I sat at the lobby, nervously holding a phone as Mr. Brok was really letting me hear it. He sounds so angry behind the phone.
[I left you alone for two days and you already got yourself involved in this mess?! I told you not to do anything stupid!!]
"H-hey, I did what I thought was best! You're the one who raised me to do the right thing!"
[Not when you put yourself in danger! You're lucky you didn't die!!!]
"Well about that..."
[Huh?]
I wasn't sure if I should tell Mr. Brok about it. I started to doubt he would even believe a word that comes out of my mouth.
But my doubts disappeared as I remembered exactly who I was talking to. He raised me since I was a kid and he's basically like a parent to me. I know he'll believe me.
Besides, there are way crazier powers out there.
Noticing my sudden silence, Mr. Brok spoke in a quiet voice out of concern.
[What's wrong, kid? Anything you want to say?]
Hesitating a little, I decided to tell him about my repeated deaths. But when I tried to speak, my voice sounded distorted to the point where it wasn't intelligible. It sounded as if my voice was glitching out of reality.
"I don't know how to tell you this, but... Mr. Brok, I can XXXXXX-----XXXX--XXX"
What the-
[What? Sorry, the signal here must be crap. Say it again.]
"I can XXXXXX------XXXXX--XXX"
[I still can't hear you...]
After trying again and again, I start to get irritated from not being able to talk.
"I XXXXX---XXXX!!! XXXXXX-XXXX---XXXX!!!! Dammit, I can't say it!"
I yell out from anger.
What the hell is happening?!
Sensing my frustration through the phone call, Mr. Brok tries to calm me down.
[You don't have to keep trying. It's not your fault, it must be the signal here. Anyways, I gotta get in a call with the police department, so I'll talk to you later. Take care of yourself.]
He said before hanging up the phone.
I sat there in stunned silence at the fact that my voice couldn't be understood when I tried to tell Mr. Brok about my ability.
Then suddenly, I hear the voice of a man towards my left.
"Hello, am I interrupting?"
Glancing towards the direction of the voice, I saw a family of three. They were a little shaken up at the sight of my earlier outburst.
Realizing this, I slightly bowed down towards them and apologized. But as I did, the man told me to raise my head.
"It's alright... You just went through a scary situation like this. I understand."
The man said.
He was the father of the girl who was being kidnapped. Beside him was his wife that bore a striking resemblance to the girl. She had red hair and blue eyes.
Hiding behind both of them was the little girl herself.
Still feeling guilty, I try to apologize again.
"But still, I shouldn't have yelled, I must've startled you guys. I'm sorry."
"Don't be."
The father said.
"Instead, we should thank you for saving our precious daughter!"
He said while smiling before holding his hand out for me to shake.
Seeing this, I followed his lead and shook his hand.
To my right, the girl's mother started to tear up as she held her daughter's head close to her.
"I don't know what we would've done if she was taken away. If she got hurt, I wouldn't forgive myself!"
She said, as she continued to cry.
"I was busy with work, so I was late in picking her up... When I got to her school, someone told me she was taken away by a man who claimed to be a relative... It's all my fault!"
Trying to comfort his wife, the man pats her back.
Taking deep breaths, she gradually calmed down.
"Thank you, dear..."
"As you can see, you did something big for us. We're so grateful to you and your friend... I don't know how we're ever going to repay you..."
My heart felt warm as I heard this, to the point where I could almost tear up. But I took a breath and held them in.
"No, it's alright. I'm glad she's safe, too..."
Hiding behind her parents' legs, the little girl called out to me.
"U-um! Big brother!"
"Hm? Yeah?"
I knelt down to make eye contact with her.
"What's wrong?"
Fidgeting nervously, the little girl stumbled over her words as she held a piece of paper in her hands.
She was so nervous she didn't even notice the paper was being crumpled up.
"U-uh! P-please take this!"
She said as she handed over the paper to me. It was a drawing that seemed to be made with crayons.
"She made that earlier for you..."
The mother told me as she wore a gentle smile on her face.
"It will make her happy if you take it."
"Oh yes, I will."
Taking the drawing, I looked at it for a bit as the girl nervously ran to hide behind her mother's leg, waiting for my reaction.
"Wow, it looks really good! Is this me?"
I asked her as I pointed towards the stick figure that was wearing glasses.
It looked like the stick figure was standing between two men and a little girl with red hair to protect her.
My smile widened into a bigger one when I saw this.
Seeing that I liked her drawing, the girl approached me again, also with a big smile on her face
"Yes! You looked really cool!"
"Aw, really?"
"Mhm! Like a superhero or a prince!"
She happily told me.
Chuckling nervously, I scratched the back of my head before thanking her.
'Cool, huh? I'm being honest, Elio was the cool one. I got my face beaten to a pulp... Still, hearing that makes me really happy...'
I thought to myself before someone opened a door to call me. It was the officer I was speaking to earlier.
"Alright kid, I'm done calling your guardian. It's time to ask you some questions."
"Yes, sir!"
I told him before I stood up and waved goodbye towards the family.
________________________________________
I was led to a dark isolated room. Even though it had a lot of space, the only things that were there was a table and two chairs, with only one lightbulb to light up the room. Even then, it was flickering.
"Sorry, we still haven't replaced that yet."
The officer told me before sitting down, urging me to do the same.
Sitting face to face with him, I felt butterflies in my stomach. It was like a tense job interview or something.
