I unlocked the door to my house then pushed it a few inches open. When I poked my head through the narrow opening, I didn’t see anyone, but the living room was down the hall anyway. I tiptoed toward a series of rattles at the end of it. It sounded like someone mashing food containers together. Manning was still at the library, so who was that? I rounded the corner and froze.

Laura’s eyes bulged out of her head as she gaped at me. She was holding a red bowl and a container of milk. We both stood still as we stared at each other, like statues. This was the first time I’d seen her since our “argument.” I’d imagined this moment being more pronouncedly significant and dramatic, but she was just here because she wanted cereal?

“Laura—”

She stuffed the milk back into the fridge and slammed the door. Holding her bowl close, she ran for the stairs. I sprinted and jumped in front of her then held my arms out, blocking off her escape route.

“No! You can’t run again. We’re talking about this—”

She ducked underneath my arms and sprinted up the steps. That sneaky red-haired demon. I grabbed her foot before it slipped away. She yelped and fell against the steps. I winced and held my breath. I hoped that hadn’t hurt her. She groaned as she shook her foot, but I tightened my grip just in time. She was fine, but she wasn’t going anywhere.

“I don’t feel like talking, so let me go.” Laura kept trying to yank her foot away. My suit was grimy from the forge, so it was hard to hold on to. “Why are you even here? You’re out with your new pals all the time; Instructor Manning is at the library. This house is always empty, so just keep it that way.”

Ouch.

“Laura!” I grabbed her ankle with both hands and pulled. She grabbed the steps and handrail, but neither helped her. Gravity was on my side. “You’re my best friend, and I hate not being around you. Quit shutting me out.”

I dragged her down with all of my strength, but, at some point, it got easier. I looked up and realized that she had both arms crossed and her eyes shut. She had quit resisting. I let go of her foot and walked down the rest of the steps. I expected her to follow me. If she left again…then she really wasn’t ready to talk, and I’d respect that.

I sat on the couch and patted the cushion next to me; a move she’d recognize. Laura sighed as loudly as she could and dragged her feet over to the couch. She slumped beside me and glared at the ground. Same old Laura.

“You know I’d never replace you, right?” I said.

“Yes! I get that.” She turned her bowl over in her hands. She seemed focused on that, but, based on my fidgeting experience, she was just trying to collect her thoughts. “I’m, sorry that I said all that stuff. You should totally have other friends, if you want.”

“Laura, your voice is quivering.” I rubbed her back, which had been great at calming her down in the past. “Just talk. Don’t worry about being rude. You never have before.”

She smirked. “Thanks. I really do get that eventually we’ll have other friends. The problem is that it bothers me even though I understand. And when things bother me, these voices in my head start shouting. They make that annoying thing echo around my head until I’m grabbing knives and”— she touched her arm—“doing something I don’t do anymore. I don’t want to hold you back, Wander. I just want to know how to escape myself.”

She pursed her lips as she lowered her head. I hadn’t known much about Laura’s mental health before this. She’d vented about it to me, but this stuff was so much more complex than a complaint or two. I was sure what Laura had just said didn’t even scratch the surface.

“Kind of sounds like OCD. Yeesh. I’m sorry that you have to deal with that. Look, I never blamed you for getting upset, and you definitely aren’t holding me back. You’re a permanent part of my life. Screw your voices. They’re just there to bug you. Kind of like your parents were. Actually…do you think you’d handle these problems better if it wasn’t for them?”

“Sometimes.” She sat up, and brushed her hair from her face. “You asked me before we left for Red City if I felt good about leaving them without saying goodbye. I said I was, but that was only because I couldn’t admit how bad I felt about it. They’re awful, but I feel like I just abandoned them.”

“What? That’s not what I meant. Plus, they’re the ones who abandoned you.” I jumped off the couch. I couldn’t believe I was listening to Laura feel sorry for her parents. “They refused to love you. You don’t owe them anything.”

“Oh, like you and Beth? I watched her shoot you, but I bet you still want to go after her, right?” She glowered at me but immediately dropped the look. “Sorry. That was meaner than usual huh?”

“Not, really.” I rubbed my shoulder. Her words had cut deep, but they weren’t wrong. “If you really want to get some closure with your parents, then I have an idea. Let’s see if this base has a GCT. You can use it to call your folks and tell them off—I mean, apologize for leaving.”

Laura’s eyes widened. “Oh, that’s right. My parents have one of those too, so we could call it. We could have a video chat.”

