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“Do you wanna hear a story?”

Beta and Matrix had crawled into bed after the sky darkened. The windows, nevertheless, were only open during the day, so there was no way to tell. With the window shade pulled down, the room was pitch black.

Beta turned on his side to look at Matrix’s shadow. “Sure.”

Beta didn’t see his shadow move, which led him to believe the Stak wasn’t going to say anything. When Matrix spoke, it startled him. “About a year ago, I was with some friends—”

“You had friends?”

“Bite me,” the man countered. “I was with some…people, and…” He took a dramatic breath. “Look, it’s not something I’m proud of but the Staks do it so naturally I―” He cut himself off, realizing everything he added only made it sound worse. “We were hunting Ciders.”

Beta seemed surprised. “Seriously?”

“Well we were never planning on eating anyone, we just thought it was all so...dumb. The Ciders live in the woods instead of the mansions, but even then they stop by and visit friends and family, and sometimes the family and friends go to see them. But for us...the Ciders avoid us. Everyone knew we were hated, we just wanted to finally figure out why?” Matrix bit his lip, the day coming back to him. The ceiling turned into a canvas that he shined memories on like a brand new projector. “Turns out there was a pretty good reason.”

Beta awaited more, and Matrix gave him that.

“Their bodies—the way they’re built, the way they smell, the way they taste…it’s something that we can’t resist by nature...it’s something we have no control over.” Matrix paused for a moment. “I wouldn’t hurt a living human, but these creatures? They’re addictive for a reason I still don’t understand.”

“So what I’m grasping here is you’re Edward and Ciders are Bellas,” Beta joked, but Matrix didn’t find it funny.

“I’m serious. You really don’t get it.” The Stak turned over to look at Beta, and for the first time Beta saw a real darkness in the man. He was dull, yes, but never dark.

“We found one of them just sitting there against a tree trunk, writing or drawing maybe. She must’ve heard us coming, because when we got closer she got up and started to run. We caught up with her, dragging her back.” The Stak got lost in the Perna’s eyes, seeing every moment inside Beta’s iris’. “We were laughing and…and then we smelled her. It was amazing. Like all your greatest desires wrapped up into one...helpless body. I didn’t mean to do it, but she just smelled so good.”

Beta’s eyes narrowed. “You killed her.”

Matrix chuckled, but it held no feeling. “I ate her. I ripped her flesh apart and swallowed it. I sucked out her blood like it was a Capri Sun. I went right through her, pulling chunks out so I could shove them back into my body. It felt like I was snorting heroin,” Matrix paused and added, “And I loved it.”

Beta was speechless, and he couldn’t decide if it was out of disbelief or disgust. “Why didn’t the other Staks do the same then?” was all he could think to ask.

Matrix sighed heavily from his bed, clearly afflicted. “That’s the problem, I still don’t know. There was no doubt that we all had that subtle craving in our guts but…mine was just…deeper. It felt like…I was trying to find something inside of her, and it was only when I didn’t find it that I found I could stop myself.” He rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands, trying to get the images out of his head. “Believe me when I say, after that incident I never reacted that way again…and I’m not sure if it was because of the trauma or something else entirely but God I’m just so glad that feeling in me is gone.” The tension in his neck released as he softened back into the pillow. “And that’s why I can never go back to those woods…not again.” Matrix rolled back over. “End of story.”

Beta turned on his back, facing the ceiling. A shiver ran down his spine. “Cheers.”

“So,” Matrix began, the pep stepping back into his voice. “Are you gonna tell me what made you so damn depressing? I’ve never met anyone who’s not a Cider or, well me, have such a gloomy view of Plato.”

Beta shrugged, still looking at the ceiling. “Maybe it’s just how Pernas are,” he replied.

“No,” Matrix said. “This is different…I can tell you really hate yourself.” Beta shifted in the bed, turning completely away from Matrix. At that, Matrix chuckled. “Man, you know I have to ask. How do you know all of this stuff? I mean you know things that even I don’t know.”

Beta turned back to the other side, staring Matrix hard in the face. “Because I was more than just dead once…and more than just living,” he sneered, although he didn’t mean to. “I mattered.” And as he said it, all it managed to do was make him homesick. Beta turned onto his back once more and gazed upon the ceiling. “But none of that matters now.”

He said no more after that, shutting his eyes and begging his mind to bring images of anything except his misery. Although Matrix wanted to know more, he allowed the silence to stick and let it go.

