People Like Us: Part II [MxFxM]

Chapter Nineteen

It was weird for River to be home on a school day when he wasn't suffering from something. A bruised shoulder wasn't horrible, and the cut was gone, thanks to his dad's treatment and then resting. He took it as a little bit to relax and focus his mind though, settling inside his blanket cocoon and reaching out for the presence of his mother.

He felt around for her, trying to sense where she was. Probing the surrounding area, feeling inside his head for her warmth or voice. He got nothing. It was just silent, no presence, no pressure, no nudging. Just him alone in his head and body, and Adrian the only person in the room, laying next to him on the bed.

Neither of them were really keen to get up yet, River because he was trying to hear or feel his mother, Adrian, probably because he was being lazy. Closing his eyes, River tried again, extending his mental energy out into the field, searching for the signature that was purely his mother. Nothing. Abandoning the attempt, he turned towards Adrian, opening his eyes to look at him, which took him a second to notice.

"What?"

"I can't feel her."

"Feel who?"

"My mother. I keep trying to find her, and I can't feel her."

"Oh, right." Adrian mumbled with a nod, then sighed a little. "Well you used the violin to summon her or whatever in the first place, right?"

"I haven't had to for a while now. And it's broken."

River wasn't convinced he'd needed the violin at all to summon his mother and the other spirits now. At first, he thought so, because he'd only been able to call them when he played. When he thought about it now though, it wasn't the instrument summoning the spirits, it was his mind relaxing and opening up, the playing of the violin only aiding.

Now that he knew how to do it, it was easy, and he hadn't had to touch his instrument in months. Of course, the babies being around all the time probably helped with that, so River was certain he'd been able to do it the whole time, he just needed the opportunity. This was different now though. He couldn't feel his mother at all, and no amount of playing would help.

"Right, but I was thinking that maybe it would work, if you fixed it or got a new one or something. It was just an idea."

"I don't think it would." River said quietly. "I'm sure now that it wasn't the instrument or playing it that called them, it was the act of playing that opened my mind up, relaxing it. It was just an aid, until I could do it on my own. I haven't needed it since before the babies were born."

Adrian didn't really have much reaction to what River had said, just humming to it.

"Okay, well, maybe you just need to wait a little longer. I don't think she'd stay away forever."

"It was different than when she usually goes. Normally she'll just diminish to her presence and then vanish, but I can always feel her. This time, she faded, little by little, until all that was left were her eyes, and then those went too. It was almost like, like she was being erased."

Adrian thought for a second before he shrugged a little, making River realize it was probably a pointless discussion. Adrian didn't have the same ability he did, in fact, River didn't know anybody else like him, and he hadn't heard or seen Lake mention anything.

"I don't really know what to tell you. I don't know how stuff like this works."

"Yeah, I'm sorry. It was just bugging me, I'll stop talking about it."

"Well it's normal to be bothered by it. I'm just not really the most helpful person to talk to."

River nodded, instead settling for looking back at Adrian. Until his stomach growled angrily, then River turned his attention to that and laughed, poking at it. It'd been awhile since he'd felt so hungry, it was probably a good idea to fix that.