The gate creaked with the subtle touch of Cael's telekinesis, giving way as if the very air had pushed him.
The young man crossed the small yard, stepping on the dirty tiles of dry leaves, and entered the house in absolute silence, like a shadow that creeps through the early hours of the day. His serious posture and the slight air of habitual tiredness marked his presence, even at rest.
In the kitchen, the smell of fresh coffee filled the air with an almost comforting presence. Hana was sitting at the table, reading something on the tablet, her eyes calm, almost sleepy, but her always straight posture did not unravel.
Maya, on the other hand, was cross-legged on the chair. Her red hair now came down loose, full of life, and her green eyes shone behind the reflection of the cell phone screen that she fiddled with her quick thumbs, scrolling through some social network.
Cael approached and dropped the freshly bought bread on the table with a light thud, muffled by the paper bag.
Maya looked up over her phone and arched an eyebrow with an almost mocking smile.
"It took a while, huh!" She said, without taking the light, witty tone out of her voice.
Cael did not respond. He just looked away, leaning on the bench with a silence that, in that familiar environment, was almost a speech. His impassive expression was a wall.
Maya then noticed the object that Cael was holding in his other hand. A small women's wallet, with pink details and a gold chain on the side. She narrowed her eyes, suspicious, curiosity overcoming the provocation.
"Where did you get that?"
Cael took a deep breath, as if gathering words was a task that drained his soul, his social phobia manifesting itself even in the effort to speak.
"A girl was run over. I was close."
"What?!" Maya stood up suddenly, her phone forgotten on the table, her impulsiveness surging.
"I was coming back with the bread. He continued, with the same coldness. She struck up a conversation. She tried to be nice. He crossed the street... and a car passed in the red. I saw it all. The wallet fell to the ground."
Maya approached, taking the wallet from his hands, looking as if the object could confirm the story.
"You need to give it back to her." Like, now. The urgency in his voice contrasted with the neutrality of Cael's gaze, which seemed disconnected from the gravity of the situation.
"I'm going tomorrow." He said, letting out his answer as if he had spat out a stone. "I'm tired.
Maya frowned, but before she could protest, Hana intervened in a calmer tone, her steady, therapeutic voice always conveying reassurance.
"Cael... if she was trying to be nice, and you were there at the time... I think she'd enjoy seeing a familiar face when she wakes up. It would be good to give it back to her, today."
Cael hesitated, his dark brown eyes slowly turning to Hana. There was something in that voice of hers, a firm tenderness, a serene affection, which always dismantled him inside. He nodded, almost imperceptibly, yielding to Hana's quiet wisdom.
"I'm going."
"Great!" Maya said, excited again, her glow and impulsive manner returning. "I'll go with you!"
"No!" Cael replied at once, dry as stone, his repulsion to social contact evident.
"I'm not asking for your permission!" Maya replied with a mischievous smile, sticking out her tongue at the end as if poking the beast just to see what happens.
Cael snorted, tired, running his hand through his still a little messy hair.
"Do what you want..." Cael said, his voice like a sigh.
Hana turned her back and walked to the sink with a discreet giggle, hidden in the corner of her mouth.
Cael went to the hallway and leaned against the wall next to the door, his eyes fixed on nothing, just waiting for Maya. A few minutes passed in silence, until Hana crossed the corridor and stood next to him with a mug of coffee in her hands.
"You know you could just leave now and leave her behind, right?"
Cael sighed, but remained motionless. Hana chuckled quietly and walked away, returning to the kitchen. His keen observation and understanding of Cael's behavior was evident.
"Oh, I'll be on call tonight." Then the house will be all yours! She screamed, already inside.
"Yay!" Maya replied from above, with the excitement of someone who got a day off.
Cael remained silent. Still leaning against the wall, still oblivious. His coldness and isolation were almost a shield.
Almost two hours later, Maya came downstairs in another outfit: a light blue oversized jacket, a white blouse with a retro design print, and beige cargo pants. The sneakers were colorful, those that caught the attention of anyone who looked at them. The cell phone was now stored in his pocket.
