Let me show you - A Sokeefe story

Missing

      Sophie has never been to the Shores at Solace at night, being there made her heart speed up slightly. She could feel goosebumps forming on her arms. It was so dark she almost couldn't see two feet in front of her. If it hadn't been for her night vision training at Exillium she probably wouldn't have been able to see at all.
     She made a note to add training to her ever-growing mental to-do list. She couldn't help but reach up to pull out a loose eyelash thinking about how long her list was getting.
     Sophie let out a breath before taking a step towards what she hoped was the hallway that led to Keefe's room. She tried to walk as quietly but as quickly as she possibly could, remembering that Lord Cassius was also somewhere in the house, she had no idea where his room was in relation to where she was or where she was going but she was hoping she wouldn't find out tonight. She couldn't think of anything worse than stumbling upon Lord Cassius in the middle of the night. The smallest thought of it caused a shiver to race down her spine. She tried to think of an excuse as to why she was there just in case but everything sounded weird or suspicious, he wouldn't understand any of her reasonings anyway. She let out a soft sigh.
     Although she doubted he would want his room anywhere near Keefe's, Sophie balled her hands into a fist just thinking about Keefe's father. He was completely insufferable. His twisted ideas of love were neurotic at best. How anyone could treat their son that way was beyond her.

     Keefe was too good for his parents, too selfless, too compassionate. He always put others before himself, even if he got hurt in the process.
     Sophie's mind drifted back to Ravagog, when Keefe had been challenged to a duel with King Dimitar. He hadn't known it at the time but that was all a part of his mother's plan for him to prove himself worthy. To him, he was putting himself in danger to keep Sophie out of it. It was ridiculous and dangerous, and Sophie had been so overcome with worry it turned into anger. Keefe was always putting himself in dangerous situations he thought were necessary.

     Guilt pulled at Sophies' heart. Since they had become friends he had more almost death experiences than she liked, she would have preferred if it were none but in their current state that was practically impossible.
     Keefe had been in more close calls than any of her other friends and Sophie hated herself for it. She hated how her friends kept getting hurt because of her. Now Keefe has a permanent scar below his ribs to remind her of what she had caused him. She shuddered at the memory of her hands covered in his blood, pushing the thought away as her eyes started to burn. She blinked a few times before pausing in the middle of the hallway, turning back to make sure she hadn't passed Keefe's room. She felt like she had been walking forever, possibly for too long.

     She needed to focus on trying to remember which door belonged to Keefe, she closed her eyes for a second to use her photographic memory to picture Keefe's room and it's location.
     She furrowed her brow standing between two doors unsure which one it was. She had already wasted enough time so she reached for the doorknob to the door on her left when Sandor cleared his throat causing her to jump and look at him.
     He nodded his head towards the door on the right and Sophie could feel her cheeks start to burn.
     She retracted her hand and moved towards the door to her right. Taking in a deep breath trying to calm herself and force her cheeks back to their natural color. She placed her hand on the doorknob unable to make herself turn the knob. Remembering the last time she went into Keefe's room unexpectedly and found him shirtless on his bed. Her cheeks burned again as she instead knocked on his door.
     Sophie waited for a response only to be met with silence. She looked over her shoulder at Sandor who looked equally as confused as she did.
Maybe he didn't hear me knock, she thought.
She knocked again slightly harder, and still nothing. This time she reached for the knob, but Sandor beat her to it.
"I should check the room first." He grumbled.
"It's just Keefe's room? What could be in there?" She asked, and arched an eyebrow. Sandor matched her expression as if to say 'with Keefe it could be anything.'
She nodded to the question he didn't verbalize and took a step back; but when he turned the knob and they both peered into the room neither of them could mask their confusion.
"I.. what" Sophie muttered as Sandor stepped into the room to inspect it.
     Keefe's room looked different.. Normally there were different piles of clothes covering his floor, making it so you could barely find clean floor. His desk was always cluttered with paints and pencils like he had just finished a painting and didn't bother to clean up. Which knowing Keefe that was normally the case. It didn't look like that tonight though. It was.. Clean. No clothing piles in site. His desk was clear and his paints were organized. Sophie had always thought Keefe's messy room was frustrating, like he didn't care enough to clean it. Looking at his room now, though, made her uneasy. It was so unkeefe and she hated it. If she hadn't noticed the stuffed animal in the middle of the bed she would have sworn this wasn't even Keefe's room.
     Sophie couldn't help but smile at Mrs. Stinkbottom, she was the stuffed animal Sophie had suggested that Elwin give her to Keefe after he recovered a memory Lady Gisela tried to wash away. Her heart started to warm at the thought of Keefe sleeping with Mrs. Stinkbottom, at least she could keep him safe if Keefe tried to push everyone else away.

     Sophie finally took a small step into the room. Ignoring Sandors mumbling that she should wait in the hall until he had checked the room in its entirety. Sophie couldn't wait though, because even though Keefe's room was way different than she had been expecting there was an even bigger part of the room that had changed, something even more important was missing: Keefe.