Pouring Shadows (Chapter 5)

Iris ran into a tree. She held up her hands to keep her head from bumping into it. She was partly leaning on the tree trunk in the middle of the forest, trying to catch her breath. Her stomach churned. The only meal she’d had yesterday was last night’s dinner and that alone could not make up for the rest of the meals she’d skipped. Drops of sweat were visible at her temples and part of her front hair was damp.

She had been running ever since she escaped from that suffocating prison cell last night and only stopped for a few seconds to catch her breath. Her feet wobbled and she let herself fall limply on the ground. The leaves crumpled underneath her. They felt so soft all of a sudden, so much that Iris could just lie down here.

She hadn’t had breakfast but as she laid her head on the ground, her sleep over took the hunger and she was fast asleep within seconds. The morning rays shone on her face and outstretched arm. The shards on the arm glowed dimly in the sunlight. It was like they were absorbing energy from the light as they started shining brighter.

Half an hour later…

Iris’s fingers twitched and she half opened her eyes to witness her entire body radiating a golden aura. She bolted up straight.

**********************************

I felt a queer sensation that my jacket pocket was heating up. I looked just in time to notice the dim light through the black cloth. The shard was glowing again. Why now of all times? As if I wasn’t in enough trouble already. I had to break out of here somehow because I had no intentions of revealing something like this to the night force now.

‘It is clear in the girl’s eyes that she is trying to lie to defend him. We must keep her under supervision as well.’

‘No, she’s just a child. She doesn’t realize what she’s saying. Forget she said anything,’ Jonathan spoke, although his nervousness was clear but he did it to keep her out of trouble. He pulled her arm to get her to sit down again and I sighed in relief.

‘Thanks.’ I mused.

‘That is true. Cheryl can’t possibly know Dixon, she just joined recently.’ The coach added. I gave him a grim look.

‘Thanks a lot to you too,’ I thought sarcastically.

‘Very well then,’ Claude said with a nod, ‘I shall let her be for now but if she tries to defend him again, she will be kept under supervision as well. Your honor, your conclusion?’

‘I declare Dixon to be kept under supervision for a month. The court will resume after that. You are all dismissed.’

I couldn’t stop the sinking feeling that this did not sound good at all. What will they get by locking me up in some interrogation room for a month? The more I thought about it, the more it made my heart sink.

To make things worse, Cheryl snatched her arm back from Jonathan and stood up again.

‘No, you can’t do that to him. I told you he’s–’

Jonathan clapped a hand on her mouth before she could continue. He tried to get her to sit down again when something shoved him back to his own seat. Everybody’s eyes fell on the two.

‘This is a good chance.’ I thought to myself, ‘While everybody’s distracted, I can make a run for it… but…’

I looked at Cheryl with narrowed eyes. Jonathan seemed to be too astonished to move a muscle after what he’d just experienced. I could detect faint sparks around her. It was like an enraged aura of sparks that was probably what frightened Jon. He must’ve gotten shocked by it.

‘She’s working with the criminal. Cease her!’ Claude ordered and two guards from either side of the room marched towards her.

I couldn’t let this happen. The thought of her getting punished just for defending me swam through my mind, and in the haste to help her, I’d already sprouted black wings from my back. Before I knew it, I was flying towards her, speedily. Folders and documents flew all across the polished wooden floor as I passed. People started to disperse away from the court room, some even screaming at the top of their lungs.

‘He’s getting away!’ I heard Claude shout.

I wrapped an arm around Cheryl’s waist and lifted her in the air. The sparked aura around her ceased just as fast as shock appeared on her face.

‘What are you…’ she trailed off at the sight of the guards chasing us. I leaped over the rows of chairs and threw myself out the exit door. I could sense havoc in the court room behind me. The judge was shouting at the top of his lungs to dispatch the rest of the night guards.

‘This is bad,’ I thought but nothing could be done about it. Whatever the reason was for their odd behavior today, I was going to find out some way or the other. However, at the moment, I just had to make sure I got out of the night force institute as fast as possible before they sealed all the exits.

The alarm went off 5 seconds after I’d rampaged out of the court room. Purple light’s turned to red and started blinking rapidly. One second, the hallway would be red, the next, pitch black. The pattern repeated itself as I made a turn at one point and flew straight into the elevator door which was open. I let go of Cheryl and breathed out heavily while ramming my fist onto the common ground button.

