Supernova

by Mia Rodriguez

Chapter 28: Continuing On

  I swiftly pull out my slingshot and rocks from my leather pouch. The beast is unwavering in its path towards us. The stone hits it between the eyes and it falls to the side as if stunned. I quickly re-load, but then I hear a shot and turn around to find Claudio with a rifle in his hands. The wild boar isn’t ever going to get up again.

  “I got it!” he yells. “But not before you did, Supernova.”

  I solemnly put the slingshot back in my pocket as Claudio strides over to the dead animal.

  “You’re very powerful,” whispers Pilar. “Your slingshot abilities are only a small part of who you are. Learn to use all your power.”

  Claudio takes the wild boar to the homestead where it is carved, salted, and prepared to be eaten the next day. Royce frowns when he learns what happened.

  ”Didn’t you see or hear the boar coming?” His face is scrunched in concern.

  “We were having an important talk. I guess we weren’t paying attention to what was happening around us,” Pilar explains, her voice with a lamenting tone.

  I nod quietly. “It happened so fast.”

  Royce shakes his head disconcertedly. “We’ve been making too many mistakes. People and animals surprising us—it’s not good.”

  “No,” I say simply.

  His dark eyes flicker towards mine. “A tragedy could’ve easily happened.”

  “Nova is too good with her slingshot,” Pilar interjected. “She kept us safe.”

  “We’re letting too many distractions mess up our focus. We have to keep on our toes,” he states.

  I nod solemnly. “I agree.”

  He stays eerily silent and reserved for the next hour when darkness falls. I try not to be too anxious about what it means. Maybe the danger is getting to him? Maybe he’s sorry he embarked on such an overwhelming journey where he even had to leave his cousin behind? Maybe he wonders what it would’ve been like to stay with QT100 on easy street?

  He says he detests her, but maybe he’s exaggerating.

  Pilar leaves him alone—not trying to get into his thoughts as she’s done in the past when he’s climbed into himself. She no longer flirts with him but smiles at me as if we have a secret we share. Royce seems relieved at not getting so much attention from her.

  As thoughts of what she and I had discussed in the clearing clutter my mind, Royce announces we are continuing on our journey first thing in the morning.

  “At first light,” he states.

  We sleep on the floor of Claudio’s shack. It looks surprisingly like Meggy’s one with no furniture and very meager things. I’m beginning to realize that all the shacks are this way. Material comforts are reserved for the very few—the privileged people in this world.

  Pilar tells me, “Good night,” before shutting her eyes next to me. She hadn’t angled herself to be near Royce. It feels good to have such a good friend.

  I delve into a deep sleep with this thought.

  “Let’s go,” Royce tells me as he gently shakes me. The orange of the dawn comes through the slat-breaks of the wood in the shack.

  “Okay.”

  Pilar is already awake even though everyone else sleeps soundly. After Royce and I grab our backpacks, we’re curious as to why she leaves hers alone. She motions us to follow her outside.

  “I’m sorry, guys, but I’m staying,” she sadly informs us.

  “Staying?” I ask incredulously.

  “Remember when I told you I’d be going with you part of the way?”

  “Yeah,” Royce answers solemnly.

  Her eyes turn shiny and wet. “I’m afraid this is where I get off.”

  “You do?” I ask, a painful knot stuck in my throat.

  “I wish I could go all the way to headquarters with you, but I can’t,” she expresses, tears rolling down her face.

  “I understand. Thanks for everything,” Royce says, looking as downcast as Pilar and I.

  I push my tears back. “We couldn’t have made it this far without you.”

  “I have to be at work tomorrow,” Pilar explains, her voice shaky. “If I’m not there, they’ll go looking for me at home. I’ve had several write-ups already, and they said they weren’t putting up with anything from me anymore. . . I’m so sorry.”

  “Its okay, Pilar. Don’t apologize for what’s out of your hands.”

  “I hate doing this to you.”

  “Pilar,” Royce says soothingly, “Nova and I will be fine—thanks largely to what you’ve been showing us.”

  “If only I could go with you but I can’t.”

  “How will you get home?” asks Royce, concerned.

  “Yes, how will you?” I interject, also very worried.

