Solarity: Away From Home

008: Quinten

008: Quinten

Kofi tosses me my phone, an object that I've been longing to reunite with for the past day. "Dominika bumped it."

"Bumped it?" I ask, getting comfortable on the sofa. Before Kofi came into the room, I was bonding with Celestia and Mateo. Turns out, they're pretty cool, but it's still hard to fully trust them when they kidnapped me only two days before.

"Yeah, you can't text back or call anyone besides the mentors and the other Solares. You can still read every message sent to you though, but that not might be the smartest thing to-"

I mentally mute Kofi, having enough of her rules. I quickly unlock my phone to find my messages. With 257 notifications, I find an entire list of names waiting to be answered. Among them is Elijah.

I sigh deeply, hesitating to open it. Celestia and Mateo, who have gathered up behind me, wait for me to make a move. Kofi, on the other hand, ventures downstairs to probably work out.

"Who is that?" Mateo asks, pointing at the contact picture. It's a selfie of the two of us laughing at an amusement park. He's holding a cotton candy stick up to his face, and there's chocolate mushed all over mine. It's a long story.

"His name's Elijah, my best friend," I say, "and I miss him very much."

I decide against opening his messages first, continuing to scroll down to my parents instead.

"Is he just your best friend?" Mateo asks with a pushy tone in his voice. He elbows me jokingly, and I only force back a chuckle. I don't notice the tears forming in my eyes as I look for my parents' texts.

"You're okay Quinten... You can cry," Celestia says, noticing my eyes brimming with tears. Her hands massage my shoulders soothingly, successfully comforting me but only in the slightest bit.

I open my mom's messages first, scrolling up to the last time I talked to her. I read the messages that come afterward:

"Coming home late."

"Are you out with Elijah?"

"Where are you? He just told me you weren't at school this morning."

"I'm going to call the police if you don't respond."

"I called the police. Please respond!"

"Where are you?"

My dad's messages fall along the same lines, and I don't notice the tears dripping from my cheeks until Mateo wipes them away with his long fingers. The duo next to me says nothing, but I appreciate the silent support they're giving me.

Elijah.

"wya? lol"

"hey, i'm worried about you"

"i'm coming to your house to check in"

"open the door"

"where are you??"

"why does your mom not know where you are?"

"you're scaring me quinten, please answer me"

"i can't sleep. i miss you, i love you"

The next thing I know, I'm wrapped up in the arms of the two people I only met a few days ago. They huddle over me, and Celestia's hair covers the sight of me ugly crying from anyone else who decides to enter the living room. I find myself bawling into Mateo's shoulders, and his hands rub comforting circular motions on my back to calm me down.

☼ ☼ ☼

"What are you doing here all alone?" Kofi's soothing voice echoes in the kitchen. It's weird... One would expect a meaner, maybe deeper voice coming out from an expressive face like Kofi's, but no.