My eyes widen at the sound of her name. “You mean, Queen Mayen?” Mayen only takes people who have broken the law or personally insulted Kulym. Is Dara a criminal on the run or something?
His face is stone cold. “Who else would I be talking about?” Since the response he expects doesn’t come, he continues with a sigh, “Do you really want to know?”
I nod, honestly curious at how this guy ended up the way he is.
“You promise you won’t turn me over?”
“As long as you don’t give me a reason to.” The intimidation conveyed in his eyes automatically makes me eat my words. “Kidding of course. Just tell me.”
With a growing steadiness in his voice, he begins.
“First of all, you should know about Cassidy. Little devil, she is. Spunky as all hell. If you think I look interesting, you should see her. Bright orange hair and purple eyes...Not to mention she’s got accessories just like these.” He twiddles the tip of his tail in one hand, and the horn in the other. “She’s my only friend actually. It’s mostly because I never got to know the other kids long enough at the facility. They all died before we got to talk very much.”
“The facility?” I interrupt him.
“Of course you’ve never heard of it. One of Mayen’s dirty little secrets. It’s an experimental facility that she had built in order to test out all kinds of inhumane things. There’s everything from neurotoxic drugs, hybrid conversions, even new execution tests. As a kid, I thought that sort of stuff was normal. I grew up with it. Mayen took Cassidy and me from our parents around the same time. I was just a toddler. Cassidy and I didn't meet until we were seven though. She had been transferred to my ward because all of her roommates had died off. Why didn’t we die? For some reason, the drugs just couldn’t kill us; we had strong bodies for children at that age. At eleven, we partook in one of the hybrid conversion therapy sessions and came out with this extra shit.” Again, referring to the horns and tail. “All of our time was spent together after that. We were the only things keeping each other sane. Cassidy didn’t think that was enough though, and I don’t blame her. She proposed we escape, run away. I thought there was no way, but something in me trusted her judgment. It was in the night about two years ago that we managed to slip out. That’s where our little ‘adventure’ started. For the next two years, we just kept moving, living off of whatever we could bring down in the forest, even occasionally staying in an abandoned house. Everything we did was for the other; it was the only way to survive. Of course, Mayen knew we escaped, probably sent the whole bloody brigade on alert after that. What would the villages say if they saw something like us?”
The way he refers to themselves as ‘something’ is a little disheartening…
“If they saw us, her secret would be revealed and there’d be a rebellion or something. Sounds ok, unless you want the deaths of whole villages on your head.”
Closing his eye, he sighs. “So, how did I end up like this? An hour or two ago, we were nearing this village to stay the night. Somehow we let a guard spot us with our horns in view and that’s what let us know that Mayen was still fresh on our asses. We ran as you can believe, but outrunning a bullet is even harder than it sounds. It grazed her neck and that knocked her down, making the guard go straight for her. I wasn’t going to leave her. I mean, what would I have been doing for two years if I just left her? So, ignoring the hook that was clearly in his hand, I rushed at him and broke his nose. It was only after I stumbled back that I realized where the hook went. Hence,” He motions to the bandage almost sarcastically. “Anyways, I blacked out and woke up just a little while ago. I guess the shock of losing Cassidy shook me up and sent me exposing myself all around this place. Not my brightest idea, I’ll admit.”
I sit silently, attempting to process his story in my mind. His words hit heavy like a boulder...He’s lost his eye, dignity, and reason for living all in one night. Yet, here he is, telling me it without the slightest reappearance of tears. How can I be the one hit so hard by this?
Dara seems to notice my struggle. “You don’t have to say anything. More like there isn’t anything to be said. It’s my life and I have to move on with it. It’s just…” He leans back in the chair, staring at the wall to his right. “I just don’t know where to go without her…” A sudden spark illuminates within him. “How can I sit here knowing she’s stuck with that excuse for a woman? The same one who tore her life apart without even blinking. The one we were escaping all this time…I can’t let her do this!” As he pushes off the chair, his eyelid falls and he thankfully slumps back into the chair. Not only was he close to waking up father, but he could’ve hurt himself again, making more work for me.
