The Realization (A SoKeefe/Keephie story)

Chapter 14 - Keefe

Keefe stared in horror at the empty spot on the cliffs. He slumped to the ground.

"No," He rasped. "This can't be happening." He shook his head as if a few more movements would make it less real.

Sophie is gone, he thought, curling up into a ball on the ground. A sob escaped out of him. And it's all my fault. If only he hadn't told her. He knew she wasn't ready. He was rash and this was how he had to pay for it.

Somehow, several hours later, when the sun was rising, Keefe managed to haul himself up and walked like a zombie back to the Havenfield house.

In the house, everyone was freaking out. "Where's Sophie? Where's Keefe? What happened to them? Did the Neverseen kidnap them?" Along with Grady muttering, "I swear, if That Boy took Sophie somewhere dangerous, I will—"

But Keefe never got to hear what Grady would do to him, because when he entered the house, everyone froze and stared at him, mouths wide open in shock.

Grady was the first to recover. "Where is my daughter?" He thundered, stalking up to Keefe. "If you've done anything to her—"

"Grady. It's fine. I'm sure Sophie is fine." Edaline said, taking her husband's hand and carefully guiding him back to the house. Then she looked back up at Keefe, who had remained uncharacteristically silent the entire time.

"Is Sophie okay?" She asked, her voice breaking ever so slightly.

Keefe ran his hand through his hair, messing it up even more than it already was. This earned an audible gasp from several people, as Keefe loved his hair more than anything.

"No," He said in a hollow voice. He sank into the couch and buried his hands in his face. "She's not okay."

A shocked silence followed his words. People began whispering all around him, and some even prodded him to speak more. He ignored them, wallowing in his own self-pity and despair.

Finally, silence ensued, and he heard a set of footsteps walk toward him. Keefe pretended not to hear it, turning away slightly. He heard a sigh, and the couch heaved slightly as the person sat next to him.

"Boy," A gruff voice said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Tell me, where is my daughter?—Ow!" Keefe raised his head and saw Edaline poking Grady, glaring slightly at him.

Grady sighed. "Okay, fine, fine, Eda." He looked back at Keefe and seemed surprised when he met his eyes. Keefe flinched slightly, sure that he was about to get a scolding for letting Sophie runoff. And worse of all, he had no witty comeback for it.

"Listen... Keefe. I know you want to find Sophie. I know you know what happened to her. You need to tell us where she is so that we can help her." Grady sucked in a breath. "Please."

Keefe lowered his eyes. "I..." he faltered. "I'm no help. I'm the cause of everything bad here. You shouldn't ask for my help."

"Dude," Tam said. He was leaning against the door frame. "Enough with the self-pity."

Keefe scowled at him, but Tam was undeterred. He stepped forward, closer.

"If I were Empath right now, I would probably be laying on the floor, knocked unconscious by all of your negative emotions."

"Well then, maybe you should be an Empath. I'd savor that." Keefe shot back.

"Don't," Tam said, stepping even closer until he was right in front of Keefe. "Don't be like this. I've been through it before. Guilt. Thinking that my and Linh's exile was somehow my fault. Don't go there."

Keefe only stared at him, flabbergasted. What is happening? He thought. Sophie's gone, Grady didn't call me That Boy and said "please" to me, and now Tam's giving me life advice? The world really is ending.

He didn't move. Grady was still watching him warily, but once Tam had gone back to his shadowy corner, he leaned forward.

"Please, Keefe," He begged. "Tell us where Sophie's gone." Keefe bit his lip. He wasn't sure that Grady's courteousness would extend after he had heard that Keefe had basically confessed to Sophie and that it had been his fault that Sophie had run away from him and gotten captured by the Neverseen.

"I..." He began raspily, trying to quickly think of an alternate story. He cleared his throat. "I saw Sophie sneaking out of the house when it was around midnight. I was watching the window because I couldn't sleep, and I saw her... So I decided to follow her. She seemed to be heading towards the cliffs for no apparent reason and I stayed behind slightly at the Panakes tree..." He swallowed and continued, regretting mentioning that detail. If only he had gone after Sophie, both in this alternate reality and in real life.

"And then... I heard screaming, so I ran toward that area. An—And-d I saw Sophie unconscious, with..." Bile rose in his throat as he relived the memory.

"With my mother," He finished. "She looked me right in the eye, and light-leaped away with Sophie."

A/n: Ahhh sorry I haven't updated for a while. I had a bit of writer's block on this chapter and I feel like it's not my best work. I've also been pretty busy with schoolwork and stuff... so I might update a little less these few days. But thank you to all my faithful readers!