Wind carries laughter and chatter from outside into the tent, early morning light streaming through the canvas walls. I sit curled up on the cot, my arms wrapped around my knees, a new blanket covering my legs. 

Thomas had left a little while ago to get breakfast. He offered for me to sit with him, but I turned him down. The last thing I need is for people I hardly know to see me like this. 

"Go away." I mutter, wrapping my arms tighter around myself. I can feel the leather around my neck swaying back and forth, the cool metal of the ring softly hitting my skin. The feeling calms me. "You're not real."

"I'm here. I'm breathing. I'm talking to you." He says. "I'd say I'm as alive as ever." He shrugs. I look back over at him, my eyebrows drawing together.

"You're dead. I watched you die. You're not real."

Gally cocks an eyebrow. "Did you?" I fall silent, my fingers raising to my necklace. "Did you really watch me die? If I remember correctly, you're the one who said that I was still breathing."

I shake my head, my fingers tangling in my hair. "Just go away." I mutter, tears stinging my eyes. "You're dead." I say again, trying to convince myself despite the small ache of doubt that filled my body a moment ago. "Leave me alone. Please, just leave me alone."

"You can't isolate yourself, V." My head shoots up, my eyes meeting his. "You can't. They're your friends. You need them just as much as they need you." A look of sadness flashes over his face as he looks at me, his eyes flicking between all of my features. I touch a sore spot on my cheek, immediately recoiling when my fingers make contact with the sore skin. I can feel the back of my neck tingling, a dull ache waiting to be healed. My fingers raise to the spot, running over the infected area. "You need them right now, Venus. They're the only ones that can help you get better."

"I'm fine." I reply, my voice betraying me by cracking. 

"When are you gonna tell them?" He questions, tilting his head slightly. "Don't you think they deserve to know?"

"They don't need to know yet. They have enough on their minds." I snap. Gally raises his eyebrows, leaning forward slightly on the chair.

His voice is soft and calm. "You need them, Venus." 

"Venus?!" A new voice shouts. Before I can even look away from Gally fully, Frypan's burst through the flap of the tent and rushes over to me. In the blink of an eye, he's holding me in his arms tightly. I barely have any time to even react. I can still feel Gally's eyes on me, making it all the more difficult to process what just happened.

"Uh, Fry? I missed you too," I pat his shoulders a few times, "but it's kinda hard to breathe."

"Oh!" Frypan exclaims, pulling away from me slightly. "Sorry." He offers me a crooked smile, rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm just really happy to see you."

"Glad to know that the feeling's mutual." I reply, trying my best to give him a genuine smile.

And then, his smile falters. His eyebrows furrow and he brings his hands to my cheeks as he studies me. His thumb brushes gently over the tender spot on my cheekbone and I fight the urge to recoil, his eyebrows knitting together in pain.

His eyes soften. "What happened to you, V?" 

"Nothin' I couldn't handle." I reply, trying to keep the smile I worked so hard to form on my face. "I'm fine." He raises his eyebrows, his thumb still running over my cheek. "Really, I'm okay. It doesn't hurt." 

"You shouldn't do that." Gally interjects. My eyes flick over to where he's still sitting, scratching a spot on his neck. "Lie to your friends, I mean. Don't you think they deserve better than that?"

"Shut up." I mutter, gritting my teeth and hoping against all else that Frypan didn't notice.

Gally leans forward in his chair, his elbows resting on his kneecaps. "They're the only ones who can help you, V. They're the only people who can save you. You need to tell them." I give him a sharp shake of my head, glaring in his direction. "Tell them the truth, Venus. Tell them." He urges.

"Venus?" Frypan asks, pulling me away from Gally. I look up, meeting the boy's concerned, brown eyes. "You okay?" His eyebrows are furrowed in confusion as his head moves from me to the chair where Gally still sits. 

"Tell him the truth. He deserves it. Tell him." Gally says, his voice echoing in the walls of my mind. I close my eyes for a moment, trying my best to will the boy in the chair away, but when I open my eyes, he's still there. His eyes are still trained on me and his eyebrows are still raised expectantly.

I nod, turning my attention back to Frypan and forcing myself to smile. "Yup. All good." I say, trying to be as believable as possible. "You don't have to worry about me."

"Right..." The boy trails off, his eyes still darting from me to the chair. "Look, I'm gonna go get some breakfast." He says, though I can tell that I didn't successfully convince him. "You should come with me."

I hesitate, my eyes meeting Gally's. He nods at me, urging me to go and join my friends at breakfast. "No, I don't think so." I say softly, meeting Frypan's eyes. 

"But-"

"I'm okay, Fry. Really. I'm just not hungry." 

Frypan doesn't look convinced, but he doesn't push me to do anything. Instead, he presses his lips to the top of my head, promising to bring me some food before walking out of the tent, leaving me alone with Gally.

The boy's eyebrows are raised, his eyes narrowed in an unimpressed way. "You should've gone." He says, shaking his head.

"I can't." I say shortly, my hand raising to rest on the back of my neck. "Not like this." I hear rustling coming from Gally's side of the tent and look up only to see that he's standing up and walking over to me. He sits down on the edge of the cot by my feet, looking over at me.

"Go, Venus." He urges. I meet his gaze, his familiar eyes captivating me and holding me in place. "Don't isolate yourself like this. Go see your friends. Go have fun. Go forget about everything for a while." My heart sinks and I force myself to look away, hiding my eyes from his. "For me." He adds after a moment.

I feel tears stinging my eyes, a lump forming slowly in my throat, preventing me from talking. Gally seems to understand, though, running a hand over his grown-out buzzcut. "You have to tell Thomas, at least. He deserves to know. To know everything."

"I know." I force myself to mutter once the lump fades, running my free hand through my hair before my fingers begin fiddling with the necklace. "I know he does." I blink the tears away, ridding myself of them as if they never even existed in the first place.

"So tell him." Gally encourages, his voice soft. "He deserves the truth more than anyone else."

I lower both of my hands, wrapping my arms around me. I meet Gally's fading eyes. He offers me a faint smile. I blink and he's gone, vanished into thin air. He's not sitting at the foot of the cot. He's not sitting in the chair in the corner. He's gone, leaving me alone, which is the last thing I want to be at the moment.

I stand up slowly, taking countless deep breaths as I try to convince myself to do the last thing I was planning on doing today. It's for Gally, I remind myself. For him. Slowly, after a lot of self-motivation and a faint feeling of dread weighing down my feet, I begin to make my way out of the tent. I swear I can feel Gally's hand on the small of my back, guiding me all the way.