifts himself faking sleep. That was the second lie he ever told Orion and it gnawed his consciousness. I didn't see. He shuts his eyes.

 I felt him.