A few minutes later, they had both dozed off.

And a few hours later, they were both awoken by a sudden banging on their door.

Beta’s feet were tightly tucked together, his arms the same as they cradled his cheek. Matrix, on the contrary, was wide open with all his limbs, chest against the bed sheets. “Go get it,” the older boy muttered through his pillow.

“You wish I’d get it,” Beta muttered back, still half asleep and unaware of what he was saying. Before he knew what hit him, Beta was forced off the bed and dropped the carpeted floor like a fist hitting a table cloth. “Bloody—!”

“Get the door!” Matrix whined, his face still covered by the fabric.

Beta lifted his head off the floor and felt dizzy. His nose was bleeding and he tilted it up as he walked toward the door. “You okay?” Matrix asked, the corner of his mouth leaning up for air. Beta said nothing but, “Fine,” not wanting to cause alarm. Matrix couldn’t see him, but Beta was sure he’d be a bit more concerned if he could. Opening the door, the younger man was surprised to see Moonshine and Juju standing outside, smiling as if it were a daily chore.

JuJu perked up and said, “Hey! How are you?”

“Um…”

“How’d you sleep?”

“Well I don’t—”

“Everything sounds peachy! I’m so glad!”

“I’m bleeding,” Beta argued. “Does anyone notice that I’m bleeding.”

“You said were fine,” the pillow monster from across the room said.Matrix sat up in his bed and sighed, his bed hair going in all directions. “Just ask them what they want, they’ll go away a lot faster.”

Beta turned to Matrix and rolled his eyes. “I’m not going to—”

Moonshine interjected. “No, it’s okay! We know we can get a little irritating.”

“What? No, I—” Beta cut himself off, wishing being polite was easier. “Just…talk.”

“Well, it’s been a day and you’re allowed to go outside the building,” the boy twin said, clapping. “Don’t worry, you’ll adjust quickly.”

“Adjust to what?” Beta asked, going to the bathroom to get a tissue for his nose.

“You’re kidding, right?” Matrix said groggily.

“What?” Beta asked, popping his head out of the bathroom. Matrix chuckled at the clueless man. “Do you just assume I know everything?” Beta added.

Matrix explained.“The first time you go out there, your skin starts to burn and it feels like you’re dying…again.”

Sarcastically, Beta said, “Oh no, please don’t sugar-coat it.”

“We were hoping you’d come out with us to our hangout. We’re going swimming!” Juju said.

Beta, staring himself down in the bathroom, grabbed more tissue. His pale skin stood out against the vermilion blood. “Swimming?”

Matrix got out of bed and scratched his head. “Yeah. They’re Tenties. They swim. What’d you think was gonna be out there, a desert? Maybe a running track?”

Beta walked out of the bathroom as Matrix approached it. “Well…I definitely wasn’t thinking a jacuzzi or anything.”

“You aren’t scared, are you?” The Stak leaned in closer to Beta as he passed by, trying to be intimidating.

“No, I just—” He cut himself off. “I’d just…rather be alone.”

“Pff, enough with that ‘my death is so hard’ crap. We’ve all been through it,” Matrix said, throwing a hand towel at him. “You’re going.”

Even though Beta hated swimming with every fiber of his new body, he still went. He went to prove a point.

He could be just as alive as humans…even if he was dead inside.

The front door to the building was in front of the dining hall...somewhere. When they went through the archway in the back of the dining hall, they ended up in that same orphanage hallway. But this time, instead of turning right into the lounge, they went left into a large open space. There wasn’t much in the space except for some chairs and lamps. As they walked farther into the room, Beta turned his head around and saw next to the door they had just walked out of was a small well lit—more like a spotlight—area with a long table and chairs tackily littered around it. Turning back around, the big double doors lay before them.

They walked toward the front doors, fully clothed for the time being. Engraved in the Mahogany wood were two Woolly Mammoths butting tusks. Juju grabbed the steel handle and pushed the door open so what Beta thought was sunlight poured in. He squinted as he walked into the light. Where humans saw blue, Beta saw green. The normal baby blue had given into its counterpart shamrock green. The shining sun was no longer that eye-melting yellow but now an eye-melting, electric blue. It was much darker than the ol’ sky blue, giving an endless sense of overcast, even though there were no clouds in sight. Beta let his eyes fall to the ground where the thick grass, as normally-shaped as it was, wasn’t the same color green. Instead, it was a dark violet. So dark that Beta thought it had been painted on. He had heard over and over about Plato when he was younger, but experiencing its beauty was a whole nother spectru—

No, Beta thought, forgetting what he was talking about. His head throbbed under the pressure of even barely remembering his past. Every detail of it was too painful to remember, but too crucial to ever really forget.