There was no good reason why we should have gone out of our way to talk with the insult-sprouting money bags that Laura called her parents. I didn’t know if we could. Surge and Kaela hadn’t told me about all the GCTs on the base. A GCT, or Galactic Communications Terminal, could broadcast to any other communications device in the galaxy. Unfortunately Surge was the galactic advocate of privacy, so he probably didn’t have one lying around.

VRRRM!

My pocket vibrated, numbing my leg. I reached in and pulled out my phone. It vibrated in my hand as the screen displayed a single word: Nessa. It was surrounded by an orange border, like the color of the app she’d installed on my phone. Oh, I understood.

I tapped the green icon and pressed the phone against my ear. “Yo, it’s Wander.”

“Break’s over, where in the galaxy are you?” Nessa asked in a compressed, electronic tone. The frustration oozing from her voice was clear as day.

“Yeah, about that—hey, do you know if there’s a GCT on the base?”

“What? Do you just say whatever pops into your brain? Yes, there’s a GCT near the library. Anyone can use it. Surge hates it for security reasons, but he keeps it around so people can communicate with any family members they have left. Not all of us are orphans. Some are runaways.”

I glanced at Laura. “I know what you mean. Thanks, Nessa. See you later!”

“You’ll see me later? No, get back to the forge before I—”

I hit the red phone button, ending the call. I chuckled to myself as I imagined her face. Laura was fun to annoy, but something about Nessa made her a thousand times more fun to annoy.

“Who’s ‘Nessa’?” Laura asked as she raised an eyebrow.

“I’ll tell you on the way to the library. That’s where your awful-parent communicator is. Come on. Let’s hop into the disgusting cruiser I used to get over here.”

Even if Laura’s plan was insane, I understood the need for closure. There was so much I wished I had said to my parents. Laura followed me outside. Manning’s cruiser was missing from the driveway when I pulled up, and it still was. I guess we’d be seeing him at the library.

“What does Manning do in that library?” I asked as I opened the door to my cruiser. “He can’t actually read all day. Maybe he’s started tutoring. I’m sure most of these guys never finished high school.”

“I’m literally in the process of getting over your having other friends. Do you think I can handle Instructor Manning tutoring other people?”

The drive to the library was full of tension, and it all came from Laura. She hadn’t blinked since getting into the cruiser. She wasn’t even looking at anything in particular. “Nervous” would have been an understatement.

I’d never actually seen how Laura was with her parents, nor did I know them well. They weren’t the type to show up at parent-teacher conferences. I had no idea what I was about to see. I gulped as I spotted the library.

Like the cafeteria, the library seemed to have been there before the Oppressed came. Some of the letters were gone, and they hadn’t replaced them. The remaining letters spelled out “F I R P E T LIBR RY.” I had no idea what the first two words were supposed to be, but the last was obviously “library.”

What had this base been in the past? Vintage neighborhoods, old facilities, and it was on Earth. There was even that secret passageway in Surge’s office. This whole place was one big mystery begging to be solved…

Laura peered at the parking lot. “I think I see Instructor Manning’s cruiser.”

The lot was barren except for a few cruisers scattered here and there. Manning’s cruiser wasn’t hard to see at all. I hadn’t expected the library to have a crowded lot with honking cruisers.

“We’ll pay him a visit after we get the hard part out of the way,” I said. “Let’s find that GCT.”

It wasn’t hard to find a clear booth with a giant console inside. It was awkwardly placed on the sidewalk between the library and the neighboring building. People would have to walk around it.

“We got here a lot sooner than I expected.” Laura took in a huge breath and exhaled it. “I’m ready. Are you ready? I’m definitely ready.”

I pulled up to the booth and hit the brakes. Laura gasped as the cruiser rocked in response. She was so on edge. Her nerves must have been a battlefield.

“You know I’m with you, right?” I flashed my most sincere smile. “I’m here every step of the way.”

She seemed very unnerved, but she smiled back. “Obviously, dummy. No matter how crazy I am, I’m glad I have someone like you to keep me kind of sane.”

“Hey, you’re supposed to be the one keeping me sane. I’m the guy who shoots lightning!”

She laughed at that, but her laugh was a bit hollow. Hopefully that’d turn into a real laugh after we’d gotten this over with. We stepped out of the cruiser and walked up to the booth. I’d never used a GCT because I didn’t have anyone worth using one for. I didn’t have family off the Moon. At least I didn’t think so.

