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.