by Dreagen
There was a long silence, and Rex began to wonder if he had been too forceful and angered her. However, his worry subsided when she at last spoke.
“No one,” she said calmly.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, when you left that world behind, there was no one there who loved you, no one who would miss you.”
“I see,” he said, feeling crestfallen. “No one to care that I’m gone?”
“Do not trouble yourself with such thoughts, Rex,” she said, sounding more reassuring. “You have found a better world with people who already care for you. You will have so many opportunities to meet others who will stand with you in the light. You can have everything you never had back on Earth: a life of acceptance. I know your heart, Rex, that is why I know it is what you have longed for as long as you can remember.”
Rex nodded silently. “Yes…you’re right. All I can remember dreaming of since I was old enough to care was to be treated like everyone else—to not be excluded, not be looked at strangely, not be alone. But that was never an option for me, was it? They could never accept me like this,” he said, spreading his arms slightly to add emphasis to his appearance. “To them I was a freak, or worse yet, a monster.”
“Rex, you—”
“But that’s all right with me. Even had I been able, no…even had they offered me acceptance, I would have thrown it right back in their faces along with a little something extra to ruin their day!”
“I do not understand. Isn’t acceptance what you want, what you’ve always wanted?”
“Acceptance, yes, but from humanity? I’d have been less offended if they tried to kill me. For them to have regarded me as one of them would have meant that I was no different than them in their eyes. That they saw me as the very same lowly, self-destructive aberration!” He shook his head. “No…better to be deemed a monster, for the word itself means something apart from the natural order, and to be considered apart from what they consider natural is a step in the right direction and means my existence isn’t a total loss. Now, after years of mediocrity, I find myself in this world: a dream come true.”
“So why are you still troubled?”
Rex looked up and fixed her with an angry glare. “Because I’m still not treated like everyone else, nor am I made to feel completely included, nor am I free from stares that make me feel like I’m trapped in a cage! No, not even in this most perfect world am I one of them!”
“Rex, that is not true and you know it.”
“What I know is that these damn eyes make people more afraid of me here than they ever did back in the hellhole of a world I came from, and that the people you say care about me have to lie about who I am and where I come from!” He snorted flame from his nostrils while furrowing his brow. “Sad thing is that maybe they have a good reason to. It’s not as if I would know one way or the other. Seems like everyone has a better idea of who I am than I do.”
“Rex…I wish there was something I could say to make all your pain and anger simply go away…but I cannot. Try as I might, I seem to fail every time.”
“Don’t beat yourself up over it,” he said, staring off into space. “For better or worse, it’s the life I’ve come to know…always alone.”
EliCia settled down in front of him, closer than she had ever come, and stood a good thirty centimeters taller than him. He could sense her good-natured intentions, as if they were somehow flowing into him, or rather were already a part of him. He felt more at ease, as if a sense of warmth and comfort was soothing his troubled mind.
“I know that you are terribly frightened right now. So much is happening to you all at once, and it seems almost too much to bear. Am I right?”
“Yes,” he replied, stifling a sudden shudder.
“It is understandable; however, this does not have to be cause for fear and anger. You can choose to view this as a wonderful opportunity, Rex, a chance to start over. A chance for a happy life.”
“A happy…life?” He allowed the words to settle in his mind as he analyzed what that would entail for him. It was then that he saw a shadowy mass creeping up silently behind her. He knew instantly that it was the same creature that haunted this dark place, and he felt the pull of fear and fury in his chest and the burning in his veins.
“Rex, the answers you seek will come to you, but only in time,” she said as she maneuvered herself between him and the beast that remained just out of sight.
“Time,” Rex repeated angrily. “Now why should I give it time when I am talking to someone right now who apparently has the answers I seek? Why should I do things your way? Maybe I need to be a bit more persuasive.” Rex took a step towards her and immediately sensed something rise up behind him as well as within. Another step, and the void’s other presence could be felt more strongly. “Letting others get in the way of what you want is a bad habit,” he said as his body slowly ignited in red flame. “Once you start, you’ll find yourself always being disappointed, never getting what you want out of life. Still, when you’re me…people are easily removed.”
“Rex, listen to yourself! Don’t you see, the more you tell yourself you can never be a part of people’s lives, that you can never trust them, that you must always take from them to obtain anything of your own, the more like them you become!” Rex suddenly stopped his progression forward, and the titanic figure behind him, thinly outlined in red, disappeared. “The life you led back on Earth was truly unfortunate, but it’s behind you now. Move forward and look to those who would be your family. Trust in them. Do not condemn yourself to the darkness of your heart, Rex. Seek out the light of others.”
EliCia’s entire demeanor changed as she spoke with cold, detached resolution. “The answers you seek weigh heavily with a power you are not yet fully prepared to comprehend. Only when you are truly ready will they reveal themselves to you. Until then, you will remain in the shadows of your own mind, your own prison. You do not realize the gravity of the questions you ask, the weight of their answers. I know that it is difficult, and perhaps unfair to you, but this is the way it must be for the time being. You have already begun walking the path. Do not stop now or you will never discover the answers to your questions or the secrets you keep within yourself. Trust me, Rex.”
“Trust you?” he repeated. “I don’t know who or even what you are.”
“You have only forgotten, but like with everything else, you will remember when you are ready to.”
