Comatose Feeling

Chapter Six

Chapter Six

"Have you seen yourself since?" Alena questioned the being in front of her, not really sure how to approach the subject of her mother's case, when she herself, didn't have much information to go on.

A bitter chuckle came from Nathanial's mouth, but soon was covered with a cough that was too fake to even be considered real. "You mean since I became invisible, and went weeks with no one able to see me?"

She just shrugged, giving up on trying to be sensitive to the subject. "I wouldn't really say you're invisible. Especially since your body is lying in a hospital bed right about now. I'd say you're in a limbo, of sorts." And with as much clarity as she was getting, it really seemed to be the best explanation. But Alena couldn't even imagine how frightened Nathanial must be, or must have been, when he'd first "woken" up from his coma. Nathanial just sat on the couch she'd offered him to sit in, looking anywhere but at her. "Well, have you?"

Finally, he looked at Alena, unshed tears begging to fall, but no, she wouldn't have that. She hopped down next to him, and she would have physically comforted him, if she really thought she could touch his shoulder, or hold him. She could see him hurting. Alena cursed herself for being so insensitive, when the boy clearly had the weight of his existence on his shoulders.

"I'm going to just assume, that you have." His solemn nod answered Alena, and she nearly wanted to pat herself on the back.

"Just once, when I first became... first woke up. I guess that's the only thing we can call this." He blew out a breath, one Alena was sure she would be able to feel if he wasn't in his current state. "I saw my parents too." At that moment Nathanial stood up and immediately started pacing her living room floor, breaking the moment of honesty between them. "I-I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought you into this. You don't even know me."

Alena followed his pacing, trying her best to calm down the manic episode the boy seemed to be having. "Listen, Nathanial," she congratulated herself for not only thinking of him as just the blonde-boy anymore, "I need your honesty. If I'm truly the only one who can see what you are, right now, I need you to be honest about everything you can remember." She stepped in front of him, knowing he would be able to walk right through her, but instead of continuing his pacing, he stopped with just a few inches between them. "I don't know you, that's correct. I do know at least one thing, and that is the fact that my mother still hasn't called, when she was supposed to question your parents about you. You were able to travel from the hospital in your city, to here. I am just now being told that my mother didn't need to pack up and leave for this case. So, imagine how frustrated I am having all these questions and I'm not getting any answers." And as bad as she felt for this man, she needed to finally hear from her mother.

After her miniature rant, Nathanial seemed to gather his thoughts enough to speak. "What did you say?"

Alena looked at him quizzically, afraid she'd said something wrong. "I said that I still haven't..."

"No, not that," Nathanial interrupted, "before that. About my parents?" He backed up, pulling on his hair. "That's... I don't under-" At that moment there was a knock on the Taylor household's door. "Look, I have to go. I'll be back. I promise."

Confused by the sudden change in his state, Alena went to protest. "Nathanial, I don't think-" But he was already gone.

It took a couple of seconds for Alena to get herself together, just in time to hear the second knock on her door. The timing couldn't be worse, until she remembered she had invited a guest to her house earlier that day.

"Coming!" She yelled to the visitor as she took the few steps it took to get to the door. She opened the door to reveal the black hair she'd already been expecting, but had earlier forgotten. "Hi."

"I was afraid you'd forgotten about my invite." His gruff voice seemed to be no more than a whisper, as she signaled with her hand for him to come in.

She was about to say 'never,' but stopped herself, thinking it'd sound too much like she was flirting, because really, why would she do that? "Of course not." She simply stated, happy with her lack of flirtatiousness. Just because she could hold a decent conversation with the black-haired boy, didn't mean she'd immediately fall. Alena Taylor, was much too clever a girl for that.

Victor looked around her living room, spotting the thrown papers on her mother's work desk. She suddenly felt the room to be claustrophobic, and tried to gather her thoughts before she spoke again, but he beat her to it. "Homey." Victor shrugged off his light-weight jacket, folding it half-way, before setting it on the arm of her couch. Alena thought back to a few minutes before he'd arrived, when Nathanial was sitting on that same couch.

"What do you think?" She looked at him quickly, sure enough he'd been speaking to her.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" She admitted, a light-warmth blending into her cheekbones. She had a knack for spacing out in the middle of conversations, and clearly, she had done it once again with this boy.

"Just that, we should get over this feud. We can do that, can't we?"

She thought about it for a moment. Seeing as she had invited the boy into her home, was looking to change her routine, and they seemed to have at least one thing in common, she finally had her answer. "I couldn't agree more."

The warmth in her cheeks could only be from before, when she'd gotten lost in her thoughts.