Alex got into his door, locked it, and leaned back against the wooden fra, much like the last ti he returned from a Rift.
His state, though, was much different from the last ti. Last Friday, he returned ho in a state of panic and was injured after a scuffle with the lowliest of monsters. This ti, he was calm, relatively uninjured, and fully clothed.
He gazed down at the wand in his hand. During the drive ho, he'd kept it in his lap, absently tracing the etched runes with his fingers. The feeling reminded him of getting a new piece of expensive technology, like his drawing tablet. It felt so sleek and real. He couldn't wait to explore its capabilities and learn everything he could about it.
He sighed and fished his phone from his pocket, having turned it on during his drive back.
Past the cracked screen, he saw ssages from Mark and Sarah, each having texted him several tis on his longer drive ho. It was clear that they were worried about him, but he had decided that he needed to give himself the drive to recompose himself. Even though things went much better in this Rift, he couldn’t get over the fact that he’d had to fight for his life several tis in what felt like the last 24 hours.
How long was I gone for? Man, that ti-dilation effect from the higher rarity Rift is going to ss up for a while.
He fumbled to unlock his phone and did so ntal math. It was now 8 pm, much later than he’d intended to be gone. He’d left his apartnt that morning at around 8 am. Even though he’d been gone for a full 12 hours, he’d lived through sothing closer to 18 or 20 hours, with his ti spent within the Rift being counted as double.
He sent a quick text to Mark and Sarah in a group chat, letting them know he was back.
Alex: Hey guys, sorry I went a bit dark. Everything is fine. I’m at my place now. I know we were going to et at Marks, but just co over whenever. I’ve got to shower up.
After sending the text, he shoved the phone back into his pocket.
He glanced around the room and noted that it was pretty clean, with the exception of a few dishes still in the living room. He walked over and picked them up while fixing the pillows and giving the counter a quick wipe. It made him laugh a few tis at how sore his muscles were. Simple tasks like leaning over to fix the blanket on his couch or pick up the remote from the floor caused him to wince in pain.
People that go to the gym just walk around feeling like this all the ti?
Not wanting to waste any more ti, Alex moved his new Rift gear and pack into his closet and hopped into the shower. Alex knew that when his friends arrived, they would just let themselves in.
As the water heated up, Alex caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror, which made him double-take. While he didn’t often think that he had a manly appearance, Alex couldn’t help but smirk at himself in the reflection. This was a look he’d never seen before.
His brown eyes were a bit bloodshot but looked hard and serious. His face had so smudges of dirt on it and a bit of 5 o’clock shadow was beginning to show around his chin. He also had a scratch on his cheek that he didn’t rember getting.
I look… different.
Looking at the rest of his body, he gave a slight frown. Alex had always been a skinny kid but gained so unwelco weight during college. While he wasn’t fat by any ans, he hated the way his belly looked soft.
He jumped into the shower and washed away the gri and sweat. While soaking in the warm water, he tried to think through what he would say to Mark and Sarah.
A short while later, he’d put on so clothes and was in the kitchen making himself a bottle of water when he heard the electric keypad to his door being activated.
“Dude! Where the hell have you been?” Mark asked before he was even fully in the door. “Sarah’s been freaking out.”
“Shut up. You were freaking out more than I was.” Alex could hear Sarah’s voice and see Mark stumble into the door. He could imagine Sarah shoving him from behind.
“I was… busy,” he said laly. “Sorry, I should’ve called.”
“Yeah, I tried to call you a few tis, but it just kept going to voicemail,” Mark said.
“Uh, I’ve been trying to ss with my phone’s Do Not Disturb mode when doing things with my family. You guys know how my mom gets if I’m on the phone.”
Neither of those are totally a lie… Just not very relevant to today’s situation.
Mark walked in and stood across from Alex on the other side of the island countertop, while Sarah walked toward the coffee table in front of the TV and set down two plastic bags.
“Family stuff?” Mark asked. His eyebrows ca together a bit, “Dude, I was worried you got mixed up in one of those Awakened fights from the news.”
