Chapter 26:

Interlude 3: Nia - To Be By Your Side:

Xorsis : Invasion\Lost


Interlude 3: Nia - To Be By Your Side:

Nia didn’t remember, and could only guess how long ago it was, but it was one day in her childhood, back then in those days - back then when her parents were there. They both loved her dearly. It was the ordinary life for her back then, nothing stood out in particular. Everyday was the same, with two dear parents always being there for her. Her grandmother too was an energetic old woman helping them out.

Those were the happiest days in her life.

But one day, something special happened. A little boy, around her age came to their house. There was an older brother of the boy outside, talking with her parents. Nia didn’t understand what they were talking about, but guessing by their serious faces and nodding, she thought it was something for the adults, and so she didn’t bother talking to them, though she was very curious.

The older boy finally left, bowing many times to her parents, saying ‘thank you’ repeatedly. The little boy stood at a corner of the house nervously. Then her parents approached him, and hugged him. The boy was crying. Nia didn’t understand what was going on, but she didn’t like seeing others cry. And so, she reached him too. Stretching her hand, she flashed a smile.

“What’s your name?” she asked.

The boy looked at her in surprise.

“I’m Nia,” Nia said, “What’s your name?”

“N-Naa. I’m… I’m Aez.”

“A-Aez,” she uttered with difficulty.

“Let’s play!” she smiled.

Her parents were sitting silently, watching them.

Finally, her father said, laughing, “Yay! Let’s play all together!”

Aez had stopped crying, and said with a small smile, “Yes.”

***

That one year was the most precious to her. That one year, countless days playing with her father and Aez, the delicious rare dishes that her mother cooked; messing up the walls with crayons and pencils with them, drawing stick figures and writing numbers.

That one year, where they went around the city, visited different places at different times. She could barely remember those memories. But they were there. She was sure. Those days happened.

Even if there were no pictures of them, even if there was no record of them anywhere - they were there.

But things changed when on one rainy dawn, her parents set out. Nia was still sleepy, but her grandmother shook her awake. One last time, her parents hugged her.

“Always be a good girl,” her mother said, caressing her.

“We’ll play more once we come back,” her father said, smiling.

But they never returned.

She didn’t know why, but Aez too, stopped visiting them. Nia asked her grandmother why it was so, but her grandmother didn’t care about the issue, and said it could be because he had become busy with his academics. Maybe it would be better for Nia to focus on hers too.

Nia didn’t know what to do. Her grandmother was really nice, but she wasn’t the best playmate. So she turned to the vast library in her mother’s room. Her grandmother happily let her take a few books, and Nia found peace in between the pages, diving into the world of adventures.

One long year had passed. She believed them, she waited for them everyday. The nursery school had opened, she saw the parents of other kids. And she waited longingly, for the day when they’d come to take her home from the school too, like the others’ parents did.

One day, there was a special event. Nia didn’t know what it was; but they all wore black. Her grandmother was crying. But she didn’t understand. She wanted to ask, but she felt like she’d bother her, so she didn’t. Everyone was talking about her parents.

“Your parents were good people, they were very brave people.”

“Silent heroes of Dottonex.”

“They were the kindest too, I remember…”

“Nia, remember them. Don't ever let them down.”

Why? Why was everyone talking about them? Nia didn’t know, but unknowingly, tears had streamed down her cheeks. She wanted to get closer to the stone graves. Whose names were there? But her grandmother held her back.

“Let’s go home,” she said through her tears. Nia didn’t ask anything.

They’d come back one day, right? They would, they would… Everyone was lying, they were wrong! Her father promised her… and she came up with new new things to play when he’d come back.

The cold winter breezes passed, and summer had arrived. Nia was admitted to a primary girls’ high school. There were many kids. Nia tried to talk to them, she was nice to them. But they all had a pitiful glance towards her. Nia didn’t like it.

She also didn’t like how their parents would be there with them.

Why? Why had her parents left her? Was whatever they wanted to do… was it more important?

