29. Container

When the new protectors were twelve years old, they were told about the beginning of their change. Coming from the four biggest cities of the island, they were gathered in some government offices where were surprised with The Protector’s presence. Being still kids, they were too excited to even ask why they were there.

“Ok, now listen to me,” said the protector after they introduced themselves, saying which was their dream job or plans for the future. “You’ve been chosen, since your birth, as the new protectors, your powers might start to present from this day onwards.”

That was the most difficult part the protector had been fearing since his trainers told him about him being the one to deliver the news. When he became the protector, it was said to him by voices of the death, giving him a prideful duty he would never be thankful for, so he knew that if they were to hate the news, they would hate him too.

Nevertheless, after almost half a minute since he said it, the four kids stood up from their chairs looking so flabbergasted that he thought they could faint, however his fears went away as his heartbeat, when they yelled with too much excitement.

“Are you serious?” “Is this some kind of joke?” “Are they filming us?” With him being serious, and a lot confused, they believed him, so they started to yell even more. None of them was scared or angry, none of them had any regrets at that moment.

He told himself that they were kids, not evaluating the meaning of something that important, not knowing the heavy burden it meant or how much their lives were about to change. Because of that, when they calmed down, he told them. “You need to understand that this title comes with so many responsibilities, its not only being a powerful being over the rest of the people in our island, is having to be the person who defend the lives of all of them, giving every piece of you to them, giving your life for their protection and safeness. Smile so they feel safe again, fight so they can carry on with their peaceful lives, train so you can have all their trust. Do you understand?”

“We might not understand it completely, yet,” said one of the girls in the group, she was the more composed, always the first one to be calm after every outburst. “But, at least me, I’m in your care, I wanna carry this title with pride and do everything I have so I can become as great as you.”

“I promise I’ll understand someday, but that won’t take away the happiness for this huge opportunity that just a few in this island have, I’ll work hard so I can reach you.” The second was a boy, the shorter but with the bigger lungs.

“I don’t know how strong I’ll become but for you and for my family and for the rest of the people, I’ll try my best and follow your teachings.” The third one was the second boy, the taller and who looked could built up so much.

“And for me this is such a big honor, as many others, I’ve been admiring you since I remember, your kindness, your strength, your intelligence and diligence, everything! So I won’t disappoint you, never!” She looked as a cleaver girl and a bit shy, still he felt her words true.

They decided to keep their powers in secret as them being the new protectors until they turned fifteen, all in order for them to keep growing in an, almost, calm life. But once a month, after their powers manifested, were to go to the Protector’s House to receive a quick training to control their powers, and they could call the Protector anytime they needed if it was for a power’s problem. Although everyone thought they should had waited more because they four wouldn’t stay silent, they really keep the secret when the Protector told them “This will be something only you four, your family, and me will now, so lets share this secret for three years more, ok?”

With that, he gave them a container with only a piece of paper in each one of them, the same they couldn’t open until they get to home. Because those were some embarrassing words he wrote for them, after reading about how they were; they might had it easy to say those promises to him, but he couldn’t do it, so he wrote it.

28. Relevant

Being part of the Etc. Lost group and working again, gave him some peace to his tormented and regretful mind who was tired of not being normal anymore. Although his frozen feelings remained the same, he felt a bit less pressured with them because they never asked questions, just let him be whoever he wanted to be, be with him and let him listen to them, even if he was a terrible adviser.

The people who he was closer was the Awkward Boy, Pious, Shonda and Nightjar. In the beginning Nightjar and him coincided in many debatable point of views regarding the protector, in how he could easily be turned into a bad persona and a danger or how they shouldn’t idolize so much; however with time, Nightjar learnt to appreciate the protector, he became a fan more in a day when he saw him fighting.

He knew the current jobs and lost dreams from almost all of the members of the group after one year of being around, and they knew he was some kind of office worker with a lost dream that no one was sure of what it really was. Nevertheless, no one pressured him to say more like in which city he lived, when was his birthday, because every time they asked, they received an “it has already passed.” At first, they weren’t satisfied with it, until Shonda talked with them about let it go if he didn’t want to be celebrated.

With the years going by, people in the group came and went. Because it was a group of people with a thing in common but that served just as a excuse to let them be together and overcome their troubles, people could get tired of it or feel that they didn’t need it anymore, so it was normal for them to change from time to time.

All those times they had a goodbye party, it was as sad as happy. They were happy to know that the people who decided to go, had already gotten over their lost dream, probably because they found a new one or they accepted the lost or maybe they weren’t as sad as before. Every time they bit farewell, their nickname and picture were hanged up in the wall of the Lost Members, and their profiles erased. None of them said their true name, if they had said it in the group to a person or some, they had the obligation of never tell it.

There were a lot of moments in which Teshal considered if it were his time to say goodbye or not, he neither knew if he would disappear from their lives without telling them who he really was. But at the time he was having a great time with the Awkward Boy going back to college, Pious going to the same as his but in different major, Shonda following the protector’s steps in the same major and Nightjar marrying Flying Fish.

In fact, after six years since he came to the group, and two since those two married, they announced their soon to be born baby and how his birth would mark their last time coming to the group’s reunions. It was sad but so joyous.

Some of them, principally the Awkward Boy and Shonda, tried to have a romantical relationship with him, they even declared to him the same day but at different moments. At first, he only told them “I’m sorry, I can’t accept your feelings as how am I right now”.

It was until the start of the communal chat, that he took both out of the apartment to explain to them how he couldn’t get attached to no one because of his demanding job and that he wasn’t really looking for any romantic or sexual relationships. Without telling them, of course, of how buried his real feelings were. After three weeks without seeing them, they came back being the same chatty ones, accepting being with him just as friends, as before.

Ten years later, he was still going to the group, it was a relevant activity as his days staying inside his basement without coming out with his family or to anything else.

27. Markers

After a year since he became the Protector, the trainer who taught him about how to control his powers and about the abilities of the past protectors, decided to retire. After being the last close person to the protectors who lived since eighty years ago, it was natural, although he always offered new advices, more in the training area, so the protector could mentally prepare for what he should do when the new ones get older enough.

And six months later, when his popularity started to cool down, he decided to go back to work. At first it had to be from his home, doing reviews in some new formulas and reports about the new discoveries that had to be tested; he missed working in a laboratory, but that was the only solution they all could find until his popularity were to die down a little bit more.

He still could be driven in, as his brother, but they knew the people in his workplace would be too distracted or too inhibit with him there, so the people of the company decided to give him that job until they see it could be changed.

The main reason of why he wanted to go back wasn’t because the increasing of free time he had after his training sessions were decreased, it was, too, because he wanted to have his own money. Not the money his family spent on him in gifts, nor the one the government gave him, making him feel as if he was receiving it without doing anything in exchange, so he didn’t spend the money in the things he liked, just to help his family with their daily basics.

Two weeks after he started his new job, it was announced in the media, giving only the name of the pharmaceutical company but not the address. The same day, he went to the group’s reunion site, everyone was talking about it and how cool it was that the protector’s major was chemist and not something more boring. Trying to ignore all the comments and effusiveness, he helped Pious with his homework using his markers to give some colors to his mind map, whatever that could help him go unnoticed when he wasn’t contributing with the praise.

However, when Orange arrived, all of them surrounded her to ask her if she had seen him, because she worked for the same company. Once again, the protector felt like concealing his identity even more, although he didn’t have nothing to use. Luckily, Orange was part of the persons who weren’t in contact with his working area. He was still safe.

26. Shonda

The news of his awakening was in all the media all day long, the excitement of the people was as releasing the breath they were holding since the Protector fell asleep. But the next day, that enthusiasm was about to blow up even more.

When his trainers went to see the protector, after his mother’s calling, he told them about something that was needed to be announced along with his recovery, however they decided that it was best if he said it in the press conference they had already planned for the moment he woke up. So he was prepared by all the people incredulity.

