XXI: The Depths
The ocean sings a peaceful melody. The waters are calmer, waves rolling in its usual timed but unbothered manner. Even the sunshine that he's hated so much since he was younger isn't as intense as it usually is.
He watches as water rush in and playfully tap his toes before running back into the ocean. He smiles, though he finds it weird that he didn't feel the coolness of the waves at all.
All that really matters is that it's just him and his father there on the island. "Where should we go next, Dad?" he asks, digging his toes into the sand to see how that would feel. "Do you want to go to Paris? Maybe somewhere in Asia?"
His father says nothing.
"You must have some ideas," he presses. He looks at his father and finds him smiling into the distance. "You said you were going to get me away from here. Can't you tell me where?"
His father chuckles. "Do you really want to leave? It's not such a bad place."
"Ugh. Dad. You know how much I hate it here," he says. Another wave rolls in, and this time it covers back up the hole he had dug with his toes. He frowns at the destruction of his work. "Just take me anywhere. We can go."
"What about your mom?"
"She'll be okay."
His father contemplates it.
The silence draws out so long that it makes him nervous. "Dad, please don't tell me you're going to leave me here with these people."
"Why not? Don't you love them?"
"I love you more," he says, looking at his father. When his father only continues to look at him, a soft but sad smile on his face, his heart begins to crack from the dread. "Please? Can't you just stay?"
His father only smiles at him before turning his eyes back to the ocean.
"Leo."
Leo startles a little at the soft touch. He looks around, unsure where he is or what time of day it was. He notices a blanket tangled around his arms, covering half his face.
Looking up, he sees a woman.
No. Not a woman.
His mom.
Out of reflex, he gives her a small smile.
He doesn't see the look of discomfort and deep sadness on her face. "Uh, sweetheart...I'm – " Her brows furrow even more, unable to speak the words in her mouth.
She takes a deep breath as she takes a seat by him. "Your siblings, uh, just got back from Paris. Your superhero friends will be here soon, too, but, uh…They sent a message, and…" Her touch on his arm tightens. "Baby, I'm so sorry. Something went wrong, and your dad… Your dad is gone."
He continues to stare at her, the smile stuck to his face, the light overhead stinging his eyes. None of what she said made sense.
But then the words begin to settle as realities dawn on him.
He's in Mighty Med.
He fell asleep in the waiting room waiting for Tecton to tell him their decision regarding taking him to find his father.
His mother just delivered a bad news.
They went without him.
His father is dead.
He waits for a moment for a grin to break out on his mother's face. It's all a joke: his father is safe. Yes, he's in prison, but he's alive and well.
He's okay.
But as seconds roll into minutes, and as minutes roll into an endless ever, his heart begins to crack, sinking the smile on his face. He blinks, desperately hoping that this is all just a dream – but it isn't.
It isn't.
His chest tightens as the words press heavier and heavier down on his rib cage. Your dad is gone. Your dad is gone. The words repeat again and again until the blanket wrapped around him becomes so suffocating.
He's getting dizzy. He can't breathe.
Tears pool in his eyes as he looks at a world where his father is no more.
"Oh, baby…"
His mother hugs him, but even her embrace is suffocating. That he can feel her touch, her warmth, her sympathy – it means everything is real. Nothing is a dream. Nothing's—
It's then he remembers the afternoon at the beach, sitting with his father. They were making plans to go somewhere, anywhere but here.
No, he was. He wanted to go on a vacation with his father, but his father said nothing. He didn't want to take him.
He didn't take him.
He left him alone in this world.
He left me, he thinks as a sob escapes him, realizing that he's all alone in an island where he is a stranger.
