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Nayome realized they had been standing there quietly for a few moments, listening to each other’s breathing. “Bal?” she asked quietly.
“Yes?”
“I wish you were here with me,” She said, remembering the feeling of waking up in his strong arms. She let that longing give a respite to the fear and uncertainty battling for dominance in her mind. She thought she heard a wistful sigh from Bal in response.God, I Miss him already, and I barely know him.
“Nayome—” Bal hesitated before he continued. “I may need to bring in Gabe, if this Agent knows too much. We can’t risk—”
“No,” Nayome said, not caring that she interrupted him.No.She remembered the searing pain that split through her skull at hisinfluenceall too well, and felt a healthy dose of fear at the thought of Gabe getting involved.
“Nayome—”
“I don’t want Gabe to know how much I know, Bal. No. He would try to take it all away.”
“I won’t let him. I’ll find a way to convince him you are—”
“That I’m what? Bal, you don’t even know for sure that you’re right about this…that you’re right about me.”
“Iamsure. He can help to protect you too. Hewillhelp,” Bald said confidently. But Nayome wasn’t buying it.
“Let me talk to the Agent first,” Nayome said, letting some false bravado into her tone. “It might be nothing, then we can leave Gabe out of it.”
Nayome heard Bal let out a long frustrated sigh. “Alright,” he agreed, but sounded reluctant. “Call me as soon as the agent contacts you again, and we will go from there.”
“Promise me, Bal. No Gabe.”
“I promise,” Bal agreed. “Now, you need to promise me something.”
“What is it?” Nayome asked, shaken from the thought of Gabe showing up here in New York, coming for her memories.
“You need to remember you aren’t like everyone else. If something feels off, you need to protect yourself. Call me right away, I can help—even from a distance.”
“Deal,” Nayome smiled, feeling comforted despite the tension in her body. She wondered, not for the first time, if she was making a mistake trusting Bal. The world hadn’t made any sense since she had met him, and she couldn’t tell if he was the cause of that, or if he was the only lifeline she had in the chaos.
After they said goodnight, Nayome fixed herself a cup of chamomile tea and settled in to watch something mindless on TV, in an attempt to distract her from the helpless feeling of dread that had crept back in. Spotting the old, slightly worse for wear box that was still sitting on the counter, Nayome grabbed it and flipped the lid open.
Reaching in, she sunk her hands into a soft, pastel knit blanket. It was frayed at the edges from being well used, but Nayome couldn’t resist pulling it up and rubbing the velvet soft knit against her cheek. Nostalgia was a powerful thing, Nayome thought as she carefully folded the blanket back up and set it down next to her on the couch. Visions of her childhood swam behind her eyes as she recalled doing just this on many evenings when she had felt alone.
There were a few other trinkets in the box, but Nayome’s eyes were drawn to the envelope, yellowed with age, that contained a handwritten letter. The only correspondence she had received from her biological mom. It had been a simple letter, but it had been full of love. Nayome could recall reading it over and over again when she was younger. It wasn’t a lot, but it had helped her deal with the pain of not knowing where she came from. It explained in brief how her mom hadn’t been able to take care of her alone, and wanted her to have a better life. Nayome was sure her mother would have been happy with how things ended up. The Millers had taken her in and treated her as their own, loved her unconditionally. Thinking about them, and the car accident that had taken them both from the world too soon still brought angry, devastated tears to Nayome’s eyes. Losing your parents too soon…she didn’t think that would be something she would ever fully heal from.
Nayome had reached out to the adoption agency when she was a teenager, to see if she could meet her biological parents, but her mother had requested no contact. That had been the end of that line. Nayome had managed to track her down on social media after that, it wasn’t too difficult to find people these days when you knew their name, but had respected her wishes and not reached out.
Reaching in, Nayome pulled out a small velvet jewellery box. It was a simple, classic looking box with brass accents. The velvet was thin, as though it had worn out with age. She knew what she would find inside, intimately familiar with the contents, but she couldn’t resist flipping the small box open. Spring loaded, it popped open easily and the lid remained propped up for her, as she ran a finger down the delicate gold chain. Hanging at the end of the necklace was a small chunk of amber. It was smooth, but not perfectly round, and had a tiny insect encased in the center, preserved within the amber.
Leaning in for a closer look, Nayome could make out the delicate wing pattern, perfectly preserved in the amber. She had always thought it was an odd piece to leave a baby, a little bug encased in amber. But now that she was older, she could appreciate the beauty of it. Her mother’s note had said it had been given to her as a gift, and she wanted to pass something cherished along to her daughter.
Unclasping the necklace, Nayome reached around, moving her thick length of hair to the side, fastening it. The piece landed so that the amber was settled in the center of her chest just above the gentle swell of her breasts. The slight weight of it made her feel grounded, somehow, and Nayome resolved to wear it more often.
