Alone
Person A has never seen person B cry before. How do they react when Person B begins to cry hysterically?
Anjay walked back through the portal and rubbed a hand over her face. Her shoes felt like they'd been filled with led and she fought to keep her eyelids open. She'd just worked a shift at the police station, gone to asses two large companies and now she had around twenty minutes to get ready for night school. Anjay hardly had time to pause these days and she felt like it was getting to her. She absently flicked her hands over the sensor as she stepped into the ship. At her movement, the portal closed shut, leaving Anjay in darkness. She felt a chill go up her spine as she groped for the sensor that would bathe her once again in the lights. She still wasn't free from the demons of her past.
As the corridor lit up, she quickly made her way to the main room in the middle of the ship, it was here that she found the kitchen and grabbed an odd looking yellow fruit around the size of a grape. She tried to remember the name in as many of the seven different tribal languages as she could while crushing it between her teeth. The taste resembled a minty banana flavor and she relished it happily.
Absently, she began to make her way down toward the bathrooms, intending to make herself once again presentable for the task ahead. The ship was virtually silent, it was something that Anjay hated and she found herself glancing over her shoulder warily; keeping close to the side of the hall. It brought back bad memories, though she knew the entire place was the safest she'd ever been. She was alone; however, everyone would be out. Kythax would be building some new piece of technology for the engineering company she worked for, Keonrain would be doing some volunteer work in whichever third world country he'd chosen for the day, Mikaleus would be working at the hospital and Accelerate would be doing whatever he’d decided to do out of the many endeavors he enjoyed. So, for now, she had the place to herself, which was probably just as well or she’d never get things done before she had to leave. They were all due home shortly after she left anyway. However, as Anjay made her way down the well-lit but silent hall a red flashing caught her eye. She felt a weight drop in her stomach and her breathing quickened. Red flashing lights were never a good thing.
She began to increase her pace, making for the source of the light. Turning the corner, she found a warning flashing on the large wrap-around monitors that filled the control room. She huffed as she realized the language was not one she could read. Approaching the monitor, she hurriedly searched among the barrage of buttons and flashing lights for something that would make the screen readable. It took her a few moments before she found what she was looking for. The text on the screen changed to something more legible. Not that being written in the Santis language made any difference to Anjay, she still had to read it several times before she could make sense of it. Something about a corrupted pipeline… the substance in the pipe being isolated and turned off … no more danger… awaiting confirmation to unlock the danger area…
Anjay growled in frustration and considered contacting Kythax about the issue, but eventually figured there was little reason to, if it was no longer a danger, it could wait until she got home in an hour. Instead, she tried to confirm the request to unlock the zone however a demanding error message signaled she had to go and do it manually. Growling in frustration, she looked at her watch; if she went quickly she wouldn’t be too late. Striding out of the room, she made a beeline for the contaminated zone, no longer paying any attention to the irrational fears that mingled on the edge of her thoughts.
It took her no more than a few minutes; after all, it was a very large ship. The doors seemed no different to normal however the bright purple wiring that ran around the outside remained dull and grey, signaling the lack of power. Anjay rubbed a hand over her fringe and moved to activate the motion sensor behind the door. A small projected screen appeared close to her hand.
DO YOU WISH TO UNLOCK THIS ZONE?
Anjay immediately confirmed after double checking her memory to be sure that she’d translated right, and the contamination really had been stopped. When the door slid open it revealed a sectioned off area of corridor. There was a large patch of floor missing in the middle that she remembered Kythax had been fixing last night. She noticed the broken pipe and some residual goo making the surrounding wiring a little shiny, but otherwise, all seemed fine. She wondered how it could have broken. Her thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice with a very unfamiliar tone.
“J-Jay? That you?” It was Accelerate, whom Anjay then noticed, sitting at the other end of the corridor. Shrouded in the gloom, his knees were pulled in close to his chest and his arms and tail were wrapped securely around them. His wings were folded up tightly behind him, providing some comfort on the hard wall. But what made Anjay’s heart begin to beat rapidly was the way the young Avyloci was shaking violently.
“Ace! What’s wrong? What happened?” She asked him, her voice filled with the shock of seeing someone so happy-go-lucky, reduced to a shaking mass on the floor. She quickly waved her hand to turn on the lights that lined both the roof and the floor. As they came on, Accelerate began to blink rapidly, as if he’d been in the dark for a while. It was then that Anjay saw the glistening of tears on his cheeks.
“T-tripped on th-the pipe” He replied, his voice shaking with an emotion akin to panic as he adjusted his grip on his legs. Had his symphylux not been attached to his body, Anjay imagined she would have seen dark bruising where his fingers dug into muscle.
“But what’s wrong?” She asked of him again, it truly scared her to see him in such a state. She realized she was holding her breath, arms slightly raised in a fight or flight stance, but there didn’t seem to be any threat. Ace didn’t respond, his bottom lip wobbled and he shook his head, he then extended a hand toward her seeking comfort. Before she knew it, Accelerate was sobbing into his knees, his shoulders shaking as violently as the rest of him. Anjay couldn’t stay still any longer, stepping over the construction zone and careful not to touch any of the pipes, as she got toward the shaking mass that used to be the ever excitable joker of the group, she immediately enveloped him in a hug to try and calm him down.
