Status: Finished; working on the sequel
In The Dark
Chapter Eleven
“Okay listen. If you even want me to even consider rethinking the fact that you’re a bloodthirsty criminal, you’d better start explaining some things. A lot of things.”
It is now, the morning after I was brought to this place, and I am not happy. Why? Well let’s just start with the fact that last night, Nick and I got into this huge… disagreement if you will, over whether or not he and I should have to share the same spaces.
What’s wrong with that, you ask? Well nothing, nothing at all, except for the fact that he’d had to tie my arms together to stop me from knocking his teeth out [something I would have enjoyed doing very much] and/or burning him with my new firepower.
After that, I’d shut up and went to sleep, but only after making sure that he was asleep first.
Now though, roughly fifteen minutes after bathing, putting on a new suit, [ the black, belted one FYI] and combing my hair, [ which is extremely hard to do with your arms tied behind your back let me tell you] Nick is untying my arms, and I’m ready for some answers.
However, it looks like I’m not going to get them from him, because he starts toward the door. “Come on. I’m not going to be the one to tell you this stuff.”
I follow him, still alert in case he decides I need to die or something [can’t be too careful] and stretch my arms. “Who is then?”
“You’d see if you would just follow me and be quiet.”
Hmph. Well! Fine.
He steps into the elevator and I stop dead in my tracks. I am not getting in an elevator with him. I could be dead before the doors open again.
He rolls his eyes at me and presses a button. “Fine then. Just come to the conference room. CM.” The elevator doors close again, and I’m left alone, grateful for it.
I turn back to the picture of me as a first born with the man and woman, and I try to figure out who they are. I still cannot come up with anything. I sigh, taking one last look, before getting in the elevator.
……………………………….
The doors open swiftly and smoothly, and I find myself in a large, yet somehow boring room. No one’s here.
“Hello? Nick? Is anybody here?”
I don’t get an answer, but just as I’m about to take a look around, who comes running up to me throwing her arms around my neck and almost squeezing the life out of me… but my mother!
“Kyra! I’m so glad you’re okay! I thought that they had done something terrible to you by now! We’ve all been so worried about you. How are you sweetheart?”
I give her a quick squeeze, then gentle pry her arms from around my neck, smiling. “I’m fine mom. Where’s dad? Or Michael?”
Dad walks out now, and I run over to him and hug him. He pretends to be annoyed at mom, but I can tell that he’s happy too.
“We were going to surprise you, but your mother couldn’t seem to wait. She couldn’t even sit down.”
Michael comes out last, trying to act as if he’s in control of the situation, but I can tell that he is even more relieved then mom when he hugs me tighter and longer than usual.
“How’re things going with Luna?”
He blushes, and then tries to hide it.
“Everything’s good. Great even. I’ve taken her out once, and we’ve been spending a lot of time together at work. She died my hair yesterday. I had to wash it out this morning though; mom wouldn't let me keep it in.”
I cock my head to the side, like a bird. What? Dad shakes his head at him.
“He’s serious. He walked around for a full day with neon blue hair, and an outfit to match. That girl seems to have a different hair color every time we see her.”
I grin. That’s good. I’m glad he’s having a good time with her.
Nick comes in and sits down on the sofa with a couple of folders, and my family goes silent and serious. I look between the three of them, nervous.
Nick nods to my dad, and he sits down in a big plush armchair, motioning for me to do the same. I look at Michael and he smiles, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes.
I sit on the floor in front of the sofa Nick is on, which could end up being a mistake, but I don’t really have a choice. Michael and mom have taken the other sofa.
“Wait a minute. I thought you said that you didn’t know any more than I did.”
They all flinch. “ Well… I lied. But I had to, because I knew that I’d tell you later. Right now, okay?”
I want to press him, but I let it go. “ Fine.”
Dad opens one of the folders and takes out a picture. He hands it to me. I pause for a second before flipping it over to look.
It’s a photo of the man and the woman from the picture in the hall with me as a newborn. Now, they look slightly younger, and have on weird suits, standing in front of some gigantic metal structure of some sort.
I look up at dad, confused.
“What does this have to do with me?”
