Forgotten

Chapter 4: What?

      Lance held up his favorite copy of Marine Biology and pointed to the spine. "This is a book." Keith, now in a much larger tank repeated the word, "Book?" confusion flashed through his face, "What," he hesitated trying to find the word again, "What book?" 

"You don't know what a book is?!" Lance screeched, Keith shook his head.

"Oean." Keith simply stated, straight faced. Lance sighed and set the book down. 

"You read it. The books can take you to different worlds, you become a different person one you can never be, see places that don't exist, and find friends you never knew you had." Lance sighed and clasped his hands together looking like a love sick teenager. "But there are are some books that teach you about our world. Some about space --" 

"Spae?" Keith interrupted

"Yeah, space. We live on the world right?" Keith nodded. 

"Well, just think that the world lives in space with a whole bunch of other things. Like us, we live with the fish, sharks, and plankton and the world lives with stars, asteroids, big space rocks, and other worlds."

Wonder sparkled in Keiths eyes. "More." he whispered. "More."

      Lance felt tears prick behind his eyes. He wondered what it felt like to be amazed by such simple things. He sometimes wished he could learned what he loved all over again. He wished he could be as innocent as the merman in front of him. But Lance new Keith was no where near innocent, he learned that the world was a cruel place far before and longer than he had. burning anger slithered up his chest; Lance wanted to prove to himself and to Keith that they didn't break the other soul. That they didn't win. So he began. 

"On the surface we have these huge rocky things called mountains. They usually come to a point and reach as high as the sky. Some of them are so steep that they are straight up and down. Others are perfect for forests." Lance thought for a second. "Think of your kelp forests. Green everywhere, covering every living thing hiding in there. Except, our forests are filled with trees. They are really tall, perfect for climbing, and covered in little green things called leaves. The trees base is brown, and ruff. Like a sharks skin. They reach high and split into many different directions. And that's where the leaves live."

      Lance sighed and looked down at his friend, expecting confusion or even annoyance. He thought his description of his world was poor at best, but what he saw in the young merman's eyes couldn't' match any description. It was happiness and despair, wonder and disregard, acceptance and denial. It held every and no emotion. And what surprised Lance the most were the small tears gathered at the corners of his eyes. 

"Please don't cry." Lance sniffled, tears threatening to make an appearance, "You're going to make me cry!" 

      Keith let out a small chirp and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. Then he looked back into Lances ocean blue eyes. "Show. . .me?" he whispered. Lance silently nodded and pulled out his phone. "I know this isn't the real thing," he breathed pulling up a picture of a forest, "but, this is the second best thing." Lance then showed the glowing picture of the woods. 

      Keith's eyes widened at the sheer gorgeousness of the place. He reached out to grab the phone to bring it closer to his face. Lance snatched it back, "Sorry dude, but you can't touch it. My phone doesn't like water." 

      Keith pouted and asked, "Why?"

"If it touched the water, it wouldn't work anymore. It can't survive in water. And it was very expensive and I don't want to pay for a new one."

"Expenive?" 

"It's when you have to pay a lot for something. It's overpriced." Lance sulked.