Of the Old World

But she was—and now he knew. Adrian leaned back against the wall as the even progressed. Every so often he would tune his attention back to anyone who was speaking, but after a while his thoughts would always wander off. His mind carried him to memories of his mother, of home, of what it could feel like to lose a sibling. He wrapped himself in his own silence the whole time, and before he knew it, the story-telling was over.

The people started gathering in smaller groups, talking amongst themselves with warm smiles stretching their lips and fresh tears moistening their cheeks. While taking the surrounding in, he felt a tap on his shoulder. Adrian smiled at his friend and stood up. “Great job,” he told Nadia, sincerety marking his voice. For a moment he forgot about the protesting that he had planned to do once the event was over. “You never… mentioned you had a brother.” His words came out hesitant.

Returning Adrian’s smile when he turned around to face her, she attempted on giving him a modest shrug of her shoulders. But the smile she wore was too wide to cover her pride of being able to pull off such an event. “Thank you,” she said, beaming from ear to ear. Though as soon as Adrian brought up the topic of her brother, the smile slowly slipped from her face, until only a small and somewhat forced one remained. She inhaled deeply before regarding his comment. “Well, now you know that I had a brother,” Nadia responded in a soft voice. She knew that she shouldn’t be surprised to have him bring this up, but considering that she had never truly spoken to him about all the sorts of misfortunes that they had experienced in the past, she didn’t think that he would let their somewhat lighthearted friendship turned into a deeper one. Not that she was unhappy about it or anything, though. And besides, perhaps it was time for her to open up to him.

Nonetheless, she breathed out a sigh of relief once her story was over. Talking about it had lifted a huge weight off from her shoulders, but it was still nice to not have to watch the images whirl through her eyes now that she didn’t have to talk anymore. Talking meant recounting, and sometimes just not remembering about it was better. As others shared stories around her, Nadia used the time to distract herself and wipe away the images of the stricken looks on the faces of her parents when they realized that something was terribly wrong. She tried to forget that dread that she always felt whenever she stumbled upon an Infected—always praying that it wasn’t Lukas.

But she was—and now he knew. Adrian leaned back against the wall as the even progressed. Every so often he would tune his attention back to anyone who was speaking, but after a while his thoughts would always wander off. His mind carried him to memories of his mother, of home, of what it could feel like to lose a sibling. He wrapped himself in his own silence the whole time, and before he knew it, the story-telling was over.

The people started gathering in smaller groups, talking amongst themselves with warm smiles stretching their lips and fresh tears moistening their cheeks. While taking the surrounding in, he felt a tap on his shoulder. Adrian smiled at his friend and stood up. "Great job," he told Nadia, sincerety marking his voice. For a moment he forgot about the protesting that he had planned to do once the event was over. "You never... mentioned you had a brother." His words came out hesitant.

Looking around, she spotted people murmuring in agreement and nodding their heads. That was a good start. At least they weren’t looking at her with scornful looks as if she was stupid just because she didn’t have everything planned. It seemed like no one here had things planned either, so that was good. “But I’ve decided that maybe I should start with my story, then ask for others to share. If you don’t want to share yours, then it’s okay, but I’d really appreciate it if I could get a couple of volunteers. When we’re done with that, then I guess we should all just mingle and talk to one another and learn new things about each other,” she went on. “How does that sound?” Nadia glanced around the room, again meeting murmurs of agreement and nods. She exhaled a sigh of relief, though it was only after she met her parents’ eyes and saw them looking at her with pride that she felt like she had done something great. 

The previous uneasiness began to slowly dissipate, seeing as he was no longer part of the crowd's main focus. His own focus began to shift, too, so it took him slightly by surprise when she personally directed the question to him. Adrian mouthed a "sure" with a firm nod of his head. It was as good an idea as any, as long as she would not make him tell his story right there and then.

Hearing her answer, he smiled and heaved in relief. He did not mind having to wait for a while before going back to his spot. Nobody would pay him any attention while Nadia was sharing anyway, which was how it was supposed to be.

She turned to face him with a triumphant look. ”What? Can’t I make sure that you’re acknowledged for helping me out organize this thing? I mean, I know that I came up with the idea in the first place, but in the end you kinda talked to a couple of people and spread the words, didn’t you?” she said, shrugging her shoulders as if calling him and putting him in the centre of attention wasn’t really a big deal.

She didn’t understand why he was so against the idea of being recognized by others. Yes, she knew that Adrian preferred keeping to himself rather than going out there and socializing with everyone, but surely having people know his name wouldn’t hurt, right? It wasn’t like he had a bad reputation for anything. For all Nadia knew, there had never been any terrible things about Adrian being spread around. 

Then again, she supposed that he didn’t think the way she did. He seemed to be a hell lot more introverted than she was. Sometimes she still wondered how they could be such close friends. Sure, there was the fact that he also came from Indonesia, but that alone shouldn’t be enough to make them remain friends for this long. They were so different. Maybe it was their differences that made her like him, though. It was nice to be friends with someone who could keep her down to earth—the way Adrian did.

Hoping that his discomfort did not leak through his appearance, Adrian nodded to the applauding crowd. The thin smile was still plastered across his face. While still trying to act casual, he racked his brain for a way out of the situation, but could not think of any. In fact, he felt like he could not think at all. His brain seemed to have pathetically shut down there in the face of most of the Base inhabitants.

It certainly did not look like he could find an escape on his own. Unfortunately, his only hope was the person that had put him in the inconvenient position in the first place. "I have all the recognition I need," he muttered sullenly. He then turned slightly to the side to glance at Nadia. His expression turned from that of feigned gratitude to dismissal and finally to pleading. "Well then, can I go back now?" He shoved his hands into his pockets, feeling the wetness of sweat beginning to form on his palms.

While people formed some sort of a circle in the Bunk room, Nadia found her way to the centre of the circle, knowing that she was going to have to start things off. Even while she mentally prepared some sort of opening speech, her eyes still searched the room for the sight of Adrian. No glimpses of his dark hair to be spotted, though. She knew that he was bound to be here somewhere, but he probably preferred hiding in the shadows and listening to her everyone else do all the talking. After her eyes swept around the room and she still couldn’t locate him, Nadia eventually gave up looking.

Strangely enough, Nadia did not say anything for a while. She only stood there, her eyes darting from one end of the room to another. It looked as if she was searching for something. Adrian did not have a single idea of what she could be looking for. Perhaps a prop to help her with some kind of a demonstration? What could she possibly need to start a gathering of this sort? If she had mentioned it to him earlier, he would surely help her find it, but seeing as he did not have a clue...

A single, loud clap later, everyone was facing Nadia the way he was, and the noise died down as she spoke. Well done, Nadia, he thought. They acknowledge you. This thing you've assembled is going to run just fine, I can tell. Adrian smiled at her, though her gaze was evidently not on him.

The smile on his face lingered until he heard her say his name. The crowd was completely quiet by then, waiting in anticipation for what was about to happen. Waiting in anticipation for him. That was when he realised that what she had tried to find earlier was not an object, but him. Adrian swallowed. What in the world was Nadia thinking? Several heads turned his way. Shit, he swore to himself. He was surely doomed.

Adrian had no choice. He slowly got up and stepped towards the centre of the room. All eyes were on him and all he wished for was to shrink and turn to dust. Unfortunately, it was deemed impossible by every scientific law ever discovered, so instead he only stood by Nadia with a strained smile on his face.