He takes a breath, glances at Nick for a second, and then says, slowly, as if it pains him, “Those… are your parents, Kyra.”
I blink at him, and then look back down at the picture. Huh… really? “I don’t look anything like them.”
“You used to. We thought that you would stay the same, but then you started changing. Don’t you remember when you had black hair? Or brown eyes? Lana changed before you did though.”
I look him square in the eyes. “How do you know that?”
He winces and mutters something under his breath. I guess he didn’t mean to tell me that. He scratches his head.
“Well… we’ve been keeping in touch with the family that Lana was sent to since you two were split up.”
This draws a sharp look from Nick, who, until now, was busy reading something out of some folder. He looks instantly angry, and I scoot away from the sofa, scared that he’ll attack someone. He stands up.
“Really? Then why didn’t you tell us? We have a right to know. All of us here thought that Lana was dead, and now you’re telling us that she was in a foster family and everything? You didn’t think we had a right to know this?”
Dad’s face goes steely, and he doesn’t back down. “No. we didn’t. We had a good reason for keeping this from you, and we don’t really need to tell you what that reason is.”
I stand up quickly, before this can escalate into a full fight. “But I have a right to know. Why didn’t you tell them? Or me?”
Nick glares at dad but sits back down. Dad blows out a breath.
“Well we couldn’t tell you, because it wasn’t time for you to know. But as for you guys,” he gestures to Nick, “Kyra’s parents talked to us before they gave Kyra to us. They knew that Lana was alive, but they didn’t want anyone to know. Therefore, they told the doctors to tell everyone she was dead, and then told us the name of the foster family she was being sent to. We were to keep in touch with them, and ordered specifically not to tell anyone.”
Nick looks plain hurt. “Why would they do that?”
“We don’t know. They didn’t tell us that.”
I slink back to the couch, already starting to get angry, but I force myself to be calm when I ask, “Can you please just explain all this to me please?”
Dad nods, and puts the folder down on his lap, looking like he’s thinking, then he starts, and I sit back to listen.
“Your parents, Amondi and Jamal, were astronauts. They traveled space with many other people, making more and more new discoveries for four years on the Discus. That was the name of the space ship.Then, your mother had you.” He pauses, letting me absorb this, then continues.
“They stopped their exploring for a couple months afterwards, and then they went back, to a new ship, with astronauts that had children they didn’t want to leave behind on Earth for months at a time. This was a very safe, very kid friendly ship.”
Nick cuts in now.
“I was there too. I was thirteen, and I was one of the older kids that was in charge of trying to keep all of the babies happy. That included you, and Lana.” He laughs quietly to himself. “Being thirteen, that was the last thing I wanted to do, but I wasn’t allowed to do anything else.”
His face goes grave now.
“Then one day there was a meteor shower. A big one, out of nowhere, that came so fast that we didn’t have time to prepare all of the defense mechanisms…” He stops, shaking his head sadly, but pulls it together enough to go on.
“Your crib was right by the big window; because you really loved looking at all of the planets and stars that we passed by. Your mom was done with one of her visits with Lana then, and she was holding you, right by the window, when the first meteor crashed through the center of it. That should show you how big this thing was. This window was almost five feet thick. I don’t remember what happened after that, because I was unconscious…”
He looks down at me, and, afraid he won’t continue, I give him a small smile…that I really don’t feel.
“When I woke up, there was a whole crowd of people around me, and I was in a hospital back here on earth. I was absolutely covered in scratches, and had a huge knot on my head, but I was alive. They let me out two hours later when they were sure that I was entirely stable.
“I went to check on all of you guys. The babies, the kids, the adults… They were all fine. Your mom was pretty banged up, but she was stable. You and Lana though…
“You were worse than your mom was, but recovering quickly, whereas we weren’t even allowed to see Lana. She was doing really badly.” He looks at my dad. “Or so we thought. When the doctors told us she was dead, your aunt Jayla fainted and was stayed in a shock induced coma for two days, and I just walked around in a daze for a couple days. I loved you and Lana the most out of all of the other kids. ”
He shifts in his seat staring straight ahead at the wall in front of him.
