Chapter Twenty Three
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Day Twenty Three: Meteor
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I am an idiot. I should never have agreed to this suicide mission. But I'd never have had the courage to kiss Asteroid in the first place.
I wander aimlessly into rooms I’d never seen and didn’t know existed, occasionally meeting another team member. The worst one is in the basement. There’s a cell, but the door is bowed outward, like something hit it with massive force. A small section of the floor is liberally coated in brick dust and brick chunks. When I touch that portion of the cell wall, it crumbles in my hands.
“This is where they put me.'' I now see it in a new light. They couldn't let me continue to behead dummies and dismember punching bags. I would have eventually turned on my friends. I crash out of the cell and straight into Star. He holds his stomach.
“Oof. You have got to stop hitting me in the gut, dude. Yeesh!” Star’s newly sensitive stomach; the bruise on Michael’s cheek. I did turn on them.
I shove him aside and fly through the halls of the Orion. Literally. I’m still wearing Asteroid’s boots. I flash past her room, just as she walks out of it.
“Oh, hey Meteor. I was wonder-” I scream to cut her off and slam the boots into her arms, leaving me shoeless. I careen into the teleportation station, screaming and stumbling like a drunk man. “Meteor, wait!” I type in a random location, just somewhere I can be alone, so no one can hear me scream and no one can see me cry.
I emerge in a field in the middle of nowhere, with tall grasses as far as the eye can see. There’s no one around, so I start running. Away from the Orion. Away from the cell. Away from my fears.
Away from me.
As I run, I cry as the past days take their toll on my mind.
I come across an old dirt road, turn left, and keep running. My bare feet tear on the rocks and rubble and I eventually collapse into a terrified, beat-up heap in front of an old farmhouse. The last thing I remember is an old man with two German Shepherds carrying me into the house and putting me into a bed layered in soft hand-stitched quilts.
“What are you running from, boy? You’ve come far. Too far for a boy of your age,” the old man reprimands when I wake up the next morning. I cough and swallow, giving myself the ability to speak again.
“Myself. I was running from myself.”
“Why, boy? Are you a criminal?”
“The worst kind.”
“Homicidal?”
“Gettin’ there. But I genuinely don’t mean to. It’s… complicated. I’m afraid I can't tell you any more than that.”
“All right, boy. I believe you. I also trust that you won’t kill me while I cook you some hot soup.”
“Thank you. Is there anything I can do to repay your hospitality?”
“No, boy. I’m just an old coot living out his last days in an old farmhouse with canned beans and dogs as my only friends. I think I'll be fine.” He walks over to an ancient stove and soon the smell of soup wafts through the small room. He hands me a steaming bowl and I eat the scalding concoction. It burns going down, hurting my throat and stomach. Just another reminder that I'm dangerous and unstable.
After I finish, I stand up, thank the man for the bed and meal, and walk out. I wave behind me, continue going in the direction I was going yesterday, then bolt. I run for a mile before I trip. My hands drag on the ground to stabilize myself, but I trip again and I bite the dust and break down in tears.
“Meteor.” A soft, angelic voice whispers. I jump up and wipe my eyes as I look around me. Fifty feet behind me, hair blowing in the wind, is Asteroid. “Meteor.”
“Meteor, Star, Asteroid, Nova, Constellation, Michael,” I ramble like a crazy person. “We're all hurt because of me! I’m too dangerous! I’m too unstable!” I tear off my shirt and point to the tattoo. “Look! Look at me!”
“I am, Meteor. I’m looking.” She reaches out to me but I back away.
“I have a tattoo that I don't even remember getting. I don’t remember anything about any of those five days. We don’t know what I know! I don’t know what I know, and you know what else? It’s been crushing me for days. I hurt you. I don't even remember touching you.” For some reason, I think I should be crying right now, but I'm not.
“You can’t fight the tears that aren’t coming.” She knows me too well.
“I know, Asteroid. I can't. I can't fight at all right now. But I can run.” So I do. Right into her. I grab her around the waist and spin her around. I kiss her full on the mouth. I keep spinning and kissing her, finally feeling like myself for the first time since the night I kissed her goodbye. She clicks my bracelet.
Oh, no. It's her bracelet. I must have taken it while I was insane. She came to find me without a bracelet. If she hadn't found me, she wouldn't have been able to get back to the ship. I suddenly feel horrible.
I gently set her on the floor of the teleportation station and come up for air.
“Do you hate me?”
“Are you stupid? No! You idiot! I could never love anyone but you. I love you so much. That’s why I came after you,” Asteroid yells in my face. I smile. “You smiled. You never smile anymore.”
“I only smile for the person I love more than anyone else in the world.”
“I know, right? It’s all so horrible, smiling is something I no longer have time for.”
“Too busy saving the world, I guess.” My eyes flick down to her lips. “Can we…”
“I just can’t help myself.” She grins and tackles me to the ground and we collapse into a kissing, laughing pile of teens. I go out of control, kissing and kissing and kissing. For, like, twenty straight minutes. I kick myself for leaving this.
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Day Twenty Four: Asteroid
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As we roll around on the floor like crazy people, Meteor pulls me close. I have never been happier to hold him. Now he knows he’s home. Now he knows he’s safe.
I stand up and help him to his feet, but his legs buckle and he goes back down. His eyes flash, scared.
“I can’t walk. It must have been all the running I did.”
“How far did you run?”
“At least twenty miles the first day. A mile the second. I would have gone farther, but, as you saw, I tripped and toppled. Also-”
“Your feet! Oh, your poor feet! You were running barefoot, weren't you?”
“Yeah, I guess I just forgot.”
“You did not. You were hysterical yesterday. You couldn’t think straight. You should have left my boots on.” I shake my head. “Put ‘em back on,” I command, handing them to him. He does, and I have him fly instead of walk. He drops a little every so often as his legs weaken, but he otherwise is fine. “Come on.” I take his hand and pull him through the halls of the Orion. As we walk into the leisure room, the rest of the team quiets, indicating that they were talking about me and/or Meteor.
“Hi, guys,” Star says, a little warily. “Where were you yesterday and today?” Meteor sighs.
“I wasn’t feeling myself yesterday, so I took a little walk. Asteroid followed me to talk some sense into me. I apologize for the danger I have posed to all of you, especially Star and Michael. Also Star, I apologize for crashing into you yesterday.”
“We’re cool. Just, maybe, clean your room. You kinda made a mess and I'm sure you don’t want her in a dump.” Star nods his head in my direction.
“Star! He’s had a rough few days. He’ll clean his room when he feels up to it,” I scold and shoot him a death glare. He shuts up. “You could clean it for him.” He nods and scurries out of the room.
“You didn’t have to do that.” Meteor tells me.
“Yes I did. You have to help me take down Galaxy and Nebula.” My voice doesn’t crack when I say their names anymore. He doesn’t look away when I say his mother’s name, either. We hate them too much to be sad. They hurt us too much to garner any sympathy. “You don’t have time to clean. Everyone but Constellation and Star are coming with us. They need to watch the ship.”
“How are we gonna get to the device? Only you have a bracelet left.”
“Oh. You really were gone.” My face falls. My voice softens. “We’re back in the sound.
“Michael has something for us to do once we’re back in the city. Meteor, you and I are going to buy the latest iPhones. The team is going to find the device and shut it down. Come on. We should go. Michael, you're on point on Beta team with the submarine you say you have. I’m running point on Alpha team. Star and Constellation are Charlie team.” I take a deep breath. “Code Black. Time to take down a terrorist.”65Please respect copyright.PENANAzBJr6bGWbq