My cell phone rang while we were still inside. Cheryl jumped beside me at the sudden sound. It was a creepy ringtone, no doubt about that, and taking in the situation, it would’ve made anyone jump. I took it out to see that Jonathan was calling me.

‘Yeah? What’s the situation right now?’ I asked immediately, knowing that I could trust Jon not to tell tale on me.

‘Dude, it’s gotten pretty nasty. They’ve lined up almost all the best tracker night guards to track you down. At the moment, they’re letting them in on the situation. Pretty soon you’ll be a wanted criminal if this case isn’t solved.’

‘Forget about the case, I just need to get Cheryl out of here.’

‘Did you get into the elevator which I left open for you?’

‘Yeah, thanks, by the way.’ I felt assured that Jonathan was on my side. Cheryl just held a panicky face the entire time. She seemed too shaken to say anything.

‘So what’s the plan?’ Jon asked urgently.

‘I’ll try to get to a safe point, then I’ll call you and we’ll discuss the rest of the plan then.’

‘Alright, good luck.’

I breathed out finally, when the elevator door opened inside the ground floor of a flat. Without wasting another second, I grabbed Cheryl’s hand and darted out of there. I could feel her pulse beating hard against her skin. The people on the street walked by us normally, which meant that, the news hadn’t reached them yet. We still had a few minutes until the official announcement would be made.

I dragged Cheryl into a dark alley where I could finally let go of her hand and slow down my breathing.

‘I’m so sorry. This is all my fault. I shouldn’t have–’ she was saying but I held up a hand.

‘There’s no time to apologize,’ I breathed some more and continued, ‘If you want to make up for what happened then cooperate with me. We need to get you to a safe place. Probably another town or some distant part of this town where no news reaches. Until and unless this misunderstanding is cleared, you will not return to this part of the town, or any other part, understand? They’ll be patrolling day and night. Let’s go.’

I held out a hand but she just stared at me with tear-filled eyes.

‘Everything is going to be okay, trust me.’

She hesitated but took my hand after hearing that. I guided her through the streets, taking turns at the places that felt right to me. I was heading towards the slum areas of the town. The scorching heat of the sun met my eyes and I had to squint while passing through a crowd of people. I bumped into a few of them who simply ignored me and carried on with their everyday lives.

We made it out of the residential areas and onto the marketing streets when I spotted a night guard walking around shops and showing something on his cell phone to the shop keepers. I had a strong hunch that it was my picture that was being shown around. The guard was turning around when I pulled Cheryl inside a shop with me.

‘What is it?’ she asked. Her face looked as white as sheep and from the way she was breathing, it seemed like she would faint any second. Her bangs were mostly glued to her forehead with sweat.

‘You need to rest.’ I told her and made her sit down on a nearby stool. In the mean time, I managed to glance around the shop. It was a small room with four bookshelves lined parallel to each other. The counter was on one side, behind which an old man sat smoking a cigar.

My eyes stopped at him. His face was wrinkled around the eyes and a mass of white hair occupied his head. He seemed to be in a daze, staring up at the wall.

‘Did you want anything in particular and seek my assistance?’ the voice was thin and belonged to a skinny boy with spectacles, who seemed about my age. His eyes fell on the red head who was gasping hard on the stool and then back at me.

‘Uh, no. We’re just looking around.’

The boy eyed me for a long silent second after nodding and going back to shuffling some old books in the corner.

I sighed with relief and then looked out the window. The night guard seemed to have gone elsewhere, which was good. My eye caught sight of a jar of water and a glass on the counter. I poured some in the empty glass, not caring to ask the old man for permission. The man didn’t even glance at me.

I brought the glass of water to Cheryl and kneeled down to give it to her. I waited beside her, in a sitting position, while mustering up a plan in my mind. Suddenly, the shop door opened behind me. I knew who it was just by looking at Cheryl’s face as she stopped drinking. Her eyes went wide and she almost let the glass slip from her fingers. I half turned and saw the person showing his cell phone to the shop keeper.

For the first time since I came here, the old man blinked and his eyes fell on the screen of the phone. He slightly shook his head. The night guard apologized for barging in here like that and started to leave. I started to breathe out when, all of a sudden, the boy with the spectacles stopped him.

