Flux

26

"It's been three days, Marvin. Where in the blazing sun could he have gone?"

Aiya was upset. For a good reason too. Derek was missing, and no one, not even the staff, seemed to know where he had gone.

Marvin had been missing himself, but Aiya had expected that after seeing his eyes light up like a kid at an all-you-can-eat dessert buffet.

Marvin had finally left the engineering wing of the mountain facility to grace everyone with his presence. However, all he could talk about was the cool little gadget that he had obtained from the doctors. Oblivious to Aiya's mood or the look on her face Marvin had went on to discuss his progress on his latest invention.

She had finally cut him off mid-sentence, utterly exasperated with his self-absorption.

Marvin lifted his head from his plate of food, where he had been alternating between speaking excitedly and shovelling in vast mouthfuls of some potato pie.

He blinked at her a few times like a deer in headlights, and Aiya groaned. He had no clue. Once Marvin started a project, you might as well pretend he had left the planet. Aiya pitied the woman who he ended up with.

"What?"

Marvin's pupils narrowed as he slowed down his propeller brain and focused on Aiya. She could almost see the shift in his thinking physically transforming him as he went from his discovery and creation mode to being in the present.

"What do you mean Derek is missing?"

Aiya lifted an eyebrow at the stupid question and just looked at him for a moment, letting his brain finish switching gears. Finally, she answered.

"Derek hasn't been seen in this facility in three days. Apparently, there was some kind of incident with a few lab techs and Inta. If you are willing to believe the doctors, Derek has just run away scared after this incident."

Aiya watched as Marvin's eyes went wide with shock. Gently placing his fork on the table, he sat back in his chair.

"How is that even possible? There are cameras on every exit and at the corner of every hallway. How the hell was he not caught on camera exiting the mountain? If that's even what happened."

"That's what makes the whole thing even weirder, brother. Wherever Derek had wandered off to supposedly doesn't have cameras. My gut says the story is crap. But I have no way to find out the truth. Guards follow everywhere."

Marvin scratched at his ear. Aiya noticed he needed a trim. His hair was officially long enough it was starting to tickle the inside of his ear as it curled gently near the ends.

Reaching out, she tried to move the stray strands behind his ear for him. A flash of Marvin and Derek as young kids struck her in the chest. Derek had taught her how to braid his thick curly hair when he'd been young before opting to let it go wild.

Where in the world was the man?

Aiya couldn't help but feel like it was partly her fault. They needed to talk. Everything had changed, and she kept seeing his face after their hands had touched.

She hadn't been able to control her own reaction to all the feelings she had felt from him and knew she had caused him great pain by letting him see her own emotions.

"Fuck." Aiya cursed out loud, running a hand over her face.

Marvin placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Aiya," she looked up to see his gentle eyes looking at her with worry and grief, but also with the bottomless well of kindness and love her brother seemed to have for all his friends and family, "it's not your fault. Derek needed to sort some things out. I had kind of expected him to be distant for a while. But missing completely is definitely not something he would do. At least not without telling me."