Radioactive - Book 1: Birth 🪼

Seventeen

After the big emotional blow up that Nalak had, I send him to bed, where he just sits there and shakes in anger and sorrow over his parents and his reaction to me. I call the maintenance people and tell them we had a ketchup war and it ended up in a chair being thrown out the window. I made sure to find said chair before I called and stuck it out the window in a cattycornered way so that the lie looked true. The maintenance man looks angry that he is going to have to redo the window but he puts up a large paper bag and tapes it around the gaping hole.
"This will hold it until you leave.... When do you plan on leaving?"
I give him a look. "I don't know. We're just staying here as a layover. That reminds me, do you know where The Jetson's Bar and Asstro is? I'm supposed to be meeting a friend there and no one will tell me where it is."
"How old are you?"
"Twenty." I say without a beat.
I know he wouldn't tell me if I tell him my real age. Lucky for me, I look a little older than people think.
The man looks at me suspiciously and makes a face at me.
"You don't look like you're twenty..."
"Well I am. Are you going to tell me or not?"
"Whatever, you're not my kid." He says, putting up the tape in his bag and turning away from me. "I can't tell you where it is but I can give you the phone number. It's pretty far away and I only know a couple of landmarks to tell you. It's not my style. I don't do teens."
"Well, I don't either. A friend of mine works there and I want to let them know that we're going to be there. I don't remember the last name and I just remember that that's where they worked."
"I can give you a number to call and see if your friend works there."
"That will be fine, thanks."
The man wrote down the number for me and handed me the piece of paper.
"I know you're lying, kid. You ain't even had your swell yet. But, like I said, ain't my problem and you ain't my kid." He packs his bag up and walks out the door. "I hope you find who you're looking for."
I nod as he leaves and run my fingers through my hair. At least I have a number though but I'm a little miffed at the swell comment. Stupid Emptiness... I sigh and go to check on Nalak and see if he is still okay. I open the door and see him still sitting on the bed, looking out the window.
"Nalak?"
"Yeah."
"You still doing okay?"
"Yeah... I'm really sorry, R."
"Don't worry. Seriously, it's over and done with."
He doesn't say anything else and I sigh, shutting the door. I don't want to go further without him but I don't want to be with him while he's in a huge funk. It will be really annoying and boring...
So I go back to the living room and just watch TV.

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NALAK
I can't believe that I sent R through the window. I mean, he hit the glass like a doll! I didn't realize how strong I was and that he could be hurt so easily. I really try not to get emotional and I was trying to keep everything hidden but I guess all I was doing was bottling it up. I feel really bad because I never meant to hurt him... He doesn't know it but there is a big bruise forming on his arms and his shoulder. The blackest and bluest of bruises that I've ever seen. I'm just... The way my parents died was so horrible and uncalled for. I mean, what did they have to do with me being an albino? They didn't make me this way, it was the crash. It's because of the radiation... What did my parents do to deserve dying in that way? I would have rather them just gotten shot in the head and laid across my bed than to have seen what I did. And what the hell were those melanistic things? And who the hell was that guy directing them?
"Nalak?"
"Yeah?"
"You alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"Okay."
I know it's been four days since I sent R through the window but I still can't get over it. The strength that I have to do that now... I mean, what if it had been a punch instead of a slap? Would I have knocked out all of his teeth? I mean, what could have happened?

************

"Nalak?"
"Yeah?"
"You alright?"
"I'm fine."
"Okay... just making sure."
It's been another two days... I still feel like a shithead and I can't even look at R. He doesn't sound the same though... I'm afraid to look at him...