A teenage boy lynx named Dave sat in the middle of an empty gym. The lights were off, but there was still some light. In his hand he held a guitar. He played a small tune on it over and over, yet slow. It wasn’t a monotone tune. In fact it was quite positive-sounding, but his expression was not. His brown wavy hair, now cow-licked and scraggly, hung over his dark green eyes that faced only to the ground with lines under them, and red lines around them.

Talia Reephs was skipping sa pamamagitan ng this area when she noticed the tune with her rather large ears, and decided to investigate. The short white-fur feline found Dave sighing as he continued to play his tune.

“It’s Dave, right?” She asked curiously as she ran over to him perkily. He did not reply. He just kept his head facing the floor.

Talia bent over to see the face behind the hair, and noticed his expression. “Are you okay? You don’t look like you’ve slept in… er… you look tired.”

Dave looked up to her with his monotone expression, not tearing, but definitely sorrowful. He gave a segundo sigh, put his gitara down, and answered “I don’t sleep. I can’t ever since I found this place.”

“Why not?” Talia asked in a still curious, but comforting tone.

“I’m not from here… y-… you wouldn’t understand.” Dave turned his head away but Talia just walked back in front of him.

“How do you know I don’t? I mean I’ve never met you. You’ve never met me. C’mon. What’s wrong? You can tell me.” She tried to give a cheering smile, but the effect of this was minimal.

“I’m from a different… Mobius.” He finally informed.

“Me too. This School isn’t exactly in a specific Mobius.”

“Yeah but… It’s… It’s not a normal one. I didn’t really get all the info about it, but apparently it’s impossible to leave. But I got out, so I’m guessing you can’t go back.”

“Well why would you want to go back if you got out?”

“I wasn’t trying to get out!” Dave raised his hands in aggravation, then let them fall to the side of the upuan he was on.

“So… why did you sent out?” Talia knelt down so that she could face him once again. He did not mind this particularly, but it still made him uneasy.

“I guess I should start at the beginning…huh?” He mumbled.

“Probably.”

“Well,” Dave cleared his throat a bit, and sat up straight… well, straighter. “I used to be in a band. It was a great life. I had good friends, almost had a girlfriend, and I even helped my bud, Jack… g-get his girlfriend…” Dave almost tiered-up when he mentioned Jack’s name, but he kept it back.

“But then…”

“But then… IRA!” Dave slammed his fist on the stand behind him with a fury.

Talia put her hand on his shoulder and gave a sweet smile. He eventually calmed down, turned back to her, and continued. “Ira…she was this freak-show-chick from my school. I don’t even think she was… normal. Pft. I know she wasn’t normal. In short, I finally do something bravo and the susunod thing I know I’m waking up on some town called Hickville. I ran all over the place looking for someone who knew where my hometown was. No one did, but it looked and sounded Tropolin so I was guessing I wasn’t too far. I actually hitchhiked believe it or not. I still don’t. I never found it.”

“Then how did you get here?”

“I found a flyer for ‘Mobius Academy’ so I came here. I wasn’t exactly a flunky in my nakaraan classes, so I didn’t think I’d do too bad. I was so wrong. Apparently my planet’s logic, and science, and history were not the same as any others. They couldn’t find my planet, so they used the one I appeared in. So the susunod thing I know, people have hair on fire, and it’s normal, I’m flunking everything, and I’m… away… f-from… e-everyone I knew…”

Dave tried not to cry but the tears still came. Her covered his face with his right hand and dropped his head to the floor once again. Talia sat there for a moment. The story was different that anything she had heard. She could not match her sorrow-story to his, but still…

Talia enclosed Dave in a large hug. He contemplated hugging back, but he had just met her. He did not want to make her feel strange, and yet he responded sa pamamagitan ng hugging her back.

“I’m so sorry.” She whispered to him. Talia pulled back a bit and held her arms in his. “Maybe we can get you back to your world. We’ve got tons of stuff to do that.”

“It’s not gonna work.” Dave’s started to turn away from Talia, but the persistent cat took a tighter grip and kept him facing her.

“There’s always a way.” She said. “But…” Talia got up and pulled Dave up with her, “In the meantime it’s not going to be the end of the world.”

“I just… I just want my own tahanan back. Did you ever lose someone?”

“A lot of people actually.” Talia winced slightly. “But that’s what new places are for. You get to meet new people. New friends. New girlfriends.” She gave Dave a small nudge out of humor, and he smiled back a bit.

“I doubt I’m going to make any ‘new friends’ while I’m here.” Dave sighed. Talia let his arms go, and wanted to say madami when…
*BRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING* Went the school-bell. The sound startled them both, but Talia quickly leaned to his ear and whispered “You already did”. The white-cat moved back with a friendly smile to the boy then jogged back through the hallways.

As she disappeared also did Dave’s smile. He sat back down; not as saddened as before, but still not happy. She was right. He knew she was. But old mga kaibigan would not be able to ever replace the ones he loved and lost.