On a String

Chapter 4

Don't judge a thing until you know what's inside it.
Don't push me,
I'll fight it.
Never gonna give in,
never gonna give it up, no.
If you can't catch a wave then you're never gonna ride it.
You can't come uninvited.
-'You Can't Take Me' by Bryan Adams from 'Spirit' soundtrack.

Wood was an interesting thing. No really, it was. Wood had such interesting colours- so many fascinating shades of brown. Wooden floors were even more remarkable, the way the patterns in the timber swirled around under the smooth, polished surface. Odd to think that those secret designs would not be visible if the tree had never fallen, had never died. If the tree had lived, then they would be incarnate mysteries and the secrets of the heartwood would never be revealed. Sometime only death could expose the most secluded secrets.

Lloyd gave a small sigh as he absently traced a dark ripple along the (dead) wooden floor. He missed Kai. So much.

He wanted to know why. Why was Kai like this? Why had he gone all cold and distant? Had Lloyd done or said something wrong?

"Hey kid. You okay?" a voice interrupted his thoughts and he turned to face the speaker. A small childish part of him hoped, hoped so much that it was Kai. Maybe Kai had just been tired. Maybe he had just been preoccupied. But maybe now he was back to normal, back to being Lloyd's brother and confidant. The cold image Kai had been carrying could have melted like snow in the morning sunshine, a new day dawning, a fresh beginning. His eyes flicked up hopefully and... met Cole's calm gaze.

Not Kai's.

Cole.

Not Kai.

Lloyd gave a small shrug and a sigh, dropping his head dejectedly back onto the beanbag and resuming his study of the lifeless floorboards. Kai hadn't come back. Kai was gone. Lloyd ran a finger over the delicate wooden pattern on the cold floor as the Earth Ninja quietly sat down next to him.

"What's on your mind, little guy?" Cole asked, breaking the silence.

Lloyd wished he wouldn't. Silence was used to morn dead things, and part of Kai was dead. Frowning, Lloyd pushed himself up into a sitting position. "What's wrong with Kai? He's just so...not Kai," he stated, curling up into a small ball as he struggled to find the words to describe what he was missing. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Cole give a soft sigh. Lloyd knew what that expression meant. Older people used it all the time when they were stressed, but didn't want a younger child to know. They usually used it to hide something.

Was Cole about to hide something from him about Kai?

But what happened to Kai and why would it need to be hidden?

"Lloyd...I don't know." Cole uttered softly, and Lloyd knew from the sincerity in his voice that he was being honest. "I agree. Kai's not himself. But he won't tell me why,"

Lloyd looked up at the older Ninja hopefully. "I could talk to him," he said. Kai had always told him after a nightmare that it was good to talk about sad stuff. Surely he'd want to share with Lloyd? Then he could help him.

Cole looked doubtful. "Taking on the Puppeteers solo was a huge risk. Lloyd, we don't know what happened to him. That gang was a crowd of cutthroats who specialised in organized crime. And they were good at what they did... Something happened to Kai. Maybe he saw something terrible there. Maybe we'll never know," the team leader said grimly.