Non-Friction

Chapter 16: Up and at 'em

Eric awoke drenched in a cold sweat. His dream had jerked him out of his slumber. He had dreamt of... huh... he heard of... why can't I...? Anyway, it disturbed him. As he glanced around his darkened bedroom. He could sense a thin layer of cyan algae had gathered around his now moistened body. The boy was still a bit uncomfortable with his ability to perceive these microcolonies, but he'd long since accepted that this would just be his new norm. Along with the faint glow stuck to his body, he also saw a small beam of light peeking through his bedroom window. The boy sat in his reading nook for a moment, bathing in the sun as he took in a deep breath. Eric then opened the window, letting in the light. His room had a view of the side yard of his home. It was close to the woods, and Eric always appreciated the treeline and critters he could sense near his room. He saw outside that all the trees were still damp from yesterday's storm. He glanced down and saw multiple broken branches scattered around the forest floor. He could sense a small mix of yellow and orange auras around the branches. He assumed it was small forest insects and animals taking advantage of the new bounty of resources. The boy then noticed the sound of distant bird songs and calls. He opened his window slightly to allow for their melodies to be heard more clearly. The boy then grabbed one of his pillows from the nook and held it close as he looked out towards the wilderness. Watching the auras of the wildlife and playing with the glow of algae that danced in the soft sunlight.

Eric stayed nearly motionless for multiple minutes. His mind was mostly blank as he floated between the contrasting thoughts of the calm nature around him and the events of yesterday. It took him what felt like an eternity to fall asleep last night. His memories and concerns from the day before made it very difficult for the youth to fall asleep. Due to that, he kept actively trying to push away the thoughts of it so his mind wouldn't spiral again.

Eventually, Eric got up from his post and went to grab his phone off the nightstand. His alarm hadn't gone off yet, so he assumed it had to be some time before 10. As he picked up his phone, it then began to ring and shake violently. In a panic, he quickly pressed the power button. Serendipitously, it had just struck 10. His phone then began to shake a buzz rapidly once again, this time however it wouldn't stop. Carson was flooding their group chat with messages, photos, and links. Eric assumed Carson must have been saving these till their agreed-upon wake-up time. While the empath appreciated his friend respecting their wishes to let them rest in peace, he was still concerned about if Carson got any rest as well. Eric stared blankly at the wall of endless messages popping onto his screen for a full 2 minutes till they finally stopped. Due to the sheer volume, he couldn't really get a good read on them. The still-waking boy then opened his phone and saw that Carson and Daniella were already on a call.

After taking a brief moment to stretch, Eric joined his friend's group call. The empath could sense something would happen, so he instinctively held the phone away from his head. As soon as he connected, Carson began to yell, "ERIC!" as loud as he could for as long as his lungs could hold. Sadly, due to the cardio training Daniella and him put their friend through, it went on for quite a while. Once the squealing subsided, Eric responded with a tired, "Good morning to you too." "Nah man, FU—I mean, forget that. This is a great morning! Amazing morning! Frabjous morning! Stupidus morning!" The boastful youth exclaimed. Daniella piped with a chipper but motherly tone, "Buddy, I think you meant stupendous." Carson paused his jubilation for a moment. "Oh right, but you know what I mean." Eric with fear in his heart believed he did indeed know what he meant. The blond joyously continued, "I was just telling Daniella about it, but we're already famous, dude! We're all over the news; people are making videos talking about us, and Eyes of the Storm are trending!" "Eyes of the storm?" the empath questioned. Carson began to chuckle nervously, "Uh yeah... about that... Well, a bunch of people started making up team names for us, and a lot of them seemed kind of mid. So I might have started making posts online saying that our team name was Eyes of the Storm. Y'all rejected all the other ones I suggested, so I had to think of one on the spot before the others stuck." Eric pondered the name for a moment. The boy was honestly surprised by the name choice; it had a good ring to it and felt thematic. His blond friend seemed to be on a roll, and he felt it was only appropriate to let him know, "I like it; I think you made a pretty good call." "Same here; you know I always appreciate a good pun," Daniella chirped kindly. The empath then heard the sound of clicking as Carson began to speak, "I'm so glad y'all like it! And now that y'all are awake, you guys gotta check out some of the links I sent this morning!" The empath cautiously opened the wall of messages. The app showed that the blond had sent 56 messages this morning. Eric believed he did not have the mental capacity to tackle that right now, but he could at least look online to see what the consensus was.