Above the Vaulted Sky - Page 126

‘So…I’m dead,’ Graham says. His eyes light up. ‘You mean I can teleport anywhere on earth, just like that?’

                  I think I must be viewing the world’s first example of a joyous death. ‘Yeah, you can but you won’t stay this way forever,’ I reply.

                  ‘What if I want to?’ Graham says.

                  ‘What, stay dead?’ Elle crinkles her eyebrows. ‘You’re a weird one, Graham.’

                  ‘But I’m free,’ he says. ‘From college, from work, from everything.’

                  ‘But you’re not free Graham,’ I say. ‘This is not a good thing. Being dead is dangerous. Remember what I said about the Edge? We could fall into it at any time. Any out of control emotion, any slip while we travel, we’ll be lost in our memories forever.’

                  ‘But I had nothing back home.’

                  ‘You had everything Graham!’ I’m shouting and I don’t quite know why.

                  'All my parents ever did was buy my love,' he shouts back. 'I have no friends at school, I have nothing, no girlfriend. Who'd even notice if I died anyway?'

                  'That's what I felt, Graham,' says Yates walking towards him, saving the day. 'We can help each other.'

                  'Why would I want that?' Graham snaps. 'Who even are you anyway? I met you today.'

                  'Don't say that, Graham,' Elle says, holding Yates's arm as his face drops.

                  Graham's face twists into an ugly grimace. 'Whatever,' he says.

                  'That's the other thing we have to tell you, Graham,' I say. I'm angry now, I don't care what Graham thinks anymore. He shouldn't react like he always does about something that doesn't deserve it. Yates is a good person and it's not even like it's permanent. 'We had to do something to bring you back.'

                  'What?' asks Graham, like he's being told he has an illness.

                  'We had to connect you to me,' Yates says, a sneer on his face now. 'Until we find out how, we can't leave each other's side. Or we die like you almost did.'

                  Graham's mouth drops open, it looks gormless but I know it's shock. He looks like he's about to cry. 'I'm attached...to you?' he says.

                  'And why's that so bad? Go on say it.'

                  'We'll see how long it lasts,' Graham says. 'I'm smart, smarter than any of you think. I won't be attached to some freak for the rest of my life.'

                  He snaps the laptop closed and knocks over the stool next to him. He doesn't look at any of us as he storms out of the room, leaving us all silent.