"Alright, let's just get on with it. I need you to tell me just how you got into this mess in the first place."
"Yes, sir."
I told him.
Without any room for error, I described everything that happened leading up to the fight. About how Elio and I were eating at a restaurant, when I saw the girl, when I followed the man, and how the fight started. As I did, the office was taking notes of my statements.
Mid way into my explanation, I checked if I could tell him about my ability.
"After I won against the man with the sword for an arm, I XX--X-X..."
My voice because distorted again, making the officer not understand me.
"Could you repeat that again? I didn't catch that."
I sighed to myself. It seems like I really can't tell anyone about it.
"Oh sorry. I meant to say I quickly ran towards the van and grabbed the girl."
I tried to recover the flow of the conversation.
I continued to explain the sequence of events up to the point where I lost consciousness inside the van.
"And that's all I remember."
Looking at the notes he took, the officer sighed before standing up.
"You're free to go."
"Huh? You're letting me go that easily?"
"Yep. Your story lines up with both the blondie and the little girl's stories. The consistency of your statements prove your innocence."
"I see... Thank you."
I bowed to him slightly from gratitude.
"Yeah, yeah. What you did was stupid though. Don't do anything like that again and leave it to the cops. It's our job, afterall."
"Y-yes, you're right... Hehe..."
I said, chuckling nervously.
Clearing his throat, the officer told me one more thing.
"But still, it took balls to do something like that. Good job kid. And to your friend, too."
He said, smiling before giving me a thumbs up. He looked like one of those superheroes from the shows I watched.
I stared at him with bright and wide eyes before screaming.
"S-SO COOL!!!"
Looking at me with disappointment in his face, he pointed at the door, urging me to leave.
"Just go..."
________________________________________
After exiting the interrogation room, I walk towards the lobby. The family of the girl was no longer there. They probably already left to go home.
As I walked closer, I noticed two people, both having blonde hair. One of them looked like an older woman somewhere around her mid fourties and the other one was...
"...Elio."
Hearing his name being called, he turned around with a big smile on his face as he noticed me.
"Aran! You're okay!"
"Oh, is this the friend you were talking about?"
The older woman asked him before he nodded.
"Yeah, this is Aran! Oh, this woman is my mom! I didn't expect you guys to meet already!"
Elio told me.
"Hello, my name is Lana Tonitru. Thank you for being kind to my son..."
She said with a gentle smile.
Despite this, I quickly looked away to avoid her gaze as I felt a giant wave of guilt hit me. I got her son, that I just met today, dragged into a fight that I recklessly started and almost got ourselves killed.
I expected this to be easy. Listen to her yell at me, maybe get hit a few times and it'd be back to a normal friendless life for me again. I was prepared for any type of punishment, but it never came.
I couldn't understand why she was treating me so kindly...
With concern in her voice, she approached me.
"Is there something wrong?"
"N-no... I just... I just don't get why you're so kind. I expected you to get mad at me. Slap me, even."
Confused, the woman tilted her head as Elio's eyes widened from surprise.
"And why would I do that?"
"Yeah! My mom isn't like that!"
"I got Elio hurt and almost got him killed, of course you would!"
"Really? From what I heard from my son, that doesn't seem to be the case..."
"What...?"
I asked her, shocked.
Giving me a gentle smile, she explained.
"As a mother, I can't deny that I was indeed worried, but I don't think it's your fault that Elio got hurt. You didn't even tell him where you were going and he just found you. From just that, I can already tell you are a considerate child, Aran. Please don't feel guilty."
"But..."
Quickly interrupting me, Lana pointed towards her son.
"If you're still not convinced, then why don't you ask Elio instead?"
"Huh?"
Walking towards us, Elio nervously spoke.
"Aran, you're the only one outside my family to treat me like a normal person... I really had alot of fun today. So please, I really want to keep getting along with you! Let's keep being friends, alright?"
Elio said as he nervously looked at me.
Putting her hand infront of her mouth, Lana chuckled at the sight of her son.
"This is the first time I've seen Elio like this! So what do you say, Aran? It will make me very happy if you and Elio get along."
"I..."
A swirl of emotions spun inside my chest in a way that I couldn't describe with words.
The guilt I held on to, all but faded away as a feeling of happiness started to swell in me.
I started to tear up because of their genuine kindness, before wiping my eyes with the sleeve of my uniform.
Nodding slightly, I smiled.
"Yes, I'd be happy to."
Hearing my response, Elio jumped up from excitement.
"Nice! I'm so stoked!"
I couldn't help but be glad this happened. In truth, I also wanted to keep being friends with him.
But I gave up too early and started drawing my own conclusions without giving a second to think about what Elio wants.
I should really stop this bad habit...
Looking him in the eye, I spoke to Elio with a smile on my face.
"I look forward to getting along!"
"Yeah, me too!"
He told me with a smile of his own.
And thus, the long day finally came to a close. A lot of things happened in just a few hours.
I got yelled at in school, made a friend, got into a fight, died, and saved a kid... After all of that, It's time for some well deserved rest, I think....
________________________________________
A bloody scene was discovered inside one the cells as the two men that were detained became nothing but puddles of blood.
Seeing this gruesome sight made the officers fall to their knees and draw cold sweats.
"What do we do, sir?"
One of the officers asked their higher ups.
"Nothing..." He said.
This wasn't over yet...