[ WP ] The characters from one of your abandoned stories find out that you have given up on them .

I blinked my eyes a few times, my brow furrowing a bit in confusion. Hmph. This is... a bit odd, I think. I couldn ’ t place my finger on it, but *something* was different. I looked down at myself to inspect. Nothing was out of place. My jeans were still ripped to all hell and my shoes were still made of canvas and disheveled. I slowly looked up to the underpass I had found myself in. It was still as filthy as ever, complete with all of the beautiful and grungy graffiti throw ups that many of my good friends had painted. Despite the traffic still whizzing by on the bridge above, everything just seemed... quiet. 
 
 I sniffed and turned around. I had almost forgotten I had company. A man with easily half a foot on me in the vertical department was standing a good yard away from me. From what I could gather with my eyes, he looked just as bewildered as I was. 
 
 “ Are you... feeling okay, Kiko? ” 
 
 My frown became a bit more prominent as I considered his question. I didn ’ t feel bad, per say. But I didn ’ t really feel good, either. It was like I was out of place. Stagnant, if you will. “ I mean... I feel a little weird, if that ’ s what you mean. What about you? ” 
 
 The man brought a hand up to the back of his head to scratch his short, brown hair a bit gruffly. Merv wasn ’ t exactly a gentle man, after all. He seemed to consider everything I had considered before shrugging his shoulders. 
 
 “ I guess I can say the same thing. Not bad, not good. Just... different. Kinda like, uh... just kinda ‘ blech ’ you know? ” 
 
 “ I suppose that ’ s a fair term to use for this... ” I said. 
 
 Despite becoming more confused than I had already been, I was relieved to know that someone else felt like this. I looked Merv up and down. Last thing I knew, I was leaning in to kiss him. I saw sparks and butterflies were practicing their aerial acrobatics in my stomach. My face was absolutely on fire. Now it ’ s just like Merv said. I saw him and just thought... ’ blech. ’ 
 
 “ So... we were gon na kiss, yeah? ” 
 
 Merv shrugged his shoulders once more. “ Yeah, we were. I just can ’ t get over this feeling, though. Like, you ’ re still beautiful and charming and all that. I just don ’ t have it in me, for some reason. ” 
 
 Usually, I would get offended at such a statement, but I was surprisingly okay with it. We heard movement coming from behind me and whirled around to see who or what it might be. Well, I saw ‘ whirled ’ in a very loose sense. The movement was more on the relaxed and lazy side of the spectrum. But before us was a lieutenant of the state military police, in his usual suit and tie. However, his gun was being placed into his holster. Which made everything stranger, seeing as how I had never seen it snuggled away in it ’ s leather home. 
 
 “ Hey, do you guys feel suddenly alone? ” 
 
 My eyebrows shot for the sky as I pointed a finger behind me at Merv. “ That ’ s exactly what we were just talking about! Something feels really empty, no? ” 
 
 The lieutenant threw his hands up into the air. “ Right?! It ’ s like there ’ s a void where something was and I can ’ t put my finger on it! ” He then chuckled a bit, shaking his head as he planted his hands on his hips. “ Listen, uh... I don ’ t know why I ’ m gon na say this, but I ’ m really sorry about giving you such a hard time the past few years. ” 
 
 I was extremely taken aback by his comment. He had spent I don ’ t even know how many years trying to hunt my friends and I down. All because we wanted to stand up for free speech, too! However, notice how I said ‘ taken aback ’ instead of ‘ made infuriatingly angry. ’ I would have killed him if tried to apologize on any other given day. “ Well... ” I said, looking back to Merv to see if I could figure out how he thought about all of this. “ I suppose... it ’ s alright? ” 
 
 The lieutenant nodded slowly, pursing his lips as he did so. “ Well, alright then. ” 
 
 We all stood there quietly. I suppose a years-long war would make things a little bit awkward, no matter how peacefully the resolution was in the end. I shoved my hands into my hoodie pockets as I sat down cross legged. Merv joined me in the same fashion, and so did the lieutenant. Still, not a word was spoken. 
 
 This is going to be very odd to explain to all of the guys back home. Unless, of course, they felt the same way, too. I just didn ’ t feel like fighting anymore. I suppose I ’ m lucky that Lieutenant Coughman feels the same way about it. Even if we had settled our differences, no matter how oddly, I still felt like something was missing. 
 
 I started thinking about what he said about a void being there. In reality, it felt like all of my motivation was just knocked right out of me. Kind of like when you start a project and realize it ’ s not going so well, so you decide to scrap it. It felt kind of like that. Like I was somebody ’ s pride and joy at one point and they just decided to shelf me. I felt a pang of hurt when I thought that. How could somebody abandon me? I always thought I was pretty cool. And Merv did too, up until a few minutes ago. But that pang quickly flitted from my mind and was replaced with that essence of apathy that enveloped the three of us. 
 
 “ So... ” I said, leaning back and supporting myself with my hands. I looked at each man on either side of me for a few seconds before speaking again. “ Since we ’ ve seemed to... put all of this on the backburner... you guys wan na play 20 Questions? ”