“After that, your parents resigned and took you home. Lana too, I suppose, without anyone knowing, and planned to make a normal life for you. The press and the government kept coming to do interviews and take pictures, and wanting to do tests… Finally, they couldn’t take it anymore and they handed you over to their friends, who already had a son, Michael. They changed your name, and nobody ever bothered you again. That happened to every other kid here too. Only they didn’t go through a changing process.”
I just sit and stare at the photo in my hands, my anger practically boiling over. Nick feels this and is quick to continue.
“Your parents didn’t want to give you up, Kyra. They did it, so that you could have a normal life. I bet they think about you all the time, so don’t think that they don’t care. I know that they loved you more than you love yourself. I was there when they visited you and played with you. All the times that they would take you for trips around the ship. They cared, Kyra.”
I stare at the picture for a little while longer, then, before I register what I’m doing, I’ve crumpled up the photo and am running toward the elevator.
Everyone tries to stop me, but I’m too fast, and the doors close before they can get there. Fuming mad, I punch the first button I see on the wall, and lean against the wall, waiting.
When the doors open again, I’m in a hallway that looks just like mine, except the walls aren’t covered in pictures. I walk up to the door and knock tentatively, not sure who lives here, but hoping beyond hope that it’s someone I know.
No one answers, and I try putting my hand in the middle of the door. After a few seconds, I tell myself that it’s not going to work, but then it slides open.
I step into an interestingly colorful room. It’s a whole jumble of colors on every shade imaginable. It doesn’t look like anyone’s here though.
I sit down on the bed, wondering what to do. I’m sure they’re looking for me. But I can’t look at any of them right now. I can’t believe that they would keep something like this from me.
Tears come full on now. Why though? I’ve never been this emotional in my life. Why do I keep crying all the time?
My real parents are the ones who should be crying right now, not me. I wipe my eyes, trying to get myself to stop, and a hand lowers gently onto my shoulder. I whirl around to face… Aunt Jayla.
She looks slightly surprised, and very concerned, and I can hardly stop myself from practically flying into her arms.
“I’m so sorry for being so rude to you earlier,” I say into her robe, “I’m really, really sorry. I didn’t know anything then. I was tired and disoriented, and I didn’t know who was telling the truth or not. I know you can’t forgive me easily but-”
She cuts me off sharply, hugging me tightly, just as she hugged Lana before.
“It’s okay Loli. It is. I’ve already forgiven you. Please don’t cry. Then I’ll start crying, and once I start I never stop.”
I laugh through me tears and pull back, sniffing. She straightens out my hair a little bit, observing me.
“Have you eaten yet? You look pale.”
Oh yeah. I haven’t eaten a decent meal since breakfast at Ryan’s house yesterday. I shake my head no and she nods.
“Okay. Just let me get dressed and I’ll take you to the cafeteria.”
I nod and she goes into her bathroom. I sit on her bed and observe her multi-colored furniture. My eyes go to a certain wall, and I get up and go over to it.
It is covered in pictures of me. Each one was taken at a different age. From me as a chubby baby, to a thin, still normal looking little girl, to a tall, odd-looking teenager a year ago.
Aunt Jayla comes back out now, and I have to do a double take. She has on a black suit that looks like mine, except that hers has more room in it. However, that’s not the big difference.
I’m not sure if this is even her. Everything about her has changed. Her short, braided black hair is now light brown and long, down to the middle of her back. She’s taller, and slightly thinner too.
She smiles. “It’s me Loli.” Her voice is the same though.
She pushes the hair away from her temples, revealing two small circular stones. “These help me be able to change my appearance. This is how I really look. What I looked like before was just a test to make sure that you were… real.”
What? “To make sure that I was real?”
She nods, casting her eyes down. “Sometimes… certain people try to send... copies of kids down here. I had to make sure that you weren’t one of them.”
I still don’t understand, but I drop it, my thoughts back to the wall. I gesture to it. “Where did you get those pictures from?” I smile so she won’t feel as if I’m putting her on the spot or anything.
I can tell that she thought that I was going to lose it, because she instantly drops her tensed stance.
She smiles and put an arm around my shoulders, giving me a quick squeeze, and steering me towards the elevator. “I’ll tell you some other time okay? I’m starving, and I’m sure that you must be too.”
