Syndisparklez : A New Balance

Chapter 3 - It Hurts, Doesn't It?

//Jordan's POV//

I heard knocks on my door and footsteps above me, but I feel lazy and unwilling to leave my vault. The rapping on my door intensifies and I hear a British voice calling my name. I choose not to answer.

As expected, Tom comes in anyway, his blue hair plastered to his sweaty forehead as he looks through the glass in my vault. He pounds on the glass, shouting, "Jordan, let me in you sausage!"

I would have dearly loved to tell him that I was not the one who was a processed meat, but I was irritated by his presence. Tucker must have put him up to this, I knew it.

"Tom, go away. Get out of my house, I want to be alone."

Tom huffs impatiently. He looks towards the door. At first I thought that he would leave, but he looked back at me and said, "It's raining Sparkelz."

He was right. Heavy rain pelted down on the roof of my house, and I heard thunder clapping outside my window. Leaving him alone in my living room would just be awkward and darude, so I pushed the camouflaged stone button in the wall and walk through the gap as I heard the pistons shift.

Tom was sitting on one of the chairs in the living room, looking at the gray world of Mianite outside my window. He looks at me with an unreadable expression.

"Jordan, I thought that I should come here and talk and hang out, I guess. You seem pretty down lately." Tom said to me as I sat down across from him.

He actually wants to hang out with me for once? Do I actually have a friend in this world?

"I mean, Tucker said he'd slay my ass if I didn't come and sit here with you so.." Tom hastily continued, making my spirits fall almost instantly. I felt my anger rise, but I kept silent.

"Aren't you going to say anything you sausage? I knew it was a waste of time coming here, I have better things to do..." At those words, something inside me snapped.

"If you don't give a shit, why are you even here? Just go if you don't even care!" I leapt up and shouted, shocking Tom. He's never seen me without my calm and collected facade.

"Jordan, I -"

"I know you guys don't care about me! All I do is just repair your crap when you break it, but that's it, isn't it? I'm not your friend, nobody here loves me!" I tried to control myself, but a floodgate opened that I just couldn't shut. "Thanks for making me feel worse! I thought you actually came here to make me feel better! All you do is make people feel horrible, Tom!"

Okay, maybe I went a little bit too far. Tom Syndicate's eyes were swimming with tears. I felt guilt rise in me and was tempted to comfort him, but instead I said, "It hurts, doesn't it? When people say things like that against you?"

For the first time, he looks me in the eye. His eyes are a soft chocolate brown, and shaped like almonds. We share a glance for a moment, before he replies. "Yes, it does. But you can't force people to care when they don't, Sparkelz."

That did it.

I ran out of the room and into my vault. Throwing a sword and some food into a pack, I sling it over my shoulder and grab a swiftness potion. I gulp it down and return to the living room.

I give Tom the dirtiest look I can muster. "That's it. I've had enough." The potion effect taking over me, I sped out of the door, too fast to see if Tom tried to stop me or not.

I didn't care.

It was still raining heavily, but I ran and ran. I didn't know where I was going, but wherever that was would be more welcome than with my 'friends'. The potion effect did wear off, though, and I found myself in a thick forest with massive trees. The rain was still pelting down, and my clothes and sunglasses were wet. I sat down at the base of a tree, cold and shivering.

I didn't know how long I stayed there. I hadn't been keeping track of time lately, anyway. Running away had been rash, but I hadn't seen any better things to do then and being here was much better than being at my house. With Tom. His words reverberated through my head.

"You can't force someone to care if they don't, Jordan."

His words really hurt. I drifted off to sleep, my mind wandering from Ianite, to Capsize, to Tom.

-

"Jordan?!"

I was awoken by a familiar voice calling my name. It was Waglington. He looked down at me, confused.

"Why the hell are you here Jordan? Everyone's been looking for you!"

I didn't know how to answer to that, but thankfully Wag kept talking.

"Your forehead's burning up! I'm bringing you back." Wag pulled me up and teleported us back to Tucker's house. Tucker, Sonja and Tom were there, looking worriedly at me. It was tense. I could feel Tom's eyes piercing through me like lasers.

I could not meet Tom's eyes.

"I found him at some forest. Alone and cold. He has a fever, I should go get some potions." Wag said briefly, and disappeared with a vwoop.

Tucker and Sonja were staring up at me. "Jordan, where were you? And can you please explain what's going on?"

There were a million things I wanted to tell them. I wanted to tell them how I really felt, how angry and upset I was over what had happened, how much I missed Ianite and Capsize, how lonely I was on a daily basis. I knew the words, but they just blistered on my tongue.

But Tom -- Tom had hurt me so deeply with what he said. It made me question whether it was he big ego that made him say that, or if he really meant it. If I was really just some crap that he didn't care about, just someone to be called when in need. Never a friend.

This all sounded really petty, but to an Ianitee, peace, balance and honesty are important. And I wasn't sure if Tom was being entirely truthful.

I was bursting to say something, but all I could manage was, "Why don't you ask Tom?"

And I bolted off to Wag's tower, still shivering from the cold.

//Tom's POV//

Tucker and Sonja looked at me, expectant. Tucker looks like he already knows what I've done, though. He looks livid. Not salty. Livid.

"Seriously Tom? What did you say to him that made him like this?" Tucker sighed deeply. "You were meant to make him feel better, not worse."

This struck a chord deep inside of me. "I don't want to talk about this right now." I walked out of their house to mine and shut the door. I'm tempted to barricade myself in my vault, just like Sparkelz.

What had I done?

I hadn't meant to say those mean things to Sparkelz, had I? It was just my big ego getting in my way as usual. I didn't mean any of what I said. The truth is that I do care about Jordan. It does worry me to see him in this depressed state. The guilt I felt when he ran away (though not for long) was immeasurable.

I should give him a gift. Maybe not the best way to make him forgive me, but I was determined to make amends.

I walked over to my storage chest that was overflowing with diamonds. I grabbed fifty diamonds and began my journey to the wizard's domain.

Hopefully Jordan would find it in his heart to forgive me, but I wasn't sure.

-

Thanks for reading! Remember to vote if you liked! Do you guys think I should make longer chapters? Comment your thoughts down below :D - firenite

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