Laura pulled open the booth’s clear door and stepped inside. I followed her and immediately coughed because the air was stale. Clearly, they needed to open this door more often. It was as warm as a sauna from sitting in the green Sun all day. Hopefully that hadn’t fried the console.

A giant screen sat above a whole mess of buttons. It reminded me of the AI’s console on Jupiter: the one that they also used for communication…weird. Between that and the AI using QWERTY keyboards, they sure liked to steal ideas from us. How and why?

“So how does this work?” I sat down on a cushioned booth seat. Its teal leather was peeling and rough to the touch. When I leaned back, it squeaked like the rude furniture it was. “Do you input their coordinates? Do you punch in their zip code? Is there a map on—”

“Wander. No more questions, seriously. You just put in a number.” She motioned to the number keys. “That’s it. Not everything requires an elaborate setup and execution.” She lifted a finger above the keypad and scrunched up her face out of concentration. Or was that stress? “Hey, I just realized: what if they’re not home? That means we came all this way for nothing. We should leave before we face that disappointment.”

I sighed. “We’ll never know if you don’t try, Redhead. Also, you could just try their phones.”

“Ugh, fine.” She groaned and lowered her shaking finger onto ten different numbers. Then she sat beside me on the booth. She had the same blank stare that she’d had in the cruiser, but now she was rocking back and forth. “It’ll be fine. I’ll be fine. This is for closure.”

A message popped up on the screen as it rang: CONTACTING GENKI RESIDENCE. Those people were awful at naming things. The droning tone of the ring pumped up my anxiousness. It’d ring for a second longer than I expected it to, pause, and then ring again. How could anyone not get anxiety from that?

Laura gasped as the message disappeared. It was replaced by two people seated in red, cushioned chairs that made me jealous. Behind them was a crackling fireplace. The man wore a white suit and red tie. He had brown hair, a large nose, and brown eyes. The woman wore a black dress with a red sash draped over it. She had medium-length blonde hair that looked like it’d been through ten different hairdressers in the past hour. Her face was what I imagined Laura’s would look like in the future, and her hand was stuffed in a bowl of strawberries.

They scowled at us like we were there to sell insurance. I couldn’t tell which scowl reminded me more of Laura. As for how Laura was handling this reunion: not well. Her lips were parted, and all the color had drained from her face. The three of them were engaged in an intense staring contest. I’d never felt more like I didn’t belong. I had to defuse this somehow.

I leaned over to Laura and cupped my mouth. “How did they answer the terminal if they’re sitting down?”

She flinched and whipped her head from side to side. She heaved a sigh of relief. Had she thought she was back in the house for a second? Seeing it had really had that much of an effect?

“They answered with their phone,” she whispered back as she clutched her chest.

The man cleared his throat. Laura’s gaze snapped toward him. She sat up, hands folded in her lap. Her entire demeanor changed. Had he cast a spell on her?

“Hi—hello Father, hello Mother.” Laura sounded more polite than ever before. She didn’t sound like herself. “How are you?”

Laura’s dad furrowed his brow. “Our child ran away, Lauretta, how do you think we are?” His voice was deep and suave, like a charming gentleman’s. It didn’t fit the harshness of his words.

She gulped. “Right. That’s what I called to talk to you about. I wanted to say that I’m sorry. I’m sorry for running away. I should have told you first, or—”

“Perhaps you should not have run away at all,” her mother suggested as she popped another strawberry into her mouth. Her voice was calm and collected, the exact opposite of Laura’s. “Did you ever think of that, young lady? If not, then you’ve wasted our money with all that tutoring. Honestly, we’ve been worried sick.”

Right, her mom looked real concerned as she chomped away on those strawberries. They’d paid for Laura’s tutoring with Manning, but they couldn’t be bothered to drive her to and from school. These people were already angering me. Hopefully, I wouldn’t start, “crackling.”

“I understand, and I’m sorry, but I had to do this.” Laura’s voice regained a bit of confidence. She leaned forward. “I don’t want the life you’ve planned out for me. I never have. I’ve tried telling you, but you’ve never listened. Please, let me live my own life. I promise I’ll be fine.”

Laura’s mom smirked as she ate another strawberry. Her dad shook his head in a gesture that screamed, “Where did I go wrong?”