"Hmm." Cael grumbled, as if recognizing her presence without knowing very well why. He turned his back and pushed the door open, leaving first. Maya followed him close behind, bouncing, her contagious energy contrasting with his.
They walked to the bus stop, and halfway through, Maya said:
"Do you know what hospital she's in?"
"There are only two hospitals in Breyden, the nobles' and the plebs'. And she wasn't dressed like a noblewoman. Cael's voice, as always, was rational and devoid of emotion.
"I know!" She replied with a comical, exaggerated pout. "I was just testing you.
Cael didn't say anything, just let out a sigh of tiredness.
The bus arrived, and they boarded. Cael sat by the window, and Maya occupied the seat next to her, throwing her backpack on her lap and resting her arm on the backrest between them.
She tried to poke him with her elbow a few times, but felt a slight impact, as if there was an invisible barrier between them. She frowned, confused, and tried again, tapping her elbow lightly on the space between them. It was as if he were touching a thin but resistant surface, completely invisible.
Intrigued, Maya began to hit the place lightly and repeatedly, observing Cael's reaction. When she saw that he would not react, she started talking about everything. The weather, the city, memes, videos, music, Hana's coffee, the bread that was too good.
She talked, and talked, and talked.
And Cael... he just watched the city pass by the window, his introspective mind absorbed in his own thoughts.
"I... I'm glad you let me come with you... It had been a long time since we had been together. Almost 3 years, if I'm not mistaken." Maya said, her voice lowering a tone.
Cael had a glimpse of reaction, a tic in his jaw.
"I know you're... hurt, with me. Mainly, because of the incident with Rose. And about the other incident..." Maya took a deep breath. Cael remained silent, without looking at her. "... I only did that because I..."
Cael interrupted her.
"I don't want to hear any excuses, and I don't care. We just go to the hospital, hand over Aurora's wallet and then return home. And if you kept quiet, it would be better for the trip."
"You've already memorized her name..." Maya murmured, a jealous tone in her voice.
Twenty minutes later, the bus stopped, and the two got off.
The hospital was an old building, but it maintained a modern air. Its cold white walls, illuminated by LED lamps embedded in the ceiling, created an environment that was too aseptic to be welcoming. The continuous sound of the air conditioning mixed with the distant echo of footsteps and stretcher wheels.
As soon as they entered the lobby, Maya took a quick look around, her green eyes curious; Cael, by contrast, walked straight ahead, without looking away, like a missile guided by obligation, his revulsion at crowded environments evident.
He approached the reception, where a woman with a tired face and reading glasses was arranging papers.
"Excuse me." He said, his voice low, almost dry, avoiding unnecessary eye contact. "I... I wanted to know about a patient who was admitted earlier today. A young woman. She was run over."
The receptionist looked up from the monitor, assessing the two for a few seconds before starting to type.
"Her name?"
"Aurora."
He typed a few more times and then slightly arched an eyebrow.
"Aurora Linhart, right?"
Cael nodded. It's obvious that he didn't know her last name, but he confirmed it to sound convincing.
"Room 110. Still on the ground floor. Just follow the corridor on the left. But... What is your relationship with it?"
He hesitated for half a second, just long enough for the question to sound unnecessary.
"I was at the time of the accident. She dropped her wallet. We just came to give it back."
The woman seemed to relax, although still with a certain skepticism in her eyes.
"All right. You can go."
Cael turned around without saying anything else. Maya thanked him with a quick smile and ran to join him.
The corridor on the left was narrow and lined with metal plates on the walls, with doors on either side numbered with black and solid letters. The room smelled of alcohol and withered flowers. The silence there was thicker.
When they reached the door of room 110, Maya held Cael's arm gently, looking at him seriously.
"Is everything okay?"
Cael didn't even face her. He only let out a short sigh, a sign of his discomfort.
"Let's do it fast."
And it did.
The room was small but clean. Aurora was lying in bed, with her body covered up to her waist and a headband around her head. A bandage wrapped around his left arm. There were devices monitoring his vital signs and the continuous sound of the "cardiac beep" gave rhythm to the air. His eyes were closed. She slept, or was sedated.
