Grey, dull, lifeless water was poured from buckets. The crew wore blank expressions as they repeated the same cycle.
A warm breeze passed by, bringing warmth to a once-cold day.
"Should've used the pump," Amaya said.
Zayne sighed. "It's broken, and you know it."
As the rest of them were about to enter the stairs, a slim figure emerged from the other side.
"Lias? You good, man?" he asked.
Lias panted. "Ha. Yeah. Yeah, I am."
Amaya laughed. "I knew you could get the ship moving. Come sit down, you look tired."
Lias hesitated, then said, "No. It wasn't me."
The crew tilted their heads, hearing his words of uncertainty.
"Then what was it?" Kaya blurted.
Lias gripped his soldering tool tightly. "No. It just did that."
. . .
Cyrus walked past them. His knuckles looked unharmed as he crossed the hall, paying no attention to their conversation.
Suddenly, Lias's body convulsed, like he had been shocked.
Zayne leaped forward and grabbed him by the shoulder. "Alright, bro. There's something you aren't telling us."
Lias grabbed Zayne's hand and swiped it off.
"I'm telling you, I don't know any more than you guys," he mumbled.
Zayne shrugged it off and walked away.
"Okay, okay. You caught me being nosy again. So, you gonna sit down or help us out?" Zayne uttered as he went down the main hall's entrance.
Immediately, he raced down the steps and came back up with buckets in both hands.
"So, are you?" he said, smiling.
Lias couldn't smile. He only whipped his hair to the side as he walked past Zayne.
Meanwhile, Malik only watched. He saw Samir and Kamil quietly dump more dull buckets of water as they made small talk.
Amaya and Kaya would chat amongst one another as well, but it didn't process to him. Each word was static to him, a static that reminded him of something he might've forgotten.
That's strange. I feel like something's missing. Something that I'm supposed to have.
"Malik!" a voice screamed.
His eyes darted to the breach in the static.
Amaya giggled. "Did I startle you? Go dump your bucket. Did you forget that you left it there?"
Malik strolled towards the bucket. His lips felt dry and sealed. When he grabbed it, a realization hit him.
No. This isn't what I forgot. What I've forgotten is something that was always with me.
As he carried the bucket to pour it out, another voice struck a question to Malik.
"So who do you think did it? You're always the one who sees things better than all of us," Kamil said.
Malik only gave a half-smile. His lips were shut tighter than before.
Then—
"Do you think everything is gonna be okay, Malik?" a soft voice asked him.
Turning his head, he didn't hesitate. "Difficult to answer . . ."
. . .
Clink!
Something fell, scraping the floor as it slid towards everyone.
Malik was the first to see it. He saw the person who threw it.
Lias.
"Pretty sure this is yours. Found it floating towards me. Didn't know it would be so loud when it fell," Lias muttered.
Blankly, Malik could only stare. His words couldn't reach his mouth.
Is that what I've been forgetting? I don't think it forgot about me.
Malik stepped back. His hands gripped the railing behind him until his knuckles turned a bright white.
"Lias . . . where did you get that? No, how did you get that?" he said.
His words were shaking, and he was hesitant to even look at what he dropped. The dark jaggedness of it made him wish it wasn't real.
It's like when you wake up from a pleasant dream, only to find your nightmares at the foot of your bed, remember them until the day ends, and repeat it all over again.
"I found it. It's lighter than it looks," Lias interrupted his thought.
Malik went to pick it up. It stared right back at him.
The pointed, unsharpened edges and the obsidian skin of the blade seemed to drink the remnants of the faulty golden lights from the once-working chandelier. Who could ever forget it?
. . .
"There's your bayonet! I was wondering where you had it," Kaya said.
In a split second, Malik took the blade and secured it in his pocket, as if it burned his hand if he held it for too long.
He looked at Kaya with wide eyes, then averted his gaze back to the bucket.
"Is something wrong?" she asked.
"No. Everything's just okay," Malik responded.
"You're not making it very convincing," she added.
. . .
Furrowing his eyebrows, Malik began to ball his fists. He charged towards Lias and held him by his collar.
"You know something, and you're not telling me," Malik said.
Lias began to sweat. "What's your deal, man? I have no idea what you're talking about."
Malik almost let go of his collar, but he forced himself to get Lias to explain.
"You're doing too much. It's starting to hurt," Lias said, struggling to take Malik's hands off his collar.
Malik's eyebrows furrowed deeper. "Tell me how you did it."
"Malik. I'm telling you, please stop," Lias strained.
"Something possessed you to do this. There was no other way you could've pulled it off. Please, man. All I want is for you to tell me—"
Thud!
Malik fell on his back.
"Enough! Nothing possessed me to decide this ship's only path!" Lias barked.
He continued, "Sometimes I'm glad this ship is never changing course again, especially with someone like you on board."
. . .
Malik quickly got up. His face remained neutral, but his eyebrows couldn't resist raising at his response.
That's not at all the answer I was expecting. Did he understand the question I was asking?
Lias panted as he adjusted his collar and turned his back towards Malik.
From the crowd, Kaya only whispered, "Lias, is that true?"
Lias coldly muttered, "And if it was, would you keep your calm?"
Zayne intervened. "Brother. It's not landing. You're joking, right?"
"Ha. Oh, brother, I wish I was," Lias scoffed.
Kaya struggled to maintain her dark-brown gaze, but only took a deep breath.
"But Lias, what do you mean that it's never changing course again?" she asked calmly.
"It means we're never turning around to go back home," Lias uttered.
"But why would you hide that from us? We knew there was something up with you," Amaya asked from afar.
The breeze became cold again, and everyone's fingers began to shake.
". . . Why would I stress you all out, when there's nothing we can do regardless?" Lias responded.
It wouldn't stop, and the bitter cold began to sting.