It is now, the morning after I was brought to this place, and I am not happy. Why? Well let’s just start with the fact that last night, Nick and I got into this huge… disagreement if you will, over whether or not he and I should have to share the same spaces.
What’s wrong with that, you ask? Well nothing, nothing at all, except for the fact that he’d had to tie my arms together to stop me from knocking his teeth out [something I would have enjoyed doing very much] and/or burning him with my new firepower.
After that, I’d shut up and went to sleep, but only after making sure that he was asleep first.
Now though, roughly fifteen minutes after bathing, putting on a new suit, [ the black, belted one FYI] and combing my hair, [ which is extremely hard to do with your arms tied behind your back let me tell you] Nick is untying my arms, and I’m ready for some answers.
However, it looks like I’m not going to get them from him, because he starts toward the door. “Come on. I’m not going to be the one to tell you this stuff.”
I follow him, still alert in case he decides I need to die or something [can’t be too careful] and stretch my arms. “Who is then?”
“You’d see if you would just follow me and be quiet.”
Hmph. Well! Fine.
He steps into the elevator and I stop dead in my tracks. I am not getting in an elevator with him. I could be dead before the doors open again.
He rolls his eyes at me and presses a button. “Fine then. Just come to the conference room. CM.” The elevator doors close again, and I’m left alone, grateful for it.
I turn back to the picture of me as a first born with the man and woman, and I try to figure out who they are. I still cannot come up with anything. I sigh, taking one last look, before getting in the elevator.
……………………………….
The doors open swiftly and smoothly, and I find myself in a large, yet somehow boring room. No one’s here.
“Hello? Nick? Is anybody here?”
I don’t get an answer, but just as I’m about to take a look around, who comes running up to me throwing her arms around my neck and almost squeezing the life out of me… but my mother!
“Kyra! I’m so glad you’re okay! I thought that they had done something terrible to you by now! We’ve all been so worried about you. How are you sweetheart?”
I give her a quick squeeze, then gentle pry her arms from around my neck, smiling. “I’m fine mom. Where’s dad? Or Michael?”
Dad walks out now, and I run over to him and hug him. He pretends to be annoyed at mom, but I can tell that he’s happy too.
“We were going to surprise you, but your mother couldn’t seem to wait. She couldn’t even sit down.”
Michael comes out last, trying to act as if he’s in control of the situation, but I can tell that he is even more relieved then mom when he hugs me tighter and longer than usual.
“How’re things going with Luna?”
He blushes, and then tries to hide it.
“Everything’s good. Great even. I’ve taken her out once, and we’ve been spending a lot of time together at work. She died my hair yesterday. I had to wash it out this morning though; mom wouldn't let me keep it in.”
I cock my head to the side, like a bird. What? Dad shakes his head at him.
“He’s serious. He walked around for a full day with neon blue hair, and an outfit to match. That girl seems to have a different hair color every time we see her.”
I grin. That’s good. I’m glad he’s having a good time with her.
Nick comes in and sits down on the sofa with a couple of folders, and my family goes silent and serious. I look between the three of them, nervous.
Nick nods to my dad, and he sits down in a big plush armchair, motioning for me to do the same. I look at Michael and he smiles, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes.
I sit on the floor in front of the sofa Nick is on, which could end up being a mistake, but I don’t really have a choice. Michael and mom have taken the other sofa.
“Wait a minute. I thought you said that you didn’t know any more than I did.”
They all flinch. “ Well… I lied. But I had to, because I knew that I’d tell you later. Right now, okay?”
I want to press him, but I let it go. “ Fine.”
Dad opens one of the folders and takes out a picture. He hands it to me. I pause for a second before flipping it over to look.
It’s a photo of the man and the woman from the picture in the hall with me as a newborn. Now, they look slightly younger, and have on weird suits, standing in front of some gigantic metal structure of some sort.
I look up at dad, confused.
“What does this have to do with me?”
He takes a breath, glances at Nick for a second, and then says, slowly, as if it pains him, “Those… are your parents, Kyra.”
