Spoiler
- Far Away.jpg (158.15 KiB) Viewed 144 times
***Prologue***
If I wait long enough, will they come for me? Will they finish me off? Will it be quick as they had promised? No, surely not. Surely they would want to savor the moment of killing me. Surely they will want to make me suffer--to hear a scream come from my lungs. But I won’t make a sound. I won’t give into them like I was an animal and they had been watching me for hours. I would stand strong, and if they wanted to kill me, let them.
I didn’t whisper the silent prayer that always kept me safe at home and here as is had before. Not even the power of a higher being could stop what was about to happen--stop what they were going to do. No, hope for me now was far away.
***Part One***
--Chapter One--
--Chapter One--
Not one interesting thing has seemed to happen since I came to this place. A place like this seemed to be the perfect hideout and I was glad Liam had wanted me to come with him. I had come close to saying no, turning down his offer, having to look into those bright blue, thoughtful eyes that I always said showed me his soul. How could I say no when his soul was so pure and kind?
Like my mother used to tell me, the eyes are the gateway to the soul. I remembered cowering then, at the mere thought of being able to see that deeply into someone. But she had told me it was a gift I had and always would have--seeing the truth in someone. The lies would be so easy to spot, the darkness would be easy to read. I hadn’t looked someone in the eyes for months after that. Not even my mother’s coaxing could get me to look at anyone’s eyes, not even hers.
But after what seemed like forever, I finally agreed to look into someone’s eyes. Unfortunately, she wanted to teach me a lesson--that not even the best of the liars can lie good enough for someone like me to miss. This meant going with her to the one place I had never imagined going. The Black Masquerade. If there had been any scarier a place to go, I couldn’t think of it. I had never been allowed the privilege of entering, because I wasn’t special and I was too young.
The Black Masquerade was a place for people with special abilities, like those of my mother. She was a psychic and she foresaw things--some horrid to think about, others nice and peaceful. I had always been afraid of two things in my whole life--my mother and the things she saw.
I can still remember the pleading I was doing as she drug me through the back door--the only entrance that wasn’t monitored by patrolmen on duty. And I can still remember the tall, six foot seven inch Dusty Collins that looked me over from head to toe, checking my eyes like a doctor would. His eyes had been the first ones I had looked into in months, and what I saw was frightening. It wasn’t like looking into the black of someone’s eye and seeing your reflection. No, this was like looking into a thirty foot hole in the ground and wondering if it were going to suck you into the darkness.
I was maybe six at the time, so I wasn’t sure what I was saying, and how much my words meant to both Dusty and my mother. I remember saying one word before running out of the room. Danger.
Of course leaving my mother alone was a bad idea. I had seen his thoughts, I should have known, I should have done something about it. But it was too late. I had lost my mother to the hands of a giant named Dusty.
Ever since then I had been scared of the gateway they eyes had to the soul--not only the soul, but the mind as well. I still wonder what it’s like to look into someone’s eyes and see nothing but the refection of yourself looking back at you.
The only person who’s eyes I ever liked to look into were Liam’s. They showed nothing but friendliness towards me--not so much for others. I had never been scared of his eyes, he had no reason to hurt me.
I remember how I met him, how we became friends. It had been a long time ago--so many years--on a dark night right after I had run from Dusty Collins’ eyes--far away. I was alone, scared, and probably miles from home.
I had been through the swamps of our county, slept in the dirt, and rested in the trees. I knew I would be alone for a long time, but I wasn’t sure how long. I’d been going for days in the fair weather--warm during the day, chilly at night. Four days had past when the darkness of the night finally brought rain.
The rain made it impossible for me to sleep on the ground, for fear the rain would bring flood. Trees weren’t an option, because if the lightning struck it, I would be dead. My only choice was to keep moving, to try to avoid being the tallest thing out there.
After so many days of travel though, my feet were hurting, I was exhausted, and the hunger in my stomach was growing unbearable. At that time, I knew nothing about hunting, trapping, or even the plants around me. This fact almost killed me.
