The Fading Oddities of Nate Smith (A NateWantsToBattle Fanfiction) --COMPLETE--

Chapter Thirteen

I probably stood at the front door of my house for ten minutes, tops.

My mind was racing as fast as my heart was. Both were trying to wrap themselves around everything that had happened this past month. Tiffani, Dr. Mendez, the hospital...it was all too much to take in. What I understood so well just a while ago was now a big, jumbled mess to me.

My left hand was in my pocket, running across a slip of paper containing Tiff and the doctor's phone numbers. My right hand was resting on the front door knob, wondering whether or not I'd still have it in me to walk through.

It was surprising how much had changed since the day I woke up in the hospital. To think that just a month ago, everything was okay...now, I felt as though that "okay" would never, ever come back, like it was something that the past would refuse to share with anyone or anything else, including me.

But now wasn't the time to dwell on the past. I needed to get to work fast, if I planned to leave by this evening. I took in a deep breath, then let it out just as slowly. It was time to go, and there was no turning back anymore.

I clenched the knob and, without any further hesitation, shoved open the door to the one place that I would never set foot in again.

***

My heart probably skipped about...I dunno, 600 beats, give or take.

As unusual and out-of-the-blue as Ora's words are, it still sends shivers down my spine. Is this why she had such a close eye on me throughout Photo Club? The thought of this makes the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.

"You thought I wouldn't know?" The woman narrows her eyes at me, making them look as though they're glinting, despite the severe lack of light in the room. "You must have forgotten that some people have keen enough eyes to recognize a face like yours."

I shake my head slightly, eyes wide and staring straight at Ora. "I...how did you...?" No matter how much I try to speak, I'm at a complete loss for words. Does this mean it's over? She's known my secret all this time...but where does she plan to go with all this?

Almost as though she's reading my mind, Oracle stands up and shakes her head with a chuckle. "Don't panic, Nathan. Your secret's safe with me."

"Wha...?" I squeeze my eyes shut for a moment in efforts to regain my composure. "Wait, how did you-"

"-know that you were a YouTuber on the run?" Ora sighs and walks closer to me, taking another seat on my right. "You've been gone for over a year. But you can't just magically resurface somehow, assuming that no one will recognize you anymore."

"What're you getting at?" I shift around a bit in my chair, curious to know what exactly Ora was talking about.

"I've known the people in Photo Club a lot longer than you," she replies, "And as you can see, we're all a bit...geeky, per se. More than one of us has come across a Youtuber before..."

"So?" I raise a questioning eyebrow. "The website's a big place."

"...and I can tell you that more than one of us is soon gonna be aware that you're here with us, hiding in plain sight."

My words stop halfway up my throat, clumping up into a little ball that I have to nervously swallow down. "What...do you mean?" I finally ask, my sentence sounding restrained and choked up.

"Don't worry about that," Ora cuts me off and sighs. "I told you, your secret is safe with me until someone else puts two and two together."

With nothing else to say, I nod.

"But what I need to talk to you about is not how you managed to disappear for so long," she continues, her calm eyes glaring holes through me, "it's why."

"Why?"

She brushes her hair to the side and looks directly at me. "Why did you decide to leave?"

I blink, my eyes darting around in search of a reply. "That's..." I begin, "none of your business."

Oracle then raises both of her eyebrows, almost as though she's daring me to tell the truth. Whatever she was about to do is let go as she closes her eyes and nods her head in understanding. "Fine then," she says in a volume that barely passes for a whisper, "if it's something you don't want to share, then I won't push you." Ora suddenly changes her tone to a slightly more aggressive one and says, "But just know that one day you'll have to face whatever you're running from."

I open my mouth to speak, but I'm cut off by the doors slamming open, filling a blinding light into the room. Tess and Olive are standing in the doorway behind Leo, whose hand is against the door itself. Their silhouettes look like ghosts in contrast to the bright light, their details barely visible on the edges of their outlines.

"Hey, Nate!" Olive cries, "You comin' or what?!"

I shoot an uneasy glance at Oracle, who in turn nods and gets up from her seat. I rise from my chair as well and follow her out the Choir Room, muttering an "okay" that was just loud enough for the three to hear.

I've lost track of what was happening on our way back to the dorms. I can hear Tess, Olive, and Leo bidding good night to Oracle as we walk down the hallway, but I'm not exactly following the group's conversation. My mind is wandering around somewhere else.

I can't stop thinking about my conversation with Oracle. What does she mean by someone else becoming aware that I'm here? Why is she keeping my identity a secret when she knows it won't stay that way for long?

Soon enough, I'm drawn back into reality when Leo leaves Tess, Olive and I at our dorm, and only then does it dawn on me that I had officially survived an entire day with these people.