Alex's words rang loud in my head. I couldn't seem to take my eyes off him. "You already have a vusk? How?"
"There's many things you don't know yet Simon." He replied in a condescending tone.
My face flooded with confusion. "Are you alright?"
Looking at what Alex called his vusk I thought back to the times where just the mention of a vusk would trigger a reaction, I couldn't help but ask. "How long have you had it?"
"Since I was little." Alex responded. "It's always been around, but it's a stick, with its natural camouflage I wouldn't expect anyone to notice it."
I let out a dry chuckle. "Since you were little huh? What gate are you?"
Alex glanced to the ground, tightening the grip on his vusk. "I have to be at least gate 2, I haven't gotten my vusk ability yet so I know I'm not gate 3."
That must be why he always acted that way. A proud smirk creeped on my face. "I'm pretty sure I'm already gate 2."
He didn't react to my comment. His face actually grew dark in turn, his eyes temporarily shot daggers at me as he let out a sharp sigh.
His instant change in demeanor sparked a curiosity within me. "Is everything okay?"
I let out a cheeky smile. "Are you jealous because we're already at the same gate level?" I thought by joking around I could lighten the mood a bit.
Alex mumbled something under his breath as he sat back down, laying the large branch across his lap as he began to meditate again.
He spoke up this time. "Did it never come to mind that Valeria planted this idea of getting stronger in your heads?"
"What do you mean by that?" I asked, but he ignored me.
I grabbed his shoulder, repeating my same question. "What do you mean by planted ideas?"
Alex brushed my hand off of him, I could tell he was getting pissed by my constant poking. Without looking at me he responded.
"Valeria doesn't have much time left."
A wave of dread rushed through my body as a disturbed scowl grew across my face. "Not much time left? What are you talking about?"
"She is going to die soon." Alex said. The calmness in his voice sounded almost unnatural to me, he still hasn't moved a muscle since uttering those words.
My voice was shaking with anxiety and my fingertips started to tremble. "You… s-shouldn't say that Ms. Valeria is gonna die." I stuttered.
Alex finally glanced back at me as he let out a deep sigh and laid on his back. "But I'm only telling the truth."
He pointed to the big oak tree. "Go ahead, take a seat. I know you aren't going to leave me alone so at least get comfortable."
What is he saying? Get comfortable? Is this kid crazy?
"Are you just gonna stand there? Let's talk, I'll tell you what you want to know."
I slowly walked to the base of the oak tree, dragging my feet with every step, and reluctantly sat down beside it. "Well start talking."
Alex laid his vusk on the ground, crossing his legs as he laid in the grass. "As you know, I was the first child at the orphanage, that's because I'm Valeria's grandson."
"She took me here after something big happened on the outside that I myself still don't know about, but I definitely have assumptions."
"I was 5 when I got here. For a while it was only me and Valeria, but then more and more kids started to pop up and I wondered why. Something major must've happened to have so many lost children end up here."
I chimed in as Alex finished his sentence. "By outside, you mean past the tree?"
He weirdly laughed at my comment. "Yes, beyond that very tree you're sitting next to is a whole different world to what we know."
Alex continued his story. "A bunch of kids one by one start appearing in a cabin in the woods. We are then told not to go past a certain point because it's dangerous."
Alex got up from his lying position and pointed to the overgrown pathway beyond the tree. "A war could have broken out, leaving many children homeless and starved of food amongst the destruction."
"Maybe we got bombed by another land, and it's a wasteland out there with mutated monsters posed as humans. Hell, we could even be the last living people on earth, but I doubt it."
"Where does Valeria get the groceries from?" Alex looked at me. "Why does Runi remember living in a city before coming here."
This kid is definitely crazy.
I knew he was mysterious but nothing like this. I thought about leaving until I remembered something. Cleo's writing.
I shot up from the ground. "Wait, Cleo also mentioned living somewhere like that, maybe a city or town."
He put his hand on his chin. "A war seems to make most sense, but there has to be a reason we can't cross this tree. This could either mean the war is still going on, which is unlikely, or that it's something much worse out there."
As Alex spoke I realized why I was still here in the first place. "This is interesting and all but it doesn't explain why Ms. Valeria is going to die soon." I said, obviously annoyed, crossing my arms and leaning back on the oak tree.
Alex picked up his vusk, holding it firmly in front of him. "I was getting to that. I've known about vusks for years now, but it wasn't until recently that Valeria also shared this information with all of you. Why wait so long? Why now?"
"I think it's because she doesn't have much time left, by the time she's gone she would want everyone to have a vusk, a way to protect themselves in this… outside world."
Alex looked to the deep, dark sky. "6 months maybe?"
I interrupted. "You're saying she only has another half a year to live!?" I could feel my fist tightening. Just the thought of Ms. Valeria dying crushed me.
"But that's vague, it could be more or it could be less." Alex admitted, stabbing his vusk back into the ground, "But there is no other explanation for this, she could've told you about vusks up to 7 years ago when you got here."
"I come out here to train my mind, I have to—need to get stronger so I can explore this outside world."
I didn't know how to react to his words. None of it felt real to me, like some sick dream I've yet to wake up from. I was annoyed with Alex for even bringing it up, though I did pry for an answer.
"I need to go to sleep." I muttered, dragging my hands down my face.
I pushed myself off the oak tree I was leaning on and walked past Alex, who started meditating again.