I blink at him, and then look back down at the picture. Huh… really? “I don’t look anything like them.”
“You used to. We thought that you would stay the same, but then you started changing. Don’t you remember when you had black hair? Or brown eyes? Lana changed before you did though.”
I look him square in the eyes. “How do you know that?”
He winces and mutters something under his breath. I guess he didn’t mean to tell me that. He scratches his head.
“Well… we’ve been keeping in touch with the family that Lana was sent to since you two were split up.”
This draws a sharp look from Nick, who, until now, was busy reading something out of some folder. He looks instantly angry, and I scoot away from the sofa, scared that he’ll attack someone. He stands up.
“Really? Then why didn’t you tell us? We have a right to know. All of us here thought that Lana was dead, and now you’re telling us that she was in a foster family and everything? You didn’t think we had a right to know this?”
Dad’s face goes steely, and he doesn’t back down. “No. we didn’t. We had a good reason for keeping this from you, and we don’t really need to tell you what that reason is.”
I stand up quickly, before this can escalate into a full fight. “But I have a right to know. Why didn’t you tell them? Or me?”
Nick glares at dad but sits back down. Dad blows out a breath.
“Well we couldn’t tell you, because it wasn’t time for you to know. But as for you guys,” he gestures to Nick, “Kyra’s parents talked to us before they gave Kyra to us. They knew that Lana was alive, but they didn’t want anyone to know. Therefore, they told the doctors to tell everyone she was dead, and then told us the name of the foster family she was being sent to. We were to keep in touch with them, and ordered specifically not to tell anyone.”
Nick looks plain hurt. “Why would they do that?”
“We don’t know. They didn’t tell us that.”
I slink back to the couch, already starting to get angry, but I force myself to be calm when I ask, “Can you please just explain all this to me please?”
Dad nods, and puts the folder down on his lap, looking like he’s thinking, then he starts, and I sit back to listen.
“Your parents, Amondi and Jamal, were astronauts. They traveled space with many other people, making more and more new discoveries for four years on the Discus. That was the name of the space ship.Then, your mother had you.” He pauses, letting me absorb this, then continues.
“They stopped their exploring for a couple months afterwards, and then they went back, to a new ship, with astronauts that had children they didn’t want to leave behind on Earth for months at a time. This was a very safe, very kid friendly ship.”
Nick cuts in now.
“I was there too. I was thirteen, and I was one of the older kids that was in charge of trying to keep all of the babies happy. That included you, and Lana.” He laughs quietly to himself. “Being thirteen, that was the last thing I wanted to do, but I wasn’t allowed to do anything else.”
His face goes grave now.
“Then one day there was a meteor shower. A big one, out of nowhere, that came so fast that we didn’t have time to prepare all of the defense mechanisms…” He stops, shaking his head sadly, but pulls it together enough to go on.
“Your crib was right by the big window; because you really loved looking at all of the planets and stars that we passed by. Your mom was done with one of her visits with Lana then, and she was holding you, right by the window, when the first meteor crashed through the center of it. That should show you how big this thing was. This window was almost five feet thick. I don’t remember what happened after that, because I was unconscious…”
He looks down at me, and, afraid he won’t continue, I give him a small smile…that I really don’t feel.
“When I woke up, there was a whole crowd of people around me, and I was in a hospital back here on earth. I was absolutely covered in scratches, and had a huge knot on my head, but I was alive. They let me out two hours later when they were sure that I was entirely stable.
“I went to check on all of you guys. The babies, the kids, the adults… They were all fine. Your mom was pretty banged up, but she was stable. You and Lana though…
“You were worse than your mom was, but recovering quickly, whereas we weren’t even allowed to see Lana. She was doing really badly.” He looks at my dad. “Or so we thought. When the doctors told us she was dead, your aunt Jayla fainted and was stayed in a shock induced coma for two days, and I just walked around in a daze for a couple days. I loved you and Lana the most out of all of the other kids. ”
He shifts in his seat staring straight ahead at the wall in front of him.
