The Light and Dark

When Meira turned around, she immediately heard her parents, calling out her name in panic. She bit her lip and froze, completely lost at what to do or say. She new that she should have moved into the corner of the room in fright as if the balcony had just instantly collapsed for no reason, but her legs had locked in place. She stared at the ground, towards the edge of the new hole in her wall, and remained there until her family kicked open the door to her room.

Her mother gasped with shock and fright, instantly running over to the middle of the room staring at the hole.

“What happened!?” She shrieked. Meira winced at the pitch of her mother’s voice, but did not move. Dian was jumping up and down, trying to see. Meira’s father ran over to her, grabbed her shoulders and made her look him in the eye.

“What did you do!?” He half yelled. Meira couldn’t help but notice that no one cared about if she was okay or not, just about why there was a sudden hole in the wall. She quickly thought of something else, to push that selfishness out of her mind.

“I… don’t… know…” She stuttered, turning slowly to face the hole and rubble that lay below it, the rubble she wished had buried ‘Brain’ for good. Off in the distance, she saw a speck of darkness, just floating above the trees watching. Meira couldn’t tell if it was Kali or the one that wanted to kill Kali, the one Brain said was named Nick.

“Why was he here…?” Meira whispered so quietly no one noticed. She glanced up to see her mother’s hand twitching. She randomly wondered if her mother was hesitating slapping her. Meira edged away from her at the thought.

“What the hell did you do, Meira!?” She snapped. Meira flinched farther away from her own mother. She had never hit Meira before, but the look on her face definitely suggested that she was thinking about it. Meira finally found her voice.

“I didn’t do anything! It just, fell! Collapsed! I was standing right here!” Meira defended, trying not to raise her voice. Her mother’s jaw locked, her hand twitched. A rush of adrenaline surged through Meira as she realized just what her mother was thinking.

Her mother never did hit her, Meira was sure to avoid that conflict. While her parents called everyone they needed, Meira slipped out. She was able to avoid her mother’s fury and her father’s icy glare by covering them in light.

Meira should have known that little black dot in the sky far off was Kali, and not Nick. They both landed in a small patch of woods.

“What, happened!?” Kali said, Meira smiled to herself when she noticed the panicked sound in Kali’s voice, because it was obviously panic at Meira’s safety.

“Brian, he showed up…” Meira muttered, sitting herself down. She shuddered. Kali frowned in confusion.

“Um… is he like, your ex boyfriend or something that blew up your wall?” She muttered. Meira laughed.

“No, he’s him. The guy that controls light, the one that wants to kill me.” Meira whispered through unmoving lips. Kali nodded once, but didn’t seem surprised.

“Ah and… what did you call him?” Kali asked. Meira closed her eyes and moaned.

“He appeared out of nowhere… one second I was alone in my room, next thing I know he’s standing on the balcony holding his hand out introducing himself as Brian, and apparently his friend’s name is Nick.” Meira said. Kali’s frown deepened.

“Okay… he introduced himself…” She said this like she was talking to someone in an asylum, “…then what…?”
Meira sighed, ignoring Kali’s tone of voice.

“I threw a sphere of light at him, hitting the balcony. It fell, taking him with it.” She was well aware that she failed to mention that she pushed him into the collapsing balcony. Kali’s expression never changed. She was obviously deep in thought.

They discussed this odd turn of events for a few more minutes, but eventually Meira feared what her mother would do if she realized she had gone.

“Look, just promise me you won’t spy on me again. I’m fine, really.” Meira muttered, staring at the ground. That little fire in her mind, pointing fingers at Kali for the Tail situation, continued to burn. Meira was too ashamed to meet Kali’s blue eyes.

“I wasn’t spying, just making sure you were okay.” Kali said sweetly. Meira shrugged.

“I’m fine.” Her voice was much more hostile than she wanted. Kali ignored it.

“Okay, okay. But where were you? Why haven’t you been coming to school?” Kali asked, even though she already knew the answer. Meira shrugged. That was the end of that conversation.

Kali promised not to ‘spy’, but Meira didn’t say anything about hanging out in the shadows. She knew, quite well, that Meira was hiding some internal struggle from her. Kali suddenly felt as if she were now holding onto that friendship with Meira with a death grip.

