Chapter 51
Horizon
Okay, I must admit I am not very good at keeping my promises. I told Shadow that I would watch the others while she slept but, well, I fell asleep…
I woke up screaming in a cold sweat, Iggy clutching my shoulders.
"Nova, Nova! It's okay, it was only a dream!" he soothed.
"What? Oh, s- sorry." I shakily apologized. "Guess it doesn't matter that it was a dream, it still happened. Nothing I can do will change that, nothing."
Pain crossed every feature of his body when I said those words. I saw a part of him that he would never show the others. He was suffering for this too. He blamed himself for Stars death.
We stood up and walked in silence for a few minutes, we ended up stopping in a clearing out of view of camp. I sat on a rock and he sat next to me. We stared at the dead horizon without talking for a moment.
"Our lives have totally turned upside down haven't they?" Iggy sighed.
"I, personally, was raised to expect this kind of thing. Doesn't make it any easier…" I responded.
"I honestly don't know how Shadow does it. She has the weight of the world in her hands and yet she's still running around the island retrieving whatever random items we ask for and taking care of us. I know she's in many different kinds of pain, but she doesn't show it. She tries to act all tough like Gazzy. She tries to act like beating up erasers isn't hard for her, and boy is she good at it, but I can see in her eyes that she hates to hurt even them. She has the kindest heart of anyone I know though she would never show it. She could be back at school right now and leave us here." Iggy sighed.
I could tell what he was getting at. It was the same thing I thought about in those rare moments when Shadow actually decided to sleep. I wished that Shadow could go back to the city. Forget all of this crap and save herself. Me and her both know that we are the only ones that could survive the shadows. Star's journal had said that the shadow's couldn't harm us unless we harmed them first. But me and him both know that Shadow would never do that. She would do anything to save even a single stranger's life. Even if it meant her own death.
"She would never go though. She would never leave you guys. You're her family. Plus, she hates school." I objected.
"What?" Iggy said shocked.
"What, what?"
"Did you just say she hates school?" he asked dumbfounded.
"Yea… I've heard her think about it."
"You're talking about the School right, not school."
"Nope." I said, popping the P.
For a second I felt proud that I knew some things about Shadow that Iggy didn't. It was like old times. But then I stopped myself. This is what had, ended Star. I thought to myself furiously. Stop.
"She always acted like she loved it. Guess that was for us too…" he sighed like not noticing my mental self scolding.
I didn't answer. Thinking Star's name had cost me, it was something I tried not to do, it was too painful. I felt tears enter my eyes and I forced them back before Iggy to notice. To late.
"I miss her too." he converted and once again we stared into the nothingness the horizon had become. Though he was the only one blind, we were both seeing nothing.
(End of chapter 51)