Sitting by the bedside, holding the girl's hand, was a woman with straight brown hair, light brown eyes, and slightly tanned skin. She must have been in her early twenties, she had eye fatigue. She turned sharply when she noticed the two at the door.
"Who are you?" He asked, in a hard, almost defensive voice.
Cael took a step forward, raising his wallet towards her, his face impassive as always.
"I'm Cael. I came to return her wallet."
The woman stood up with firm and furious steps. He was about 1.75m, and wore a white dress shirt with folded sleeves, regular jeans and straight-soled sneakers. His eyes burned with suspicion.
Unceremoniously, she snatched the wallet from Cael's hand with force.
"Don't play sorry, you thief son of a bitch! They almost marked her as destitute if I hadn't arrived on time. Your luck is that we are in a hospital."
The prosecution cut through the air like a shrapnel. But Cael did not react. He didn't move an eyebrow, he didn't purse his lips. It was as if this was just another boring Tuesday, his coolness and self-control unwavering.
As for Maya… that was a different story. She turned pale. Her jaw was clenched, her hands clench into fists. She was about to lunge forward, and perhaps she would have, if she hadn't felt her body freeze in place.
She knew that feeling. Cold, precise, absolute. It was Cael's telekinesis.
"I've done what I was supposed to do." He said, turning his back and leaving without looking back.
Maya, even against his will, was pulled back, following him as if her feet were attached to invisible ropes.
Already in the hallway, as soon as they walked away from the door, Cael released his influence. Maya felt the control of her body return, and immediately ran in front of him, stopping right in front of him, her chest heaving and her eyes ablaze.
"What's your problem?!" Maya questioned him, but without raising her voice, because she was in a hospital.
Cael stared at her for a second. The dark gaze like burnt wood, motionless.
"You were about to do something unnecessary and reckless. Which is nothing new. So I stopped you."
"She was accusing you of a horrible thing! A crime, you know? I'm your sister! I was going to defend you! Is this unnecessary?"
Her voice was shaky, bordering on a scream. Tears were already beginning to appear in the corners of her green eyes, Maya's emotional intensity and impulsiveness on full display.
"My sister?" Cael's voice came firm and cold, without even a tremor. "When I needed a sister, she wasn't there." Cael looked coldly at Maya. "I don't have a sister."
It was like getting punched in the middle of the chest. The impact of Cael's words on Maya was devastating, revealing the open fracture in their relationship.
Maya, taken by an impulse, raised her arm and tried to hit him with a direct punch to the face, but the hand froze a few inches from her cheek. Her skin trembled, her arm paralyzed in the air.
She gasped, drawing air between her teeth, then turned her face and hurriedly walked away, her eyes teary and her hurried footsteps echoing down the hallway.
Cael stood there until she disappeared from his vision. Then he walked slowly to a bench against the wall, sat down, and rested his elbows on his knees. He took a deep breath. For the first time that day, he lowered his head, exhausted.
The world has become silence, one of those silences that crushes the chest, drowns out the sounds of life and turns everything into a vacuum of absence.
The bench was cold. The hospital lights, pale and soulless, bathed the corridor in an almost ghostly tone. Cael was lost among the echoes of the environment and the muffled screams of memory, the sound of a childhood burned by pain, consumed in silences and goodbyes, the trauma of losing his family, resonating.
"Is everything okay, sir?"
The voice rescued him. Small, soft, unexpected.
He turned his face away, surprised, and this expression, in Cael, was as rare as a summer eclipse. Next to him, a little girl of only 6 years old, approximately 1.10m tall, stared at him with a curious look. She had fair skin and long, straight black hair that fell loosely over her shoulders, framing a delicate oval face. His dark-brown, large, almond-shaped eyes reflected an uncanny familiarity with Cael's, almost like looking at a distorted reflection of himself years earlier.
"I'm fine..." He replied, in a tone that tried to compose himself from the surprise, returning to his calm and controlled voice.
"You don't look good..." She said, with that way that only children have, a mixture of innocence and brutal honesty. "The girl who ran away didn't look like it either. Did you fight? Were they boyfriends?
