▌│█║▌║▌║Chapter 43║▌║▌║█│▌

I suddenly woke up from the hazy abyss of my subconscious to find myself laying on the sidewalk in the dark. I moved my hand to comfort my aching head as I was thinking to myself, “What happened?”

I had no recollection of what had happened the past couple of hours. I moved my free hand behind me for support to sit up, and I felt someone else’s hand laying beside me. I looked down beside me, and I saw Via laying there unconscious still. What happened to us? I remember walking down the street to head home when a hole in my memory started. Via started to twist and mumble on the ground beside me, and I knew that she was about to regain consciousness again. I shook her a bit to help her awaken, and I realized with the movement of my limbs that my joints were super sore. Luckily, Via woke up pretty fast, and I slowly moved my arms back to support my sore body. Via sat up with a hand on her head, and she asked me, “What the hell happened?”

“That’s what I was going to ask you. I don’t remember anything that has happened in the past couple of hours. Is it normal to have short term amnesia after a training session? Maybe it was the medical attention I received, but you would still remember what happened. This is weird.”

Via laid back down on her back and put both of her hands on her head. She let out a groan as she said, “My head hurts, my body is sore, and I don’t have any memories of the past few hours. I just want to go to sleep and get my mind right. What time is it?”

I looked down at my watch, and it said the time was six o’clock. I told Via the time and thought to myself, “It’s been three hours? Were we laying here the entire three hours?”

Just then, a person walked by us on the sidewalk, and they looked at Via and I like we were crazy. I realized then that we did kind of look nuts since we were just laying in the middle of the street at six o’clock in the afternoon. I managed to get to my feet slowly, and I looked down at Via still laying on the ground with her hands still on her head. I couldn’t help but give off a warm smile, and I asked her, “Can you get up and walk?”

“Not really…” She responded, “I feel that if I try to walk, I’ll throw up. I don’t know if my legs have enough strength yet either.”

I let out a sigh and went crouched down slowly to her side. I picked up her arm and put it around my head. I gradually picked her up off the ground and onto her feet. She groaned as she was lifted up and asked me, “What are you doing? I’m telling you I can’t walk or stand.”

I ignored her and asked, “Where is your home at? I can help carry you there.”

She held her head down as she said, “It’s near here. You need to keep walking straight into town, and then take a right at the city hall. After you take a right, you’ll see a neighborhood of houses, and that’s where I live. Don’t get mad if I throw up on you since you are doing this.”

I looked at her downward looking face and slumped body and told her, “It’ll be fine. You just take it easy.”

She was clearly out of it. I followed her directions to her house, and I was in awe of the buildings around me. I have been down the center of the city where all the high levels lived before, but it has been a while since I saw firsthand the magnificence of the buildings here. Compared to the house I live in, it’s like I’m living in medieval times, and my house is in the mid-level part of town. Comparing this to Lainey’s house was even more of a jarring comparison. Via ended up throwing up mid-way like she said she probably would, and I then managed to put her on my back and piggy back carried her the rest of the way. She told me her address, and I carried her the rest of the way as she slept on my back. I finally managed to get to her house, and I rang the doorbell. Via’s mom opened the door, and she seemed just as relieved as my mom did yesterday when she saw me home from school. Her parents were really grateful to me and asked me to come in to feed me, but I refused their request. I still haven’t told my parents where I have been yet, and I really need to get home. I also didn’t tell her parents that I was a sagaru, and I can already see the conversation come up while I’m eating about what power I have. Since they are high-levels, I can imagine they won’t take too kindly to me being a sagaru. Via was also out cold asleep, and I would feel even more awkward since she wouldn’t be awake to accompany me with her parents. They told me thank you one last time, and I went out back into the night. My body has become a lot sorer from carrying Via, and my parents are probably worried sick. I grabbed my phone out of my pocket to call them, but when I did, the call went to voicemail. Maybe their phones are dead, or they are already out looking for me? I went through the streets in the dark, and the night seemed quieter than usual. No one was at the coffee shop tonight, and the people walking down the streets seem to be less than usual too. I traveled up the stairs of the building to my parent’s apartment, and when I got there, the door was open. Were they expecting me?

▌│█║▌║▌║To be Continued║▌║▌║█│▌