Chapter Chapter Thirteen

The most compelling view I’ve ever seen. I watched the horizon calmly as the golden kitten runs after a beautiful orange butterfly playfully. She hides, in one leap, behind the buildings letting the tiny fireflies take her place for the night.

It reminded me of the last time I sat with him but now he is gone.

Me and Aaron arrived home for some time but decided to sit on the stairs of the porch and watch the sunset. I closed my eyes greeting the soft cool breeze.

“Do you wanna go inside?” I looked at him his eyes are black now and the violet crystal shaped freckles were barely visible.

“Sure.” I answered shortly.

“We’re here!” Aaron announced as soon as we got inside.

“Finally.” Erik came in rolling his eyes. “Come on, Aaron I wanna show you something important,” He continued already pulling Aaron’s arm childishly. He went with him smiling.

I noticed that Lilly was standing mouth gaped and wide eyed, well, wide everything.

“Are Aaron’s eyes violet? Or am I just hallucinating now?” To say she was confused is an understatement so I sat with her and explained everything as simple as I could.

“So Aaron glow with golden writings and you see oxygen molecules?” She asked.

“No, Lilly. Focus please. I’m the one glowing with the golden writings not him.” I said again.

“Yeah, I get it now. Aaron can see and control oxygen molecules and you glow with golden writings while you’re suffocating.” She exclaimed pulling her hair away from her face.

“Yup, and don’t forget the violet eyes thing,” I reminded her.

“Yes, that too. Just one question.” I nodded waiting for her question.

She yelled talking super fast.

“I knew this guy was bad influence. Now he made you believe in these things. I’m wondering when the flying dragons will show, Amber? Are you out of your mind?” She wasn’t taking it good at all and that made me sit a whole hour with her till I convinced her with my talent of convincing people. She said that she’ll handle Erik.

“Speaking of Erik, What did he want to show Aaron?” I asked remembering his excited expression.

“I think he made a satellite phone. I don’t remember what he said exactly but I think it can call anybody in the world or something like that,” She explained carelessly switching channels on the TV like it’s her house.

“But this phone already exists.”

“It does, but it’s so expensive like crazy. So he made one himself.” She shrugged.

“That’s so cool.” It must’ve been so hard to do.

“Really? I don’t know but it’s not working yet. There’s something wrong with it.” Then I told her that I’m going to check on them and she told me which room they’re in.

As soon as I opened the door I heard Aaron’s voice.

“Here, now it’s working.” They were high five-ing each other.

I walked to the desk where they were sitting with so many tiny metal pieces all over it. Erik adjusted his big black glasses on his face and turned around.

“Amber, I didn’t notice you. Come see what we made.” He was so excited. Aaron looked at me, the redness in his eyes is much better now and he was putting my cap the other way around making his dark hair messy under it.

“Lilly told me. Is it working?” I asked.

He did something with it then held it in front of my face.

My phone rang. And I took it out looking at a blocked number.

“It’s working.” I answered myself smiling at them.

“There was something I did wrong but Aaron fixed it and it’s now working.”

“You know about these stuff?” I asked Aaron in disbelief.

“A little bit, yeah.” He took my white cap off and threw it at me.

Remembering the note I made for myself when I was out, driven by curiousty, I went to Aaron’s mom. She was sitting in the living room reading a book. I dragged with her a small conversation about the book she was reading, it was something about psychology then I asked her about Aaron’s father. I threw the question casually but she did give me one weird look.

Her answer was short yet specific. His father was an ex-convict and Aaron has always refused to meet him even when he got out of jail.

“You don’t mind me asking, what was his crime?” I asked.

“I don’t know but all he says that he was innocent.”

“And you don’t believe him?” If his mother refuses to meet him then there’s no blame on Aaron. She shook her head silently and stood up.

“I’m going to sleep now. Good night, Amber.” She kissed my forehead leaving it’s mark of a smile on my face, exactly like my mother used to do. It was odd that she wasn’t annoyed from any of my curious questions. She sure is one nice lady.

I was only wondering: How could Aaron live without his father despite the fact that he knows that he could.

At midnight we said goodbye to Aaron’s mother and took the bus back to the city. The odd thing that Aaron didn’t put his brown contacts on again.

“Hey, Where are your contacts?” I asked confused. Did he forget to put them on?

“I don’t need them anymore.” He winked at me smiling then took my white cap from above my head and wore it playfully. He got into the bus with his back bag. I fixed my hair smiling then went after him.