When a person is hungry and they spy food, they’ll think twice about it. But when a person--like myself--is starving and they see food, they’ll eat it up, no second thinking anything. So there was my dilemma. Not only did I not know anything about plants, I wasn’t rationalizing what could happen if I ate a poison berry.
So that was my problem when I came upon a bush with dark colored berries all over it. They looked juicy, and when you’re to the point of starvation, you don’t think about food being poisonous. I remember pulling a handful off the bush and shoving them into my mouth. I had gobbled down half the bush when I had begun to feel dizzy, and the ground began to shake.
What happened after that didn’t come from my memories, but from what Liam had told me. He had found me, curled up on the ground while hunting with his older brother and his dad. Liam was about a year older than me, and his brother was a year older than him, making him two years older than me. His father didn’t want his sons seeing such a site, but it was too late, they had seen it and Liam wanted to help. He never did say what his brother’s reactions were, but I assumed they were between negative and the point where he just wanted to leave me--but who knew other that Liam, and he wasn’t talking.
Their father, Dethmon, couldn’t just leave me there to die, but he couldn’t exactly take me home with them. Their mother was as clueless as ever about them hunting, and where else would they say they found me? So they had returned home, gathering food and a blanket. It was only luck they pulled it off, bringing the items to me.
Liam told me that, when they returned, I was no longer curled up, no longer on the ground. I remembered him telling me that he was scared an animal had gotten hold of me, or worse, a Government Official, who seemed to like searching the woods for run-away children. But nothing had happened to me other than the fact that I regained consciousness and thought to take shelter in a nearby tree, away from anything that could get me. I remember I was standing in the tree, hiding from nothing, when I saw their shadows creep into view. I remembered thinking that they were some sort of animal, or maybe one of the Officials coming to get me. I didn’t know how long I had been out, and if it hadn’t been for the fact that I hadn’t eaten anything and my stomach couldn’t handle the food it was given, forcing me to throw it all up, I would have been dead within days.
I can still remember the thoughts that went through my head the moment I realized they were regular people, and they had food. The sight of food had sent my stomach into a growl that didn’t end until I thought that this was a trap. But it wasn’t, and I realized that when little Liam stepped forward, a sad expression on his face as he took in the sight of the jacket I had been wearing--torn and muddy--laying on the ground, nobody inside of it. This made me realize I could trust him, just this little expression on his face made me think he was a friend. And he ended up being one--a very close friend that I would never let anything happen to.
And here we sit today, perched high in a tree, eyes watching out for game. He had brought me deep into the woods, farther than we had ever gone before, past the river. A better place where he said there was more game.
“Bad thing is,” I whisper, voice so low I wonder if he hears me. But he does, I know he does. He has keen hearing, which helps when we hunt. “I haven’t seen any of the game you promised.” He manages a weak smile, but he never looks at me, eyes darting around looking for prey rather than my face.
“It’ll come,” he promises in a deep voice. Liam is 17 now, and I’m 16. He has deep black hair that goes a little above his light blue eyes. His lips aren’t like most of the other boys’. His aren’t thin and pale, they’re plump and pink, and I hear people talk about how ‘kissable’ they are. But I don’t bother to care. Liam is my friend and that was all we would ever be.
After my encounter with him ten years before, I had run away, to a far place to make my living. Freedom was one of the best places in all of the State to get a job, but I had soon left that place, going somewhere farther south to a place called Liberty. I wasn’t sure which part of the State it was, but I was ten when I got there, the perfect age. I hadn’t made such a good start in the first place I went to, I was too young. But once a child reaches the age of ten, everyone wants them, especially the girls. I lived with a man by the name of J.D.--he never told me what those letters stood for, just that that was his name--for two and a half years before moving on. I had spent the next four and a half years traveling all of the State, but ended up back here in City.
