[...continued] Read P1: http://www.youngwriterssociety.com/topic53616.html
------------------
Gabe comes up behind me and I can literally feel his body vibrating inches from mine. "You can only have me," he says voice shaking.
He's right, like always. He is the only man in the entire village who has any claim or chance with the 'Moon Girl'. The Sector does not have room for useless, dead weight. Everyone is either good at something, or they're not. The second kind don't seem to want to stick around, and always mysteriously disappear. But to me it's no mystery what the Sector does to leeches like me.
"Maybe I'll be able to cure the next one," I say desperately and instantly, Gabe shakes his head hard, nostrils flaring. He knows the desperate reasoning I'm about to get into and he doesn't want to hear it. I don't blame him. My tongue is bruised from repeating the same words over and over, so his ears must be sore from hearing them.
"But I'm good at this," I say pointing a hand at the door. "Admit it. I'm the best raider on your team." I look him straight in the eye, waiting for a denial I know won't come.
"It's not enough. You need a place, a family," he says suddenly starting to cool off. I know he, despite my outright denials, wants to be that family for me. He doesn't understand that I already have one. It just needs to be reunited. And Jem, on that last day when we were pulled apart from each other's arms, had screamed the promise behind me. The promise to return one day and steal me away from this life in hell. The promise that drives my spirit. I'd heard him over the sharp commands of the Sector guards taking me away, ready to celebrate the arrival of their very own miracle child.
Seven years later, although they still celebrate the Holiday, their zeal is fading. I am still as powerless--as normal as the next raider. It's obvious I'm not the Golden One, but the lack of any expertise in healing or curing the Blighted ones is starting to make them think. Do they really need me anymore? Can my presumed Golden Moon birth withstand their needs? Have they been cheated by the Globe? Given the weakling? Is it worth protecting me from the Nomads and Wanderers of the world?
I would find out soon enough. One more year of waiting and then the decision wouldn’t be mine to make.
I understand Gabe's abrupt silence when the sound of footsteps echoes back to us from the store front. I finish the symbol, and both Gabe and I go out to meet the jittery group of apprentice raiders ranging from ages twelve to sixteen.
"Find something?" Gabe asks in that leaderly way he has.
Eyes wide, heads shake as the group waits to be told to speak, tongues bitten under their teeth. I know how scared they must be. I was once amongst them, until Gabe finally decided I was ready for the team. I almost laugh thinking of how frightening Gabe had been to me once. How his booming voice and broad shoulders had made me feel vulnerable and small.
"Report," Gabe says, smiling faintly. I wonder if he is remembering the same thing. I smile too, glad that our friendship doesn't suffer from the daily debate like it used to. He's grown patient with time. Changed.
I can't help but wonder how Jem has changed. Is his hair still the same dazzling gold, or has it started to darken? Is his skin, still the smooth, pale stretch over his sweet soft face, or has it hardened with age, like his brother's? At least he would always have the vibrant blue eyes that have winked at me countless times while the two of us ran and hid from Lethan, enjoying our solitude in this cave, or that tree. Poor Lethan. He was always the odd one out. But it served him right for being the sour berry, always angry at one thing or another.
Although twins, Lethan and Jem look nothing alike. Lethan has the darkest, blackest hair I've ever seen, with high, sharp cheekbones and deep green eyes. It suits his personality because he's become etched in my mind as the least kind of the two brothers. Always quiet and grim and when talking, cynical and bitter. He's taller than Jem, and stronger, but his lame arm used to give Jem the upper hand in tree climbing competitions. That was one of the times when I was happy about Lethan's disability. It allowed Jem and me to climb trees and be alone, without the dark aura that always accompanied Lethan. Cruel, but true.
In some ways Lethan could be more handsome and at times attractive like Jem couldn't. But his beauty is a dark and forbidding thing, where as Jem's is inviting, just like his generous heart and open arms in which I've rested many a night.
I wait as the kids in front of me shift nervously, casting meaningful glances my way.
"Spit it out, rats," I tell them, not unkindly, but impatiently.
"There's been another suicide," the oldest of them starts in a sombre tone.
I tense instantly and so does Gabe. We both know what this means. I'm needed immediately. There's no time to waste.
"Where?" Gabe asks.
"Not one of the raiders?" I ask frantically, already starting to worry about my useless efforts to save the Blighted the way I was meant to. I wonder if maybe, I wasn't born to a Golden Moon after all. But these are poisonous thoughts so I bury them as deep as possible.
"Back at the village," says a younger kid. "They need the Moon Girl--" he blurts out before Gabe shoots him a warning glare and he snaps his mouth closed.
It's Gabe's rule. They have to call me by name. If not Celena--my full name--then Lena. No Moon Girl or Miracle Girl business with him. Sometimes, I can see how Gabe can be a pain.
I'm literally bouncing on the balls of my feet, when I look at Gabe, waiting for his releasing command.
"Last chance," he says and that only adds to my anxiety. I can feel the nervous bleeding of my heart as I try to figure out how to make my powers appear. If I can do that, I never need to worry about committing to Gabe. I can wait for Jem forever--but it won't take that long. This year is it, I know it. He's coming for me. Crossing the hundreds of miles at this very second. I just have to hang in a bit longer.
I swallow hard and nod.
"Good luck," he says, and already I'm leaving him far behind as I run down the no longer working escalators and out one of the many single, glass gates, leaving behind yet another ruin, brought to you by the Globe.
Gender:
Points: 2244
Reviews: 9