Silence

Chapter 10

..-. . ...- . .-.

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So a witch boy made that happen?

"Yeah, it was not astrous," Nightwing says. "But once we figured out he'd split the earth into two dimensions, we figured out he was and stopped him. But later we realized it was just a distraction for another plan he had."

How did you figure out our dimension was split in two?

"That's classified," he responds with a grin. I roll my eyes. I'm trying to pay attention to his story, but my mind has been elsewhere. I know what today is, and I'm hoping his stories will distract me so I don't die of nerves.

In the three days I've been here, Nightwing has been keeping me company the most. I ask him to tell me stories about the heroic feats his team has accomplished. He tells me as much as he can since most of it's "classified". Today I asked about the day all the adults disappeared four years ago. I remember that day as one of the worst of my life.

I was at home on a Saturday, just hanging out with Melony. We'd ordered pizza and Melony called for my mom to ask her when it would get there. We didn't hear a response so she called her again. After calling her name a third time, we went looking for her. Melony and I searched the entire house, but couldn't find her or my dad. We started panicking.

Melony called 911, but no one answered. That's when I really got terrified. We knew it wasn't a coincidence when Bridgett called Melony telling us her parents had just disappeared out of nowhere and 911 wouldn't answer to her either. We checked my neighbor's house, and found more kids without parents. A few older kids found us and brought all the neighborhood kids into one house while we waited. I called my brother, who was eighteen at the time, and he didn't answer. Up to that point, I had been so scared.

We turned on the TV to see if the news was covering this, but it was all static. Everyone was wondering where all the adults went. Then the TV cut to Kid Flash, Aqualad, and Robin. (The new Robin visited me in the med bay and I quickly put together that it was not the same Robin I'd seen on the TV, and that Nightwing was the original Robin.)

Several kids got the same footage on their phones. We listened intently and the older kids obeyed their instructions, trying to keep us all calm and put the little ones to sleep. After several hours, we heard voices. Adult voices, crying for their children. The older kids tried to contain us while they alerted the adults we were there. I teared up when I saw my mom walk through the door. I ran out to meet her and my dad and we hugged for about half an hour at home before we all ate a quick meal of instant noodles and went to bed.

To hear Nightwing tell it was like reliving it all over again. It was interesting to hear the story from the hero side of things. To be honest, his version of what happened is a lot more interesting than what I went through.

The door opens and tears fill my eyes as I see my parents walk in behind M'gann. My mom tears up too and hugs me as soon as she reaches me. I try not to flinch as she squeezes a few of my scars. I still have a lot of bruises from Cadmus. My stitches are starting to heal as well, now that they're being properly tended to.

My dad wraps his arms around both of us and I hope he never lets go. The tears fall onto my face in an ugly mess, but I don't care. We sit there for several minutes, no one speaking.

My mom pulls away, far too soon, and takes my face in her hands. My dad takes my hands and they both take a moment to examine my face, my frail body, the white rings on my wrists and ankles. My mom covers her mouth with her hand when she sees them. She looks me in the eyes, and I see that the light is mostly gone from them.