City isn’t the most southern part of the State, but it most certainly is the poorest. The only thing we have here is the hope that maybe we can trade a couple things for some hot soup, cloth to make a small blanket to keep warm, or even clothes no one wants anymore. This wasn’t even the place I was born and raised, but it seemed to be the place I liked the most. I got here about two months ago, with no hope left in me at all. No one could hire a me for anything when they didn’t have the money to pay me, and it seemed wrong to just live off someone for what they let me use. So I began my hunting--something I had picked up doing in a place called Hunt--and traded what I got out of that for things like baskets, bread, and sometimes I’d come across some better things that someone would pay high price for like coal, slices of cake, large crates. But all of this had to be put somewhere, and since I had nowhere to live, I had to trade it.
It ended up being a rather large circle I made, trying to find someone to trade these things with. No one wanted a basket unless they could trade some grain for it, and no one wanted coal unless I allowed them to trade smaller things--more baskets, tiny wooden jewelry boxes emptied of their belongings. The hardest to trade were the things I got from trading the other things. I’d been around to everyone in City and still hadn’t gotten anything useful.
Then I met Liam while arguing with an old woman who refused to give me the grain she promised for the crates.
“I need the crates so I can store my grain in it!” she had yelled at me. I had kept my cool all the time, trying to convince her to just give me something else in return.
“You see, to get something from me, ma’am, you have to give me something. It’s trading, and it’s fair. You can keep the grain and the crates if you allow me to have something else. The bread will do,” I allowed, pointing at it.
“But this is needed for my family!” she replied in an angry voice that continued to rise. That was when Liam had stepped in to save me once again.
“A fair trade, Marty, would be giving the girl something she needs, for something you need. Perhaps some of the fabric? I’m sure she must be cold, Mart, it’s mid winter and she’s wearing nothing at all,” he had said calmly. Marty had regained her cool façade and a smile played at the edges of her lips. I didn’t look at him, and he didn’t look at me. But it was true, I was wearing a shirt that had ripped, revealing my thin stomach and a pair of jeans cut into shorts for the summer, which was far over by now. But I was used to the cold, I had spent plenty of time in it before with no problem, so why worry about it now?
Liam always had that calmness to him, which was why I was drawn to be around him all the time. He made me happy in the saddest of moments, and there was not one other soul who could make me smile as much as he did.
For the first time that entire day, I had looked up at him and recognized his face as the little boy from years ago. It had only a matter of time before he looked down at me and realized the same thing.
“Monkey girl,” he said, smiling genuinely. That had been what he had called me before when he had seen me in the tree.
“Fruit boy.” I returned the favor of the nickname use and the smile. Marty had given me some fabric in exchange for the crates, and I had spared some of my bread to her and her family, knowing I could just kill game if I was hungry. Some of the people in City didn’t have the luxury of going out and hunting whenever they wanted to. They had families. So I did my best to supply everyone with a little of what I brought back. Marty began to get the squirrels in trade for fabrics and bread, a boy named Ash and his sister Ember got the berries I picked--I was more careful at what I picked after that--in trade for grain, and Liam got the grain in trade for his knowledge.
But his knowledge wasn’t all he gave me. He did what no one else had ever done. He offered me a place to live. Of course it came at a price, I’d have to give his family half of whatever game I killed and ten percent of the things I got traded for my game. This seemed fair, since they would supply me with food, shelter, knowledge, kindness, and a place to sleep. So I took his offer about a month ago, and moved everything I had--which wasn’t much, just a bow and arrows, knives, and the things yet to be traded--into his home with his father, younger brother, and older brother. Their mother had died six years ago, giving birth to Koda, his younger brother.
“Look,” Liam says in a whisper, bringing me back to the present moment. I follow where his arrow is pointed and see a dear, full grown and unharmed. I grab my own bow, ready to shoot it if it runs. But it doesn’t, it falls with an arrow in it’s heart and I look to see if Liam had shot. But his arrow was still pulled back in his bow and he looked at me to see if I had shot. We’re puzzled for a second, then I see a tiny figure hop out into view like a monkey on her feet and hands. She pulls the arrow out of the dear and examines the damage. I look back to Liam to see if he’s seeing what I’m seeing.
“Who is that?” I ask, barely audible to even myself. He shrugs, and I see him fall back into the darkness.
“I don’t know,” he says from behind me. I see him aiming again, but not for an animal. “But she stole my game.” He pulls the arrow back and lets it go.