‘Hey, wait,’ he called, to which the night guard stopped and turned.

My heart was at my lungs, pounding so hard that it felt like it would explode. I tried to back up further behind the bookshelf. The guard hadn’t spotted us yet but he was going to when the boy would tell them we were here. There was a pause after he saw the photo.

‘No, I’m sorry but I haven’t seen those two around this place.’

‘It’s alright. Thank you for your time. I’ll be leaving now but if you spot them, be sure to notify the night force.’

The guard left and the door closed. Cheryl and I stood there dumbfounded when the boy approached us with a slight smile.

‘You guys are free to stay here as long as you like. That guard was looking for you. He’s the third one who’s been here till now.’

Cheryl’s jaw dropped open at that. I was just as surprised as she was. I hadn’t realized the night force would’ve taken such strict action so fast. The guards at the institute who were informed about us must have contacted other night guards in different areas and spread the word. Why didn’t I think of that before? In all the shock, it was Cheryl who asked the obvious question that was rising inside both our heads.

‘Why did you help us? I am very grateful but also curious.’

The boy smiled pleasantly at her, a small dimple appeared on the side of his cheek.

‘You two don’t look like criminals to me, just two kids who lost their way,’ he answered in a gentle tone which I mistook as an offence.

‘Kids? If you don’t mind me asking, exactly how old are you?’ My tone wasn’t exactly pleasant or gentle. No, I never do gentle talk.

‘I’m twenty two.’

‘You don’t look twenty two to me…’ I trailed off and was going to let it go when his sudden reply ticked me off.

‘Well you don’t look like a criminal to me.’

I turned and frowned at him, ‘What, so you’re calling me a criminal?’

‘You might be, but I can tell for sure that she’s not.’

He gestured towards Cheryl who just kept looking back and forth at us like she was going to have a nervous breakdown.

‘Both of you please…’ she said finally. I sighed and turned away from the guy. Whoever he thought he was, he had us good. I couldn’t really say anything to him because he could turn us in anytime. The best way to avoid any conflict was to get out of here as fast as I could, taking Cheryl with me.

‘You know what, I could let you stay the night here.’

‘What?’ Cheryl and I said at the same time except she sounded more happy than I did. I glared at him. What was he up to?

‘Are you sure it wouldn’t cause you any trouble?’ she asked, still sounding ecstatic.

‘Oh, no of course not. I’m Ricky by the way. It’s nice to meet you.’ He held out a hand and Cheryl shook it.

It was at that moment that I felt something about the two of them. They were standing side by side, looking at me with their dark eyes. Both had the same red, silky hair. They had enough resemblance that for a second I almost thought they were siblings.

‘Is there a problem?’ Ricky asked, one eyebrow raised.

I just shook my head skeptically.

‘Come on, I’ll show you your room.’ He was talking to Cheryl and obviously ignoring me as I tagged along behind the two. We entered a door that lead to his house. It turned out that he had quite a nice apartment. It had a heater, kitchen, several rooms, a basement and what surprised me was that he had it all to himself.

‘This is your room,’ he led Cheryl into a very neat room with light pink painted walls and a few stuffed animals on a shelf. There were a few picture books on the lower shelf. A study table with a mirror attached to it. And All I saw in Cheryl’s eyes was amazement, fascination.

‘This is so so… I don’t even have words to describe it.’

Ricky smiled and left the room leading me to where I would be staying.

‘So you own the entire house but… you work in a small bookstore. Something tells me that’s not really what you do.’ I told him while he led me downstairs to the basement. I frowned at the lack of lighting in that room. I couldn’t see a thing.

‘Where are you taking me?’

‘You ask too many questions,’ Ricky answered from somewhere close by. There was a click and the lights flickered on. My mouth dropped open at the sight. I glanced at him like I couldn’t believe he was real or any of this was, as a matter of fact.

‘What is this?’ The words escaped my mouth without my conscience. I was, at that moment, standing inside a room full of technical equipment, monitors covered the walls. Heat sensors, pressure sensors, temperature sensors, all attached near one monitor. Other sensors that I didn’t have a definition for also existed.

‘This is my real job.’

‘Why did you bring me here? I doubt this is where you want me to spend the night.’

‘This is where we’ll be inspecting those hands of yours.’

I stared at him.