Orpheus

33

"Owen?" Riley called out to him, standing behind a seat. It was a few hours after the meeting; Pratham and Olivia had taken Magnus an hour earlier and flown towards Mars.

Owen turned his head from the console he was hunched over. "Oh hey Riley." His face showed an emotion that was part elation, part sadness; Riley could relate. "First time seeing you after you woke up; how you feelin'?"

'Okay Riley, you need to talk to him about his emotions. What does he feel for you?'

"Fine, I guess..."

"Cool. Hey, I'm listening to some news from back home; wanna join?" Owen beckoned her by offering an earbud; the same cherry red earbud, now attached to the central console.

Riley thought about it for a second, before walking by and sitting next to him. He gave a small smile, before giving her the earbud. She accepted it without a word.

They both sat there, hunched, heads close. Riley could hear a reporter droning on about rising death rates and food scarcities; morbid things. Yet she wasn't as moved by them as she should have; she was focusing more on what she was feeling.

'Why do I feel this pain; this sadness in my chest?'

"Why are you even listening to this?" Riley asked, trying to distract herself.

"Well, this is the last time we can have any contact with Earth; better catch the very essence of it." He smiled a bit, the way he usually does before delivering the punch line of a joke. "What better way to capture all that negativity in one bite-sized package?"

She smiled a sad smile back at him; she felt a heavy feeling bearing down on her chest, almost dragging her down.

"Didn't you try contacting your brother?" She asked; rather talk about something materialistic than feelings.

'What are you doing? You need to confront him; clear the air!'

Owen shook his head sadly in response, and looked into the distance. "I did actually; sent him a small message a few minutes ago. Told him he can go screw himself over, and that he's a world-class dick, but he's still my brother, and for that, I'll miss him."

Riley smiled back sadly; he was a good guy, and she really did like him. She only wished things were different, she were different, then maybe...

'Don't go that route Riley; stray from the what-ifs...'

"What have you been doing up here?" she asked, to fill in the awkward silence in her thoughts. "I didn't see you down by the dining area."

"Yeah that..." Owen first looked at her than opted to look away. "Had to run some calculations and check on some systems; let's just say we did not expect the lightning." He gave a feeble chuckle before looking at Riley. "Don't wanna get electrocuted now, do we?" He poked her shoulder playfully, which Riley assumed represented being zapped by lightning.

The inescapable silence returned. Riley wanted to ask him why had he been ignoring (had he been ignoring her?), and what exactly did he feel. She wanted clarity, and was tired of the foggy mess of doubts.

'Ask him; ask him now.'

"Owen," She finally found the courage "why'd you do it?"

"Do what?" He feigned surprise, but something told her Owen already knew what she was talking about.

"Ask the others to wake me late?"

"I..." Owen seemed tongue-tied for a second "I thought that... Maybe... I dunno." He took a second's pause as shook his head ."I thought you'd need some time to spring back up."