The appointment was supposed to be at 7 am but we arrived an hour late. It’s okay, I think. It’s just an hour. And we barely had any sleep last night.

We entered a place that looks like an old were house. It’s not a huge company with glass front but it’ll work for me just fine. A semi - bald man with a kind smiling face met us. He was wearing a black chic tux.

“Hi, I’m professor Cyril and I’m the sponsor of this expedition.” He introduced himself then started walking. I felt a nudge in my arm. I looked at Erik.

“What?” I hissed.

“What a sponsor. Should we take food or will he let us starve to death?” He was looking at the dirty grey walls of the warehouse.

“Okay Mr. Rich Pants. We get it. Now stop talking before you get us into trouble. Besides, I don’t really remember booking you a full-board sweet in Hawaii so shut up.” I won’t let anyone ruin this chance for me.

Professor Hendrix and Allesandra were standing in front of a long, thin metal table.

“Hi.” Lilly was the first to talk.

“You’re an hour late.” Professor Hendrix said in an annoyed tone.

“That’s not professional at all, you know?” Professor Allesandra said.

“We’re sorry. The traffic sucks, really.” Lilly said. It did hold us back for some time. He gave her a look of approval.

“Okay, then let’s get to work.” He said in tone of excitement laced with a fake layer which wasn’t so obvious the first time we met him.

Professor Cyril took us deeper into the warehouse. We stood in front of a wall that was filled with many computer screens. Erik looked like he just saw a fossil of a dragon in front of him. His eyes were literally twinkling.

“Erik, you will be working with Nate.” Professor Cyril said.

“Who’s Nate?” Erik snapped into reality asking.

The professor looked behind us. A guy with blond hair, blue eyes and a purely innocent face came. He looked older than me but not so much. Too bad he got the dramatic, lone entrance.

“This is Nate. And he’ll be your partner.” He shook Erik’s hand then went to Aaron who was standing right next to me. Nate stood in front of Aaron for a minute, a long minute. It was like someone has frozen the image of them. The look on his face was indecipherable but Aaron’s was confused.

Then he shook his hand in a competitive way. Something told me that there was something wrong.

“I hope you don’t have a problem with working with me.” He looked at Erik asking.

“No, it’s fine. Is it your first job too?” I knew he was asking because he looked older than us.

“No, I’m actually working in another company right now. But I took a leave open. So...” He stopped like he felt he was being too descriptive. Erik looked at him in disbelief.

Well, if you’d ask me. He doesn’t look like that guy who would take the risk and sacrifice his job for a research about an expedition.

“Erik, Nate will show you the progress we’ve made so far. Lliana, Amber and Aaron come with me.” He said.

We went with him to a big squared table with a very and I mean very big map of the world.

Lilly examined it. “Okay, where does the island lie on the map?” She asked.

“Well, That’s your job. You should figure out the coordinates of the island. We think it lies somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.” Professor Cyril explained.

“Do you have any leads on where it might be?” I asked.

“Yes, we calculated the flow of the waves in certain places and there seems to be some kind of invisible wave breakers in this area.” He said in a scientific way pointing at a wide place nearly at the center of the ocean.

“Can I see the numbers and the calculations?” I think that was the first thing Aaron had said.

“Sure.” He went to a desk and took a stack of paper. He gave them to Aaron while looking at him. He looked at his eyes for some time weirdly. Aaron looked away taking the papers from his hand and went to stand in the corner.

“It’s hard but we’ll do our best, professor.” I said getting his attention back at me. He took off his glasses and massaged between his eyes tiredly.

“I hope so. I’ll leave you with your work then.” And with that he walked away.

We then sat for hours trying to figure these coordinates out. We wasn’t so lucky and it was extremely hard. We didn’t even know where to start.

It’s like having all the information and the things you studied all these in your mind but you’re not able to arrange them yet.

“We’ve ordered food. You can have a break now.” Professor Cyril finally showed up.

“At last, thank you. Come on guys,” I said.

Aaron came but Lilly was so wrapped up in the work. Fiddling with the papers and writing notes.

“Lilly, aren’t you hungry?” I grabbed her attention. She glanced at me.

“You go and I’ll catch up with you guys.” She said getting back to work. I mumbled an ‘okay’ then went with Aaron and the professor.

We found Erik and Nate already there eating and chatting. Professor Hendrix and Allesandra were sitting away from them also talking.

We went to sit with Erik and Nate.

“Hi Nate. I’m Amber Barritt.” I introduced myself.