“It’s…amusing that you have these aspirations, but there’s a reason we’ve ignored your childish requests. It’s not ‘your’ life. We brought you into this world, so you do what we say. We don’t care if you’ll be fine. You must remain with us to inherit our fortune. We’ve allowed you a month of ‘freedom,’ but it’s time to come home, dear. You’re out of school, so you can finally begin your duties without distraction. Speaking of which”—his eyes gleamed with malicious intent as they swiveled toward me—“who is this young man?”

A shudder ran through my body. Hearing him acknowledge me was downright creepy.

Laura motioned to me. “Wander Locke? I told you about him. He’s been my best friend since the first grade. I stayed at his house all the time.”

Her mom scoffed. “A friend? You never listened to a word we said, did you?”

“No, dear, you don’t understand,” her dad said. “We’re looking at the last Locke standing. That AI incident from a year ago? That was his family. Young man, my sincerest apologies for your loss. I also apologize for the fact that you’ve had to entertain our daughter during your period of mourning. Perhaps we could make it up to you over dinner?”

Was…was this jerk trying to network me? After nonchalantly referring to me as “the last Locke?” Laura had lasted how long with these people? I wasn’t even able to bear this conversation. I hoped the anger burning in my forehead wouldn’t become electricity.

I clenched my fists. “You can take that invitation and—”

“How dare you!” Laura jolted from her seat; her hair whipped around like fire. It was a drastic and welcome change from the fear that had been tormenting her. “You are not allowed to speak to him like that!”

Her mother gasped, flashing a mouth full of chewed strawberries. “Mind your mouth, child. Not another word, or we’ll stop being so nice.”

Laura let out an empty chuckle. “Nice? Well that explains it. You two seriously thought you were being nice by ignoring me, yelling at me, making me your stupid doll. You probably thought we were a family in your own twisted way too. That’s an even bigger lie. Wander’s my family; Instructor Manning is my family. You two are just monsters.”

I beamed with pride. That was exactly what I’d wanted to happen. My one regret was that I didn’t have popcorn.

Her dad’s knuckles turned white as he made a fist. “That’s enoug—”

“Did I say you could talk?” Laura stomped forward. “I’m not done describing every single way you’ve ruined my life! I bet you don’t even care that I did this!”

Laura yanked up her sleeve, exposing stomach-churning scars. Her mom shrieked, and her dad’s jaw dropped. They didn’t even know. I knew, but I hated thinking about them. She’d stopped adding to them a while ago, but they’d always be there.

“What have you done?” Her dad stood and straightened his tie. Was that his way of dealing with stress? “What will our partners say if they see such disgraceful scars on our heiress? What will the public think? You can never wear dresses.” He sighed and pinched his nose. “You truly don’t care, do you? All you want is your ‘freedom.’ Then take it. You are never to return to this family. If you do, you will not be welcome. The last thing we need is for our fortune to end up in ungrateful hands, so we’ll find someone more deserving.”

“Oh dear, where will we ever find someone who wishes to inherit a space suit business and all the money on the Moon?” said her mom before she cackled. “Someday, you’ll realize just how much of an idiot you are, child.”

“When that day comes, it’ll be too late.” Her dad grinned, but his expression was more ill-intentioned than joyous. “Farewell, Lauretta.”

The screen went black as the words CALL ENDED popped up in white letters. My jaw hung open. It had been that easy to get rid of them? This whole time?

“Yes!” I pumped my fist into the air. “Laura, you’re free. You’ll never have to deal with your awful former parents ever again. Oh my god, this must open so many doors for you. How does it feel?”

Laura’s face did not look like I’d expected it to. Instead of grinning from ear to ear, she gaped at the screen like she’d just watched a loved one die. Had we just experienced the same call?

“It feels, great.” She blinked rapidly like she was trying not to cry. The tone of her voice wasn’t uplifting at all. It was shaky. “Thanks, Wander. This was great. Everything’s…great.”

I rubbed her back again. “You don’t have to be strong with me, remember? What’s wrong? I thought this was what you wanted.”

Her back was tense, but it relaxed as her shoulders slumped. “Yeah, it is. I’ve always wanted to be free. So this should be a victory. This is everything I could have asked for.” She turned toward me, revealing a tear-stained face. “So why aren’t I happy? Why do I feel like I just lost everything?!”

She buried her face into my shoulder and shuddered with silent sobs, not fully committing to crying over something that should have been good. I held her close as I stared into the sky. My confusion must have paled in comparison to hers. I took back what I had thought about this being what I wanted. This wasn’t how this day was supposed to go.