“Oh, some girl came to our house looking for you.” Meira’s mother spat when she managed to sneak back into the house. Meira’s heart jumped, hoping it was Tail.

“Was it Tailynn?” Meira nearly shouted, hoping she had decided to hear her out. Her mother’s eyes narrowed.

“So what, you’re replacing your good friend with a little sick Goth girl with no manners whatsoever?”

This was the first time Meira actually considering hitting her. Instead, she merely gritted her teeth so hard they ached in response. Her hands balled up into white knuckle fists.

Afraid she would lose her temper and start shouting, Meira charged upstairs, only to see that her door had signs with ‘DO NOT ENTER’ over them. Meira moaned, closed her eyes, and muttered ‘shit…’ under her breath.

“Oh, because you demolished your bedroom, you will be sleeping on the couch from now on.” Her mother shouted up at her. Meira frowned, acting as if she hadn’t heard her. Instead, she warped herself in light, not caring who saw, and flew straight out the window, soaring high above the clouds until she had difficulty breathing.

Kali went straight home once she saw Meira fly out of a window. What she didn’t notice was Meira’s little brother Dian staring after her with an eye popping, jaw dropping expression on his face.

It wasn’t long until Kali realized Meira was heading for her house. She quickly sped up, jumping from shadows so quickly it was as if she were gliding. But she couldn’t outrun Meira, who landed directly behind a tree as smoothly as a bird. It was clear Kali wasn’t home, so Meira waited. But not long…

A sudden rumbling came from under her feet. She stared down, horrified, as she saw the ground pushing up beneath her. Shock rushed through her as she jumped off of the shadow of the tree, where Kali appeared.

A loud CRACK! was heard as Kali appeared of what seemed to be thin air. Meira sucked in the air with both fear and incredibility as she watched Kali reclaim her balance.

“Never… ever… stand on a shadow… again.” Kali panted, clutching her chest as if in attempt to breathe. Meira was too stunned for words.

“What the – !”

“I can travel through shadows.” Kali gasped, inhaling as much oxygen as she could.

“Why are you - ?”

“You were standing on the one I was supposed to move to, but I couldn’t… for some reason… which is weird, because I’ve gone through shadows people are standing on,” Kali was mostly talking to herself, now, “I was caught in between two, unable to move back to the one I was in, and unable to reach the one you were standing on. It was… awful… it was as if someone shoved their hand down my throat, and was slowly pulling the oxygen out of me, choking me (Kali shivered)!”

“You can travel through shadows!? Well now it makes sense how Brian and Nick are teleporting!” Meira said. Kali raised her eyebrows, excitement soaring through her.

“What makes you think that?” Kali asked, intrigued, eager to learn something new.

“Well, don’t you get it? You can jump from shadow to shadow, and they have discovered how to ‘jump’ from a shadow in a random location to another!” Meira said. Kali’s frown disappeared as her mind put it together.

“They’ve been wandering Earth so long.. they must have a way to feel light and dark from long distances, able to make long jumps, or teleports…” Kali muttered.

“We need to learn how, and fast!” She stated. Meira nodded in agreement.

“I wonder why you couldn’t move to that shadow…” Meira wondered. Instantly, it clicked in Kali’s brain. It was so obvious she wondered why she missed it.

“Because regular humans don’t carry the light with them everywhere. The light and dark repel each other, having the light preoccupying a shadow prevents a much stronger part of darkness to interfere…” Kali said. Meira nodded, but said nothing. They were more concerned over their discovery of teleportation.

They stood for what could have been thirty minutes, trying to feel the light or dark around them. Kali felt nothing, Meira the same. Disappointment was sinking in them when –

“So this is your house?” Meira asked, turning around. Kali froze in place, unable to answer. Meira… inside her house? She just couldn’t put that together. Couldn’t picture it.

“Uh, yeah.”

“So where are your parents?” Meira asked casually. Kali bit her lip.

“My mom should be home by now.” Kali said. Meira opened her mouth to ask about her father, but quickly snapped it shut, remembering how Kali’s dad walked out on them.

“Well… would you mind if I came in? My parents are really upset about the balcony, and I’d rather avoid them for the time being.” Meira didn’t hide the misery in her voice well at all. Kali agreed to it without hesitation. Plus, she thought, my mom will be thrilled that I’ve made a friend, first time in my life.