Words

Twenty One

While she signed me out in the office, the secretary glanced at Kyle. She scrutinized his features intensely. "Who's he? Her brother?"

Somehow, Mom knew to tread this conversation with caution. "No, he's the one who helped her get to the nurse's office." She turned to Kyle, who was fidgetting in the chair. He did that when he was anxious, I now knew. "What's your name again?"

He turned to me with wide eyes, but I was just as distraught as he was. How was I supposed to explain why a nonexistent student was roaming the school? My mind raced to find a reasonable excuse when he spoke up.

"I'm Kyle, remember?" he directed his question to the secretary. My heart squeezed at the crack in his voice. It rang unsure, still in denial over what we'd just done.

"No. Am I supposed to?" The lady pushed her glasses up to inspect him more. "You don't look familiar..."

That was wrong. He volunteered to help file papers in the office whenever he could. Everyone knew him here, the secretary in particular. She always teased him for being short. Or at least, she used to.

Her not remembering him, in addition to me actually knowing this despite him never mentioning it, was more than enough proof. I straightened my posture and looked at the pale yellow wall. "I'm sorry," I muttered.

He didn't respond. Of course, why would he? Nothing else needed to be said.

To break the tense silence, Mom chuckled. "He's just joking. Don't mind him; Kyle likes to play mind-tricks. Anyways, I'll take them home. Have a nice evening."

She then ushered us out in silent urgency. The moment we left school and entered her car, I sighed. "That was close."

"Yeah. But you have some explaining to do, Ziva." Mom's fingers drummed on the steering wheel. "Put your seatbelts on first, though."

In the backseats, we hurried to buckle up. She drove off once the car heated up. Silence filled the air, along with static from the broken radio.

"Mom?" I started when we reached a stop light.

Her eyes glanced to the rear view mirror at me. "Hm?"

Tears from my eyes again. My hands shivered in each others' grip at the grim truth. "I... I messed up. I should've noticed something was wrong after I ate the equations for the first time. Now Kyle can't..." I couldn't dare complete the sentence, even if we all knew the result.

"From what you're saying, it sounds like you didn't mean to do it. Besides," she glared at Kyle, "you didn't eat his name on purpose."

He averted his gaze to his shoes, biting his lip.

"B-But no one'll remember him now!" I took out the tissue he gave me and wiped snot from my nose. "Every word I eat disappears from your minds. That's why you and Dad don't remember your anniversary flower and why no one knows what anything else I eat is."

Her face softened as the light turned green. "Still, Ziv... you didn't know. You can't blame yourself for that."

I shook my head. "No, this world will never be same because of me. I don't know how to make up for that. It's all my fault."

Kyle's hand brushed my own. "I'm sorry Ms. Kritikos... I didn't know she had other words. But with all due respect, she was severely ill. It's not like I have the capability to see what she does."

"I guess you're right." She turned down the radio. "Where do you live anyways?"

I squeezed my legs. What was the point in taking him home if no one remembered him?