“Good luck, dear” said his mother, giving him a kiss in the cheek when he was about to leave their house, she probably knew how nervous he usually was before any conference he had to attend, so she always told him “you can do it”, which was as useless as the “good luck” but now that she changed it, he was made to remember how sharp she was lately. This time he wasn’t nervous, neither excited.

People wanted to see him after two weeks without him, so the press conference was for that. In the past events, because he never finished a battle without appearing in front in the cameras to tell people that everything was fine while smiling with that confident and trustworthy smile of his, only then the people called it a past battle.

 

This time, however, people couldn’t feel it was fine and celebrate when their beloved Protector was down after such a ferocious fight. Even so, they started to call him the Miracle Protector for all his strength and kindness, because he alone could take twelve ships without any damage dealt to the island. And that was most of what they talked about in the press conference and some descriptions of his fight.

“So, they told us you want to say something more and you keep it to the end,” said the woman presenter when the last question was answered.

“Yeah, I wanted to announce something,” he received a nod from her, so he turned to face the camera that would transmit his news to all the islanders. “The new protectors had born in the past week, they’re four and I’ll train them when the time comes, for now they’ll be growing as any one like you until they’re ready.”

It was almost as if the whole island went silent, as if all in there stopped, waiting for him to say he was joking, but it never happened, he hold on until the presenter reacted and started to make new questions for the people to know it was true.

Because of that, the press conference belayed for almost an hour until they let him go. Being Sunday, and the second day after waking up, they let him go back to his house to keep resting. A part of him wanted to go to the reunion place of the Etc. Lost group, however, he didn’t want to be too obvious returning the same time as the Protector did, and he still wasn’t sure of how it would be when he was still getting used to be so numb.

Therefore, he waited a complete week until he felt confident enough to face them again. In home, his family was finally stopping their worried stares or trying to make him talk after he asked them to. His trainers, in the other hand, were still a bit persistent, so he kept denying he had any kind of problems, waiting for them to get tired of the same.

Once in front of the door of the apartment, he stopped. He didn’t know if people of the group usually stop coming for weeks, as him, or if it would be as he never did; he was thinking that maybe they forgot about him already, although he knew it wasn’t the case for all the unread messages he had when he woke up. Just because of that, he knocked.

“Thesaurus!” Who opened the door was Shonda, the same girl that was a fan of The Protector, she was always smiling and laughing; in another times, he might have think she was like those noisy girls who wanted to have people’s attention, but Shonda was kind all the time, her smile even more real than his.

She took him by the arm and pulled him in the apartment, just to shout to everyone that he was finally there. Through the messages, he let the Awkward Boy know that he was busy and, in another city, and because of that he didn’t went to the reunion site, until that day. Which, apparently, made all of them extremely happy. 

25. Sharp

People went back to their houses completely aware of the big effort The Protector made in his last battle; through the media, all of them were able to see most of the fight and how The Protector destroyed the ships without giving them a second to rest, at least what they could watch from the recordings made by the watch towers. There was no one who could take off their eyes from the screen, all cheering and praying for him; all of them too excited when the victory was announced.

However all that happiness was a bit overshadowed when they couldn’t see their protector’s beautiful and collected smile while going back to his home, they couldn’t hear his tired but joyful voice. All they were showed was how the tired boy, soaking with dark clothes, fall in the arms of his trainer, so all of them were worried.

He didn’t wake up the next day, neither the next after that. His room was set up with all the medical equipment required to keep him alive in his comma state. His wounds were healing slowly but faster than any normal human, he looked more like if he were sleeping, as his mother told to the media when they asked, so the rest of the islanders could be at peace.

When the second week was about to end, the protector woke up.

His mother was in the room, reading by his side when she heard the boy moving, so she left his book and saw the moment her son opened his eyes. “Hey, dear, you’re back.”

Teshal noticed how watery her eyes became, how deep dark circles colored her eyes. “Are… are all of you well?” He felt more dizzy than scared, he couldn´t understand why his mother looked so tired, but his mind didn’t panic.

“Baby, we’re ok, but you were asleep...” with a giggle that made her tears fell down, she stroked her son’s hair with tenderness and love, what he couldn’t see was how happy and relieved she was. “You slept for thirty days, dear.” With that, all the weakness and dizziness had a reason.

Without wanting to leave her son’s side, she asked to his other son to call for the doctor and the trainers to give the notice that he was finally awake, just after being a bit sure that Teshal didn’t want to go back to sleep yet.

After a quick check up and some words, they let him rest for a little more time. When they were gone, his brother, aunt and mother stayed in his room to eat with him, they talked about the days he was asleep, about their normal lives and how they received flowers and balloons and so many get-better gifts outside the house.

As any other days, other talk, he was his usual quiet self with some chuckles and short comments or jokes, although looking somewhat tired, he thought he wasn’t acting any different than before. Even so, her mother proved him wrong.

Once the meal was over, when his aunt and brother finished clearing up the room, his mother came close to him to rearrange his bed clothes and close the curtains. After leaning to kiss him in the forehead, she whispered “We’re are here with you, we’ll always be, baby. Talk to me if you need it.”

“Thanks mom, I will.” He only said and she left without saying nothing more than a “Rest”.

His mother has never been too sharp when it comes to his feelings, or she never demonstrated it as openly as now. When he was a teenager, they had so many fights that ended with “if only you had told me” or “don’t bottle up everything, let me help you”,  but those solely happened when he let his emotions explode after bottling up too many for far too long. He knew I was not healthy, but there was no way to turn back.

And now, he knew what he should have felt, but he just didn’t feel it. When his brother and aunt were joking about some news or stuff that happened in their jobs, he laughed with them, but he didn’t feel that laugh came from his heart. When they came with the gifts they bought for him, he knew he should feel excited and happy because those were the shoes he had been wanting since some months ago and the book he had been waiting to be released since a year ago; those were things that made him happy, but now he was just there, feeling his smile forced and with no idea of what to say besides thanks. He was happy but couldn’t express it truthfully.

Even when his trainers were joking with him, earlier, he answered as before but didn’t feel the joy as before. He wasn’t feeling anything but numbness, and that didn’t scare or make him happy.

24. Purpose

Albeit his family was not in the House right now, he found the place the only useful for him to calm down, or more like breaking down.

In the solitude and quietness of the basement, he let all his negative emotions surface. Everything behind his always perfect Protector’s mask, was seen; all the feelings that once were hidden deep in his heart, now were consuming every last of it. All the hopeful, grateful and happy faces of the people of the island, those like Pious, the Awkward Boy and Shonda who blindly believed in him, felt more like a bucket of cold water soaking and making heavier his being; all the pride he experienced when they were telling him how happy they were about his help and his sole existence, now was nothing more than a burden.

But who, in all the people he knew now and before, would believe him? Who wouldn’t criticize him for being a coward, ungrateful and selfish bastard if he ever would say a thing? Which person in the whole island would feel safe if they were to know how useless and weak, he felt?

Hidden in there, with many doubts filling his head, he felt completely alone. There was no one who would understand him without labeling him or condemn him. What the people needed was the perfect protector they had seen, the kind and warm protector who sworn protect them all, even if that would mean losing himself.

When the past protectors talked to him, he felt nothing but anger because they were saying everything he knew already, just the same reason he never talked about his problems with no one, because all they could say was what he already had thought, what he didn’t want to see. The only thing it accomplished was to help him decided the one and true answer to his dilemma.

“The moment they’re ready, I’m out of all of this…”

Little by little, while listening to them, his heart began to freeze, so when his words came out, he was beyond calm.

“Your wish will be granted, with all its meaning.” Their voices came to an end after that, just as how all the noise in his mind quieted down. There was absolute silence and emptiness. No fear, pride, excitement, or hope. No pleas, no weakness, no warm, no cold.

The only way for him to fulfill his purpose as The Protector all the islanders wanted, was for him to remain calm and in peace, to forget about everything that could go wrong or, even, good. Protector was his new self, protect was the sole purpose his existence had, so he would do it as best as he could.

With that he came out the basement, with his supernatural speed he charged towards the ships. Entering in the one that was trying to flee, he killed every person inside of it, every person who tried to capture or stop him, every person who tried to run away.

