Summoning Silences : The SuperNova ✔

V

Part I
Chapter - 5

But his conscience had yet not failed him. He recognized what he was doing, and it was only for a brief fleeting moment that he revealed how vulnerable he was, before setting himself straight. His shoulder were bent from the weight, and his eyes only opened half. He had shattered himself.  

Before I could analyze anything, he spoke, as if moving me from a dream. “Tired,” his mouth moved, and if I had not seen his lips, I would have assumed I was hallucinating.

“Tired,” he repeated. “I am tired. And hungry. Could you… feed me something?” His voice was fading away.

“Please,” he pleaded to me.

Something snapped. It was inside my head. His sound did something to my brain. I could not think, I could not feel. I threw his arm over my shoulder, and rushed him through. Where? I did not know. I just kept running hauling him along. I ran till my legs gave away. When I finally stopped, I was panting heavily; and was in front of my house.

It took me a moment to register it. I had carried him to my place. What was I even thinking? I was in the face of my greatest nightmare, supporting the person I had been looking for on one shoulder. It dawned upon me that I had been processing it in the back of my head all this while.

Feed him? I did not carry any more money than my lunch. I had seen him purchase expensive lunches from the market, (that they advertised to be healthier, aka salads) even when he was with a bunch that feasted on cheap, greasy sandwiches. Girls talked about how he believed in keeping himself in great shape, and how they found it attractive.

Feed him? I could not begin to imagine doing that.

So here I was, forming decisions that he should rather survive on cheap meat and bread. What was the choice given to me?

I carried him inside. His head raised for the first time, to see where I had taken him. Fear rose from the heaviest pits of my stomach and spread to the end of my fingernails, like blazing tips of needles pricking my skin. My eyes roamed to study his face, but it was devoid of any judgment. Instead, his eyes fell to the small room, where I had placed my bed.

“Bed,” he whispered distinctively.

His breath caressed my arm. “You want… my bed—you want to sleep?” I was hesitant, for no reason I could understand.

He nodded weakly.

I guided him to my bed, and had only lowered my shoulder that he plummeted off me and hit the mattress. He fell to his side that faced the wall, and for a fact, I knew he had passed out.

By the time he woke up, mom had already returned. I had shot up from the couch when I heard the doorknob twist. The first thing she told me when she entered was that I acted funny, and she had entered the hallway, even before I could explain anything. A silent shriek left her when she saw Nova lying as pale as a corpse in my bed. We were discussing all that I never told her, when he woke up. I had a lot of catching up to do.

He was unsteady on his feet as he walked, his hand rubbing his eyes, as he entered the diner. “Alex, I—” he wanted to speak, and I straightened myself on the chair, before he noticed mom.

His mouth hung a little as he saw her sitting there. Why? Did he expect me to be living alone? It was a moment of uncertainty, that wafted in the thick air and bloated my lungs.

I decided to cut through the tension.

“Mom, this—” I began, but Nova cut me off.

“Hello…” he said. His voice sounded silken, the same courteous tone he used. Only, it sounded better now. “—Mrs. Baker,” he continued. “My name is Nova. It is a pleasure meeting you.”