Ride the Cyclone - The aftermath

4. The search

When the group split, Mischa immediately started to think about the ways he could lighten the mood. He could tell, that Noel is angry about what happened. Ricky as always keeps most of their thoughts to themselves, so Mischa couldn't tell what exactly is going on in his head, but he knew it wasn't good.

Mischa was confused about his own feelings regarding the accident. The loss of a new friend was truly heartbreaking, yet to experience all of those things? They all died and came back to life and it isn't even the weirdest part. And now they are going on a true adventure! Yes, he thought he should mourn, but at the same time he doesn't want to see all his friends so sad. His own life wasn't happy, so he always try to make others people's life a bit better.

Noel was angry. He was angry at Karnak for lying to them. " 'I only possess the power to bring one back to life' my ass!" He thought. And Penny's death could be easily avoided!  And now he's going on a walk in the forest to look for their dead friend's missing body part. Not creepy at all. At least something interesting is going on in his life. So that's a plus. Funny how his life seemingly starts after he died.

Ricky doesn't really know how to feel about everything. Of course death is always sad, but there can be beauty in it. Ricky quite enjoyed being dead. He always knew, that he would die young, he waited for his death patiently. Now, that he's alive again, they've decided to take as much from life as they can, to enjoy all of those moments later, when he will be dead again. He loves the world he created in his mind, they will never push it away, but now that he actually has friends, and doesn't feel like they're just like 5th wheel, They want more from life.

Being able to talk first time in years felt good, but not as good as he would imagine it. It was fun while it lasted, now he's back to being mute. "well... that's life, I guess" His friends now know the true Ricky. Mischa knew, that they weren't innocent at all, but the reaction he got out of the rest of them back in the Karnak's limbo? Priceless. Ricky wondered how his life would be different this time because of that. It was a bit awkward, but it felt good to let it all out.

And as much as They wanted to feel happy, he couldn't. He didn't know Penny well, nobody really knew. She wasn't keen on sharing any details about her, but she was very sweet. She even gifted him a Lion keychain. They have it right now in their pocket, clasped to his locker key.

Ricky gripped the lion keychain in his hand, one of their hands in the pocket of his hoodie, the other hand gripping a cane with enough force to keep his mind away from the fact that they are walking through rough terrain. He knew his knees would start to hurt in a few minutes, but finding Penny's head was more important. Worst case scenario, They would be carried home and stay in bed for a few days to recover. He could deal with that, but he couldn't stand the thought of a restless ghost wanting to have her memories back.

Ricky led the boys, dictating a pace.

"You know what, guys?" Started Mischa as he picked more daisies.

"What" said Noel

"Honestly, I don't know, I don't want to walk in silence, let's talk about something. Anything"

Ricky stopped and turned around to stare at Mischa.

"Sorry, man, I forgot. I can shut up if you want"

"No, You two talk, I listen" signed Ricky in as simple manner as possible.

"Okay, what are we talking about?" asked Noel

They continued to walk deeper in the forest.

"I don't know" Mischa said twisting some more thread around the stems of the flowers. It was calming.

"Hey, Noel, Which song was your favourite in the after life?"  He asked. "Besides yours, of course"

"Oh, I didn't think about that" answered Noel. " Definitely not Ocean's" He laughed a bit. Mischa's strategy seemed to work. " I think my favourite was Penny's. It was very poetic"

The boys heard a knock. Ricky was trying to get their attention using his cane and a nearby tree stump. They looked at him, He was already holding his phone towards them.

"I think it landed roughly in this area, we should start to pay more attention to our surrounding. The head may also be stuck on a tree, so look around carefully, and let's not split up"

The boys nodded, and started looking around. The conversation continued.

"I think my favourite one was Ricky's. It was definitely a surprise"

Ricky smiled.

"Either this, or yours, Noel"

Now Noel smiled.

Mischa was glad to see both of them smile.

"Thank you" Said Noel. " Sorry about the whole kissing and touching, by the way, I am not entirely sure how this happened"

"No worries, Monique" He laughed. " It was honestly the most fun I had in years. Im talking about playing your lover as well as singing about Ricky's kink-o-matic powers, as weird as it is"

"Oh yeah, that was very weird" Added Noel.

Everyone was smiling, but they didn't lose a focus.

"I would never suspect Ricky to be this freaky"

"Heh, Freaky Ricky" Laughed Misha "Come on now, Am I the only one who knew how dirty minded they are?"

"You knew?" Asked Noel.

"Yes, I knew, haven't you seen what kind of comic books he brings to school?"

"No? I'm not interested in comic books, I've never paid any attention. Wait. So what kind of comic books they read?" asked Noel, very intrigued.

"Porn"

"WHAT?" Noel looked in Ricky's direction, very shocked.

"What?" He signed. "And i read other things too, I am not that perverted"

"huh?"

"Right... " Thought Ricky as they quickly typed out the message on his phone.

" Right... " said Noel. " How do you even get away with it at school?"

"Nobody ever pays any attention to me, I can do what i want and there's 99% chance that nobody will notice"
he typed.

He deleted it and typed the next message.

" I am so invisible, people are surprised to see me standing up from my wheelchair at school, even though I use a cane or crutches regularly, and I've been doing it for years. You would be surprised to know how many people think That I am completely paralysed from waist down. Teachers too."

"Yeah, I can imagine that" said Noel.

"Which song was your favourite, Ricky?" asked Mischa. His flower crown was almost finished.

"Not Ocean's" He signed with a smile.

Boys laughed again. Even Ricky let put a small, silent laugh.

The search continued.

(Author's Note: I want them to be happy, and laugh about everything, but they are on a mission. They cannot forget about the death they witnessed just a while ago. It's fresh. so fresh in fact that sometimes some of them forget how big of a deal it is. I am definitely one of those people, who need a few business days to process big news. I myself am perceived as insensitive because of that, and because I tend to deal with trauma by joking about it. It's sort of what i want them to be. They are just kids who whitened a very traumatic event. They even kind of participated in it. So all the feelings are confusing to them. I don't want this to be depressing. I want to sort of keep the absurdity as well as deeper themes just like in the musical. RTC does excellent job at balancing comedy and tragedy and I probably won't do that this well)