Along with the canons coming from the island, he destroyed every ship, defended his island of any attack coming from them and ended with the threat in five hours.

When he reached the seashore, he could hear the cheering noises coming from the watch towers, the canons and the quarters, but he didn’t feel anything. When his trainer and the leader of the operation came to him with worry because his bloody and tired appearance, he felt nothing. When he collapsed and his trainer caught him while whispering “you did a good job, thank you so much, now rest”. He felt nothing.

 

23. Canon

Although he put a lot on effort to just make it to the quarters, the first thing he did was to ask if everybody was already in the bunkers, including his family. While he was healing himself, and waiting for his food to come so he could restore some energy, he was listening to the analysis they were doing over the weapons the ships showed, as their strength inside.

Of course, 1it was out of the question about sending some groups to board the ships, knowing that their weapons may be not enough to eliminate those with powers. Still, no one was saying how weird it was that an entire fleet with prepared men was coming closer to them without a single sign that they wanted to discuss it.

It was as if their aim were to eradicate every person on the island or to invade, whichever their reasons might be. No one but them was more afraid, the air in the headquarters was heavy with all the unsaid possibilities. Even if everyone was focused on their jobs at that moment, some way the protector was able to feel their fears, even above his owns.

“No matter what, the moment the ships are in range, attack with all you got, use the canons and protect here.” He finally said, just when one of the soldiers was serving his food. “I’ll try with all I got to stop theirs from there, to try destroy the ships from outside, trust me, I can handle it .”

“But what if they catch you? What if they know about you already and that’s why they came?” the leader of the operation confronted him, he needed to remain calm for the sake of the rest, however this time it looked like neither he could trust his words.

“They won’t, I won’t allow it, I can’t let the island without protection.” With all his determination in his eyes, no one was able to keep doubting him, even if all their feats weren’t instantly gone, they felt their minds more at ease.

“Sir, Protector, one of the ships its splitting from the group, it might be going back…”

The protector only needed a fast sight to the monitors, before coming out of the headquarters. Now he was more afraid than them, if he needed to give the same speech again, it would be totally unconvincing because the ships knew about him, one of the ships was about to go back to wherever they come from to let them know about that person with supernatural powers, from an island that shouldn’t had any.

But, when before the cliff where he was supposed to jump and go to stop the ship, he froze. In a second, when he should be focusing in controlling the gravity around him so he could fly towards the enemy, his mind was filled with noise once again.

Suddenly it was ten ships in front of him, suddenly all their weapons seemed too dangerous and big, suddenly he could feel all the hungry eyes and hands of the people that could wanted him, suddenly he feared. He was not scared for his life, for the pain, for the tiredness; he was scared of failure and death of others falling in his lonely shoulders.

Although the world around him was extremely quiet, in his head the noise didn’t allow him to concentrate. So, he ran away, to the only shelter he still had left, a new place but filled with the only thing that still calmed him: his family.

 

22. Abort

Because of his ankle, he had to levitate his way home, which was as quickly as running, although it took more of his energy than the other. That’s why when he was in the adjacent neighborhood, he had to land and took some time to catch some air. 

He still couldn’t understand what was wrong with him, why suddenly he got grumpy and unfocused. When listening to the Awkward Boy talking about past celebrated birthdays, he was still fine and calm, for a moment there, even wanted to celebrate his birthday with them, until he was asked when it was. It was in ten days, but he couldn’t say it, not because they might find weird or curious that it was the same day as The Protector; he didn’t say it because he knew all the people in the island would be more focused in his birthday than him, as selfish as it looked. For that reason, his answer was that it passed already, so they needed to wait a year to know it.

With his head in a complete mess, he arrived at his house without knowing how. He just went directly to his room, to his bed and laid down without even taking his shoes off. He felt as his head was filled with noises he couldn’t understand, illogical and loud that didn’t allow him to think clearly. He neither knew if he was feeling sad, angry, jealous, overwhelmed or what. 

It was until late in the night that he was able to fall asleep, when his mind was too exhausted to be awake.

In the morning, his mother had to woke him up, after his alarm was completely ignored five times. She even touched his forehead to know if he was sick, and she was almost convinced that he was lying when he denied it. With a quick breakfast and saying for the eleventh time that he was feeling fine, he went to his training.

He was in the middle of his ascension when he looked at the horizon beyond the seashore. And just when his eyes landed on the ships, the alarm went off.

As fast as he could, he ran to the nearest watch tower with his phone ringing because his military trainer. This time there was twelve ships, none looking as a travel cruiser or a cargo ship. Even at that distance, he could see their weapons.

“Yeah, I’ll go to do a reckon, make them prepare all the power.”  Only in those times in need he was in charge, he easily felt the confidence and the strength to guide them. It was in those times where The Protector’s mask was stronger than the rest.

He jumped from the cliff closer the tower, at half the jump he started to levitate and go directly to where the ships were coming. He never saw so many being so close, he was almost sure that they didn’t know about him being the protector of the island, the only person with superpowers because he was sure that he didn’t let no one to saw him. They couldn’t be planning a war against a lonely island with uncommon riches or something worth destroying.

He was flying with twenty meters between him and their ships, he was instructed to be always that far so he wasn’t discovered by their navigation system.

It didn’t matter from where he looked at it, those were war ships. While talking and streaming what he was seeing to the militia, he knew that fight would be the only solution.

“Engage” said the leader of the mission through his phone after one hour of waiting the ships to get close to their island. After warnings coming from the island stopped.

 

The protector boarded the first ship in seconds, before their radars could read him, he was on deck, hitting and getting rid of every sailor he came across until they raised the alarm.

With the first ones that came to meet him, to beat him up, he knew that it wouldn’t be an easy job. Every one of them had a different offensive power, all trained to fight, all adults fully grown and with so much experience.

Winning against the first ship took him two hours, ending with a punctured lung, broken bones that he refused to acknowledge, and some big injuries that he desperately burned or froze before stepping in the next ship while the other started to sink.

The moment he aborted his mission, just pausing it to go back the quarters to heal all his broken bones that now hindered his every movement, the anemia that weakened him and the exhaustion after using every power he had to kill as much as crew as he could before sinking the second ship. He jumped into the water before getting back to the island, just to clean himself up from all the dirt and blood of his enemies and his. 

21. Whatever

His Friday’s training was completely about his technique to prevent him of dying from drowning, he still wasn’t able to reduce the time to make the icy bubble or to increase his time underwater without breathing. And because of that he was frustrated and angry beyond words.

He had already try some ideas from his trainers, some were even to prevent that any other person kept him under water, however he was more worried if he was trapped by whatever means an enemy could had that he couldn’t fight against.

It was his idea and solution, and still it became an impossible thing to do, something so useless that probably made him lose his time for the past week. If it didn’t make it possible, then they could start to think that he really wanted to die back then. Nor that it was a bad idea lately.

Without noticing, he ended up stepping wrongly when he was landing before arriving to the Etc.’s building. The pain came from his toes to his hip, it left him breathless and a bit dizzy. After his discovery time as the protector, he realized that his pain resistance was not bad, it sure hurt whenever he hit or got a major injury, pain was not less hard but what he counted it as resistance was that the pain never lasted too long if he forced himself to distract his mind about it. Which wasn’t easily to do when the pain was so strong, like in that moment.

He couldn’t tell if he broke, dislocated, or just sprained it, and before he could seat to check it, the Awkward Boy came out the building, looking so happy to see him again so soon.

“Hey, I was gonna grab some snacks and a cake for Nightjar, tomorrow is his birthday, wanna come?” The moment he said “gonna”, Teshal knew he would ask him to join, and he couldn’t tell him he just broke his ankle while arriving, so he had to comply and forget about his pain. He had the ability to cure himself, but for that he needed to arrange his bones or whatever was out of its place.

“Sure” he answered, biting his tongue so his pain wouldn’t show. In the end, it could be like an extension of his common training to endure pain and injuries.

