Fall: ...Slothfulness That Begets; Inevitability... PT. 4/6

"Hey mommy, why do people not say when they're sad?"

It was night now, and I was sitting with my mom on the couch, watching T.V. together. I had just gotten her to sign my twin's and I's permission slip, and Minor had rushed off to the bathroom, beating me to the shower.

She nearly choked on her tea when she heard my question, coughing as she put her cup down onto the coffee table. "Wh-where did this come from Major?"

"Well, I found out that my friend Nyx is hiding that she's sad, but she won't tell us why."

She frowned as she sat up, and I did the same as she looked at me with warm eyes. "Oh, how did you figure that out?"

"Another friend told me that she's negative 90 on the Hemmy scale!"

She tilted her head as frowned. "Hemmy scale? What's that?"

"Oh, it's a thing that measures how happy you are! Mine was 40, since I was worried about Nyx. Oh, and negative numbers are really bad, especially negative 90!"

She chuckled, mussing up my messy black hair. "You sure do a lot with your friends huh?" I nodded, and she mussed up my hair a little more before turning to me.

"Okay, how can I put this…" She thought for a moment before nodding to herself. "Right, so you know how people get mad, sad, happy, stuff like that?"

"Yep, I do all that every day!" She laughed at my response.

"I know you do, and you let everybody know it. But some people can't do that easily."

I frowned as my brain tried to understand. "But why can't they??"

She wrapped her arm around me, bringing me closer before sighing. "Well, there are a lot of reasons why. They don't want to worry people around them; they try to bottle up their emotions, or they have some circumstances that won't let them, such as bad past experiences or present problems that they feel inhibit them to speak."

"Inhibit?"

"Oh, it means to prevent something."

"I see…" I said, nodding as I trailed off, the frown still prevalent on my face.

"But all those reasons have one common thing tying them together," Mommy said, holding up her index finger.

"What is it?"

"Fear. In the end my sweet son, they're just afraid. Even if the reason that's preventing them to speak is gone, the fear doesn't go away that easily."

"What are they afraid of?"

A soft smile appeared as she rubbed my side. "Afraid to open up. To them, it's easier if they keep it to themselves rather than get other people involved. But my son, that's wrong." I looked into her eyes as she said these next words to me, words that I never truly understood the importance of until much later.

"If you want to be a good friend, a good person, then you must tell people how you're doing. People can't help if they never know what's wrong, and more importantly, you can't help yourself if you never say what's bothering you. The act of saying what's wrong helps a person far more than anything else could, as that's the only way to bring about a solution." She breathed a sigh of relief. "Do you understand?"

"Uh, I think so?"

She laughed as she brought me in for a hug. "Oh, it's fine if you don't get it now, but if you really wanna know something, ask for help. Never be afraid of that."

"He-hey! You're squishing me!" I squeezed her with all my strength, which ended up causing a tickle fight between the two of us which didn't end until Minor got out of the bathroom.

Even after our talk, I was still unable to help Nyx, and as the days progressed, her Hemmy score grew worse and worse, until there was only three days left until our trip in the woods.

"What do we do Major?" It was recess, and we were taking a break from our demon slaying for today in order to train. Hemera, Erebus, and Eros were sitting next to me, and I frowned, groaning as I let myself fall back into the grass.

"I dunno Hemera. Maybe we really should just ask her," I muttered, at my wit's end.

"I don't think she would like that," Eros said, looking at Nyx, who was messing with Aether along with Lachesis. "But I'm out of ideas as well…"

We all grew quiet, and I looked at Nyx's eyes, which were now ebony-grey. Wait, now?

"Huh?" Everyone turned to me as I sat back up, and my brain was trying to connect the dots, and I started to think aloud. "Hey, what was Nyx's eye color when we first met her?"

"Isn't it the same as it is now?" Erebus asked, shrugging, and Hemera shook her head, the same realization dawning onto her.

"No, it wasn't! Oh Major, you're a genius!" She yelled out, giving me a fierce hug, her smile lighting up our mood.

"I-I wouldn't say that. I'm just thinking that maybe her eye color getting darker has something to do with her score, or something. It was grey when I first met her, and now it's almost black." Hemera released me, nodding.

"Yeah, I remember that too. It changed after she went away for that month."

"Now that I think about," Eros started, and we turned to him. "I guess it's been hard to notice, but her eyes have been getting darker lately."

"Yeah, but what does it mean Incubus?" Erebus asked, and Eros shrugged.

"I dunno. Do you two have any idea?"

"Well, maybe her eyes getting darker have something to do with her getting sadder?" I suggested, and Hemera nodded, her yellow eyes lighting up.

"Yeah, I think so too!"

"Hmm, okay, but how does that help again?" Erebus asked, scowling.

Oh, I guess he's right about that. "Um, maybe we can tell her to stop whatever she's doing?" Hemera offered, and what mommy told me flashed through my head, and I shook my head.

"No, I don't think that'll work either." If she's afraid, then she might not listen. Oh, think Major! And just like that, another one of my brilliant plans popped in my head.

"Nyx is going on the trip, right?" I asked, and Hemera nodded.

"Yeah, she turned in her permission slip last week. Why?"

I grinned, nodding to myself. "I have a plan to help her out!" I motioned everyone to come in closer, and I told them my plan.

"Uh, King, are you sure that'll work? I have the utmost faith in you and your brilliant plans that can take down even the strongest of demons, but I dunno…"

"Of course it'll work!" I said, looking at everyone. "And we'll do it during our school trip three days from now! I'll tell Lachy on the way home today, so one of you needs to tell Aether, alright?"

Eros smiled, sparkles darting all around us. "I expect nothing less. I'll go along with it. Who knows, this may be thing to keep our streak going~!"

"Then it's decided. We'll help out Nyx during our trip into the woods!"

"Yeah!" We all exclaimed, and the plan was set into motion.