But her grandmother used to be there, and so she started to get used to it. There was a strange hollowness in the world around her. Something - no, they were missing.

It wasn’t depressing to the level that she wanted to die, but there was an emptiness. She disliked it.

And to cope with that, she talked to herself, she read books, she wanted to know more and more. That was when she heard the voice in her head. She didn’t name her as ‘Nes’ then, but she knew that there was someone in her head whom she could talk to. Nia didn’t tell anyone about it, but she liked the voice, and it stayed.

Eventually, the primary school ended. Nia found herself aged thirteen. She was admitted to the co-ed high school nearest to them. She assured her grandmother, it would be fine. She would be able to walk alone.

Her grandmother was starting to get sickly, she realised. Her legs would be sore many days, but she’d still be up, doing all chores. Nia felt bad about her, but her grandmother didn’t let her help and snapped whenever she wanted to.

“Spend your time with the academics and become a good student,” her grandmother would say, “I’m still good. You don’t have to be worrying about me now!”

The new school was better than the previous one. There was a huge playground, and she noticed boys and girls playing volleyball, fencing and many other games. Nia didn’t know anyone yet. But it was only a few days until she got herself amid a few friends. They didn’t ask twice about her parents, but they didn’t show any pitiful glance at her. It was much better indeed. She was beginning to like it here.

She signed up for many school activities; sports was her favourite though. Her grandmother liked that fact so much that she had cooked special dishes on the day Nia was announced as one of the best players of the volleyball team.

Studies were interesting too, but among all the subjects, Nia liked history the most. She remembered briefly that her mother used to tell her stories about many historical places; of the peace-loving Estoycans, of the small nation Pensylan, and the huge old prosperous country Crilania.

There was a huge world outside of Dottonex, and she found Dottonex City to be quite large already!

Nia didn’t know whether she’d get to visit all the countries or not, but she wanted to know about them.

Though, overall, she felt volleyball was much better than studying.

One day, while walking back from the practice session, she noticed a familiar face in the crowd.

It was a boy; he walked hurriedly to the science laboratory, which could be seen from the playground. The boy paid no attention to anyone around him and went up there. His hair was black and bushy, and it was rather untidy. He wore square spectacles.

Zeny, her best friend, elbowed her. Nia looked at her and found her smirking. “Fancy that boy?” she asked, laughing.

“He seems familiar,” Nia shrugged. “I could be wrong though.”

“Geez, you don’t know him? Oh of course, you wouldn’t know, you are barely present in the science laboratories.”

“Come on, it’s not like it’s my fault!” Nia laughed, “We have practice sessions then all right.”

“Yeah, the practice of bunking classes and idling around. All right.

“That’s Aez Emer,” Zeny said, “He’s the most brilliant student, he aces every exam and scores at the top. And he’s pathetic at sports,” she sniggered.

“Aez Emer… Wait. Aez?”

“You look awfully excited.”

“I’ll go talk with him.” She started to walk fast towards the laboratory, and Zeny followed her under compulsion.

“Hold on, hold on, do you know him or something?” Zeny was surprised, “He wouldn’t like us! His kind, they love books only and not the presence of people!”

“But I know him,” Nia said, not slowing down, “We were childhood friends! It’s just that I don’t know where he lives, or what happened to him all the time because he stopped contacting us all of a sudden.”

She finally stopped in front of the laboratory. The boy inside was alarmed. When she opened her mouth to speak, there was suddenly an announcement. The volleyball team was called to assemble in the grounds. Another practice session would take place. Nia groaned, as Zeny dragged her away.

“Now, of all times?” she exasperated a sigh.

“Well, it was a break after all,” Zeny replied, “Don’t tell me you have messed up your schedule again. We get two practice sessions on Thursdays, remember?”

After that practice session ended, Nia came back to check the laboratory again only to find it was empty.

Nia noticed that Aez only came to the laboratory on Thursdays. And as both of them were in separate classrooms, and Aez was ‘skilled’ in avoiding her, she couldn’t find him anywhere until the next Thursday.