When they came back, he ran to the restroom to fix himself, unfortunately it was a sprain. If it was a broken or dislocated bone, curing was easier because his ability was to reactivate his cells to faster the regeneration, even moving cell from different stratus and making them adapt; but with a sprain, something so small, his cells wouldn’t cooperate, neither with a superficial cut or a muscular contraction. If it was not a wound that put his life in danger, his body cured itself at his own pace.

And now he shouldn’t show his pain because it could make the Awkward Boy feel guilty for not letting him rest, although it was his own fault for not saying anything. Sighing, he froze his ankle to lighten the pain and came out the restroom.

All the afternoon and night they celebrated, they were happy speaking of past birthdays with them or their families, presents, travels and a lot of stuff. All around was an air of happiness and camaraderie, warmth and joy.

However, he didn’t feel there. Laughs were as if distant, he smiled when they did but couldn’t erase the feeling that it was a fake one; even when they asked him to share some past experiences, what came out his mouth felt like lies, something that wasn’t his. He wasn’t feeling as himself because he couldn’t tell which one was there.

If it was Teshal, the shy and calm boy that loved his family more than anything; The Protector all the islanders loved and trusted; Thesaurus, who spent his free time talking about non important matters with a bunch of people who he didn’t know their true names; or if it was the new protector, that mask he put over himself to be what the people needed, what his family expected and who had so many thoughts buried too deep in his heart that he couldn’t differentiate them anymore.

He started to feel his body as if it weren’t his, his felt a prickling sensation al over his palms, his head fuzzy and disoriented. When everybody was still laughing, he excused with his phone on his hand as if he had a call, that way he was able to come out the place.

When his training ended, he was sure he wanted to come, he needed the calmness that place gave him, his frustration of the week was meant to be overcome with their inconsequential chats. He craved for that normality, but now he couldn’t shake the awful feeling that was not like it.

“Hey, are you going in?” asked Orange, one of the oldest women in the group, she had just arrived when he was seating in the stairs near the door to the apartment where they reunited.

“Oh… um… not yet…” he said.

“It’s ok if you had to go, I tell them you received a call.” He finally focused his eyes in her after listening to her. “There’s moments when happiness feels really overwhelming, when you feel like you can’t follow up with the rest, and it’s okay. No one will blame you, kid. You’re strong even if you don’t feel like it right now.”

“I…” for a second, his eyes became watery, he got a lump in his throat that he couldn’t broke.

“Go, or wait, if that’s what you need.”

“I’ll go… thanks and I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be, we’ll see you any other day you want.” With that, Orange smiled and went to the door, knocking until he had left.

20. Flying fish

The next day he spent most of his time reorganizing his ideas and feeling courageous about speaking up in his meeting at noon, he even asked his trainer if he thought that the board would listen to him, to which he, obviously, answered affirmatively. 

At that time in the group’s talk, when all of them talked about the same thing, he asked for more solutions or ideas, even for any other complaint they could had about the NAC. It was a useful chat, and the best when they barely said a thing regarding him.

When the meeting hour came, he felt all his bravery wavering, suddenly he didn’t want to talk with them. It was a common feeling for him, one that he thought that his speeches had already helped him to overcome. Whenever he needed to talk about something important in which his opinion was the reason, he felt anxious and the words were always stuck on his mouth, with his palms sweating and his heart beating fast.

He knew they didn’t consider him really important in the meeting, all the decisions discussed in there were already approved or disapproved, nor that he complained before because the less he wanted was to have to make such important decisions. But now he was truly hoping they’ll listen to him and took his words with seriousness.

In the end, although it was a big challenge for him, he got to talk about changing the NAC, he exposed his little knowledge about the people’s problems while hiding, so he asked if they couldn’t change the countermeasures right away, at least they should not leave the streets empty.

He asked to first decrease the time to one hour, then that the only people in the bunkers were from the cities closest to the seashores where the ship sighting happened. Before, it was an order that all the people from almost half of the island to take cover, however now that he lied saying that he was more confident in his abilities, the people in a radius of 180 kilometers were the only ones in need of hiding. In addition, he asked for the cops to patrol the streets.

All of them, him included, knew that the thieves were always smarter, they would now how to evade the police, however he convinced them that it was more for the people to know that the government cared, although he wanted the cops doing an effort.

The meeting ended with the change in the NAC approved, concerning the time in the refuges, while the rest of what was discussed still needed further consideration, which results were to be given the next week.

The protector felt relieved after that conclusion, for once he was brave enough to speak up and they, while apparently were really trying to conceal that information from him or from the people, listened and considered his ideas.

He, too, was so thankful for deciding to go to the group’s reunion the day before. If it weren’t for it, he couldn’t have felt useful. Because of that, he decided to go again to the reunion.

This time the Awkward Boy wasn’t around, so at the beginning he felt a bit off until Shonda and Hieronymus came to him, along with the same woman that in his first day asked for his opinion towards The Protector, whose nickname was Flying Fish.

That day their talk was about less relevant things, were about their daily lives, school, work and family. Because of that he had to lie a little, talk as if his activities when he was a normal person, were his yesterday’s activities. He let himself feel as a normal person again, at least for a bit.

 

19. Hieronymus

The next day he was able to shut down his disrupted emotions, he kept his usual smile when his schedule was changed, four of the seven days in the week he would be training to master his new technique, as they decided to call it. On Tuesday and Thursday he would be busy with the media and some security meetings. 

On Tuesday he thought about going to the group reunion, however he was still feeling a bit upset, so he was sure that if they were to talk about The Protector, his discomfort might be too obvious. And he neither wanted to have them talking while he felt mad. That way, the day he felt a bit more relaxed was on Wednesday.

After his exhausting training, he arrived at the building at nine, this time he was using his black hair wig, purple eye contacts and black glasses. When he made his disguise test before leaving the house, he was confident that he didn´t look like The Protector, but when walking in the street he couldn’t stop his fear about being discovered, even if his brother assured him that he wasn´t completely the same, and neither different, though.

The members of the group looked at him without discretion, for them it was the first time seeing him, and because he said that his job didn’t allowed him to be recognized, they were trying to see if they should know him. But neither of them got it right. Luckily, none of them expected to have The Protector among them, none of them thought that The Protector could have something he lost, like them.

Now that he was almost sure of it, he felt a little more at ease. The Awkward Boy received him with enthusiasm, saying how he was afraid that he wouldn’t show up again and how he was about to send a message through the social network to find him.

This time he wasn’t led to the deepest room, he seated with the Awkward Boy, Pious and Hieronymus, a man that was new for him. After the proper greetings, they continued their conversation about Hieronymus job, Teshal could tell it was something like journalism for how he was talking regarding some crimes that weren’t shown on TV.

He hadn’t watched TV since his face was in every program, neither heard the radio or looked at any form of news, only watching cartoons or anything that was streaming in the internet. So he had entirely forgotten that apart of the issues with whatever ship got too close to their island, there were crimes and murders inside. The “normal” delinquency.

Hieronymus was talking of how the criminal rate had been increasing after it had a decline around the time The Protector was found.

“Now it looks like they take advantage of the ships sightings, when people go the refuges and leave their homes, some stay behind to rob the houses and stores.” What he said made the two boys look awed, however none of them got the time to give their opinion when Shonda and Nightjar came closer.

“Ah that’s true!” Shonda said while seating at Teshal’s right side. “It happened to a friend, when she and her family came back from their shelter, someone had already entered their house to steal some household appliances and jewelry.”

“And to a customer of mine, his car was stolen, it was in the day, when they went to hide.” Added Nightjar.

“Would it be different if the four hours countermeasure wasn’t used?” asked Teshal.

“I’m not sure but if they’re not talking about these cases on the media, it’s because they may be thinking it’s an important factor” exclaimed Hieronymus. “And because The Protector was the one who asked for this countermeasure, they can’t take it down so easily.”

“They should, then, expose what’s happening to him, so he can think on a way to change it, or, at least, for the government and the police to do something.” The Awkward Boy, as always, was on The Protector’s side, same as Pious that nodded at his comment.