His wracking sobs became more audible and he melted into her. His tail wrapped around her waist, his hands gripped her shirt and he buried his tear stained face into her shoulder.
“Hey, it’s alright! Tell me what happened.” She hushed him soothingly, rubbing his back in order to calm him down as much as she could.
“It’s alright. I’m here. It’s going to be okay. It’s going to be alright.” She told him kindly over and over. Suddenly she realized what was going on, part of it anyway. She thought she’d recognized the symptoms. Accelerate was having a panic attack. That, however, simply made her more confused. She couldn’t think of a single thing that would cause the Avyloci to become this way. Even in the darkest of times, she could always rely on him to have a smile on his face and something uplifting to say. Was he claustrophobic? It couldn’t be, they’d been in smaller spaces than this. Could it have been the dark? No, that isn’t right either. Anjay couldn’t get anything out of Accelerate for a long while and his grip on her never slackened nor did his sobbing cease the entire time. She’d given up on getting to school on time; Accelerate needed her more right now.
Eventually Accelerate began to quieten into a few coughs and sniffs. Only then did Anjay gently move him back so that she could look him in the eye. It stuck her how much like a child he could seem, he was older than her by a few years yet his teary expression still struck a chord with her maternal instinct. He still seemed unwilling to let go of her, however and while he rubbed his nose with one hand, he kept a firm grip on her shirt with his other. He still shook, though it seemed to be getting less and less noticeable.
“Ace?” She said gently in order to get his attention, “What was wrong?”
“I- I just thought- It’s stupid but – I thought- no one- was- coming back f-for me-“ He couldn’t finish because talking about it seemed to just bring on fresh tears. But as Anjay pulled him back into the hug, she thought she understood. Accelerate was such an extroverted guy, he loved being with people, he loved people. So to feel as if he were trapped, unable to get to someone, to anyone; it was more than just a fear to him.
“That’s silly.” She told him soothingly, “Of course we’re going to come back for you! We all live here; it couldn’t have been too long.” But Ace just shook his head slowly as he sat back, his shoulders shaking a little less than before. Anjay gave him a smile, full of affection as she wiped the tears from his face and received the smallest of embarrassed smiles in return.
“I’m sorry, Jay.” He sniffed, seeming to get his voice back. Jay waved it off, slowly getting up and helping him to his feet.
“Don’t even worry about it. It’s not your fault.” She replied, trying to place her arm around him. It was a little awkward because of his wings and height, but she made it work. He too slipped an arm around her; he didn’t seem quite ready to break physical contact just yet.
“How long were you in here?” She asked, leading him out of the suffocating room which he seemed glad to leave.
“I dunno… way too long. I forgot my phone before I went out this morning and I got locked in there before I could get it.” He told her with a small shudder. Anjay tried not wince, the poor guy had been locked in there for approximately ten hours in that kind of fear. She pulled him closer to her as they made their way back out to the main room. She then placed her hands on his shoulders and gently forced him to sit down on one of the large beanbags facing the T.V causing him to let go of all but her hand. As she turned away, Accelerate made a small unconscious noise of panic and his grip tightened. Had it been in any other circumstance, Anjay might have snapped at him for being clingy, but seeing Ace like this simply caused her to turn around and place her other hand over his.
“Ace, it’s all good. I’m just going to make you something to eat. You can still see me; I’ll just be over there.” She told him slowly as one would speak to a frightened child, she then disengaged his hand from hers. It was testament to the trauma that Ace had been through that he didn’t reply, no word, no quip, it was worrying to say the least. But, he did let her go, and she made sure she was within his sight at all times as she made her way into the adjoining kitchen.
There, she put the kettle on to boil and began making some toast. From the cupboard she chose a jar of organic powder. ‘Sleeper’ she called it, as that’s exactly what it made you into, but, in small doses, it was a very calming herb that would help ease her friend’s mind. Then taking the hot cup of tea and the piece of toast she’d made, she brought them over to him and sat down. He took them from her gratefully and in a few minutes, the slight tremor in his hands was gone.
It was about twenty minutes of silence with the occasional word before the sound of the portal announced the arrival of the other Seekers.
“You alright now?” Anjay asked her friend who looked much more himself.
“Yeah, I’m cool now. It’s always been like that. I dunno, but as soon as I can’t get to someone, anyone, I just start to shake and panic…” He replied, as he spoke, his hands began to shake again and Anjay had to steady his cup for him. But the touch seemed to settle it down again and he gave her a genuine smile. Anjay returned it and nodded as she got up; she was still going to be late, but she wasn’t worrying about that.
“Jay?” Ace asked and she paused.
“Yeah?”
“Don’t tell Mika? He’d just lock me in somewhere.”
“It’s fine man, I don’t think he’d do that, but I won’t tell him.” She assured him, moving to walk off again.
“Hey, Jay?” Accelerate caught her attention again. This time Anjay stopped and turned around, suppressing a sigh.
“You’re my hero!” Ace announced, putting his fist over his heart in an overly dramatic gesture. Anjay felt her heart warm and couldn’t help but grin in reply to the spark of mischief that had found its way back into his eyes. He was going to be just fine.