Chapter Fifteen

Three days have passed, and not once has she seen the boy she couldn’t stop thinking about. She replayed their conversation over and over, all of them in her mind trying to forget what went wrong. She thought it was best to leave him alone for a bit, to allow him to gather his thoughts. So she didn’t seek him out. She went back to check on the boy named Kevin. Watching his family surrounding him looking happy as their faces were doing that leaking of liquid again she tries to comprehend why is was such a big deal that he wasn’t dying now.
She never presented herself to any of them, but simply watched as a ball of light hovering over their heads hidden in the light fixture. She could sense Ry’s energy lingering in the room, but she doesn’t follow it’s trail. Trying to understand better she visits others in the hospital as well. People who were dying, who were sick but will live. She watched an old man succumb to death in his sleep while his wife and two sons stood by watching him fall in the eternity of sleep.
They were weeping, saying their goodbyes and gently letting him go. They had accepted his death, but they still showed sadness and grief like the boy’s mother had done in the chapel. She wanted to understand why Ry felt so strongly of this, why he met strangers and showed immense emotions on their behalf.
And while she wanted to understand she continued to look for the flower. Spending a few hours out of each day looking through the forest with no luck whatsoever in finding anything. And during the three days not once has Ry’s energy ever called out to her like it did that last night they were together. A heavy weight sat in the middle of her chest causing her energy to dim and she was afraid that being on this planet for so long wasn’t allowing her to fuel correctly like normal.
By the fourth day she decided on what to do.
Standing there in the sunlight in the middle of the redwoods, surrounded by the sounds of chirping birds, buzzing bugs, a running river nearby and scurry animals she closes her eyes and concentrated. Sensing his energy she envisions the bus stop where it was strongest.
Then the sounds of cars driving by, a train’s blow in the distance and the chatter of nearby people swam in her ears. Opening her eyes she finds herself under the big oak tree that stood there beside the building that the bus stop was in front of. Looking around she knew he wasn’t here anymore, but it could show her the way of where he was.
Deciding to walk she quickly starts following the trail until it brought her to an unknown location she’s never been too before. The flow of his energy just grows stronger and stronger until it leads into wide double doors of a large, massive church with a thin modern cross sitting up on a small tower in the center of the building. People in nice clothes walked in as they said their hellos to each other. Not paying attention to any of them she walks in without hesitation and looks around.
The place was packed with people as they walked around or sat on the benches talking to one another. It was a bigger version of the chapel back at the hospital only this place held steps up to a stage that held instruments, a podium, and a large stand with unlit candles in the back. And in the center of those candles was a ten foot statue of a bearded man in off white robes, spreading his hands on either side of him with his head slightly bowed and eyes closed.
The same man in the painting that she saw. Their God.
Taking her eyes away from the object she continues to follow the path, ignoring those who tried to talk to her, tried to ask her questions with confused and startled looks on their faces. She heads to the side of the wall until she comes to a door.
“Ma’am you can’t go back there.” A tall older man starts saying, but paying no mind to him she walks right on through.
“Ma’am!” He calls out but all she does is wave her hand in front of his face, her eyes slightly glowing with white as he becomes confounded for a moment and then walks right back out as if she wasn’t even there.
She heads in the hallway that went deeper into the building until the trail disappears into a door at the end. Hearing muffled voices on the other side she contemplates whether to walk right on in or wait for an opportunity to talk to him. But she did neither as the door suddenly swings open revealing Ry in the same kind of clothes the others were wearing, and two young teenagers being ushered out.
All three stop when they notice her there. Ry’s eyes widen, surprised to see her after days of no contact.
“Nasia, what are you doing here?” He asks sounding a bit shocked.
The young teenage boy looks her up and down and then frowns. “Brave to wear all white like that. How do you not have a single smudge anywhere?”
“Danny, that’s rude.” The young girl with him harshly whispers. “Sorry about him. Please excuse us. We’ll see you Sunday, Ry.”
She gives Ry a soft smile with blushing cheeks, reaching out to barely touch his arm before leaving the room that caused a strange tight sensation in the pit of her stomach that she didn’t like. The boy with her doesn’t seem to notice as he continues to stare at Nasia with blinking eyes as if enchanted by her.
Once the two of them were gone, Ry reaches out and grabs her wrist pulling her in the room with him then shutting the door. “Why are you here?”
“Who are they?” She couldn’t help asking, not knowing why she wanted to know in the first place.