Teshal now was wondering why none of his trainers said anything, or his family. Then he remembered what happened the last Saturday, so maybe they didn’t want to increase his burden. He had scheduled a meeting with some people of the government tomorrow, so he asked Hieronymus and the rest all the information they had, that way he could talk tomorrow about it and how to make a change. That if they were eager to listen to him, not like before that they just asked about his consent in some trivial matters.

 

18. Hater gonna...

After his trainer took him to the shore, the protector noticed that his other trainer was there too, looking at him with anger and worry, that was what made him look around and notice the air was too cool to be noon. Until that moment, too, he felt how much coldness his body was feeling, but when he tried to use his own power to stabilize it, he felt the common dizziness that always came to him when his energy was depleted because the overuse of his abilities.

“Seriously, what the fuck were you doing?” asked once more when the trainer took off his jacket to put it on his shoulders. “Were you actually trying to kill yourself?”

“No!” he protested immediately with a voice strong enough to not leave any doubt. “What time is it?”

“It’s past midday. On Sunday” his other trained came closer to feel his pulse and to give him a piece of bread, which the protector looked with a bit of rejection. “Eat. Now.” Sighing, the protector complied.

“Ok, sorry, I didn’t pay attention to the time, as you can see, I don’t even have a watch on me.” Teshal move his arms in front for them to see, which only led them to see his marked wrist were the rope left a burn mark for the times he was desperately trying to not die for the lack of air, like all the time without the snorkel.

With that, he had to explain it, however, after eating half of the bread, he felt asleep. Just then, both of his trainers took a look at his body before going down the mountain. They were really angered by his careless behavior towards himself, they knew it from before, but he never did something as extreme as that, although they wanted to believe as an honest response when he denied trying to kill himself.

They took him to his house until he was dry and dressed, so his family wouldn’t be more worried of what they already were. His mother was the one that called him at eleven in his son’s day off because he didn’t come back from the mountain and he neither answered his phone, besides, in that time there wasn’t any visible show of his training. After assuring them that he was alright and only got caught in his training until he passed out of exhaustion, which was nothing new except for the part in which he didn’t come back on time, they left. And ecause they knew he wouldn’t be up in the meantime, they saved their lecture for the next day.

Thus, the family kept going to the basement from time to time just to see that he was still there and if he was awake. But he awoke until the next day at eight in the morning, his usual wake up time. He received a scolding from his mother before going to the training room where his trainers came to later.

They allowed him to finally speak about his idea and training before giving him a sermon that lasted for an hour about how irresponsible he was, about what could had happened if he didn’t make it or they didn’t come in time, of how he needed to treasure his life more for what he was now. With an apologetic smile and a serious promise for no repeating the same mistake, they began to talk about how to try it without being so dangerous or without him being alone.

He was freed until late in the night when his brother was already home, he even laughed at him for making so many worried, although he looked as relieved as the rest. With smiles and apologies, he made all drop the matter, even if he was feeling more than bitter.

Because of that, when all were already sleep, he came out from the House and ran without any particular place to go. He just wanted to leave all his discomfort and bitterness behind.

Of course, he was angry for what they told him in his lecture. Of course, he would do everything to took his life if he wasn’t responsible, if he didn’t know how all the people counted in his protection, if he didn’t know the chaos and suffering it could bring if they were left unprotected. Of course, he felt angry because they thought he could be irresponsible enough to abandon his duty, because hasn’t he showed them how seriously he took his trainings even if he hated pain so much? Hasn’t him fulfilled every task and training they had given to him? Hasn’t he talked on the media of how much he cares about his duty? Did he demonstrated how little gratefulness he had towards being the chosen? He always considered he didn’t.

He was being careful, he went a bit too far with his method, that was true, but he never truly endangered his own life. But they couldn’t see it, they didn’t care because they couldn’t control it. As if they didn’t know he could create a sharpened piece of ice to cut the rope, as if he couldn’t bend the metal of his keys to make something sharp enough to cut the damn rope.

With nothing more than his anger, he ran until reaching some seashore, and without stopping he started swimming through the active tide of the night. Stopping only when his throat began to hurt along with his lungs and arms. Only then he ceased all movements, just floating with his face towards the stars.

“Can’t people start hating me so I can run away?” he asked when the tears emerged from his eyes. He knew he wouldn’t ever give up on his duty when there was no one else to do it for him, but if people really became wary about his power, they could fear him and, then, hate him. He didn’t want to be a villain, but at that moment, it was like his only way out. “Haters gonna set me free?” He asked himself once his mind began to settle.

17. Pump

Fortunately, his week was as busy as always, so he didn’t need to distract himself from his mixed feelings. Although he felt a bit more relaxed when talking to the media and stuff, making him even stop after some trainings to hear a bit of the people’s encouragement.

He wasn’t sure if the next time he goes to the group reunion would be again on Sunday or another day, he needed to feel like going, or else, it wouldn’t be enjoyable. For that reason, the next day after meeting them, he bought his wig and eye contacts for his new disguise.

Before, he had already tried to use illusions to cover his identity, but none was natural, nor easily maintained. He made a lot of test in his days off in the first two months with his family, he wanted to know if going out while covering himself was possible, however all those tries were unsuccessful. Because it was always evident something was over him, and in a place where superpowers were nonexistent, it was weirder.

With the one that was almost perfect, he needed to have all his focus in it, he couldn’t stop thinking in any detail because it could make the illusion distort. He really tried with eagerness, he really wanted to be out without all the clothes he needed to hide his identity. However, he had long gave up on it until meeting with the group, now he only hoped the wig wouldn’t be too unnatural or uncomfortable.

His purchase was expected to arrive on Saturday, same that sent to his aunt ‘s house so no one could connect it with him directly. Sometimes he let his family’s paranoia won over him.

That way he went to his training session in the mountain. This time he stopped in the edge of the small lake that had the mountain. He never used that place to train because it wasn’t high enough to people not to notice his explosive trainings, but now that he didn’t need to do nothing too flashy, he went and seated with his feet inside the water.

Practically he was fiddling around, his trainer wanted him to try with his resistance to extreme environments. He should be on top of the mountain, working out where the oxygen was scarce, where the freezing wind was higher. It was what he did in the past three weeks, but now he wanted to try something new, even if he didn’t discuss before with his trainer, it was something that came up to his mind while explaining his powers in front of another group of kids.

He couldn’t control any of the elements (fire, water, earth, wind) per se, instead he could control temperature and pressure. That’s what allowed him to not die from a heatstroke with all that his disguise was. Apart of his unique ability to mess up with gravity of a single target.

For some time, he has wondered about so many ideas of what to do it the enemy were to try drowning him. The fastest answer came from his trainers saying that he needed to train his resistance and time without the need of air. Hence his training up in the mountain and some other times when they really tried to drown him.

What a girl asked was if he could made fire inside ice or ice inside of fire, but because he didn´t control them, it was something impossible. It was after that, he thought about freezing the water in a bubble form and, then, evaporate what’s inside to create a room for him to breath if needed. It was as difficult as it sounded, because while bathing he tried sometimes to do it, ending with a useless result.

With more time and a bigger water surface, he could make better test in his theory. Freezing the water was some of the first things he trained, but doing it in a specific shape and quantity was completely different than putting a finger in the surface and control how much he wanted freeze.

So, after coming at dawn to the mountain because he was kind of pumped up about his own ideas, it was until pass three in the afternoon that he was able to form the round sphere of solid ice. Its edges were rough and the interior was barely seen, however he could do it quicker as the first try. Having to direct the decreasing temperature the way he wanted to make it had a form was really a difficulty he wanted to be praised for.

Now with the icy sphere on his hands, he started to concentrate in the raising warmth of his hands, which at first made the sphere started to melt. To prevent it to go to waste, he forced himself to have cold in his left hand while the right one was still redirecting the warmth to the inside of the ice. Once again, the challenge was real, it was like having to move up and down one hand while the other went from right to left. Before, he wasn’t one of the people with the most coordination in his actions, even when swimming sometimes it was too troublesome do some exercises in which coordination was the key.

