OVERPOPULAS

Chapter 19

I woke up startled by nothing, I don't even know why I woke up like that. Guess I was just hoping I would wake up back at the apartment in my so-so comfortable sleeping bag. Instead I woke up in the tent in the sewers, right next to Alice who was still sleeping. I was kinda having a panic attack as the realization of the situation hit me, all of that wasn't a dream.

Nancy put her hand on my shoulder and that even startled me more.

"It's ok." Nancy comforted me. "Everything's fine. Did you have a bad dream?"

"No." I responded "I've just. Been through a lot."

"I understand. We've all been there."

"Guess so." I stood up from the sleeping bag and looked over at Alice who was surprisingly sleeping very peacefully. If I'm still going through the trauma as well, then who knows how Alice is feeling right now.

"If you want to talk about it then I'm all ears." Nancy said, rolling up my sleeping bag for me.

"I don't know if you're ready to hear it." I responded. "I'm ready to tell you, but." I looked over at Alice. "We should talk somewhere else."

"Ok."

Nancy and I walked out of the tent to see the other people around the campfire again. The absolute heinous smell hit my nose and I almost vomited but managed to keep it in my throat. Me and Nancy walked around a dark corner so no one else could see us.

"Is this ok with you?" Nancy asked.

"Yeah, hopefully no one is eavesdropping on us." I said, peering around the corner again. Once I knew that no one else was around, I looked over at Nancy and started telling her about what has happened these past few days. Unlike when I told Alice about the night that Eric murdered two people in front of me. I never choked up during any parts, even about the part of finding my parents dead on the floor. The only thing I didn't tell her was about me and my brother's fight with Runasi. There's never really gonna be a good time to tell anyone that I was the first person to ever hit Runasi Haruhiko. Nancy was in disbelief of the story I told her and she gave me a hug.

"I'm so sorry you two had to go through that." Nancy began to cry. "Kids these days have to go through the most terrible shit." She wasn't crying that much but I would still feel some tears hitting my shoulder. The most terrible thing about any of this is that I didn't shed a single tear at all. Like I've gotten too used to telling my story. Even back when I saw my parent's bodies, I couldn't even muster up the tears. My mind went into immediately finding a way to survive without our parents, like it was just a minor inconvenience. Have I gotten desensitized to this? Am I that emotionless? What the fuck is wrong with me?

After the hug was over Nancy tried over and over to comfort me. But I just didn't hear her, I couldn't. There was too much on my mind to even give the effort to listen. All of my attention was on how emotionless I was during that whole ordeal. I should've been balling my eyes out, just like when I saw my brother die right in front of me.

When I heard Nancy walk away over to her tent and leave me alone. I assume she noticed my silence and let me be alone with my thoughts. I couldn't move as I stood there in the darkness left alone with my thoughts. The thought of that is just eating me up inside and I don't know what to do with this feeling, I feel like I need to tell someone but I'm afraid what they would think of me.

Slinca! Slinca would hear me out! I need to talk to her, she won't judge me as much as other people. I'm sure of it! Don't know what time it is but that doesn't matter, I just know that she'll be at the Yurinami fight school.

I ran over to the tent and opened it up to see Alice waking up from her slumber. She looked up at me and ran at me. She hugged tightly around my waist. I took her by the shoulder and forced her off of me.