  “Claudio will go with me. We can take shortcuts. We don’t have to be afraid of being caught. We’ve got permits, and we’ll show up fine on the identity scanners.”

  Royce looks relieved as he warmly embraces her. “Bye, Pilar. Thank Claudio for me.”

  “I will.”

  “Goodbye, my friend,” I barely get out with a cracking voice as I hug her after Royce had stepped away from her. “I hope to see you again someday.”

  “You can bet on it,” she states as she sniffles.

  “Pilar, you should be the Supernova and not me,” I blurt with deep sincerity. “You’re a much better person than I am.”

  “Don’t be talking stupid,” she retorts, smiling. “Take up your mantle.”

  “I’ll try.”

  “Remember to be open.”

  “I will.”

  Royce and I step away from her without turning to look back. We are well aware that Pilar is staring after us with a painful expression on her face.

  “She’ll be fine,” whispers Royce.

  I nod solemnly.

  “So will we,” he states.

  We head towards the colorful sunrise. Nature is waking up. It’s indescribably odd to be going on without Pilar, as if a piece of an important puzzle is missing. She had become an integral part of our ensemble–much more than Peter I have to admit. I’m certain Royce is thinking the same thing I am but we must go on. We have to.

  After we move past the charred remains of a tree split wide open, apparently from a lethal strike of lightning, Royce eyes it carefully and turns to me. “What was Pilar talking about?”

  The abrupt question startles me. “Huh?”

  “Pilar told you to be open. What did she mean?”

  “She thinks I’m closed off.”

  “What do you think?

  “I guess Pilar is right.”

  Royce’s eyebrows come together in deep thought. “With parents who are dead, it’s kind of hard not to be that way.”

  “Are you talking about yourself?” I blurt, surprised that I had let the question leave my head.

  “Yes.”

  I nod with deep understanding. “If my parents had lived, I’m sure I’d be a different person.”

  “Me too.”

  “I guess it’s no use lamenting the past,” I murmur.

  “Nope.”

  “Pilar thinks that if I open myself more I can get in touch with my supposed Supernova abilities.”

  He eyes me intently. “She’s right.”

  “You think so?” I meet his gaze.

  “I know so.”

  What would you say if I told you that she wants me to open up about how I feel about you? I ask in my mind.

  “Pilar is very smart,” I express.

  “She’s one of the smartest and bravest people I’ve ever met.”

  I nod. “True.”

  “Looks like that talk she had with you yesterday did you some good.”

  “It did me a lot of good.”

  A fat drop of water splatters on my face. Startled, I look to the sky. Dark clouds have formed, and a burst of rain starts pounding down. Royce and I scramble under a leafy, tall tree for cover. It’s one of the few trees left in a vast clearing wher
e most of the others have been chopped down. We sit on a large, fallen branch when we realize the shower isn’t letting up.

  He pulls two apples from his backpack, leftovers from when I had brought them down with my slingshot. As we start munching on them, the heavy rain cascades all around us in a circle. Such beauty and tranquility robs me of my breath. I try not to be so aware of Royce’s nearness to me, of his overwhelming presence. Instead, I stare at his rough hands—calloused with the work they’ve had to do. My own hands are calloused too. They stopped being the hands of the privileged ones a long time go.

  He notices where my eyes are at. “I guess we’ve worked them hard,” he says, softly touching my hand with his fingers. The warmth bolts into my skin, shocking it, and I abruptly pull away.

  “Sorry,” he murmurs.

  “You don’t understand—”

  “I didn’t mean to touch you.”

  I sigh deeply. “Royce, it was okay. It’s just that I’m kinda freaky. I’m not used to anyone touching me.”

  “You’re fake parents?”

  I nod solemnly. “They were very cold. I’m not used to warmth.”

  “I understand.”

  “You do?” I ask hopefully.

  “You’d be surprised at how far I can see inside of you,” he murmurs.

  As the rain calms down, noises reverberate from a distance. Automatically silencing ourselves, we strain to hear.

  “Where do you think they went, colonel?” asks a voice.

  “They’re here somewhere,” answers a booming voice as it gets closer to Royce’s and my location.

  “We’ll get them.”

  Royce and I abruptly snap our eyes towards each other. There is no time to run. The clearing is too wide and the voices are very near.

  What’ll we do?