It was already dark when he got to do it right from beginning to end in less than 5 minutes, which still was too much time when he was able to barely maintain his breath under the water for one minute. But following his trainer’s teachings, desperate situations helped him to come up with faster solutions.

With that in mind, he left his outer clothes in the shore before entering in the water. Deep in the lake were some roots, same he used to tie a rope which tied him up to prevent his body to float. From one side, the rope was around his waist, it went under the loop of the root and ended in his wrist so he could get free in an emergency. To breath when it was inevitable, he brought a snorkel to be under the water as much as possible.

Before fear and doubts filled his head, he started his practice. It wasn’t easy at all, which was important because when the occasion presents, it wouldn’t be easy either if his life was truly at stake. His body was moving so much in its attempts to float; so his mind was distracted between the lacking of air, his body’s instability and keeping his hand forming the ice sphere, that even before thinking in having half freezing and half warming abilities.

But his determination to achieve it was even greater than his body getting cold and wrinkled for staying so much time under water. He even didn’t notice when the night fell and the sun came out again until someone else entered in the water.

“What the fuck with you?” asked his military trainer after he cut the rope and took him out of the water.

Death doesn't judge

Death is everywhere, all the time. To many it’s a word, a state; to others is a deity; some others find it ineffable and undeniable, and for a few more it’s fascinating or yearned. However, Death doesn’t discriminate, doesn’t decide, doesn’t save.

In its clothes, its fingers, its lanterns, or whatever people imagined it with, it took the souls of every living being that populates the Earth. Of the ants which humans stepped on without noticing, of the trees cut down for the new buildings, of the dog that was beaten to death, of the cat that die in their caretaker’s arms, of the poisoned mouse, of the bug crashed in the windshield, of the prey taken down by the hunter, of the plant that was watered too much, of the elephant fed with fire, of the cultivated plants, of the animals transformed into food.

Without judging, it takes the souls of the poor man murdered by the cop blinded by power, of the woman that without guilt was killed for him who thought was dominant, the boy that followed the man for the offered toy or candy, of the girl whose act of kindness and innocence was taken as a felony that cost her life. Of the man whose oppressed wife had to finally defend herself, of the woman that deceived young ones with promises and money, of the thief that stole from someone everything they had, of the one who poisoned others to get what she wanted.

Without guilt, nor grace, nor own choice it takes the soul of the young artist who with her stars brightened so many lives, but couldn’t beat her sickness; the loved and hardworking man whose life faded as a candlelight; of the young people that can’t understand what’s wrong with them, those who can’t find hope in tomorrow’s light and so, they gave up their soul with their own hands. Of those that without fault or reason, exposed themselves to the sickness that was killing so many; of those who left behind devastated and incomplete families, of those that are gone without asking for it and without fear.

Death take the souls of the ones that beg because they don’t want to see one more day, of the ones that cry for one more night; of the scared ones, of the fearless, of the poor, of the rich, of the ones that are alone and the ones that aren’t, of the corrupted and the purest, of those that didn’t know they had a soul, of the ones that wanted to save it. Of those who believe in a God, of the ones that believe in thousands, of those who don’t believe in any. Of those that study, of those that doesn’t know nothing, of the ones that think and the ones that don’t want to do it. Of those that believe in it and those who doesn’t.

Death is just, Death is sure, Death doesn’t rest.

La muerte no juzga

La muerte está en todos lados, todo el tiempo. Para muchos es una palabra, un estado, para otros es una deidad, unos más la encuentran inefable e innegable, y unos pocos fascinante o añorada. Sin embargo, la muerte no discrimina, no decide, no salva.

En sus ropas, sus dedos, sus lámparas, o lo que fuera que la gente la imaginaba, se lleva las almas de cada ser vivo que puebla la Tierra. De las hormigas que los humanos pisaron sin notar, de los árboles que talaron para las nuevas construcciones, del perro que mataron a golpes, del gato que murió en los brazos de quien lo cuidaba, del ratón envenenado, del insecto que se estrelló en el parabrisas, de la presa del cazador, de la planta hidratada en exceso, de la elefante alimentada con fuego, de las plantas cultivadas, de los animales hechos alimento.

Sin juzgar, se lleva el alma del desafortunado asesinado por el policía ciego de poder, de la mujer que sin culpa fue asesinada por aquel que creía ser dominante, del niño que siguió al hombre por un juguete o un dulce ofrecido, de la niña que su acto de bondad e inocencia fue visto como un crimen que le costó la vida. Del hombre del que su oprimida esposa tuvo que defenderse, de la mujer que engañaba jóvenes con promesas y dinero, del ladrón que despojó a alguien de todo lo que tenía para vivir, de la que envenenó a otros para obtener lo que quería.

Sin culpa, ni gracia, ni decisión propia se lleva el alma de la joven artista que con sus estrellas iluminó a muchos, mas no pudo vencer al cáncer; del hombre amado y trabajador cuya vida se fue apagando como una veladora; de los jóvenes que no logran entender lo que pasa con ellos, los que no logran encontrar esperanza en el mañana y por su propia mano le entregan su alma. De aquellos que sin culpa o con razón se expusieron a la enfermedad que está matando a muchos; de aquellos que dejan familias devastadas e incompletas, de aquellos que se van sin desearlo y sin miedo.

La muerte se lleva las almas de los que suplican no ver un día más, de los que lloran por tener una noche más, de los que tienen miedo, de los que no lo tienen, de los pobres, de los ricos, de los que están solos y de los que no, de los más corruptos y de los más puros, de los que no sabían que tenían alma, de los que querían salvarla. De los que creen en un Dios, de los que creen en miles, de los que no creen en ninguno. De los que estudian, de los que no saben nada, de los que piensan y de los que se niegan a hacerlo. De los que creen en ella y de los que no. 

La muerte es justa, la muerte es segura, la muerte no descansa.

16. Relentless

After a bit more of chatting, people started to go back their homes, which made the protector feel grateful because he wanted to go since they started talking about The Protector. He promised to come back, although he wasn’t sure when would that be. 

Still being around three in the morning, he didn’t use his supernatural speed to go home, he walked as a normal human. Almost normal because all the clothes that hid his identity. Almost normal because he wasn’t scared of thieves anymore, none of them would be able to touch him even if they had a gun. Almost normal because he could go out from his home so late or so early without anyone to notice, not even the security system that kept The House safe from intruders. 

Almost normal because he was a twenty-three-year-old boy worried about his future and how long it would be. 

He liked the peacefulness which came that early in the morning. Less cars and people in the street, less noise and less movement. The noisier elements were the dogs from here and there, barking from distant houses, and the sporadic vehicles that traveled in speeds higher than permitted. It was similar to the quietness that surrounded him up in the mountain every time he left his body fell to the ground from exhaustion.

When he wasn’t paying attention, his mind wandered off about the group’s reunion. He was past the analysis of the members, even of their purpose or topics to talk. Now he was thinking about his own goals with them.

Long ago, a month after discovering his new role, he said goodbye to his friends, figuratively. For how his family was treated, he decided that it was for the best that he didn’t go out with them anymore; and when he eliminated his personal social network’s accounts and changed his cellphone number, he got out of reach for them. He did it to protect them, even if anyone could misunderstand it.

And now, he got to meet people again, who may want to become close to him, if what everybody said about his calming abilities were true. He didn’t want to get attached; he knew he couldn’t. Even so, being with them gave him peace for a little bit; it allowed him to forget who he really was. Thesaurus was about to become his alter ego, his normal version of him, until they retake the Protector’s talk or he overcome his frustrations.

Either way, he couldn’t be like a kid getting all excited about making new friends. He wasn’t feeling like if out of nowhere he had found a lot of energy to became relentless in his trainings and common activities. He wasn’t feeling nothing at all, though. So, he hoped time would give him the answer to what to feel.

