Fragmented

Chapter Twelve

Golden threads of sunlight pierced through the blinds, shining directly on Sabre's face. After a few moments, he groaned and rolled over, but he was already awake and knew he wouldn't fall back asleep anytime soon. He sat up and blinked multiple times, squinting his eyes in the sudden morning light. The clock on the wall above the television ticked away rhythmically, showing the time 7:26.

Sabre sat in the semi-darkness for a few moments to wake himself up, then stumbled to the light switch and turned on the movie lights. The soft lights illuminated the mostly empty room, other than Amber, who was stretching luxuriously in the shafts of sunlight.

He found the television remote where Lucas had left it on the coffee table, sat down, and turned on the national news station. It had been over three years since he had been in his world, so he needed to see what had happened recently. Something called COVID-19 came up as the subject as the newspeople discussed how much masks really worked in public. From what he heard, it was a viral disease that had spread drastically throughout the world in the last two years, finally dying down in the last nine months. He decided to ask Lucas and Ryan about it later.

The discussion veered to the president's most recent speech, and Sabre switched to the local news station. He wasn't really interested in politics and didn't really care, but the nationwide broadcasts could be useful sometimes.

As the weatherman explained the 24-hour forecast (cloudy with small flurries), Sabre walked to the kitchen and raided the pantry for some kind of breakfast. After rummaging through it for a bit, he found a box of strawberry Pop-Tarts. His mouth watered at the thought of tasting them again; besides, it was his favorite flavor.

The silver wrapper crinkled when he grabbed ahold of it, seeming excessively loud in the silence of the early morning. He quietly walked back to the couch and opened the package, sprinkles tumbling out onto the table. As he took a bite, nostalgic flavors burst in his mouth until all he could think about was when he had eaten these with his friends as a kid in Ryan's treehouse. They would sneak a box out in a blanket and scramble up the ladder as fast as they could to avoid getting caught, but Sabre was pretty sure now that he was older that Ryan's mother had known about it for quite a while.

"Hey, early bird," Ryan said behind him, making him jump. "Helping yourself to Lucas's Pop-Tarts, are you?"

"Will he be upset?"

"Nah, Lucas doesn't really care as long as you leave some in the box for him." He leaned against the couch, hands clasped together and his arms resting on top of the cushions. He stared ahead at the TV and sighed with an air of heartache, in the past but returning for a brief moment. "He bought those because he wanted to know why you liked them so much after you had been gone for a while... he took your disappearance harder than I did. He never talked about it, but everyone could tell that it hurt him quite a bit."

Sabre hesitated, stunned. "I... I don't know what to say other than I'm sorry about what happened."

"No, no. It wasn't your fault. Don't blame yourself. It was just... a little hard for a bit. We know that you couldn't come back from that world." His mood brightened from the small, dark depression he had been in a second ago and he smiled. "But now that you're back here safe and sound, we don't have to worry anymore about where you are and if you're alive or not."

He jumped over the back of the couch, landing on the couch with a bounce. "So, what're you watching?"

"Just the news. Want to get all caught up on current events before going places." Sabre took another bite.

"Smart thinking. I turn the local news on every day now to make sure there weren't any attacks while Lucas or I were sleeping. The most recent one was last night, as you already know, so it'll hopefully be a few days before the next one."