Esoterico: A Hidden Land

Chapter Twelve: The Most Important Weekday

"Is he fuckin' mad?" Hancliffe frustratedly remarked. 

And that was the end of the stupid dream, and Ryan was up, full of thoughts. "Stupid dream," he thought. It was dawn, and Rudy wasn't up yet. 

Ryan got off the bed, freshened up, and drank a glass of water. The stupid dream had again aroused his doubt. That old doubt that Rudy was fed the draught by an unknown culprit who did it to cause harm to this Academy. 

But who? Who could possibly do this to Rudy? Ryan strolled about for half an hour in the room but couldn't make anything out. So he decided to discuss it with Rudy once he was awake. And only thirteen minutes and fifty-seven seconds later, that moment came. 

"Hey dude, what's up?" Rudy said, yawning and rubbing his eyes.  

"You're up," Ryan grinned, "Go freshen up—we gotta have a talk about something important. 

"Yeah," Rudy got off the bed slowly. 

After Rudy was beside Ryan five minutes later, he asked Rudy, "I want to know what happened with you before the boat journey. The last night you were at home."

"Why are you asking me this right now?" Rudy confusedly asked back. 

"Tell me before." Ryan urged him.

"Fine," Rudy said. "I visited my friends in the afternoon. In the evening, I was left alone with my 1-year-old lil' brother, whom I was charged to babysit. My dad had taken my mom to the hospital—"

"Hospital? Why?"  Ryan cut in.

"Didn't I tell you?" Rudy was now shocked himself, "Oh, I even missed this detail in the opening ceremony speech! Actually, my mom's been diagnosed with cancer."

"What!" Ryan was surprised, "You didn't tell me that?" 

Rudy let out a sigh and said, "Human or scypher, this one is the same for both races. In health, we Scyphers are ahead of humans. That makes them jealous. But still, we can't conquer every disease there is."

"Oh...," Ryan said, "Alright, go on with what you were saying."

"Yeah. I was babysitting my brother, Jude. That took me all evening. You don't know what it takes to take care of a one-year-old..."

"Why, it must be easy," Ryan shrugged.

"Easy?" Rudy snapped, "You'll find out how easy it is when he pees on you."

They both burst into laughter.

"Ok, back to the point. I put him to sleep and ate my dinner, and when I was about to gulp down my milk—"

"Milk? Why?" Ryan abruptly asked.

"Don't act dumb," Rudy said, "My mom forced me to do this even if she's not home." 

Ryan chuckled. "Same about me."

Rudy continued, "At that moment, Jude started to cry and I was off to shut him up. After half an hour of toiling, I was triumphantly able to put him back to sleep. Then I got back to my table, drank my milk and then went to bed. I was very tired; my tiredness increased when I laid down on my bed and fell fast asleep, and then yeah, I was late in the morning. My mom and dad were back and it was my dad who awakened me and said the boat was there. I hurried up and boarded the boat without taking any breakfast."

"Hmm," Ryan said, "One final question: why did you sleep in the boat, even after so much sleep?" 

"Well, my tiredness was the same even after the night's sleep," Rudy said.

"You said your tiredness aroused after you lay in bed. Or—after you had taken your milk?" Ryan asked. 

"What makes you think that?" Rudy asked back.