15. Night jar

Those kind of stories about what happened while he was in the ships, were more interesting for him than what he said or did. Although it was as much as a thorn in his heart when he thought about what he could be doing if he was as normal as the rest. Either way, he couldn’t make contributions about that topic.

“Hey, Thesaurus.” A woman, looking as if she was around his own age, and who was seated to the opposite side of the Awkward Boy, got close to him while someone was still talking about some of their neighbor’s behavior. “Talking about the Protector it’s common in this group chats, and all of us had given their own opinions about him, so what’s yours?” In the middle of her question, the rest stopped talking, waiting for his answer.

“It’s that so? … um…” Now he wished he really did choke with his soda when the topic was selected by Pious. He could tell that people there was proud or fond to The Protector, although he couldn’t be so sure about everyone. “Well… he’s too powerful, I think that’s a bit scary?”

“You see?” a man spoke up before anyone else, Teshal remembered his nickname was Nightjar, another weird name. “I’m not the only one. Are you afraid of him or his power? I mean, I think we can trust him but isn’t him too much?”

“He does look trustworthy…” when all the glares changed from Nightjar to him, he knew he needed to answer. “I don’t think I’m afraid of him, just about his power… Negativity towards him maybe could lead him to do something bad?”

“No!” Pious and the girl, whose nickname was like a true name: Shonda, almost shouted. “He’s doing everything for us, he’s a good guy, I can tell… besides, going to the bad side will mean that we mistreat him, but didn’t we put him on a pedestal? Is that negative?”

“Of course it’s not!” Awkward Boy joined them, it didn’t look like a fight, but still Teshal couldn’t stop feeling he shouldn’t had said that as his first opinion about himself. “He looks kind and determined, like he really cares about our homeland and us.”

“I think only frustration and the overwhelming pressure of having so many lives over his shoulders could be the negativity, not rejection.” The one who spoke was one of the oldest persons in the group, she was maybe fifty or something, but looked collected and wise. “It’s a heavy burden for a boy, too young.”

“But people still shower him with love and admiration, I saw how after his training routine, all of us that were close came to give him water or encouragement.” Once again spoke the woman close to him, having her too close after knowing that she was close to him without disguise, made him a bit scared. “Yes, I know it can’t compare thankful and encouraging words to his burden, but I think it’s useful? And he’s so famous now!”

“But what if he didn’t want nothing of that?” he almost murmured his question, still the group became quiet. “The warmth of the people may give him strength to keep going, but what about his privacy? Even if he had decided not to be so public, people would chase him or intrude in his house to know more about him, because they… we care.”

“That’s a point I wanted to show too,” Nightjar was still in his side. “All we know, for what had been said by his past classmates and workmates, he was a shy boy, never in the spotlight. So, don’t you think that all his popularity could be added to his burdens?”

Suddenly the room became quiet once more. For that, none of them had and answer without being seen as selfish.

“I’m impressed Thesaurus, there’s a few topics, that I count with my fingers, that leave us this quiet.” With that, everyone raised their cups in another toast, making all of them laugh and even clap, which left Teshal really confused.

“It’s that good or bad?” finally asked to the Awkward Boy when he got back his attention.

“Of course is good! I knew you were special!”

 

14. Pious

After a long silence between them, it was ended when the protector put a hand in the Awkward Boy’s shoulder. “Oh right! Come, everyone is waiting for you.” With that, the protector looked really amazed and didn’t move until the other boy pulled him from his arm.

In the room next to the door and next to the kitchen, there was a table with fifteen chairs that had many different styles, like if those were brought from different tables. All of the people from the group, the ones that were there before he arrived, were already in their places, leaving him the chair in the head of the table. Now Teshal was feeling nervous, as if he were about to be in one of the usual interviews.

“Today we welcome our newest member, brought in by Awkward Galaxy,” the woman that started speaking was around his thirty or more, she looked a bit young and a bit older. “We’re happy for having you here with us.”

“All of us,” another man, looking a bit older, took the floor “are here using false names, as you maybe saw through the social network, so we’re not interested in who you’re, and if you want to say why are you here, what you lost, that’s up to you, no one will force you, so feel at ease and trust us so we can trust you.”

No one else spoke after him, so the Awkward Boy hit him with his elbow because it was his time to speak. “Oh… um… I’m not good at this… sorry.” He stood up while scratching his nape, gazing at the table instead of the people waiting for his answer. He took a deep breath before facing them and speak “I’m sorry I came looking like this, because my job, I can’t show my face… yet, but rest easy, I mean no harm and I’m really thankful for you to welcome me.”

Little by little his shyness was overcome, looking more kind and calm, which easily was transferred to the rest, even though all he was using to cover up his identity. “I’ll like to know you, and you to know me… although I’m not so good at that… but thanks…”

At the end of his speech, his shyness came back, but the rest paid no heed to it, everyone raised their cups filled with soda or coffee and toasted for him, and by turns, every one of them said their nickname. Once that was over, all of them remained seated because, as the Awkward Boy explained to him, was the moment of the day when all of them reunited to talk in group about whatever they liked.

This time who started talking was a young boy, probably around fifteen or eighteen years old, whose nickname was Pious, he brought out a topic that almost made Teshal spit up his soda. “Yesterday the Protector was in my school!” He looked so happy and proud, more than a half of the group members watched him with deep interest, even the Awkward Boy lost all his attention he had over his new friend.

“What was he like?” asked a girl, around the age of Pious, whose eyes shinned with the mention of the Protector. Teshal began to feel really uncomfortable, there he was thinking he could have a talk with strangers about anything that didn’t bring back his doubts and pains of being The Protector. He was feeling between embarrassed, disappointed and afraid.

“Oh, he was so awesome,” hearing that being the first thing the boy said, made his racing heart almost skip a bit, more when the people in there was nodding, as if the protector was someone all of them saw already. “He showed us some amazing moves, and then spoke about last week encounter and how he guided the ships!”

Soon the conversations were about what they saw from their houses when they turned off the lights. Because every time they were sure that it was a calm mission as that, the islanders just needed to make the island disappear in the night.

13. Towel

After that, Awkward Boy was called by the others, so he asked for him to stay in there if he wasn’t feeling ready to go and talk with the rest. Now he was alone, with his almost gone soda and too much to think about.

He had complicated feelings for what the Awkward Boy said before about his past because, when he decided to come to this place, he didn’t want to meddle in anyone affairs and traumas, he was simply curious. He neither was looking for friends to talk because what does he could tell them? “Hi, I’m the protector but I never wanted to be one” or “yeah I got his problem where I’m scared about people being scared of me being too powerful or different”, maybe about “I feel I’m doing something wrong, that I’m not doing something I want but I don’t know which part.”

Of course he couldn’t tell them openly who he was, and he wasn’t even comfortable with all the clothes he had over him to cover his true identity. “I’ll need a wig… maybe some contact lenses too…” he mumbled, then remembering that he was not entirely alone, looking around if someone might had listened to him.

Even so, he knew he had many reasons to be with them because he, too, had gave up a dream. Maybe not so much as a dream because he used to work as a chemist in a pharmaceutical enterprise, not that it was his dream job but was what made him feel comfortable at the moment. What pained the most to him was that he used to have a normal and simple life, with his family and few friends, with whom he used to talk to them like every four months or so, before everything.

And then, all his life changed completely without a way to go back. He knew, that as long as he lived, he wouldn’t be back to that life never again. If successors were to be born, he knew he had to train them and be their mentor for the rest of his life, when his body become useless to training, he would maybe be able to live somewhere far and quiet. Only then he could maybe go out without being recognized by every pedestrian that saw him.

The worst-case scenario came when no successors were born. If that happened, he would be the protector until his body became useless, and even then he could imagine how the doctors and scientist would try to maintain his body in the best conditions, he even would force himself to keep being useful so the fear of being unprotected would never return to the islanders.

So what he had to talk with them? Nothing that wasn’t too depressing or too impossible to say. And he wasn’t particularly good in listening to other’s problems, he never knew how to give advices without feeling those were too obvious or useless. Does he should stay or come back any other time?

