Seret

Chapter 12

There was a presence of emptiness for a moment as Aiden called out to her. Everything went dark and cold, her body felt terribly numb and her mind was foggy, yet the voice of Aiden calling to her grew louder as it echoed. She felt lost like she was being towed into an inescapable vacuum. Strangely, the sensation was also very calming, she felt like she could stay at peace over there for countless hours. Abruptly her body started trembling with Aiden's voice calling out even louder and more earnestly, 'Seret, Seret!'
She forced herself to break out of the serenity; her eyes darted open and were blinded. She took in a few deep breaths as she lay frozen under a street light. Aiden was sitting on the ground next to her, looking grown up and back to normal. He took a sigh of relief and turned to his right waving a big thumbs up in the air. Seret took a few seconds to catch her breath, she felt like she had been wrapped in a huge comforting hug and was also being strangled at the same time. Aiden helped her sit up and handed her a water bottle. While she slowly brought her senses back to reality Aiden explained what had happened; soon after she dozed off, there was a frightening sensation pulsing through the bus, as if a powerful shockwave was conducting through it. Aiden figured it may have something to do with Seret's ability so he requested an emergency stop saying that he was worried about what may happen if they stayed on. But when they got off, Seret didn't wake up, no matter how hard they tried. The bus driver had finished inspecting the engine and was getting edgy, he insisted on calling an ambulance but Aiden knew he was only concerned about keeping his job and nothing more. The lady too seemed restless, she had mentioned something about an important meeting when the bus was stopped and had been shooting deadly looks at Aiden ever since. This was enough proof for Aiden that the world was cruel; he didn't need years of 'real-life' experience to accept the facts. To him, nobody was truly kind. Most people were mean and cold, and those who showed kindness always had an ulterior motive. It was only Doug who showed him somewhat of pure kindness and now he was gone.
Seret's body felt weak as if the dream had drained her mentally and physically, however, she managed to stand. She climbed aboard the bus; the other passengers were already quick to get back to their seats. As she passed the old man he said to her, "Best take care of yourself miss, it ain't nothing to be ashamed of."
Seret was confused but she smiled at him.
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"What time will we be there?" Seret asked Aiden.
"10, maybe 11. Eat." He forced a protein bar into her hand.
She muffled, "Good thing they never call an ambulance or anything. The last thing we need is public attention. "
"Hmm, not to mention that a doctor could discover your ability."
"That's nonsense. My mum took me to the doctor often when I was a kid."
"Yeah, but is it not only recently that your ability became active? And what happened to you? Luckily there weren't more passengers or else someone would have noticed."
"Noticed what?"
"Jeez, you don't even remember that. About an hour after you fell off to sleep, you kinda started, well, um, having a tantrum."
"Huh? That doesn't make sense.  As far as I know, I was asleep. Just like normal, fast asleep."
"Well, what did you dream then?"
"Uh..." she imagined herself explaining her dream to Aiden and decided that it would be too weird. Her mind was still startled. She felt like she had just been spun in a vortex,  but she needed to keep it cool.  She figured there would be enough time to ponder over that later. "Um, I don't remember. I wonder what's up with the old man."
"Why?"
"He told me just now that what I have is nothing to be ashamed of."
"Oh, hehe," Aiden laughed, "I kinda told everyone -"
Seret darted at him, "You told everyone what exactly?"
"Er, that you actually suffer from anemia. It was the only thing that would make them lay off calling an ambulance. " He grinned, hoping she'd just laugh it off.
'Oh, I see. Well then, I'm feeling better already, thanks." She squashed her wrapper into her pocket.
"You're not mad?" Aiden asked.
"No, good thinking on you, though nothing less was expected of you." In truth, she actually felt bad for lying about her dream. She figured that could be dealt with another time.
"You should get some sleep, Aiden. I'll keep watch this time."