The temperature of the tunnel was oddly frigid, from the roof to the wall, down to the cold water on their boots. Jeff thought the cold was as a result of the fall in temperature, but he soon realized that it was not. It was the surge of power, coursing through his vein. His sense of smell has become too sensitive that he was finding it difficult to breathe at that precise moment, and it made his stomach churned angrily. The coldness of the tunnel made the hair on his skin to rise, coupled with the endless dropping of water from the weeping wall, which nearly broke his ear drum. He could also hear Ema's cold breath, her heart, beating nonstop on her chest and somehow, he could have sworn that he also heard her thoughts. But he wasn't sure this time, even though the feeling was somehow familiar.
"Do you know what must have caused the earthquake?" Ema asked. The reverberation in her voice echoed through the tunnel, drumming in Jeff's ear like a steam engine. Jeff fought the urge to scream as he shed his ears with his hands, yet it did little to keep the ringing in his acoustic meatus.
"Jeff?" Ema called. "What's wrong, are you okay?" She asked, stooping over his bent figure.
"Just stop talking." Jeff said forcefully. He felt his whole being exposed. It was as though he had been striped to the skin and left to die on winter's night. He let his gloved fingers clutch the muddy earth, hoping to find solace in their abode. He could feel some pebbles on the mud, piercing his palms; even the glove couldn't prevent the high senses. Jeff clutched them none the less, like a life line, even as the pain continued. He could feel the lump, pulsing somewhere on his cranium, and when he thought the pain would probably explode him, everything returned to normal. He found his racing breathe returning to its normal beat and the heightened senses gone like a puff of smoke. Slowly he stood, not willing to meet Ema's eye, who was flashing the touch light about him.
"Am fine" he said "let's keep moving."
"Fine? You look terrible, what's the problem?"
"I said am fine, perhaps a little headache, but am okay" Jeff said trying to keep his voice as calm as he could ever imagine. He was not going to show any sign of weakness, not in her presence.
"You don't look fine to me, but if you say so... well" Ema shrugged. She turned reluctantly and they continued on in silence. The stench on the air was gone now, or maybe their olfactory lobe had adjusted their senses and registered it as normal, either way, it was better than the first time.
"Do you miss them?" Ema's voice echoed. The curiosity in her voice, all too exposed to be mistaken as a chit-chat to keep the journey lively.
"You don't give up, do you?" Jeff asked still not certain what she was curious about. He was sure she was watching him from the corner of her eyes, maybe hoping he wouldn't drop by the mud again without her notice. "Matt has been my best friend since I was barely walking; Ham and Pinna is great, they are fun to be with, it's impossible not to miss them for a minute. So yes, I do miss them. Don't you?"
"Ha, of course I do, but I didn't mean those stone heads. I was actually asking after your family, your parents, don't you miss them?" Her question startled Jeff greatly. He wasn't expecting such from Ema, who always keep to herself. She often avoids asking people about their background, or so Jeff had observed, maybe so that the question won't point back a finger.
But why now
"Well" Jeff sighs, trying to find words. "Missing them is an exaggeration. I remember when I was still a little boy; my father always carries me on his shoulders and soars on his H-board, usually before every race. I always tell him reach for the skies, but every time he does, I get scared half the way up, and will scream out my lungs with fright. 'It's okay to be afraid, he always say, but don't let fright deprive you or hinder you from your goal. Every day we soared and every time I get scared. Then one day, he told me he was too busy with work to soar. Our flight leisure became once every week, and once became never. At first, I thought I had angered him with my aerophobia, so I wanted to plead with him, but I never saw him. My father started keeping late night, sometimes he won't return. Anytime he does return, I will be in bed by then, even though I try to prevent the sleep from coming, nature always win. I woke up early one morning and found some five men in our house talking in a very low tone with mom. They all were in black jumpsuit, with golden ring holding a sun color cape hanging over their shoulders. They left mom crying afterward, and when I inquired, she told me my father has abandoned us and was never coming back again. I was sad, and furious with him for leaving." Jeff adjusted his weight, not realizing that they had paused and Ema was staring at him intently. "But on my tenth birthday" He continued as the memory flashed back, almost forming tears in his eyes "Mother gave me my father's H-board. That was the time I learnt that my father had been dead all along"
Silence followed Jeff's last words
"Am sorry, it really must have been hard for you, finding out that way" Ema finally said
"It was it ruined everything that day. I never could think of any gloomy birthday." Jeff chuckle "Well here am I, still pushing forward; I won't rest until I bring his murderers to justice"
"Is that the reason you came to the academy, to join the keeper of order and sanity?"
"Part of it, I also want to keep other children from the same fate, every murderer must be brought to justice"
"It won't be easy"
"I know, but it's not impossible."