“You aren’t burning.”

Beta turned to Matrix who stared him down like he was a ape out of some science experiment. Beta’s eyebrows rose. “Pardon?” JuJu and Moonshine skipped ahead of them.

“The atmosphere here is thinner than on Earth, meaning more radiation gets through. Your skin should be burning right now.” Matrix, although never showcasing his intelligence, knew a thing or two about Plato’s ‘mechanics’ so to speak. He enjoyed telling new people about the mechanics and how the planet worked, so he wasn’t too fond of Beta’s body’s lack of concern.

Beta shrugged. “I’m not sure. My body’s built different.”

“How different?”

“I don’t know. Just…different.” He turned back forward, focusing on the road stretched out ahead of them.

There were a lot more corner stores and shops in the neighborhood than had been expected. The Tenti playground—although it was probably more for the kids than the Tenties—peeked from around the corner of their mansion. Beta could see the swing sets from where they stood. There was another mansion nearby, but it was bigger than the one they had just come out of. Rows and rows of mansions lined the single street surrounded by forests. As endless as the planet was, it sure did feel empty. That was another thing they had not prepared him for—

Stop it, Beta thought, forcing himself to forget once more. It wasn’t worth it.

“We’re almost there!” Juju sang, joy filling her voice like it always did.

“Wow,” Beta breathed, already completely enchanted.

“We’re going in there.” Juju pointed to a hill covered with trees. The hill stretched so far that it almost seemed to arch over their heads. He could only see splotches of hard rock from here and there, and what he could see seemed to shimmer in the sunlight like it was made of rare metals. The rest was covered in trees, seemingly all different types. Beta figured climate rules didn’t really apply where he was. And on the very top of the mountain was the shining rock with gushing water rolling off of it; Beta assumed that was the waterfall. “I thought we weren’t allowed in the woods?” Beta said.

“No, they let us go there. It’s both of our territories, you could say,” JuJu said.

Beta squinted, realizing something missing. “Where’s Hershey?”

Matrix stiffened and then relaxed in a split second, and even though it was quick, Beta was quick enough to notice. “Uh…he…didn’t want to come. He usually doesn’t when I tag along.”

Beta’s eyebrows furrowed. “What do you mean? I thought he liked Tenties?”

“Yeah, he does.”

Beta’s eyes shifted. “Does he not like you?” Matrix’s nostrils flared. “I always did think it was a bit weird how a Nat and a Stak could be friends—”

“I know…” Matrix interjected, having heard it a million times. “That’s why I did it.” Beta looked at him awkwardly. Matrix sighed. “Okay, well if I have to explain...”

“Jackass!”

The Staks laughed together, two of them high fiving. Matrix, on the other hand, didn’t exactly get the joke. Calling someone a name didn’t seem funny to him, let alone gut-wrenching.

He sighed, dropping his head to his muffin.

He didn’t even want to eat it.

“Matrix?”

Matrix looked up, but the second he did his attention was redirected. He saw one of the Nats stand up and walk down the hallway...that same hallway. Matrix had been keeping tabs on the guy. He was just about four years younger than him when he died. He didn’t know why he cared; he was just interested.

As cliché as the boy was—socializing with everyone except for the Staks, smiling like he still had a beating heart—cliché was just what he needed.

“Hold on.” Matrix interrupted them and stood up abruptly, walking over to where the stranger had disappeared.

One of the Staks, Ashanti, looked over her shoulder, watching him go. “You wanna stare a little harder?” one of them joked. “Or do you wanna stalk your crush like you’re back in high school?”

“Despite being 30 years past high school,” another one of them muttered. They all chuckled at that.

“Shut up,” she said back, hitting him. “But…” Ashanti stood up. “I am curious.”

The rest of the table hooted and hollered as she got up and swayed her way over to Matrix rounding the corner.

Matrix looked, but didn’t approach when he found Hershey. Partially because he didn’t know what to say, but also because the stranger was clearly preoccupied.

Hershey stared through the glass window, watching the babies cry and scream and sleep as the nurses rushed to help each and every one of them. Matrix could see the sadness in his eyes, it wasn’t exactly hidden.

