The cafeteria was crowded and loud as usual, I had never noticed how loud it gets until now, since Marley wasn’t there to talk my ear off. I found Naomi and Alan at a table. Alan was fiddling with his tater tots and smashing them up on his tray. Naomi was looking off somewhere in the abyss, I'm sure she had a lot on her mind after what had happened to Marley.Naomi had not been at school for a few days and I didn’t know why.
“Sup,” Alan said.
Naomi faintly waved.
“Hi guys.”
I sat my tray on the table in front of me. Though we were having my favorite thing on the menu, pulled pork burritos, I didn’t really have an appetite.
“If you’re wondering if Marley is okay…she is,” Naomi said to me.
I shook my head.
“So God did hear me…?” I whispered.
“Huh?” Naomi said.
“Nothing. Your grandma called my mom yesterday and told her that Marley was in surgery.”
“Yeah. After the surgery they had to put her in a coma. I just hope she wakes up soon.”
“What happened with Marley this time?” Alan said.
“She passed out in Benjamin’s bathroom because she had a blood clot in her lungs,” Naomi explained. Then she took a rough bite of her burrito trying to calm her nerves.
“I’m sorry Naomi. I’m here if you need anything,” he grabbed her hand.
“Thank you but, I’m…” she stuttered. “...just going to go get another milk. Do you want anything?”
“Besides a box of pizza from Rodrigo’s Pizza or one of those sandwiches from Marcus’s, no thanks,” he said.
“Okay,” Naomi jumped up and left the table quickly.
Alan and I watched Naomi walk off.
“What was that about?” Alan said.
“She still likes you,” I said.
“You really think so?” he sat up from slouching.
“Yeah man. You don’t see it?”
Alan smiled big. His confidence seemed to rise from the comment.
After school, I walked to the diner. I joined Naomi who was sitting at a table alone eating a piece of blueberry pie.
Golf was showing on the TV, and there was barely anyone in the diner, only the waitresses, an elderly man, Naomi and I.
“Benjamin!” Mrs. Susan came out from the back office.
“What will you be having today?”
“My usual. Thanks Mrs. Susan,” I said.
“Okay, I will put your order in. Naomi, don’t forget to go to the hospital to check on your sister today. You can bring Benjamin along if you’d like. I’m sure he would like to see her.”
“Okay.” Naomi said.
I asked Naomi where she had been those past few days since I had not seen her at school. She told me that with Marley being sick, she was stressed out, so she needed a break from her classes. I explained to Naomi that I had done some research on Marley’s condition. When I researched the internet, it explained what Sepsis was. Sepsis is the lack of blood flow to the organs due to the body having to fight off a pathogen. So, the organs did not get the blood flow they needed.
In essence, this is what had happened to Marley. This is what had caused the blood clot somewhere in her body which then had traveled to her heart, causing her to pass out that night in our bathroom. It was the same night Marley and Naomi came over for dinner. My parents, Naomi, and I, were all in the dining room finishing up dinner when we heard a bang.
It was Marley, who we found unconscious in the bathroom. My parents called 911, while Naomi held Marley in her arms. I prayed to Jesus, asking him to please not let Marley die and though I had never prayed to Him before, in that moment, something changed inside of me. I needed His help more than ever.
The elderly man who was sitting in the booth next to us, had been listening to our conversation about Marley being sick.
“Not to intrude in your business,” he said. “My brother passed away from Sepsis. It’s probably best if you two leave town.”
Naomi and I looked at each other confused.
“What do you mean we should leave town?”
He gestured, “Ah nothing…” he took a sip of his coffee and continued to watch golf on the TV.
Naomi walked over to his booth. “Please... Mr. Graham right?”
He nodded.
“What did you mean by we should leave town?”
Mr. Graham finally turned his attention to her. “Alright, take a seat,” he said. “I suppose I’ve lived long enough, keeping their lies a secret. So, why not tell it now.”
Naomi and I sat in the booth across from Mr. Graham and eagerly tuned our ears to listen.
“My brother and I were in those caves, mining those stupid jewels. He started getting sick, and quickly went downhill. The doctors sent him home with nothing else to be done. He died shortly after.”
“So, the jewels you were mining made your brother sick?”
“No, it wasn’t the jewels we were mining, it was the tools we were using to mine them with,” he said.
“And this all happened at the T.S.I?” Naomi said.
“Yes,” he pushed his glasses in.
“This doesn’t make sense. My sister hasn’t even been in contact with any tools from T.S.I.”
“They’ve set up large magnets around town to power who knows what. Those magnets are made out of the red jewels, the same jewels that were inside of the tools we used.”
“So you are saying that her sister is being affected by the magnets around town?” I said.
“Yes.”
“But I thought you said it wasn’t from the jewels you guys were mining…”
“We never mined red jewels, only the blue and yellow ones. I have no idea where they got the red ones from. I believe that the tools, or whatever other gadgets they use, are all being powered by those toxic red jewels.”
“Do you know why they set those magnets up around town?”
“No. No one knows. But if you try to look for who, you probably won’t be able to find them.”
“Do you know anything about missing people who worked for the T.S.I in the past?”
“Yeah, I’ve heard about it. There’s probably a lot of them. T.S.I. is part of the government. If they have a problem, they solve it with money and get rid of whoever is in their way.”
I could tell that all of this information was starting to get to Naomi. I’m sure that having to hear about all that the T.S.I has done must have been overwhelming; first it was her father and now Marley.
“Can we just go now,” she quietly whispered.
“Alright, but let me ask him one more thing,” I told her. “Do know anything about blue aliens?” I asked him.
“Oh yes, a lot of those. They especially like to deal with aliens. They love hiding that part from everybody. Only some of us who mined were aware of it,” he took a bite of his French toast. “Why? How did you know about that?”
“Their dad,” I pointed at Naomi “...he had a picture of one.”
“Is he alive?”
“We don’t know. He disappeared five years ago,” Naomi said.
“There’s no finding him now unless a miracle happens. You two should go back to your table and eat your food.”
He seemed to become cautious in his words by the end of our conversation. I wondered if he now regretted all that he had shared.
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