Alex shrugged and scratched the back of his head, unable to et his friend's gaze. He went back to pouring the water into his bottle, “Yea my parents needed so help around the house and when Jake showed up the whole dynamic changed.”
Fuck. That one was totally a lie.
He felt horrible about lying, and he knew he wasn’t even a good liar. If it weren’t for his parent’s reputation for being unreasonable, he wasn’t even sure what he would give as an excuse.
He could see Sarah narrow her eyes from the corner of his vision, though she stayed quiet.
Sensing the montary lull in conversation, Mark launched into an excited recap of the latest Rift sightings. “Well, if you were at your mom’s, you probably didn’t see that video from Philly? There was this one awakened-guy that was shooting lightning bolts from his eyes! I an, we’ve seen laser beams from eyes in movies, but literally, lightning was shooting out of this guy's face!” Mark laughed, turned back to the open section of the connected living room, and flopped onto the couch.
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“I didn’t see that one. Was it on Nexus Hub?”
“Yeah, I’ll see if I can pull it up.”
Mark found the video in short order and tossed his phone to Alex.
Sarah unpacked the Chinese food from containers and laid them out on the coffee table.
“Man, how aweso would it be to have so powers like that?” Mark stared at the ceiling while lying on the couch and raised his hand into the air, no doubt imagining so kind of magical light show.
“Do- do you think you’d go and try to get powers if you could?” Alex asked, failing miserably to be casual with his tone.
“What? Right now? No way, dude. Seriously the death toll is supposed to be insane. If I could just like mosey down to the super market and pick up sothing that would give powers, though? Hell yeah!”
Before Alex could answer, Sarah cut in. “Mark, cut it out. I actually wanted to ntion that to you guys tonight. Stay away from this stuff. It’s seriously dangerous. I can’t get into specifics, but we’re starting to get people in my clinic who are being affected by these Awakened. Their lives are getting torn apart.”
Alex felt his stomach twist. He knew that Sarah’s clinic worked with veterans suffering from PTSD.
“So, so of the soldiers that are coming back…” He said, letting it hang in the air.
Sarah nodded her head. She pushed her blond hair from her eyes as she kept unpacking the food containers.
Mark scoffed, but Sarah pressed on, “I’m serious. If you could hear so of the stories I get… even from the civilian side of things. The nightmares people are having… They are worried that the walls of their house might blow up again or that debris could land on their car while driving down the road.”
Their overzealous friend did seem to temper his excitent after that.
“Okay, I can definitely see how it would be a problem. Wow, they never ntion any of that in the Marvel movies…”
Alex patted his shoulder and decided it was a good ti to try and change the subject.
“So,” he intentionally dragged out the word, hoping to make light of the sowhat tense atmosphere. “Have either of you put up Christmas decorations yet? I feel like the whole city is slacking this year with all the Rift craziness going on.”
Sarah blinked at him, her ntal gears shifting. She smiled and shook her head. “Oh gosh, you’re so right! My parents have been hounding about getting a tree up, but I just haven’t had the ti…”
Alex could feel the tension in the room ease as they fell into so familiar conversation about the upcoming holidays and picked at cold Chinese take-out. He sank back into the couch, feeling the familiar comforts of his ho and the closeness of his friends settle over him. Alex nodded along as Mark ranted about their infamous ugly sweater party from a few years ago, saying that the three of them should try to organize another event this year.
After a while, Alex got up to reheat so of the food that he still wanted to nibble on. Over the hum of the microwave, he could hear Mark and Sarah talking to each other in low voices.
“… seems really off, ya know?”
“...You know how he gets when he’s…”
His shoulders sagged, and he scratched his forehead as the guilt ford a pit in his stomach. He stared at the spinning container of reheating noodles and the faint reflection on the microwave's surface.
This isn’t going to last.
“Alright, spill.”
Alex had closed the door behind Mark after he had decided to walk ho.
“Huh?” Alex said. He turned and found Sarah standing from her spot on the floor in front of the wooden living room table.
“What’s going on with you, Alex?” Her voice was more firm than normal.
“I told you, just so family stuff.” He said.
Alex tried his best to seem casual as he waved his hand and smiled.