He raised his hand up to the glass, and that’s when Matrix decided to slide in. But before he could, the door to the nursery opened and one of the nurses, holding what seemed to be the exact baby Hershey was looking for, came out. As Hershey desperately turned to hold the little girl, the nurse denied him that right. “I already told you Hershey, you’re too young. You need to go.” Hershey, reluctantly, withdrew his arms and hung his head, nodding just barely before the nurse went back inside. But Hershey didn’t leave, he just kept on staring through the glass.

Matrix went then and stood next to Hershey, still silent. Hershey didn’t say anything either.

“Um…” Matrix started. “Do you know one of them?”

Hershey smiled--despite talking to a stranger--and pointed. “The one crying louder than the others,” he said as the same nurse rocked her. “That’s my little sister.” Hershey took a deep breath in. “I tried to apply to be a nurse but they said I was too young. Which doesn’t really make any sense considering your brain’s growth isn’t limited to how much you physically grow so—”

“I’m Matrix.” Matrix turned to face Hershey, holding out a hand. Hershey just looked at him. “I like your horns,” he complemented.

“Glad someone does,” Hershey replied, smiling although he didn’t mean it. “I know you’re one of the higher-ups, that much is obvious. But look, I’m not interested in being your friend so you can just spy on the rest of us more easily. I mean believe me, I have nothing against Lucienne or the order he’s brought here but...I don’t really want to be part of it either, okay?”

“Is there a problem here?” Matrix and Hershey turned as Ashanti approached, leaning a bit too closely to Matrix. “Well? Is there a problem Gills?” Ashanti looked at Hershey, acting as if she were superior.

“No problem,” Hershey responded. “See you around.” He walked away.

“Was it true?” Beta asked.

Matrix looked at him. “Was what true?”

“That you just wanted him for his status among the Nats?”

Matrix sighed. “Originally…sort of. But I mean, actually talking to him made me realize he might benefit from having a friend like me…” Beta gave Matrix a look and he gave in. “Yes, and vice versa. I mean I tried, I even got him the nurse job he wanted…but he still wouldn’t take the bribery.”

“So, then what?”

“So…”

“Matrix, stop!”

But he didn’t. Instead, he hit her again and again, finding that he couldn’t stop. Ashanti couldn’t muster enough energy to use her telekinesis, let alone push Matrix away. As Matrix was going in for another blow, Hershey dropped to his knees before him, his hands shaking. “I’ll do it! Matrix, I’ll do it!” He kept his hands up and Matrix let Ashanti fall to the ground in a bloody mess. “I’ll be your friend if you stop, okay? Lord knows you need one.”

Hershey slowly reached out a hand to Matrix, and Matrix uncurled his fist and grabbed it. Hershey helped Matrix up and away from Ashanti, letting go of him as soon as they were apart from her. Then, it was Matrix’s turn to reach out. Hershey closed his eyes, afraid of what Matrix would do.

Touch.

Hershey opened one eye, and then the other, turning to look him right in the eye. All Matrix did was push up Hershey’s glasses, slowly so not to startle him anymore.

“He didn’t talk to me for a week after that, but then again neither did anyone else. They were all too afraid of me at that point. But when he did start talking to me again, I realized that he really didn’t need me…I just needed him.”

“So, you bashed someone’s face in because you wanted a friend?” Beta asked.

“Well no, I did it because she was a grade A bitch. The Hershey thing was just a coincidence.”

“You should really work on your anger friend.”

“That’s what Hershey’s for. I haven’t beaten you senseless yet, now have I?”

They continued walking until they reached the running water. “Suppose we’re not the only ones here this early,” Beta uttered when he saw the others at the bottom of the waterfall. Beta was surprisingly surprised when he saw the Tenties’ tails.

“This place is usually packed. We’re lucky,” Moonshine said, already pulling his shirt over his head and unzipping his pants.

Beta stopped next to them and watched the others strip off all their clothing, except for the ladies who kept their bras on; most of them anyway. Beta nervously fumbled with his shirt that he didn’t dare take off. Moonshine and Juju jumped in and Beta could see them transform under the crystalline water. Their mood seemed to change once they turned; they looked as if they were lighter, happier, freer. And in return Beta felt lighter, happier, and freer.

Matrix grabbed Beta’s arm and pulled him toward the cliff’s edge, one that shimmered much like the Tenties’ tails. In it were splotches of brown, dirt-like rock. “Come on, I want to show you something.”