Vanished | KotLC AU

Chapter-3 Keefe

Keefe Sencen was alone. Lonely. They said being alone didn't make you lonely but for Keefe it couldn't be farther from the truth.

He was always lonely – no matter how many people he had around him. Keefe didn't know love; not from his parents, not from his friends, not even from Foster. He had hoped that maybe, just maybe, Sophie would love him the way he loved her. But she didn't. She didn't even seem to feel love – not in the way he did, the way most people did. It was hard to understand sometimes.

A loud car honk snapped Keefe out of his thoughts and reminded him of where he was – the Forbidden Cities. He cursed under his breath for letting himself get distracted by thoughts about Foster...again. He was walking on the sidewalk of a relatively empty street (at least it seemed empty considering the bustling places he had seen since coming to the Forbidden Cities). His footsteps echoed on the cobblestoned path. It was nearing twilight and neon signs were starting to flash around the street. The words in the signs were foreign to Keefe, meaningless. Everything seemed meaningless, nothing made sense to him anymore...except for his mother's horrible legacy for him. Keefe had lied to his friends, to the black swan, to the council. He did know what his legacy was. And he hated it. He hated that it makes so much sense. That it was so practical. Keefe had been in the Forbidden Cities for a week now and all he could do was roam aimlessly around the cities, find food and shelter to keep himself alive, and think about his legacy. He thought about it every waking moment that he wasn't looking for a way to survive through each day.

A droplet of water fell on his nose, making Keefe blink. He gazed up at the sky, it had started to rain. Dark gray clouds, water falling from them freely. It seemed fitting that the first time Keefe ever saw rain it would be at a time when he felt like crying. He wished there would be someone for him, someone who he could lean on. But there wasn't. He was the one who had abandoned his friends and he supposed he deserved to feel lonely for it.

Keefe felt tearing pricking at the corners of his eyes. He didn't bother trying to stop them from falling. He just leaned against the wall of a building and let all of his tears fall, the wall was the only thing to hold him together.

How funny, he thought, a wall supporting him. not a person.

He closed his eyes and let himself be consumed by his sadness. The cold rain had numbed his face and the only sensation in them now was his warm tears trailing a path from his eyes to his chins.

Keefe felt a tap on his shoulder and blinked up to find a girl standing in front of him. She was stunning, maybe the prettiest girl Keefe had ever seen. Her shoulder length brown hair swept across her back, her ice blue eyes sparkling with compassion, and her tanned and freckled face gave him a concerned look. He noticed that she was slightly taller than him. She was holding an umbrella, which Keefe saw she had put over both of them so that he wasn't being soaked with rain anymore.

"Why are you crying?" The girl asked. Her voice was sweet like honey.

Keefe wouldn't, couldn't answer that. If he did something bad would happen to the girl. So instead he pointed to his mouth and shook his head, hoping she'd get that he couldn't speak.

"Are you mute?" She asked.

Keefe didn't know what mute was but he nodded, hoping she'd no longer try to make him say things if he told her he was mute.

"Oh..." The girl tilted her head a bit. "Do you know Sign?"

Keefe frowned. He didn't understand what kind of 'sign' she was talking about. He shook his head.

She seemed deep in thought for a moment before asking, "do you want to come over to my house? It's pretty chilly out here and you don't seem like you have anywhere you can go."

Keefe nodded again. Yes, he wanted to go to her house. Anything was better than staying out in this freezing rain.

And if she turned out to be a serial killer or something...well, he'd figure it out as he went.

"Alright then," the girl smiled. "Let's get home. It's getting late. We can talk more once we get there."

With that she led Keefe away from the busy main road and took him to a small apartment building.