Synthesia | Nico di Angelo

Chapter Fifteen - Afraid

Hazel woke me up for school the next morning. I wasn't sure why, but she seemed uneasy. I checked the clock, and it was twenty minutes before I normally wake up.

"What's going on?" I groggily sit up.

"Um, come downstairs." she said, taking my hand and leading me down. I just noticed she's in her pyjamas still.

I rubbed my eyes and followed Hazel to where Father sat on the couch, looking concerned and more serious than usual. The tension in the room was giving me anxiety. I sat close to Hazel across from Father on the same couch.

"Earlier this morning, our house phone received a phone call," Father explained; I felt... nervous. "It was directed specifically towards you, Nico-" my heartbeat sped up, "and the person on the phone sounded... very threatening."

"What...?" I managed. What does he mean? Why- who...?

"I just wanted to let you know. Stay on alert, for your safety. I promise you'll be okay. Just in case." Father handled.

"What... what did they say?" I'm confuzzled. My synesthesia... someone at school, maybe...

Father sighs, "Okay."

We follow him to the next room, where the house phone is located in the kitchen. He replays the phone.

"You dirty Schizo-" was one of the only phrases that wasn't slurs and gruesome threats.

I felt shaky. Anxious. This has never happened before. Not when I came out as gay, not when I got a tiny nose piercings that I stopped wearing, not when my sister and mother died... never.

But over colors it has. It angers me, but most of all, scares me. If the people in this world--in my school--are like that? Not even for myself, but I'm scared for Hazel.

"Are you okay?" Father asks.

Father almost never asks that.

I nod my head, staring at the phone.

"Nico, what did that guy mean? 'Schizo'? Do you... have..."

I shake my head, "No, Hazel. I don't have Schizophrenia." I turned towards her, and her eyes were watering. She's two years younger than me, not much but enough. And I'm her brother receiving these calls, calls from haters to my home address. She's scared too.

I hug her, "It's okay." After a moment, Father embraces us both too. The fact that he is so sensitive about this scares me more. When he's worried, it's more serious than it seems. I remember when Bianca and Mama died, he acted the same way beforehand.

But I don't want to go back to that. I don't want the same thing to happen to any of my family, especially Hazel.

I kiss Hazel's forehead. I should tell them. I need to tell them. But I don't.

I don't know if I ever will now.