The weather was in her favour; it was drizzling, but in ten minutes of the practice, the rain started to fall heavily. The practice was temporarily cancelled.

Now’s my chance, she smirked, and she walked to the science lab. Today, Zeny was absent too; and though she did miss her presence, she was happy that at least she wouldn’t bother her now. She went up through the stairs and stopped in front of the glass doors of the science laboratory.

“Mr scientist?” she called out.

Aez looked up from his book, adjusting his glasses.

“I hope I’m not disturbing you,” she smirked, “It’s just that-”

“It’s fine,” Aez said scornfully, eyeing the mud on her dress, “just… don’t touch any books.”

“Of course I wouldn’t,” she shrugged, “Too much rain. We were playing volleyball, but it started to rain too much.”

“Well, you can always head to the…” Aez tried to suggest something, but she interrupted him anyway.

“It’s not like I don’t know that!” she crossed her arms, “it’s just that, I wanted to talk to you.”

“You wanted to talk to me?”

“I’ve seen you sitting here. You can see the grounds from the windows. You've probably seen me many times. And you know I’m in this school. Yet you never tried to talk to me.”

He sighed, “I don’t even know who you are.”

What? Nia was taken aback. “You are Aez Emer, aren’t you?”

“Yes?”

“I’m Nia. Nia Bennet. Don’t you remember me?”

He was silent for a few moments, looking at her face. I didn’t change that much that he’ll not be able to recognise me!

“Then I guess I should punch you,” she said, scowling, “Oh, Aez. I can’t believe-”

“Nia!” another voice called out to her, and she stopped in her tracks. She looked sideways and gulped. The team leader was here. Did they start practice already? But she didn’t hear any announcement though. But now that the leader had come looking for her, she’d have to go back. Sighing, she said, “Yes, I’m here.”

“What are you doing here? Let’s head back, everyone’s there already. Oh, who is it-” she barged into the laboratory, noticed Aez and scowled at Nia. “Don’t disturb him, he’s an honour student. He probably doesn’t want any of us to talk to him. Let’s go.”

“Well, he didn’t say I was disturbing him!” Nia shrugged, “But I know Aez. We are childhood friends. Aez, do you-”

“Oh, you just want to mess around with him,” the other girl shook her head, and then dragged her away. Nia groaned. She just wanted to talk to him again. But why did someone somehow always pull her away from him?

Although the memories were blurry, she remembered having fun with him many times. Aez, her father and she - they played many games together when they were children.

And that feeling lasted quite a few weeks, because she could notice Aez, and he could too at many places. Now that she had seen him, she could spot him. But he didn’t even once try to talk, or at least smile at her. Why were they like this?

Zeny had caught malaria, and she was absent from school for quite a few weeks now.

The bad feeling remained, and one day, it felt so bad that she cried.

They always left her, didn’t they? Her parents. She didn’t know where Zeny lived and how she was doing. And Aez. They had made so many good memories together. Why was he avoiding her? Did he remember nothing at all? Her grandmother’s legs were worsening.

Too many thoughts. She couldn’t control her emotions. The tears streamed down her cheeks.

But then, there was a small tap on her shoulders. Alarmed, she looked back.

Aez.

The boy had a serious puffy face. Why?

“Hey. It’s been so late, let’s go home,” he said slowly, and then moved away and started to walk on his own path.

It happened so fast - and Ni was unable to decide whether she should laugh or cry now.

“Aez. You’re still the same shy guy, aren’t you?” she cracked a smile, “Telling ‘let’s go home’ and then moving forward, without waiting for the other person. That’s so like you, really.”

***

There were many many precious memories that she held close to her heart.

They had made a promise, but what was it?

She couldn’t remember, even though she tried - as the red light was flashing above her, and the footsteps were gaining on them.

All she could remember was a simple monotonous day.

It’s been so long; let’s go home.

Together.

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