“My clients. This is my work. I help kids like them to deal with their problems, with their…emotions.” He looks away at that last word heading to the large desk that was placed near the window.
She didn’t quite get his meaning, but after last time she thought it best not to dwell or ask questions about his work. “You look different.” She points out instead.
Ry looks down at his suit. He wasn’t used to dressing like this but since he was working in a church he needed to look his best. He couldn’t help cracking a smile with a small chuckle. “Yeah, well to be honest it’s uncomfortable as hell to.”
“Why do you wear it then?” she asks titling her head.
“Truthfully, I have no idea.” He could just wear nice comfortable clothes like the preacher does sometimes.
“There was a reason I came looking for you.” She starts not waiting any longer.
“Is Kevin alright? I heard he was finally being discharged tomorrow. I was going to be there when he did since he’s going back home to Utah. I wanted to see him before he left.” He says sadly.
“You’re going to miss him.”
“Yeah. I’m going to miss him. A lot. He’s a good kid, a good friend.” He admits.
“I want to understand why.” She blurts.
Brows furrowing he seemed a bit confused. “What do you mean?”
She walks closer to him where he sat on his desk. “I thought about everything that has happened with the two of us. On the words that you said to me and everything with Kevin and his mother. It’s not in my genetic compacity to understand the way of humans. But I want to change that. I want to know what it is that drives you to go to such lengths for another human being.”
Standing up he carefully takes her shoulders and makes her take a step back. “Nasia, from what I gathered, from what I’ve learned about you I’m not so sure that’s a possibility.”
“Why not?”
Ry racks his brain on how best to explain to her that someone like her would never understand how their emotions work. If she’s lived in a world where she didn’t even know who created her, was thrown in a place called the Dead stars then how was she ever going to understand? Sighing deeply he removes his hands. Taking a few steps away from her, he suddenly remembers what he just told the two kids that were just in here moments before.
Turning around to face her he asks, “You’ve been here for over half a century, but have you ever done any human things?”
“I don’t understand your question, Ry.”
“How did you learn our language?”
“I found the speech interesting when I first arrived. My curiosity was overwhelmed to the point that I studied your language by watching and listening.”
“Okay, but why?” He asks next.
“I told you; I was interested-”
“Exactly. Why were you interested in the first place? You said you have a curiosity of how humans are. Which means you do harbor some feelings.” His voice perks up a little as excitement flows through his veins. “Curiosity is a desire Nasia, and desire is a feeling us humans have all the time.”
Walking back to her he keeps going. “When you first saw me you said I caused some sort of interest to you, more than any other human you’ve come across. Which means something about me caused a desire in you to get to know me more, do you understand?”
She did. Thinking about the way her mind and body connected to that feeling she did understand. “I do. But where are you going with this?”
Licking his lips he rushes to the bookshelf that was on the other side of the room. “You wanted to experiment with my emotions earlier, with Kevin. But instead of using me I can give you something better.”
He grabs a few things off the shelf and comes back to hand them to her. Taking the objects she stares down at pictures of other humans. “What is this?”
“You’ve been here for seven decades and yet you know absolutely nothing.” He smiles. “These are what we call movies. You want to observe emotions, these will give you exactly what you want. You want to understand how we function and why we are the way we are, well we’ll watch all different genres that can help with that.”
He goes back to his desk and grabs his wallet, keys, and phone. “Come on. I’ll take you back to my place.”
“How do I watch these movies?” She states the word awkwardly staring down at them like they were they most interesting thing in the world to her.
“You’ll see. Also, music. That’s another great way for emotions too. I’ll make you a certain playlist though because not all music is quite understandable of that.”
She looks up at him as he opens his door. “What about your work here?”
“I’m actually done for the day. Sarah and Danny were my last appointment.”
She walks out in front of him as he locks the door. Frowning she couldn’t help telling him the truth. “That girl. She caused a weird sensation in my gut earlier.”
“A weird sensation? Like what?”
“A tightness. Right here.” She lays a hand on her stomach. “It was very uncomfortable. It happened right when she touched your arm. That’s never happened to me before. I think it’s best that she shouldn’t do it again. Even when I’m not around.”
Ry couldn’t help but stare, taken aback at what she just stated while she briskly walks down the hall. But a small smile grows on his face turning a bit wider at realizing what it was she actually felt. He wasn’t quite sure just yet, but he had a hopeful feeling that maybe these energy beings haven’t found their true potential after all.