The sudden bark of Ordal’s datachron ringtone startled him awake again. He woke to still find himself in his cocoon of blankets, now damp with his own sweat. He was still feverish from the withdrawals, it seemed. He squinted through the dark as he reached for the blaring device. As soon as he looked at the bright light of the screen his head throbbed in response, but the pain was soon forgotten when he saw the ID of the caller.
He tapped the screen with a trembling thumb, a relieved smile spreading over his face. “Reeder! You finally answered! Where have you been?!” tumbled out of his mouth immediately. His older brother hadn’t returned to the apartment for two days, which definitely had Ordal concerned. Sure, he was his own man and all, and it’s not like Reeder didn’t have a habit of disappearing. But he’d promised he’d stay until he was feeling better. It just didn’t seem like him to leave him to suffer without a single word.
His older brother’s voice came through the receiver after a huff and the sound of something being moved around. “Ordal, hey! I-I uh, I got sidetracked! Sorry.” he responded in a brisk manner. Ordal sat up on his mattress, frowning as he held the datachron against his head.
“Sidetracked? With what?” he asked. For a moment there wasn't an answer, only more sounds of things being shifted around.
“A job. I found a job in the Halon Ring. I’m so sorry to leave you so suddenly, I just couldn't afford to pass this up.” His voice was so monotone; he didn’t sound very sorry.
Ordal couldn’t believe his ears. He’d left him to deal with the throes of drug withdrawal for some job? It couldn’t wait a couple more days? The answer only left him with more questions. “S-so you’re just... leaving?” he couldn’t hide the disappointment in his voice. It took this long to finally spend some time with his estranged brother, only for him to jet off again after a couple weeks.
“Well you said you were through the worst of it, right?”
“Yeah, but-” he started, but Reeder’s voice interrupted him.
“You’ll be fine. If you wanna drop by Nexus though, Verr would definitely let you stay at her place. It’s really beautiful down there.” Ordal could tell he was trying to be helpful, but it didn’t stop him from sagging over his knees with a discouraged sigh.
“How long are you going to be out there? And... what’s this job even? Th-this is just so sudden.”
“I’m not sure, okay? A few months?” Well, that sounded promising. “Just tell Nasha what I’m up to when she asks. Cause she will ask.”
“Okay.” the younger aurin answered in a dull tone.
“I’ve gotta go now. I’ll call in later, just um... t-take care.” Reeder’s voice faltered near the end of the sentence. Before Ordal could respond, the line cut off abruptly. The rose-colored aurin was left to sit in the dark, staring at the ID picture of his half-brother on the screen. Smiling awkwardly at the camera, as if smiling was something unfamiliar to him. With a dejected sigh he shut the phone off and tossed it away from himself, flopping back against the sweaty sheets of his mattress.
Ordal and his siblings used to be so tight-knit. Thinking about he and his sibling’s current, fragmented state made his head hurt all over again.
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