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Dad and his friends would pelt them with all manner of horrible things, from tomatoes to rocks, and yet they stood firm. Loathe as I was to admit it, I could really admire their conviction as well as their passive resistance. Practicing the teachings of Jesus much more than we were.
Augustus really didn’t seem like a bad person. No matter what his beliefs might be. Other than his outburst the night before, I’d never actually experienced him acting out aggressively. Even if his shout of ‘the power of Satan compels you’ did keep me from sleeping.
I liked him well enough when we first met and I didn’t know who he was. I hoped we might be able to get back to that. Particularly if he didn’t find out who I was. Though there was a lot from the past and a thick cloud of doubts that made me skeptical this could happen. The Bible said to love your enemy but it was easier said than done. It was the world’s eternal fate at stake.
The sound of a click shook me back to reality.
Oh, no!
He was coming out of his room?
How was that possible?
I could still hear him when I went to sleep the night before.
Did he really just wake up after no more than three hours sleep?
Oh, my Lord, he was a machine!
Before I had time to fully contemplate the full implications of this new information, I was already running. Flying as fast as I could back into my room. The door clicked firmly. Fumbling in the mostly dark, I grabbed the chair and put it back in the position, not really knowing why. It was like the people who had to open and close the door three times before leaving a room.
There was no real reason to it, but I felt compelled just the same. I had to protect myself. Though from what I had honestly no idea.Chapter Ten - AugustusA storm cloud hung. Not only the one over the campus but another, smaller one, directly over my head. Blasting thunderbolts at my barely waking head, like in an old cartoon.
The night hadn’t been good. The tricky muses deciding to take up arms and I, subsequently, took up my pen, metaphorically anyway. Composing an album’s worth of lyrics which, at that moment, looked like poetry. I still had yet to buy or learn guitar but that was just a technicality.
My hilariously out-of-date laptop was only one element in the total rebellion taking place. When the spirit calls, I knew enough to answer. The only real question being exactly whose spirit it was.
As so often happened in such instances, the triumph of creation was soon replaced by the terror of fear. I’d been having nightmares for a while. An embarrassing fact that I’d tried to keep secret because only kids were supposed to have nightmares. Or so I thought at the time.
It was Amelia who’d figure it out. Hearing me thrash as she snuck to the kitchen for a midnight snack. Sweetheart that she was, she did her best to help. Even though she was only twelve at the time.
Talking actually helped. Not only did it make me feel less alone, I had a better idea of what was causing the trouble in my skull.
Life hadn’t been easy then and there were a lot of things that happened despite my parents’ best efforts. There is only so much shit you could see before it started having an effect when you’re young.
I started working on my head, trying to deal with everything. I told Jax what was happening, and she did her best to help and things got better. Right up until it happened.
Since then the only thing I saw when I closed my eyes was her falling. The warm, vivid blood splashing on me, Jax trying to speak despite the damage to her lungs.
It was the angriest shower in history. Everything I’d been holding came out in a first full wave. Aggression rechanneled into what could only be considered self-harm. Rinsing the blood from the tiles, I bandaged my knuckles and dried off.
The apartment stood empty and quiet. Rachel must have still been asleep, leaving me functionally alone in the apartment. One of the few advantages to getting up as early as I did, despite the lack of sleep the night before. I worked it out once and on a good night I got maybe five hours of sleep. Three hours generally being more usual.
I generally liked being around people but it was also nice to be alone. Not only in the crowd but seemingly in the world. The apocalyptic, last person in the world feeling held a certain appeal for me. Most of what I knew would be gone, yes. There were lots of people I would miss, but there was also great potential, at least at the beginning.