“I don’t think so. That story doesn’t add up. You didn’t even tell us what you helped them with; you just said ‘sothing. ‘”
Alex opened his mouth to reply, but Sarah cut him off.
“Alex, I can read it all over your face. You were only partially in the conversations all night.” She sighed and walked to him before putting her hand on his arm. “You know you can trust , right? Whatever’s going on, I’m here for you, no judgnt.”
He swallowed hard and avoided the sincerity in her eyes. Part of him really wanted to share with Sarah. With their past and her knowledge from working as a psychologist, it normally helped him a lot to talk to her about his feelings.
But this felt different.
It might feel good to offload so of this and share it with soone, but she’s clearly not a fan of everything that’s happening with the Rifts. What if she thinks I’m a freak or sothing now?
“I- I can’t. I’m sorry, Sarah.”
“Try .” She challenged.
He shook his head and took a step toward the kitchen to create so space.
“Alright, I’ll make a deal with you then. Tell the truth, and if you say it’s your parents again, I’ll give your mom a call and check out the story. If it’s really what’s happening, our next group sushi outing is on . If it’s not, you tell what’s going on.”
Alex stopped mid-step and turned to face her, knowing he’d been caught.
Shit. I an I want to tell them anyway right. Do I just co out and tell her? Fuck, lies really set her off.
He sighed. “Can you let it be? I don’t want to lie, but I don’t really want to tell you guys yet either.”
The look on Sarah’s face softened and she looked at him pleadingly. There was a pause before she said, “Yes. If you really want to, I won’t keep pressing. But, I really want to know. I can see how stressed you are. Are you sure you can’t tell .”
Alex was surprised to find a stubborn sort of sensation rise up in his chest. Unlike most of the confrontations he’d been in during his adult life, he felt like he could absolutely put his foot down in that mont and tell her no.
But is that actually what I want?
He sighed and decided to cave in.
“Alright, alright. Fine. You’re right. I wasn’t at my parents.” He said.
He began walking to his bedroom, and as she was about to say sothing, he held up his hand to forestall her questions.
Returning a mont later, he held out his hand and heard her sharp intake of breath.
“Oh…”
“Yeah.”
There was a tense silence as he held the wand out between them.
“I- I beca an Awakened a few days ago.” The words ca out slowly at first before he began to rush in his explanation. “The Rift appeared a few blocks away from last Friday. I didn’t really plan to go over there; it was just so close, and I was so curious, you know? Like- Sarah, it was seriously an entirely different world when I went in there. Now I’ve got this System and skills and a really stupid Trait…”
He rambled on for a few minutes, Sarah listening patiently and nodding at the right tis.
“Alex, this is incredible.” She smiled at him slightly, but the concern was clear in her eyes. “But it sounds so dangerous. You can’t keep throwing yourself into these situations. We’re already seeing cases equivalent to PTSD from active war zones. People are coming in with night terrors, panic attacks, and severe anxiety or depression. These are real life-and-death situations.”
You think I don’t know that?
“They are terrifying. I know how real it all is. But sothing about it keeps pulling back in. I want more, Sarah. I’m sorry if you don’t get it.”
”Oh, I know you well enough to at least get an idea of what’s going through your head, Alex.” Sarah smiled at him wryly. “But you know I’m not going to just start analyzing you and giving you advice unless you want it. Ask, and I’ll be here for you. If you need help working through any of this or your feelings, you just need to let know.”
So of the tension left Alex’s shoulders.
Of course, she’d offer to be there for . Fuck.
He scratched his head. “What about Mark… you know, he’s interested in this stuff too. But I have a feeling he’d be pissed at if I told him that I awakened.”
“I an, yeah. I feel like you should tell him too; he’ll want to know. But you know he’s not going to pressure you to talk.” There was a short pause and she said, “Like I do.”
They both laughed and so of the tension bled from the mont.
“I won’t tell him, but you really should soon.”
He nodded.
“Alex,” she said. When he made eye contact, she said in a soft tone, “No more lies, okay?”
He nodded and gave her a hug. At the ti, he had only been thinking of himself. Because of her past, he knew how much lies and the truth ant to Sarah.
I really should have told her.
“Okay, no more secrets. I promise.”
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