Giving one last glance over my shoulder, I continued back to the cabin. If what Alex says is true, then why was he so calm, but at the same time that isn't something you just joke about either.
He's 100% crazy.
**
I carefully opened the cabin door as I creeped through the kitchen and into the bedroom.
As I laid down, thoughts of what this world really is raced through my mind, and the thought of Ms. Valeria dying made my chest tighten. My tired arms struggled to move as I pulled the cover over my body, quickly drifting to sleep.
**
"Wake up!"
"Come on, wake up!"
I slightly tugged at my eyes.
"For the third time, wake up!"
My eye-lids were strained as I made out a small figure standing over me, it was Runi, who was jerking my arm.
"Okay, Okay, I'm up." I groaned as I sat up in bed. Looking around the room was empty, everyone must've started their day already.
Runi pouted as she let go my arm. "I woke you up 2 hours ago but you asked for one more hour, I being the sweetheart I am gave you 2. It's already 1pm."
"I get it you win." I said, getting out of bed.
I trudged to the bathroom and started the shower, even though the water was on hot it was still a little cold, the downsides of being the last one awake.
As I showered Alex's words stuck with me like glue, I regret even following him out last night.
I stepped out of the shower, wrapping my towel around my waist like normal. I glanced at myself in the mirror. My emotions are reflecting on my face.
I tried to straighten my expression as I walked back to the bedroom, getting a new shirt and pants to put on.
"You okay Simon?" Runi said standing in the bedroom doorway. If anyone could tell something was on my mind it would be her.
I closed my closet door a little harder than I meant to. I was letting this whole thing get to me. "No, I'm fine." I replied.
I tried to walk past her but she blocked the doorway with her body. I sighed, walking back to my bed as I sat down. I know she won't let this go.
Runi closed the door behind her and sat next to me. "So what's on your mind."
I can't tell her about what Alex said, I have to lie.
"And don't even think about lying."
Damn. I have to think of something on the spot too. I'll just have to tell her half the truth.
"When we did our book for Ms. Valeria I was on the same page as Cleo so I naturally skimmed through his writing. It made me realize that I still don't know about your past."
Runi covered her mouth, trying her best to hold in her laugh. "You wanna know more about me? Awww." Runi said, pinching my cheek.
I feel terrible lying to Runi like this but she can't know about my talk with Alex, and it isn't a complete lie. I won't say I didn't feel a bit of jealousy that Alex knew more about Runi's past than I did.
"Well since you want to know so badly I guess I'll spill the beans. I remember growing up in a big city, hearing a lot of cars, people talking a lot you know? It was always loud."
"Even back then I lived in a similar setting to this. I had no parents, no family, I lived with a handful of kids in an orphanage."
"It was a normal day, just like the others that came and went. Our caretaker, whose name I don't even remember by now, left and didn't come back. The noise got louder, and louder. The chatter turned to screams and the cars honking turned to loud booms."
"There was a guy there, he helped us evacuate but the explosions soon reached us. I still remember the sound, a big boom that felt like it was right in my ear."
"I must've lost consciousness or something because the next thing I remember is being here."
Another life Ms. Valeria saved, just who is she.
Runi jumped up from the bed as she finished. "So that's it, that's how I ended up here, now can you finally smile again like you normally do." Runi said, using her fingers to raise the ends of my lips, forcing a smile on my face.
I couldn't help but laugh at her efforts to make me smile again. Runi has always been on my side, and I will always appreciate her for that.
I gave Runi a hug before poking her forehead. "Thanks for always looking out for me Runi." I started to walk to the bedroom door. "I think I already feel better now."
Runi, a little embarrassed, yelled out to me before I could completely leave the room. "Don't just randomly do that… idiot."
As I walked into the kitchen, just for a minute, everything felt normal again. Until I saw him, a clearly tired Alex walking into the cabin.
We locked eyes as he walked past me but didn't say a thing. At that moment it felt like all of Runi's words that kept my emotions at bay crumbled. I tried to keep a smile on my face as I turned around, making my way upstairs.
I had to paint.
I felt like I needed to paint.
I walked up the creaky stairs and down the hall as it came into view. My canvas. My vusk. Just holding it made me feel something other than sadness.
Sometimes, just sometimes, I revert back to my old self. I know I shouldn't do it, but I can't help it.
Right now my paintbrush feels like the most important thing in the world.
I precisely dipped my brush in a puddle of hickory brown paint as my emotions guided my strokes. I soaked my brush in water before going in with a different color.
When I was painting, everything faded, and that's exactly what I needed right now.
As my brush took command, swerving and circling on the canvas, I thought of an idea. What if I used my creativity while painting, would it sharpen my movements?
Thinking carefully of the last time I used my creativity, I meticulously imagined the wet paint flowing through me and into my brush. After stabilizing the flow within my body I felt good, like I grew stronger from the last time.
I know I won't lose consciousness again.
Feeling the power in my hand, I dipped my brush into the palette, this time grabbing a color of persian red.
As I raised my arm to start my next streak it felt as if I already started painting. There, in the corner of my eye, my streak of red paint stood still in the air.
I couldn't believe what I was looking at, the paint from my brush was now drying in midair. I took another stroke of my brush right beneath the previous one, the wet paint from my brush glistening as it appeared right in front of me.
It feels like I'm drawing on a canvas… but I'm not.
The very air I breathe has somehow turned into my personal canvas.