His breaths are flat and stressed as he struggles to keep his consciousness. Silence precedes my words, “I know I can’t really say much to your situation, terrible as it is, but it’s obvious you’re exhausted.” I pause, about to offer something I never thought would have to be an option. “How about you just take my bed tonight and resume your search tomorrow? I can just take the floor anyways…” My mind is vomiting on itself. What the hell has gotten into me? Dara peers at me through his bangs, seemingly contemplating it. I get up as his eye follows me. “Well?” I prod.
A slow nod ensues from him. He stands up, wavering, and we make our way up the staircase. “Nanami-” he stops as I shush him harshly.
“Be quiet. My father can’t wake up and hear you. Unless you have a death wish that is.” It really is imperative that he obeys this one rule. The amount of trouble I’d be in if he were to find Dara...Oh boy. With his eye half opened, he nods his understanding. Any sense of urgency from before is clearly declining by the second. After a day such as his, no, after a life such as his, I’m anything but surprised at his current disposition.
When we enter my room, I go over to my vanity to retrieve my grandmother’s old quilt, consisting of colorful squares that depict the tale of a boy lost from home and finding refuge under a rainbow. It’s an interesting little thing and one that has constantly plagued me with peculiarity, but I treasure it all the same because it’s one of the last ties I have to my mom’s side of the family. Grandmother had been sick for about five years and though it was rare that I got many quality conversations with her failing mind, it still meant the world to me. Just knowing I had a string of someone related to my mom...It made it so much better. She’s gone now and honestly I’ve been so busy that I’ve just come to realize it’s impossible to look into her fading hazel eyes anymore.
A sigh escapes my dry lips as I turn around, finding Dara already sloppily laid out under the comforter and seemingly passed out. In order to obtain a pillow for myself, I attempt to nudge one out from under his head. Unfortunately, any chance of that is lost as he has strategically placed each pillow at least three inches under his weight. Without any support for my neck, it takes a surprisingly short time for me to fall asleep as well.
“Nanami?” A knock on the door. “Nanami, you up yet?” Great, it’s father. If he finds Dara here, my goose is cooked.
“Coming!” Almost slipping on the maroon and aqua quilt, I trip over to Dara and listen as father’s pacing footsteps creak through my room. Dara doesn’t respond at all to my push, so I shake him with more force than is really needed. He stirs, but only to turn away from me. Before I can even get pissed at him, he sits up hurriedly, holding the side of his injured face with surprise. Of course. He must’ve laid on his wound. Looking sideways at me, he says, “Nanami, my eye-” I clamp my hand over his mouth.
“Shhhh. My father’s outside my room. Don’t say anything and get in the closet.” I whisper this sternly to him, but all he does is blink. Beside myself with impatience, I sigh and hiss, “Now.”
He removes my hand irritably and slides off the bed. “Alright alright, I hear you. I lost my eye, not my ear.” Ignoring his smartass remark, I try to open the panel closet doors as smoothly as I can.
“Everything ok in there sweetheart? I just need you for a second.” Father, please just be quiet.
“I’ll be right there!” I usher Dara in between my crumpled turtlenecks and leggings, cringing as he nearly loses his footing on a fallen hanger. My heart is dancing in its socket and father is the music as of now. “Like this?” Dara asks with his tail between his legs.
I nod and put my finger to my mouth.
“How long do I have to stay like this?”
“Not long. Just trust me.”
“But, I-” His rebuttal is cut short as I enclose him in the darkness of my shrewd closet.
So father doesn’t ask me questions, I throw the quilt onto my vanity and stare back at the reflection shown in the mirror. Boy, do I look like a ragged squirrel. My short, bronze-goldenrod hair is splayed in all directions and the usual morning drool is dried around my mouth. Disgusting but expected. However, the gold locket that Ev gave me is still perfectly set in place against my chest, giving some sense of cleanliness. With one sleeve halfway up my arm and the blouse unraveling from my shorts, I open the door for father and find him still in his maroon night robe, his facial hair looking cleanly shaved.
“Everything...ok Nanami?” His gray eyes peer into my avocado ones, but soon linger down to my state of clothes.
“Didn’t sleep well.”
Comments (0)
See all