People get separated at some point in their lives to build their character and life from scratch; some fall, but some succeed. They say life is most beautiful when you are a kid, but for some, it is traumatizing. Nathan Wood, a brilliant kid, was unfortunately one of the latter part. Envied by his peers from an early age due to his brilliance, he was treated as an outcast. He never let them get into his head, but one day something happened, something snapped inside young Nathan, making him detached from reality. Once a brilliant mind, now lying on his bed, going through his phone, reading news regarding the interstellar object now deemed fake. He sighed and stood up from his bed. "I should not have invested my time in here again. What a waste of time. I thought it was happening, yet no signs." He said while making a cup of black coffee for himself. He began to make a call, but the call didn't go through. "Are the signals getting jammed again?" He said frantically while sipping on his coffee. Suddenly, a message popped up on his phone reminding his rent is due. "Ah, not again, dont have that much energy to go there." He said with a defeated sigh. He looked at a photo frame of his family, which included his father, mother, grandfather, and his younger self. "No need to feel nostalgia, what a time it was when life was going good, should have never gone there." A beep sound came from his study room. He went to examine what it was, and upon seeing he said, "People will be laughing at me for using a fax at this age, but this is the only way of safe communication now." It was a fax from his friend Leon Brace, a guy who has a couple of loose screws, according to Nathan. "He's got to be kidding me. Is he seeing too much of thriller shows to have more of his brain screws to lose?" Nathan said while holding the fax paper that read "Yo brother, I got a nice treasure map which is screaming to be explored." My eyes were twitching as I was reading, and I replied to the fax, "Are you mad? I said to use fax when it is most important, or else just call me. I thought I made it clear." Then my phone began to ring, and I picked it up to find Leon on the other side of end.
"So shameless of you to reply to me back on fax when you know it is not important," Leon said on the call, and I could say he was smirking on the other side while telling me.
"Yeah, yeah, I can clearly see that smug face of yours getting punched by me one day," I said in an irritable voice, showing my frustration.
"Is that frustration I am sensing?" He paused and then said in a known dramatic voice, "So you are again out of recharge, huh!!"
"No need to add those dramatic effects to your voice, I get it," I replied. One thing Leon is good at is pushing the right buttons for me.
"So you are in o.." Before Leon could finish his question, I immediately replied, "Yeah, I am out." There was an awkward silence before Leo began to question my reason of choice.
"The last two times I went with you like this for some treasure hunt, it was basically leaves and some newspapers inside the chest, so what makes you think it will be better?" I asked him.
"And what makes you think it will be worse, huh?" He shouted back at me on the phone.
I sighed and replied, "Honestly, I need some of that optimism you hold inside you. I sometimes question how the hell you are so optimistic about every situation all the time. If you were a game character, that would only be your strength."
"You give me very little credit, you know. I am a scientist for goddamn sake. I may have loose brain screws according to you, but to people outside, I am a brilliant scientist." He whined to me like a child.
After a little whining, his voice couldn't hide the excitement it was holding, and he said, "I promise you this will be worthwhile. This is the answer you have been searching for your whole life. If this doesn't answer your questions, you can bash me all you want, and I won't hold it against you."
I felt silent upon hearing him because he never made such efforts to convince me. He may have a loose screw, but he isn't that stupid, so I agreed upon it and said to him while looking outside through the window, "You are making me come to your lab now in this scorching heat? How cruel of you."
He laughed a little and said, "This is the only thing that has been eating you from inside, not letting you rest even for a second. I don't know what you are seeking, but the solution you are seeking may be here, and you also may let go of the weight your question holds after finding out the truth. So yeah, you need to come, it will also be an exercise for you." It was such a heart-touching moment for me until he said that last line with sarcasm that ticked me off. "Fine!! You deepshit, I am coming to the lab." I hung up on him, slamming my phone down.
As I was opening the door with full preparation, I was clothed properly, and most importantly, I had the water bottle. As the heat was unbearable, and I was sure I would become thirsty riding to his lab. However, an unexpected scene left me baffled. I was internally crying because I was not expecting this. This was totally an unplanned meeting. Come to think of it. The situation was totally out of a comic, with me standing halfway open the door and her standing in front of me. Oh, fate, have a little mercy on me.