“Hey, look out!” the Awkward Boy’s voice took him out of his thoughts, making him realizes he was crushing the soda’s can until it started to come out from the hole. Luckily, everything fell on his hand and not the floor, still, his sleeve and hand were a bit soaked. “Come to the bathroom.”

“I’m sorry, I was distracted” he said while following him, he hated the stickiness the soda left, so he was glad there was a restroom where to clean himself, even if his sleeve would remain the same.

“Oh! Go ahead, let me look for the towel, I don’t know who took it”. The boy went back to the other rooms while the protector started to wash his hands.  If it weren’t because it was a soda’s can, he could had given away his identity if they discovered his abnormal strength. It had happened before, so he better starts to have his hands empty every time he was about to dwell in his own sorrows.

“Here,” the boy came back to give him the towel. “Are you ok? You looked really deep in thoughts, and I bet those weren’t good thoughts for the can to suffer from it.”

“Yeah, sorry” he said once more.

“No need to be.” The Awkward Boy looked like he wanted to ask more, but he didn’t dare, so just stayed there in silence.

“We all lost something; didn’t you say?” Teshal finally said, hanging up the towel. “I lost something I won’t ever get back, not a person but a future…” he wasn’t looking at him anymore, he needed to choose wisely his words, it was not a common occurrence to lost normality in your life. “And I’m trying to live with that fact. So don’t worry, you didn’t open old wounds with your reasons to be here”. At the end, the protector smiled to him, a smile a bit sad but bright.

12. Awkward

All the people in the flat said hi before going back to their chats, which left the protector really confused because no one introduced themselves, nor that he wanted to introduce himself with his nickname.

The boy guided him to one of the back rooms in the place, none of them had doors, the windows were adorned with curtains with simple colors and the furniture in every room was made up of some chairs, sofas and small tables, some with empty cans of soda or beer, some empty plates that could had been occupied by snacks, more than food.

“Sorry for all the mess, I’d like to lie to you and tell you that it’s not always like this but… we’re pretty messy,” he said while sweeping off some crumbs of one of the couches before seating in it. The protector kept quiet when he seated without trying to see if it was clean.

“So, what’s this place? Are they gonna sell me drugs or something? Or they’ll wait until I fall sleep before drinking whatever they’ll give me?” The last words were still leaving his mouth when the boy started to laugh really loud, making some of the others came to peep out from the entrance, for a moment the protector couldn’t tell if they’re worried of him doing something to the boy or if they wanted to know what made him laugh. Either way, he felt even more awkward as when he had to say his nickname.

“Ow man, I knew having you here would be so funny.” The boy cleaned the tears that came out from his eyes because his outburst. “Relax, we’re not even a secret society, sect or cult, we’re just us, some misfits that come to this place looking for a refuge of their daily lives”.

His explanation, Teshal thought, left a lot to be desired. He didn’t know how much of it was true, it sounded like a club of misfits from high school, a place for nerds and bullied people. But seeing that there were some women and men with more that thirty years, and even teenagers talking to some of them like they’re in their group age; made him thought thoroughly. Besides, he was able to see that in some rooms were old looking computers, shelves full of different books and magazines.

“Ok, from your face I can tell it’s not enough the cheesy description.” The boy thought for some seconds before restarting. “Most of the members you saw in the social network’s group are people who gave up in their dreams for them to have a normal and more easy life, or any other reason.”

“Some of them became hobbyist in what it could had been their dream job: hobbyist writers, painters, designers, singers, musicians, chefs, bartenders, teachers and a long etcetera of lost dreams. There the meaning of the group’s name.” To the room came a girl, her age around his own, apparently, who gave to them canned soda before leaving. Teshal was still thinking about the group’s description to remember if the girl said something or how she looked like.

“And who are you?” finally asked the protector.

“Are you willing to say what you lost?” the boy looked at him right in the eye, this time the protector turned away. “Relax, it’s not a rule, but if you want to people to open up, you need to loosen up a bit too.” He gave him a pat in the back before talking again. “Here I’m Awkward Galaxy. Yes, most of us have ridiculous names, yours, by the way, it’s awesome.”

“Uhm thanks… I guess…” He didn’t want to give him another reason to laugh hard if he was teasing him. Only that this time he looked really serious about his praise.

“And, you didn’t ask so I wan to tell you,” the Awkward boy, as Teshal decided it suited best, said while watching his soda. “I didn’t lose a dream but a person. My sister had cancer and it took her away three months ago, I was already in this group, though. Because I had to give up on college so I could work and help my parents to pay for my sister’s treatment.”

“Then you’d had given your life if that gave her more years to live?”

“Yeah, lately I can’t take off from my head that impossible desire. I don’t think that even the Protector can do that… I wonder if someone outside can... although its too late to be useful”. His usual easygoing smile came back, even if in his eyes remained the sorrow.

11. Thesaurus

After two weeks since he met with that weird boy, he didn’t have the chance search for the name he gave him before leaving. He even forgot all about it, once again, until the second Sunday, after waking up at noon. He was still feeling the pain from his Saturday’s training when bits of his conversation with the boy popped up inside his head. Just when he decided to not come out from the basement, neither stood up from his bed, he was completely awake trying to remember what the boy said to look for.

He remembered the “etc.” part, but not what came after that. Using the word in the searching site wasn’t really useful for all the sites talking about the meaning of it. After thirty minutes without successful results, he went upstairs to eat something and drink some water; his family was watching the TV at that moment, so he went and seated with them for some minutes until the other word came back to him.

Without losing time, he searched for it, only to find that he needed an open account from the most popular social network. He thought about using his brother’s, however because he didn’t know why he needed a profile, he decided to make a fake account. He used to have a normal account before all the change in his life, he didn’t miss it, but he recognized that sometimes it was really useful.

Ignoring the movie they were watching, he focused in the creation of his fake profile, even creating a new mail account for it. As for his name, he stopped for a bit without knowing what to use until he searched for a list of the most unused words, finding his new alias: “Thesaurus”. It almost sounded as his real name, plus it was a dictionary, and he used to be really good with synonyms back at his elementary school’s days.

With a mysterious looking cat as his profile photo, he entered the page of “etc. lost”. It had something like fifty members, you couldn’t see the address until you asked to be admitted into the group, so he did, having to wait two hours after filling their simple questionnaire:

• 1. How did you find this group? Someone gave me the name to look for it. 
• 2. Why do you want to join? Because I’m curious and because that person said I could find him there. 
• 3. What do you know about this group? Not a single thing. 
• 4. If you’re using your real name and profile, we won’t accept you. Are you sure with your current account? Yes. 

All looked as a secret sect or something, but he wasn’t feeling scared of it, after all, the boy promised that there it wasn’t needed his name or his past.

The moment his solicitude was accepted, he looked for the address and left the house, again wearing all his incognito clothes. The address was from the neighboring city, he had to use his superhuman speed to reach the place: a normal looking building without signs. The door was open, surely it was a rented place for offices or apartments, he couldn’t be sure from the outside, so he went in to the third floor where the address stated.

Once again, the door was simple and unsuspicious, he stayed there and heard from outside before deciding to knock. The only sound he was able to hear were of people speaking calmly, a bit of music and some crunchy chew. After he knocked, it appeared that all the people inside became quiet, some of them got to the door to look from the spyhole.

“Who are you?” asked a voice from inside, a woman’s voice.

“Thesaurus…” his name online sounded mysterious and good, saying it aloud was so embarrassing and stupid, however he hid this uneasiness. The voices inside discussed for some seconds until they opened and let him in.

“It’s really you, anonymous!” exclaimed the same boy that gave him the name. Now that there was a good light source, he saw how he was around his same age but a bit taller, his hair was a short, although he had a long ponytail coming from above his nape. His smile was big when he passed his arm over his shoulders to guide him inside the apartment where fifteen persons were reunited and looking at him with curiosity.

He saw that all of them were a great diversity in sizes, ages and appearances. Now he felt out of place with all his incognito style, but it was needed. He only hoped they wouldn’t be scared of him, or worried.