Thermophile

Three: Mystery

Four days. Huh. I looked ahead and found two pairs of glassy eyes staring back at me.

Mom ran towards us with her arms open. She looked like she hadn't been sleeping well in days. Her shoulder-length blonde curls were in disarray. "Sweetheart, are you okay?" Her words were muffled with her face buried in my neck. Her arms surrounded me with motherly comfort as they wound tight around me. "We were so worried, we couldn't find you anywhere." Mom's broken sobs made my own tears well.

"I'm okay, mom. Nothing hurts." I tried to minimize the winces I made with my throat feeling like I swallowed broken glasses as I comforted Mom. I didn't want her to worry more.

"Leila, honey, let's get Kat inside first, okay?" Dad smiled at me, the lines beside his lips that told he laughed a lot was a reminder that I was loved and they wouldn't let anything bad happen to me. "Let's go." Arm around Mom's shoulder, he ushered her still sobbing form towards the house and Leib followed them without a word.

Come to think of it, my brother hadn't uttered a word since he woke me.

When we were inside the house, he deposited me in one of the flowery couches and sat on the long one just across of it. Leib just intently stared at me.

After gently setting down a glass of water on the small table between us, our parents seemed oblivious of Leib's laser eyes as they sat beside him. I would've laughed at the sight in front of me, the three of them barely fit the couch. Dad was a big man and was probably at or between six-two to six-four. With him being a mechanic, the muscles in his body didn't dwindle with his age.

Squished between them was my mom who hadn't yet stopped crying.

Our mother was a lively bundle of five-foot five, she would always bring a happy vibe whenever she entered the room, but at the moment her energy seemed depleted.

"Where did you go, baby? You didn't even contact us to tell us that you were safe and okay. Did you go out of town with your other friends?" Mom's scratchy voice sounded loud in my ears. Her green eyes begged me to tell the truth.

And why wouldn't I? If I even remembered what happened to me, that is.

I looked into my Dad's calm brown orbs as I excavated my brain of any event that took place after my jog with my brother. None.

My gaze shifted to my Mom's glassy ones. No one talked, it was as if they would disturb the memories I was trying to fish if they so much uttered a sound. None, like a white sheet draped inside my mind.

My eyes landed Leib's last, his emerald stare spoke unspoken questions, and it was like he knew something.

"I don't remember any aside from Leib waking me and carrying me," I told them, the pain in my throat a mere shadow. My head was starting to ache from forcing my brain to remember.

"Let it go for now," My father looked at my mom and Leib. "Let Kat rest, and then we'll go to the hospital tomorrow to get you checked." His eyes came back to me.

I nodded.

Dad stood up, taking mom with him. "You two go to bed." It was the last thing he said before they went upstairs.

It was night already? My mind was having difficulty adjusting because before I passed out, it was just dawn. Four days ago.

My brother still stared and it made me fidgety. "You suddenly disappeared, Kat. One moment you were behind us and then the next second I looked, you were gone. What happened? Where did you go?"

Leib's voice seemed to have triggered some flashes.

I remembered people covering my mouth and carrying me, I remembered them electrocuting me. I felt something inside my head snap that had my ears ringing as I tried harder to recall.

Silence fell upon us as I debated whether to tell it to Leib or not.

"Found you clutching this." He pulled a bundled money out from the inside pocket of his unzipped jacket and soundlessly dropped it on the table.

Now I was mystified. Where and how would I get this much money?

His eyes looked guarded and solemn at the same time. "I looked everywhere, Kat, every single day." His voice shook. "You can tell me anything. If you don't want Mom and Dad to know, then it'll be our secret-just please-tell me something. I'm going out of my mind and these thoughts in my head constantly whispering that it was my fault-"

I decided to tell Leib the fragments I thought of. "There were people who grabbed me when we were walking at the park, I think. All I saw was black blurs and then nothing."

My brother's face darkened.

"They covered my mouth to keep me from calling out to you." My voice trembled as fear started to descend on me. I hugged myself tight as an onslaught of flashbacks started appearing in my mind in rapid successions, I didn't understood any of it.

"They electrocuted me," I whispered and felt my tears well, blurring my vision of the stack of money on the table.

"Fucking hell!" My brother was not one to curse in front of me because that was how our parents raised us, but I sort of feel him at the moment. "Does anything feel weird, you know, your girly parts?"

My face couldn't be less hotter than a volcano. I was in tune with my body and I didn't felt anything weird down there. "I know my body, Leib, there's nothing weird anywhere." I mumbled.

Wait, he wasn't thinking that I was possibly raped, was he?

He ran his hand down his face. "Okay, good."

The awkwardness of the situation couldn't be more awkward, so I decided to pretend that I was sleepy to escape. "I'm sleepy, I'm going to my room." I tried to stand only to plop back down on the chair.

Leib, who seemed dissatisfied with what I told him got up and loomed over me. "If you feel anything-pain, headache-anything at all, Kat, tell me. Okay?" I nearly bawled as I looked at my brother's concerned face.

"I will." My voice shook as I promised him.

He carried me again, up the stairs and in to my room and sat me on my bed.

"I'm serious, Kat. Yell my name and I'll be here."

I nodded and he reluctantly left my room.

A sigh escaped my mouth. Four days. I crawled to the center of the bed and just dropped myself face-down, and as soon as my face came in contact with the pillow, my world shut down.