Lux : The Protector

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen

Hey, y'all lovely readers! I do apologize (once again) for taking too long to update. I'm really sorry and I hate myself for doing that. Did you missed me (nah) or did you miss Lenny even more? 

Anyhow, here's Chapter Fourteen, lovely people. You're probably wondering now whatever happened to Lenny because so am I. 

He was still dizzy from the impact and all the running so he braced himself up against a tree for support.

"What are you doing here?" he gasped.

"I was just following –" Maura began but her voice died down on her throat and she shot him a stern look, placing a fist on her hip. "Same question."

"But," he was loss at words. "Last night – Last night, I thought you were..."

She raised her eyebrows, waiting for him to continue. But his voice wavered and was cut short when he saw the strange orbs of glowing lights floating all over them.

They all resembled ordinary fireflies, those tiny insects with light bulbs on them, except they were the size of his fists and bigger.

The moment Maura noticed the baffled look on his face, the strange floating lights faded until they were left alone with the dark with only the stars and the moon as a source of illumination.

He stared at Maura with eyes as wide as saucers. He knew he wasn't hallucinating. He knew he wasn't on crack or some sort of other drugs. At that moment, he suddenly knew that she had something to do with those weird freaky orbs. She must've sensed it because Maura raised her palms up as if trying to tell him not to freak out, watching him warily.

"What is going on?" he exclaims as he stepped away from her. "What is wrong with this place?"

"Please calm down," she started to say.

"No! I can't calm down! You don't tell me to calm down after all the things I have seen, you don't say that!" Lenny's voice was shrill.

He started to look sickly pale and he stepped away even further when Maura attempted to step closer towards him. "How do I calm down? This place is hella freaking weird! I have to get out of this place! I want to leave!"

Maura sighed softly as she shakes her head. "How am I going to handle this?" she murmured into the wind.

"I just saw your brother!" Lenny tells her while pacing wildly around. "And then there were two of them! Two!"

He ran a hand through his hair as he paced around in circles agitatedly. "And what the hell were those lights? What were they? Do not tell me they were fireflies because they sure the hell are not!"

He paused abruptly and gave her a horrified look. "Oh my God, are you an alien?"

Maura watched him amusedly, unsure whether to laugh or not. Her mouth open and closed as she tried to figure out the words to tell him.

"This is not funny!" Lenny lashed out at her. "Why do you think this is funny?"

"You look funny when you talk too much. Will you please calm down?" she asked as she tried to reach out for him.

But Lenny stepped away from her, swiping her hand away. "No, don't touch me!"

Maura blinked at him, a look of hurt slapped across her face, and Lenny automatically felt guilty.

"I'm sorry," he quickly said.

She didn't utter a word, just stared at him and shrugged.

"God, I think I'm going loony," he breathed and sank against the tree trunk. "I need to – I need to sit down."

He took a series of long deep breaths and ran his fingers through his slick and greasy hair, a habit he does whenever he finds himself distressed.

She crouched down in front of him, in a gentle manner, as you do when you approach wild animals, and gave him a look of concern. She sat on her heels and folded her small lithe hands on her lap and waited until Lenny finally managed to calm himself down as he rocked back and forth, his knees pulled into his chest.

"This town," she said quietly. "Is not what it seems."

He looked up at her and she could tell through his wide, blue eyes that he was scared. Scared and confused all at once. Lenny suddenly reminded her of an infant at his state, fragile and frightened.

"Yeah, no shit," he said.

A smile crept on her lips and she crawled towards his side, plopping down beside him on the ground. The night was quiet except for the wind and the occasional jungle sounds coming from the woods and they watched the tiny dots of city lights flickering from down the horizon.

The view was calming and soothing and finally calmed down.

"You like hanging out in here, huh?" he asked.

She nodded.

"You're weird," he remarked.

He expected that she'd be offended by what he said but she merely smiled and shrugged. Perhaps she didn't quite understand what the word really meant or she just didn't care.

"Everybody's weird," he sighed. "The place is weird."

"How many more times do you have to say weird?" Maura finally spoke. "What does it mean anyway?"

Lenny blinked. "You don't know what 'weird' means?"

She gave him a blank look and Lenny finally realized that the word was totally alien to her and he found it odd. Was she living under a rock all these time?

"It means unusual," he explained, licking his lips. They felt chapped and dry. "Uncommon. Something out of the ordinary. Just plain weird, you know."

"Really?" she says.

"Yeah," he nods. "That's what it means."

She stared intently at him. "Well, maybe what's unusual to some people is just plain normal to others. It's in the perspective."

Lenny's forehead scrunched up as he gave her a funny look over his shoulder. "How come you don't know what weird means but then you sound like a damn philosopher when you speak?"

Maura shrugged. "Normal is just an illusion."

"Is that Wednesday Addams you're quoting?" Lenny's eyebrows perked up.

He shook his head and stared hard at her.

"Who are you, really?" he asked suspiciously. "What are you?"

She pursed her lips, never blinking as she looked straight at him. "Well, there's one thing I can tell you," she said.

"And what's that?"

She shrugged. "I'm no ordinary person."

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Thank you for reading Lux: The Protector. Stay tuned!