“Hey, I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you earlier...”

“It’s fine.” I didn’t let him finish. He smiled gratefully and started eating again.

“Any progress so far?” I asked sitting down next to Aaron and in front of Erik.

“No, nothing yet.“Erik looked up from his food for the first time to answer me. He scowled.

“Where’s Lilly?” He asked. “Why didn’t she come with you?”

“She said she’ll finish something first.” I said shrugging.

“She should eat first. Then finish the work.” He stood up.

“Where are you going? She told me she’ll come.” I said.

“She won’t. I’m going to get her.” He was already walking away.

My heart sank and so did my smile considering his action of care towards his sister and remembering the times that I used to be happy from the bottom of my heart. I wasn’t just feeling happy, I was feeling and .

My bracelets have gone down to one today because I was trying to look professional. I was only wearing one bracelet, the closest one to my heart. I can never take it off.

Aaron held my sandwich right in front of my face dragging me out of my thoughts.

“Berry, eat.” He ordered. I sat staring at him surprised.

“What did you just call me?” I was barely keeping track on what I’m saying. The sound of my heart was covering it just well. I sat playing with my fingers nervously.

“That’s your nickname right?” He asked confused.

“Yes.” I didn’t know what to say. could this be a coincidence or a lame prank from Lilly and Erik? No i don’t think so.

“If you don’t like it...” I didn’t let him finish.

“Yes, please. Don’t say it again.” I said quickly and... sadly.

“Okay, I’m sorry.” He told when he felt like it was bothering me.

I took the sandwich from his hand while trying to master a smile.

“Thanks.” I said.

“Please accept this simple gift from me to express how sorry I am my lady.” He said taking my white cap off his head and putting it on mine not waiting for me to take it.

“Okay.” I accepted present laughing and ignoring the fact that it was already mine. Then I remembered that we weren’t sitting alone. I looked at Nate who was staring at Aaron guilt covering his face. He wasn’t sitting that close so Aaron didn’t notice him.

I nudged his shoulder and he looked at me. I threw a look at Nate.

“Do you know him?”

“Yes, he’s Nate.” He said shrugging while taking a bite of his sandwich.

“Well, it seems like he knows you from before.” I told him my doubts.

“That’s not true. I saw him today for the first time.” He said not giving much attention to it.

“Are you sure about that?” I asked unwrapping my sandwich and taking a big bite from it. Aaron looked at him once more but Nate noticed and looked down at his food. Aaron shrugged.

“He doesn’t look familiar.”

“You should stay away from him. He’s got EDS.” both of us followed the whispering sound from behind. He was professor Cyril.

“You’re kidding.” I said in disbelief.

“No, I’m not. If you piss him off he won’t be aware of what he does to you.” He said in a creepy tone and for a moment I felt like I was in a horror movie.

“What’s the EDS?” Aaron asked not following what we were saying.

“It’s short for Episodic Dyscontrol Syndrome. It’s a pattern of abnormal, episodic, and frequently violent and uncontrollable social behavior.” I smiled victoriously, happy with information. Aaron stared at me.

“Episodic dy, what?”

“Episodic Dyscontrol Syndrome.” I told him agian. “It’s when the person has this issue of violence without proper provocation. Could reach death even.” I said in a more easier way.

“How do you know all of this?”

“We wrote an article about it once when I was in high school.” I explained.

“And you still remember it?”

“Yes.” I told him laughing. I don’t know how I still remember that myself.

I looked at him and back at Nate. He looked back at me smiling. How in the world could a smile like that hurt a fly? I just couldn’t believe it.

I looked back at the professor but he was already walking away.

“Don’t say I’ve never warned you.” And with that he was gone.

“Could that be possible?” I asked Aaron and he looked at Nate probably thinking the same.

“I don’t think so.” He shook his head and went back to his food.

“Guys, We’ve found it. Come on.” Erik suddenly showed up and started yelling.

“Found what?” I asked after we all went to him.

“The island, Amber.” He said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Really?” I said jumping from my chair.

We all went with him surprised. Lilly was standing in front of a high table. She was writing something and when she saw us she smiled giving us a paper. I took it from her. So many numbers and mathematical equations were written on it but at the end the coordinates of the island were there.

Professor Hendrix snatched the paper from my hand.

I looked at him as if to ask if it was right. He nodded and walked away with the paper. A blank look on his face. Professor Cyril was on his right staring at the numbers as if they were some kind of a miracle, and professor Allesandra walking on his other side.

