The Sacrifice: Forgotten | Loki | Book 1

Chapter 5: Corruptible

(Caroline's P.O.V.)

We were strolling through the local mall, like a young couple. Well, not exactly, since he kept his distance just as I did, but our age gap was unnoticeable. Little did I know that this guy was thousands of years old. He looked a maximum of twenty-eight. A store caught the attention of my male company, whose eyes were darting around like those of children in toy shops.

"Excuse me, what is that over there?" He was pointing at 'Starbucks'.

"Oh that? That's Starbucks. You can buy similar kinds of overpriced drinks there. Average taste, high price. Want some?" I asked him.

How could he not know Starbucks? This belonged to general knowledge. Hm.... I wanted to say the sentence with a certain 'duh'-attitude, but I remembered his memory lack and felt ashamed of myself.

"No, thanks. I am not thirsty yet." He responded with a sweet smile.

An idea was crossing my mind. I was thinking of a name for him, since he didn't remember his true name. This is what they did in the movies, at least. My awkwardness just knew no boundaries then, in those times. But one is always smarter with hindsight. Anyway, back to my awkward story.

"Um, you know, how about us all calling you Tom from now on? Since you don't know your true name, it would be better than always saying 'hey, you'.... I thought of Tom because I love this name, it just sounds utterly beautiful and I think it fits you."

"You think I look like a Tom?"

I hoped he liked Tom, because I had absolutely no idea what other name we could give him. The imagination of him being called Peter or Kyle was disturbing. Don't even get me started about Kevin. Or Luke.

"Tom...Tom...." He tried the name several times. "Tom... Agreed. This name indeed sounds ideal, I like it. From now on, call me Tom."

We shared another smile. He was just so nice to speak with. A very pleasant company, which could not always be said of Xenia, let alone about that Cole-guy... Urgh. My bile rose at the thought of him. That disgusting macho. These annoying thoughts were suddenly interrupted by something much more important.

"My sweet goodness, they're selling AVENGERS-shirts!" I screamed very fangirly-ish. I grabbed his hand his hand and dragged him behind me, like kids dragged their parents.

"Come on, you have to wear one of those. I'm collecting them back at home and that store has the latest designs!"

I kept giggling and pulling him to a store called HeroCity. Yeah, I know what you think. Now they're commercializing even the Avengers. What a load of bullshit. But they were also my heros, just as those of millions of other people. And this shop could also be considered a tribute paid to them. The shirts were just so soft and cuddly! Don't even get me started about the images.

'Exploding ovaries everywhere' is all I'm gonna' say.

Alas, Tom seemed... frozen.

His eyes kept staring at the same point. Into the void. His mouth was opened and he furled his eyebrows. Tom didn't move at all, petrified. I had seen brain-dead people, with eyes wide opened, but empty. With his abnormally pale skin, he looked shockingly like those unfortunates. I was worried, was he having a shock?

What was happening to him?

(Loki's/Tom's P.O.V.)

There was something about this cloth, this human attire. About the green, monstrous thing in the middle. A sharp pain expanded inside me, started in my spine, piercing marrow and bone. As if my mind had found a connection to that dull monster which resulted in this agony. I focused more on it, dismissed all the other shirts. Then I began to see flashes, something was pushing its way through my subconscious.