𝐒𝐲𝐧 ┃𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞

6. 𝑇𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝐵𝑜𝑚𝑏

June 7th, 1998

Syn

"Matilda," I called as she buttoned up my shirt. She looked at me when I called her name and I looked around the room. I called her just to see if she would answer. I didn't really have a question.

"You need to stop doing that," she warned me. "People get annoyed when they're called for no reason."

"Annoyed?" She poked my arm and made silly faces and sounds. This was a situation I recognized that I was supposed to laugh, but I didn't know how. I tried before in a mirror, and I just looked like a robot doing it while everyone else looked...normal. "Am I supposed to be feeling anything?" She continued poking me and my brows furrowed. What is wrong with her? I didn't mind her company, but right now I wanted her gone.

She pointed at the crinkle in my forehead with a big smile "Ah-ha!"

"What?" She just ignored me and continued fixing my shirt and I raised a brow for her to tell me what she pointed out. "Matilda, what is it?" My question went unanswered once again and I let out a breath that fell out of my mouth when she wasn't answering. "Matil—"

"There you go," she said.

"What is it?!" I questioned in a louder tone than before.

"Why are you yelling at me, Syn?"

"Because you're not answering my question."

"These little discoveries you have give me hope about your future, young one," she whispered. "Don't let anyone tell you that's you're less than them because you don't understand everything, Syn. Be who you are, and I believe that you will make quite the exceptional young man."

"You still haven't answered me," I muttered.

"Annoyance, Syn. That's how annoyance and frustration feel. It's like a rubber band that just stretches and stretches. When I kept poking you and ignoring you, it stretched. It started to reach its limit...so then you yelled at me."

"Ohhh," I nodded. "I understand now." She smiled and kissed the top of my head before tying my shoes, but I still had one more question. "What happens if it snaps?"

"Hmm?"

"The rubber band, what will happen if it snaps?"

"Only bad things, Syn. The rubber band doesn't only apply to annoyance, but anger as well. What just happened between in was a small rubber band, but in the real world, the rubber bands are much bigger and a lot less stretchy. If those snap...people will get hurt. We don't want that, right?"

"Right."

"So whenever you feel like your rubber band is being stretched, I NEED for you to walk away. Remove yourself from the situation and snap back, understand me?"

"I understand." She smiled and ruffled my hair at my words and my usual questions surfaced in my mind; why is she smiling? Is it a sad one, or a happy one?...

The door to the room opened before I could ask her, and I looked to see Felix walk in. He ran to my side and shook my arm. "Syn, I want to show you something cool! Come with me!"