“After that, your parents resigned and took you home. Lana too, I suppose, without anyone knowing, and planned to make a normal life for you. The press and the government kept coming to do interviews and take pictures, and wanting to do tests… Finally, they couldn’t take it anymore and they handed you over to their friends, who already had a son, Michael. They changed your name, and nobody ever bothered you again. That happened to every other kid here too. Only they didn’t go through a changing process.”
I just sit and stare at the photo in my hands, my anger practically boiling over. Nick feels this and is quick to continue.
“Your parents didn’t want to give you up, Kyra. They did it, so that you could have a normal life. I bet they think about you all the time, so don’t think that they don’t care. I know that they loved you more than you love yourself. I was there when they visited you and played with you. All the times that they would take you for trips around the ship. They cared, Kyra.”
I stare at the picture for a little while longer, then, before I register what I’m doing, I’ve crumpled up the photo and am running toward the elevator.
Everyone tries to stop me, but I’m too fast, and the doors close before they can get there. Fuming mad, I punch the first button I see on the wall, and lean against the wall, waiting.
When the doors open again, I’m in a hallway that looks just like mine, except the walls aren’t covered in pictures. I walk up to the door and knock tentatively, not sure who lives here, but hoping beyond hope that it’s someone I know.
No one answers, and I try putting my hand in the middle of the door. After a few seconds, I tell myself that it’s not going to work, but then it slides open.
I step into an interestingly colorful room. It’s a whole jumble of colors on every shade imaginable. It doesn’t look like anyone’s here though.
I sit down on the bed, wondering what to do. I’m sure they’re looking for me. But I can’t look at any of them right now. I can’t believe that they would keep something like this from me.
Tears come full on now. Why though? I’ve never been this emotional in my life. Why do I keep crying all the time?
My real parents are the ones who should be crying right now, not me. I wipe my eyes, trying to get myself to stop, and a hand lowers gently onto my shoulder. I whirl around to face… Aunt Jayla.
She looks slightly surprised, and very concerned, and I can hardly stop myself from practically flying into her arms.
“I’m so sorry for being so rude to you earlier,” I say into her robe, “I’m really, really sorry. I didn’t know anything then. I was tired and disoriented, and I didn’t know who was telling the truth or not. I know you can’t forgive me easily but-”
She cuts me off sharply, hugging me tightly, just as she hugged Lana before.
“It’s okay Loli. It is. I’ve already forgiven you. Please don’t cry. Then I’ll start crying, and once I start I never stop.”
I laugh through me tears and pull back, sniffing. She straightens out my hair a little bit, observing me.
“Have you eaten yet? You look pale.”
Oh yeah. I haven’t eaten a decent meal since breakfast at Ryan’s house yesterday. I shake my head no and she nods.
“Okay. Just let me get dressed and I’ll take you to the cafeteria.”
I nod and she goes into her bathroom. I sit on her bed and observe her multi-colored furniture. My eyes go to a certain wall, and I get up and go over to it.
It is covered in pictures of me. Each one was taken at a different age. From me as a chubby baby, to a thin, still normal looking little girl, to a tall, odd-looking teenager a year ago.
Aunt Jayla comes back out now, and I have to do a double take. She has on a black suit that looks like mine, except that hers has more room in it. However, that’s not the big difference.
I’m not sure if this is even her. Everything about her has changed. Her short, braided black hair is now light brown and long, down to the middle of her back. She’s taller, and slightly thinner too.
She smiles. “It’s me Loli.” Her voice is the same though.
She pushes the hair away from her temples, revealing two small circular stones. “These help me be able to change my appearance. This is how I really look. What I looked like before was just a test to make sure that you were… real.”
What? “To make sure that I was real?”
She nods, casting her eyes down. “Sometimes… certain people try to send... copies of kids down here. I had to make sure that you weren’t one of them.”
I still don’t understand, but I drop it, my thoughts back to the wall. I gesture to it. “Where did you get those pictures from?” I smile so she won’t feel as if I’m putting her on the spot or anything.
I can tell that she thought that I was going to lose it, because she instantly drops her tensed stance.
She smiles and put an arm around my shoulders, giving me a quick squeeze, and steering me towards the elevator. “I’ll tell you some other time okay? I’m starving, and I’m sure that you must be too.”
♠ ♠ ♠
Any comments? At all?