"No..." Cael murmured, already rescuing the usual ice in his voice. "Just... We share the same roof."
"Oh..." She swung her little legs in the air and smiled. "I'm Nina! My mom always says I'm small and graceful, and that's why my name is Nina!"
Cael hesitated. Then, as if he were surrendering to an invisible force field, he replied:
"I won't disagree with her... I'm Cael."
"Wow! Cael... It's a beautiful name!" She said, with a glint of excitement in her eyes. "What does it mean?"
"I don't know." He replied bluntly. Then, trying to change the focus of the conversation, he said: "Where is your mother?"
Nina looked sadly at the door of room 106, right in front.
"There..."
Cael's gaze fixed. It was like seeing the past repeat itself in front of you, incarnated in someone so small. He remembered his own mother. From the stuffy room. Of the medicines that never worked. From the silent agony and cruel helplessness, the trigger of his own history repeating itself.
"Hey, Cael!" Nina called, tearing him from the shadows of memory. "Can you take me to the playground?"
"Playground?" He repeated, as if the word belonged to an ancient language, far from his world of solitude and control.
"Yes! There is one here at the hospital. But I can't go alone... And I don't have anyone to take me..." She paused. "You just have to pretend you're my brother."
It was a request. But it was also a suppressed scream, the same one Cael had swallowed for years. He knew what it was: the desire to forget, just for a few minutes. The escape he never had, the mirror of his own desire to escape the pain.
"It's okay..." He said, almost like a sigh that escaped, tenderness for Nina prevailing over his usual reluctance.
And when he saw Nina's smile, he realized he had got it right. It was not the smile of a naughty child. It was a pure smile. Relief. Joy. Life.
She took his hand naturally, as if they had already done it hundreds of times.
"Come on, brother!" She said, pulling him down the hall.
The employees who saw them did not question it. He called him brother with such firmness and tenderness that, added to the physical resemblance, it was easy to believe. In fact, impossible to say that it was a lie.
The playground was at the back of the hospital, hidden by a hedge and the smell of disinfectant. But for Nina, it was a portal to another world. She ran, jumped, spun, laughed. He made that tiny space the largest kingdom on the planet.
Cael, sitting on the bench, just watched. Her eyes, though still cold, trembled slightly in the corner. He almost, almost, smiled, a rare glimmer of emotion on his face.
Until Nina climbed a slide ladder and tripped.
Cael didn't think. With an almost invisible gesture, she stopped in mid-air, levitating slightly to the ground. As she touched her feet to the ground, Nina looked up, amazed.
"Wow! I gained one more power???"
"No." Cael said calmly. "It's me. I used Telekinesis."
"Can you float me again, brother?" She said, with a pious look impossible to resist.
He hesitated. But he gave in.
He lifted her gently off the ground, making her spin, dance in the air, laugh as if each laugh cleared away some of the pain that was inside her.
And for almost an hour, she was just a child. And he, strangely, almost felt like a real brother, the experience calming the turbulent ocean of his pent-up emotions.
"Come on, Nina." He said, slowly lowering it. "It's time to go back."
She pouted, but when he pulled her close, the gesture turned into a hug.
"Thank you, big brother!" She said, and Cael froze. Then, timidly, he returned the gesture, showing his affection for presence and silent care.
They returned together to room 106. In front of the door, Cael hesitated, wanting to say something, but was interrupted by a small hug on the leg.
"Brother... Will you abandon me?"
He felt the impact of those words like a punch in the chest. "No." It was the answer that escaped unfiltered, defenseless, the silent promise of his protective nature.
"Are you coming to see me? Play with me?" She asked.
Cael bent down, facing her on an equal footing.
"Yes."
"Do you promise?"
"I promise."
She hugged him tighter, and he, even awkwardly, did not deny the affection.
"Hug your mother too." And take care of yourself. He said, standing up.
Nina nodded with a sweet smile, waving as he walked away down the hallway, tall, silent, with his hands in his pockets and the heavy steps of someone who carries the world... And now, a small promise.