MADE OF STARS — CHAPTER THREE

Chapter 3LilaThe pale boy is back.Not only back, but he's just passed out on the floor of the coffee shop.I didn't think he could get any paler, but apparently he can. His brows are bold and black against his white skin. And his lips. They're blue. Is he just passed out?  I hope he isn't dead. I'm afraid to touch him because of the shock he gave me, but maybe if I touch him again…  Maybe it would be like a defibrillator.Someone jostles me from behind. "I'm a doctor."Another person. "I'm a nurse."I get out of the way. As the doctor and nurse bend over the boy, he begins to stir. His eyelids flutter, and the blue tinge leaves his lips, but his skin is still deathly pale. "What's your name, son?" the doctor asks. "Do you know your name?" "I'm not sure… " The boy frowns. "Gabriel. It's Gabriel."I just know him as the pale boy."Where are you from?" the doctor asks. I remember these as typical questions taught in CPR class."The secret island," the boy answers.  Of this he seems sure."Secret Island?" the nurse asks.I don't know why, but I interrupt. "He's an exchange student." "An exchange student from Secret Island?" This from the nurse again, who doesn't seem convinced of anything.I struggle to produce an answer, with no idea why I'm making things up. "It's an island off the coast of… of…""Iceland?" The boy's input is a question and a statement."That explains his pallor," someone in the crowd says."And his weird hair," a kid pipes in."And weird clothes." Another kid.His clothes are a little strange. Kind of casual Victorian. And his hair…not so strange, but long, and as pale as his face. Not something you see in the average teenager.  I think about the card he gave me last time he was in the café. I took the card home with me. I don't know why.  Now he's here again. And he's looking at me with the most wonderful eyes. Brown, but not a boring brown.  So brown they're almost black. He reaches up to me...and I reach back, unafraid.