Astra Chronicles

Chapter 8: Loose Ends

¤▪¤▪¤▪¤▪¤▪¤▪¤▪¤▪¤▪¤▪¤▪¤▪¤▪¤▪¤▪¤

"When life brings you full circle, pay attention. There's a lesson there." ―Mandy Hale

Year 2113. 4:00 PM. Academia Astra, A City.

¤▪¤▪¤▪¤▪¤▪¤▪¤▪¤▪¤▪¤▪¤▪¤▪¤▪¤▪¤▪¤

There was kindness in not knowing.

When the old grand mama from my hometown in V City spoke about it, I did not comprehend her.

My mother had laughed at me when I gave her a puzzled look.

To me, there always had to be a rationale.

There would be logic or a science that could explain everything.

Hiding knowledge seemed greedy but hiding the truth was worse, like a crime.

What if being unaware of something led a person to his death? What if knowing something could have saved him? Would his error of innocence still be counted as kindness?

I did not think so.

That was why I did not believe in the kindness of being clueless.

Being the irritatingly inquisitive person that I was, I hungered for learning.

I was drawn to mysteries.

I was guilty of being the type who relentlessly sought answers.

I craved more and more answers when intentionally shut away from the knowledge.

I chased after truths and reasons or explanations like a bee, buzzing with more questions when I couldn't reach a conclusion.

I was fueled by curiosity.
But curiosity could kill the cat.

Hence, I was glad I wasn't a cat.

Lexi stared at me wide-eyed. The disbelief on her face was too evident. It nearly made me laugh.

"I can't believe you're saying this," she remarked incredulously and even covered her mouth with a hand, exaggerating her shock.

"Like I said," I replied while forking a piece of baby corn from my plate. "I wasn't sure what that thing was."

She blinked once. Twice. Thrice.

"Lexi," I said while setting my empty plate on the study table. "I'm not gonna say what you want me to say."

"But you said it was a vampire!" Lexi whined.

I shrugged in response, "It could be, yes. But I didn't say it was for sure."

Lexi leaned forward and crossed her arms over her chest. That stance of hers usually meant she was down for a debate match.

As expected, she immediately began an extended speech of what vampires were and why they had to exist.

We were alone being lazy on the couch in my room.

Apparently, Lexi and all those other kids only saw two things that night; me falling off the ledges and a patrolling recon guard catching me before I could hit the ground.

They did not notice whatever those eyes belonged to.

Lexi was worried sick and could not sleep last night when they kept me in the infirmary.