The Surface

Chapter 4

~Image not mine~

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It was only a day later when Nico heard the strange men in the house again. He hid in his closet, felt himself shaking in fear. He could hear them talk, hear his father yell, hear them mention Bianca just as they had mentioned his momma. His needed to go to the bathroom, he was hungry, he hadn't slept. Yet he couldn't move out of that closet, couldn't find it in himself to move through the fear.

Fear. So much fear. The feeling that whatever he did, he was going to get hurt. That nothing would ever be okay. That he would never see his sister again.

His sister... He already missed Bianca. He was lonely, so lonely. He wanted his momma and he wanted Bianca. He wanted anyone besides Hades.

Speaking of Hades... His screams filled the house, his anger sent chills down Nico's spine. Anger caused violence, violence caused pain. Nico couldn't take much more pain.

Eventually, the yelling died down. He could hear it outside the house, outside his window. In a burst of movement and courage, Nico got out of the closet and went to look out his window. He could see Hades, could see his large form talking to another man. A doctor, it looked like. Hades still looked mad, his arms crossed and his eyes narrowed.

"Bianca..." Nico pressed his small face against the cold window. "Bianca, where'd you go?"

Two men carried a stretcher out of the house, a stretcher that held a figure covered in a white blanket. Still, Nico could tell that it was his sister immediately. It was the same thing he watched them do to his mother.

"Bianca!" Nico hit the window with his small hands, leaving no injury. "Bianca! Come back! Come back, Bianca!"

He screamed at the top of his lungs, screamed until he couldn't make any more sound. Bianca, Bianca. He just wanted his sister back. Why'd she have to go, too? Why did people keep getting sick?

Nico cried for hours that night. He sobbed and tore apart his room until all the anger fell away. When it did, he was left with nothing more than a soul full of sadness. When he cried the sadness out, he was left with nothing. He gripped onto a pillow, tried to act like it was Bianca. Stared at the ceiling, tried to talk to his momma.

Wherever she was...