Chapter 2.5 - Right Here

Both his teachers exchanged concerned looks but did not say anything. Before they had the chance to protest, Adam intervened.

"I did what you said."

Giving up his pride, the Playboy was begging in the end. He couldn't say what compelled him to go back so badly it was humiliating for him to admit it.

"Now I need to go back…"

It wasn't hard for Calder to see how important that was for Adam. The boy was being very vulnerable at that moment and apparently going back would give him some peace. Since they were going to spend centuries together in that new world, he sure as hell needed closure.

"Fine." Calder signed. "But I'm coming along." 

Adam thought about protesting but Cal had a stubborn look on his face which made the boy give up and nod in agreement. 

The Water God led the way and they left immediately. Ever since the Earth God woke up in the Spiritual world he had been wanting to go back home. As he flew at the speed of sound he could only think of one thing. 

From a distance Adam watched the God's Gate came out from behind the clouds. The younger man stepped on the brakes and stopped mid air.

"What are we doing here, Calder? I don't have time for more jokes." 

"Relax, this gate leads to more places than the Meeting Hall."

The gray-headed man didn't waste time and kept moving towards the doorway and soon Adam followed.

At the entrance, Calder waited for a grumpy guy to meet him.

"Before we go I have something I must warn you about."

Adam was right, there was a trick. As always the old man's pace was the slowest possible, making the Earth God more inpatient. 

"First: You cannot use your powers in any circumstances, for obvious reasons."

Quietly, Adam agreed and waited for the man to proceed.

"Second: No one will be able to see you. You will feel the same and look the same but you are just a Spirit."

The whole time the Playboy was shaking his head non stop. 

"Third: You cannot interfere with anything there. No matter what happens neither me or you can change anything."

"Deal." Adam barely heard what the old man said, all he wanted was for him to stop talking. 

"Where do you wanna go?" Finally he said something the young man wanted to hear. 

"Home."

Location determined, they advanced to the border of the Gate. On the other side there was only the blue sky colored by white clouds. Adam closed his eyes and crossed, wishing he would finally wake up from that freaky dream.

Next thing he knew, his foot was landing on the solid wooden floor. That sensation of going back to somewhere familiar after being away had just become one of Adam's favorites. 

He was home, outside the kitchen door. 

By the looks of the house and the sunlight, it was morning just like it was in the Spiritual World. An employee was finishing serving the breakfast table. That was his favorite meal of the day, not just for the food but because of the rituals.

Every morning his mother and him would sit together at the small round table to eat and talk about their schedule for the day. His mother would read the news on her phone and update him on the matters of the world, meanwhile he would scold her for being on the phone at the table. They would argue for a while until he would start complimenting her so she would stop scolding him on things he had done last week. That woman was a skilled speaker.

Back on the same team, his mother would ask for his plans and ask him to go by the company for some meeting or whatever. 

She pushed him to find something to do with himself, it did not matter what. All she wanted was for Adam to find a profession. Since he had no interests besides partying and cars, they pushed him to become more aware of the responsibilities of owning such a big corporation. 

Though he wanted to respond to his mother's expectations, they were too high. 

Coming from a poor family, she had to put herself through college while working to feed him. He didn't have a father, so her mother Maria, Adam's grandmother, would help her care for him while she spent fourteen hours away, working and studying. 

Adam was proud of her, so much he felt embarrassed for being such a failure of a son. No aspirations, no passion, he felt like an alien sometimes.

By her thirties, when Adam was four, she had already started her own I.T company and was working for big corporations doing cybersecurity. She was a pioneer, which gave her an advantage. Her company was at the top of her field in less than five years. 

Twenty years later, she had an international empire, protecting the most powerful brands in the world. And what had he done? Nothing. Got cheated by his girlfriend and his best friend, because he was too dumb to realize how greedy they were.

She didn't pressure him onto doing anything he didn't like, and he loved her for that. Even the part where she bugged him about getting an occupation, it made him feel loved. 

As he laid eyes on the empty table he felt drawn to it and walked inside with cautious steps. Suddenly his mother crossed him heading in the same direction. 

His heart stopped. She took her usual seat at the table, the same chair they had occupied for over ten years. 

"Guys?"

Hoarse, his voice struggled to come out. 

No phone in hand, his mom was looking to where Adam would sit. 

"I'm here." The son tried again to call her attention but with no response.

Without taking her eyes off Adam's seat, his mother reached for her mug. As a drowning person in a violent sea, she grabbed it tight under the grieving silence. As if that small object was holding her together.

It was his favorite, green with pointy ears. She got it for his sixteenth birthday. He hated it but the way she thought he would love it just made him laugh and accept the gift.

Choking but not sure on what, Adam walked over to the table and placed himself in front of the woman that raised and protected him. 

"Hey... I'm OK. I'm here!"

Unaffected by his words, Helena kept her eyes on the simple wooden chair that every morning, sooner or later, ended up occupied by her grumpy carefree son. Sometimes he would be quiet, others he would blab about how he wanted to take her for a drive in his new car and Helena would tell him to drive to the office and he would immediately know it was a trap. 

As his efforts to be heard were ineffective, he pushed the chair to sit on it. 

Being in that room with his mother made the boy feel like nothing had changed. However, he was quickly aware of what had happened once tears rolled down his mother's face. 

"Mom…" 

The son's heart got broken into a million pieces. She lowered her head without letting go of the ugly mug, finally releasing the tears she had fought to hold back all morning.

"Mom, I'm not gone, I'm right here!"