“You did it, Lilly. That’s amazing.” I exclaimed hugging her. I couldn’t have done it. Geography wasn’t my specialty after all.

She looked happy as much as I was. We then sat to eat our food together.

“Congratulations, Lliana.” The whole table turned surprised to see Nate finally talking.

“Thanks, Nate.” Lilly answered him.

“So, How old are you?” She added starting a conversation with him.

Nate opened his mouth to answer her. “He’s older than you two by five years.” Erik said before the poor guy could answer and Lilly gave him a death glare then he quickly realized his mistake.

“Uhm I mean, I don’t remember what he told me.” He corrected his mistake with another but at least he gave a chance for Nate to speak for himself.

“Erik is right. I’m twenty-seven.” He said laughing at Erik. “What about you Aaron, why did you come searching for this island?” He said directing a look towards Aaron and Aaron moved a hand through his dark hair.

“It looked like a good job and pays well.” He said not paying much attention to his own words.

“Oh, so you’re after the money then.” he threw it just like that but the way he made it sound wasn’t good. Aaron scowled moving the sandwich away from his mouth before taking a bite. He looked so offended by it. I couldn’t blame him and if anything I know that Aaron wasn’t after the money. If looks could kill, Nate would’ve been a lying corpse from a long time.

“What? Don’t be offended. I didn’t mean it like that. I was just trying to say that we’re here for different causes; I’m here to find the island and you for the money.” He explained. “Not that I need the money anyways. I already have a job.” He mumbled the last part but I think it was meant for us to hear.

“Well, I don’t think that we need the money as much as you need us, Nate.” Aaron looked straight at Nate. His eyes were hundred times darker and angry now. We all have finished our food but too surprised to move. I’ve never seen this side of Aaron before and also taking in consideration professor Cyril’s note, I decided to wrap it up for now. Nobody wants any problems on the first day.

“You can’t work alone, you know?” He added.

“That’s not true.” Nate said with smirk on his face.

I stood up quickly giving Lilly and Erik the We-should-go-now look. And they did the same as me. “Come on, Aaron let’s get back to work.” I said taking my bag and then we all walked away leaving Nate. I don’t know if that’s right but we should change that. It’s just the first say stress or something and Nate could be having a bad day, Who knows?

At the end of the day we went to professor Hendrix to tell him that we’re leaving. We’ve set everything to pay that freaky invisible island a visit.

“But how are we going to go there, professor?” I asked when I remembered that he told us to leave that detail to the end.

“By a private jet.” Professor Cyril came from behind him answering my question.

“Really?” Aaron asked surprised.

“Yes.” He answered simply. I was so excited.

“Sweet.” Lilly said.

“I take my words back. He’s not a bad sponsor. I think he can afford the food.” Erik whispered behind me and I smiled shaking my head.

“You sure you don’t want a ride home?” Professor Cyril exclaimed standing in front of the door of his black Mercedes. His driver was holding the car door waiting for him to get in.

“No thanks, professor we aren’t living so far from here.” Aaron told him.

“Okay, then see you tomorrow.” He said waving at us then got into the car.

We then turned around and started walking home.

“So? What do you think? It was not that bad after all, right?” I asked Aaron on our way home.

“It’ll be a good trip.” Aaron smiled stealing the cap from above my head.

“It’ll be epic. I’m sure of it.” Lilly’s voice came from behind me.

“Of course. Just pray that Nate guy won’t come with us.” Erik said.

“I thought that you liked him.” I told Erik.

“I did and I thought we could be friends but after knowing that he has EDS, I don’t think I would want to be around him when he’s angry. And leave that job for Aaron. He seems to be bothered from the air that he breathes.”

“I really don’t know why doesn’t he like me?” Aaron watched the ground as we walked while talking. “He even treats you nicely.” He added.

“What do you mean with that? He should treat me nicely because I don’t treat him like trash,” I defended myself.

“I don’t do that.” He said. “He hates me for absolutely no good reason.”

“He doesn’t hate you and I’m pretty sure he didn’t mean what he said this morning.” I didn’t believe a word of what I just said but if it would decrease the possibilities of them fighting then I’ll say it gladly.

I arrived home for some time now. I took a warm shower and then greeted my best friend, the bed, happily. I haven’t realized how much I was tired until now. It has been a great day and I’m extremely happy with it.

I know I should sleep now but I would be considered lucky if I had any. My heart was filled with pure excitement.