Young Writers Society

~1268

“What are you doing here, No Name?” Kerra asked, gaping at her small-framed friend standing in the doorway.

“I just asked you that, but guess I’ll go first: I live here.” No Name raised an eyebrow.

“Do you… live alone?” Kerra asked, trying to peer into the house, as if Destiny might be crouched behind No Name with a knife still bloodied with Ruth’s blood.

“There’s Bootlicker, but yeah.” No Name disappeared from the door for a second and returned holding a big brown cat with a snaggletooth. They rubbed his head until he yowled and jumped out of their arms. No Name watched him slink away to another room in their apartment before they turned to Kerra again. “So. What do you want?”

“Do you know someone named Destiny Dupree-Hollins?”

No Name froze instantly.

When they didn’t say anything more, Kerra carefully pressed them, “Is that a yes then?”

“Where did you hear that name?” No Name said, their usually-quiet voice now barely above a whisper.

“It’s a long story,” Kerra said, glancing back at Drigg, who raised his eyebrows at her in a ‘do I need to step in?’ look. Kerra gave him a quick shake of her head. “So you do know her,” she said, turning back to face No Name, who had assumed a slightly defensive position, with their fists clenched and their back curved.

No Name gave a short, uneasy laugh. “I guess you could say I knew her pretty well. You could also say I never knew her.”

Kerra looked at her friend, uncertain of what she should do. It was clear that No Name was extremely uncomfortable with these questions, but Kerra still didn’t understand where Destiny was. “So does she live here? Or…?”

“You could say that too, if you wanted.”

“Would you stop speaking in riddles?” Kerra was starting to get frustrated. What was going on? No Name was usually so straightforward and unflappable. Why were they getting flustered now?

They shot a pointed look at Drigg. “Will you come in?”

The cautious part of Kerra warned her not to leave Drigg behind, but the rational part of her knew that No Name was having quite an emotional reaction to her questions and would probably prefer to speak in private. And didn’t she owe that to a friend? She nodded, entered, and closed the door behind her.

No Name led her to a table and they both sat down. “How did you hear about Destiny?” No Name asked.

“It’s a long story and—”

“I have time,” they said, a hard look in their eye.

So Kerra told her everything. From finding Ruth dead in her apartment to searching through government records and finding Destiny’s corrupt file, to talking to Mr. Dupree and being led to No Name’s apartment. No Name listened without interrupting; they stared into the distance, no emotions showing on their face.

When Kerra was finished, No Name stressfully ran a hand through their hair. “I knew I botched it.”

“Excuse me?”

“I knew it was a messy job and I should have tried to erase it again.” No Name finally locked eyes with Kerra, and they must have seen the confusion there, because they continued, “The file. I tried to erase it. Tried to get rid of everything, but I botched it.”

“Why?” Kerra asked, then clarified, “Why’d you try to erase it?”

“Because all that information was lies!”

“What?”

“Kerra, don’t you understand? None of that was true. Destiny never really existed. I never wanted that name. I don’t want any name. And before you ask, of course I didn’t kill your mother.”

“Wait, Destiny was you?” Kerra didn’t know how to process what No Name was saying.

No Name covered their eyes with their hands. “Kerra. You’re honestly being really rude right now.”

Kerra blinked. “You’re so right, No Name. I’m sorry. I was just surprised, is all.”

“It’s okay,” No Name said, uncovering their eyes and giving her a sickly smile. “So were my parents, I guess.” They let out a humorless laugh. “I’m sorry you had to deal with my dad. But to answer your question, whether Destiny was me: yes in some ways, and no in all the important ways.”

Neither of them said anything for the space of a few breaths. Bootlicker padded into the room, jumped up onto a counter, and stared at the two of them. “I didn’t know you had malleable skin,” Kerra said to break the silence.

“I don’t know why you would.”

Kerra shrugged. “I guess I just thought that I’d know the anomalies of my friends. I’m so used to having mine so publicly known that I assumed that I’d be able to know everyone else’s just by looking. But I know now that that’s not the case.”

“Not all of us use our anomalies as party tricks.”

Kerra looked up sharply. “Excuse me?”

“Oh, sorry Kerra. I guess that’s probably not something you do much, though I think if you flaunted your glowy blue skin, you’d attract a lot of attention.” No Name gave another smile, slightly less sickly this time, though not much.

Kerra scoffed. “Unwanted attention, sure.” Bootlicker began to groom the fur on his stomach.

“Anyway, Shandi would brag about being telepathic a lot. Talk about how her sisters are saving humanity or whatever. She seemed somehow both proud of you two for saving humanity and proud of herself for forsaking it at the same time.” No Name scratched the back of their neck. “It was a weird flex.”

“That sounds like Shandi alright.” Kerra sighed, and suddenly all the weight she’d been feeling over the past weeks crashed back down onto her. “I guess I’m back at square one. I’m sorry, if I’d known about Destiny and all that… well, I would never have suspected you of killing my mother, No Name. I just didn’t realize.”

“No, it’s okay. Sometimes I wonder if I should tell my friends about my dead name—the ones who don’t know already, I mean—but, I don’t know, I just always feel like they don’t really need to know. It’s not like I don’t trust you or anything, but that part of me is in the past now, so it’s not relevant to bring it up any more.”

“Yeah, I get it. If I’d never been poking around in confidential government records, I never would have needed to know.” Kerra stood up. “Sorry for interrupting your day, but I’m glad I got to talk to you anyway. It’s always a pleasure.” Truthfully, she’d never heard No Name speak so much all at once, but then again, they were always accompanied by other, more talkative gang members. Kerra couldn’t remember a single time that she and No Name had been alone together in a room before. It was an odd thought.

“Likewise,” they said cordially, and led Kerra back to the door. “I’m sorry about your mom. Let me know if there’s anything I or any of the gang can do to help you on your search for her killer. We have some resources that could help you.”

“Will do,” Kerra said as No Name closed the door. She turned around to see Drigg still bobbing his head to the music he was listening to. She smiled at him and motioned for him to turn off the music.

“So?” he asked.

“It was all good. False alarm, basically. Thank you for coming with though. I really appreciate it.”

He smiled widely. “Any time you need back up, you know where to find me.”