Rex stared at her long and hard, before curling his lips up into a snarl. “You speak of trust, but that kind of talk sounds hollow coming from a hypocrite like you, don’t you think?” EliCia cocked her head to the side, unclear what he was insinuating. “After all, I’m not the only one here hiding in something else’s shadow.”
Rex watched as the mass behind her shifted and rose up, as she closed her eyes and receded back into the shadows where it resided. Rex felt as if all the heat in the air had suddenly been sucked out, and he was crippled by an icy grip. He was barely able to move as his breath grew shorter and more labored.
“When you feel him draw near, who you choose to be is your choice, and yours alone,” came EliCia’s disembodied voice.
“What’s happening?” he gasped as the air in his lungs grew so cold that it felt like they were burning.
Rex’s eyes shot open and were immediately greeted by the sight of the now familiar rock ceiling of his room. His heart pounded in his chest, and he placed a hand over it in some benign effort to slow it down. Closing his eyes, he tried to slow his breathing. After a few minutes, he began to calm down. “What was that all about?” he whispered before turning to his left and seeing DiNiya’s face staring back at him with silver-white glowing eyes, unblinking and transfixed on his.
Rex jumped back and accidentally slammed the back of his head against the wall, triggering a jarring flash of images to rush through his mind. He could see the erratic and unclear image of something large biting and clawing at him viciously. The disjointed
mental images were interspersed with the haunting silver glowing eyes that seemed to be drawing nearer to him, to the point where they were right in front of him, staring into his very mind. Rex yelled incoherently, causing a blast of red flame to shoot out of him. Hearing a girl scream, he opened his eyes and saw DiNiya lying on the ground, looking up at him with a stunned expression.
“Wha…what happened?” he asked, bewildered, but before she could answer, they heard the sound of running feet in the hall. Seconds later, EeNox and BaRone came running in.
“What’s wrong?” shouted EeNox. “We heard you scream, DiNiya!”
“As did I,” said VayRonx, his enormous head appearing at the window, pushing it open.
EeNox looked at his sister on the floor then back up at Rex. “What did you do to her?”
“Nothing,” Rex replied, unsure of the legitimacy of his words. “I mean, I just woke up and she…”
“I was coming back from getting some water downstairs,” DiNiya suddenly spoke up. “I thought I heard noises coming from Rex’s room, so I peeked in to see if he was all right. He must have been having a nightmare because he was groaning in his sleep. I went to wake him and startled him because he jumped up and accidentally scared me in the process. That’s why I screamed.”
“Are you sure that’s what happened?” her brother asked, eyeing Rex suspiciously.
“Yes, I’m sure,” she fired back angrily.
“All right,” he conceded, putting his hands up. “I’m just saying maybe in his sleep he might have lashed out and hurt you.”
Rex felt put off by such an accusation, but he also knew he was in no position to argue against it. He was still unclear as to what had just happened.
“Don’t you dare accuse him of something like that!” DiNiya said in a furious tone. “I don’t know what you have against him, but he has never given you or me or anyone cause to think he would hurt any of us!”
“Do I need to bring up the whole thing with TyRoas again?” EeNox asked.
“Do I need to bring up the whole thing of you trying to nurse from a pregnant OroGon in your sleep?” she retaliated.
“THAT WAS ONE TIME!”
“People don’t forget.”
“All right, all right,” said BaRone, raising his hands to silence them both. “If DiNiya says it was an accident, then it was an accident.”
EeNox was noticeably irritated and above all else confused as to why his father was refusing to consider all the possibilities.
“Groaning in your sleep, were you, Rex?” BaRone asked. “Well, I suppose you’re at that age when you’d be having those dreams, eh?” he added with a wink. Rex turned red and looked down, not saying a word. “Anyway, everyone seems to be fine, so I think I’ll go back to bed. Come on, son.”
“EeNox,” called VayRonx from the window. “Did you really nurse from an OroGon?” EeNox stormed off angrily, while DiNiya did her best to suppress her laughter. “Something I said?” VayRonx asked.
“I wouldn’t worry about it,” she said with a smile.
“Fair enough. Goodnight.” He turned and walked away from the window, disappearing into the night.
“Don’t stay up too late you two,” BaRone said with a smile as he closed the door behind him.
They both waited until they could no longer hear his footsteps outside before saying anything.
“I, uhh,” Rex stammered. “I’m sorry for scaring you like that. I hope I didn’t hurt you.”
“I’m all right,” she replied. “But…I would like to know what’s going on.”
“What do you mean? You just said you heard me having a nightmare and woke me up.”
“I just told them that so they wouldn’t worry and leave. The truth is…I don’t remember coming in here at all.”
Rex had assumed that the flash of disjointed images had been part of his experience in the shadowy world of his mind, and that DiNiya really had just startled him out of his slumber.
“What was the last thing you do remember?” he asked her nervously.
“Just climbing into bed and closing my eyes,” she explained. “Why, do you know something?”
Rex hesitated at first, but DiNiya pressed him until he told her the whole story of how he awoke to see her lying next to him in his bed with haunting eyes that glowed silver. He left out the parts about the dark void he frequently found himself visiting in his head, as well as the other images that he had seen when he hit his head. DiNiya listened in silence and continued to sit without saying a word for a moment after he was finished.
She felt vulnerable and even a little scared. She worried about what Rex must think of her for being in his bed, but also from the secret she was harboring. She suddenly looked up and said, “I remember hearing a voice.”
“When?” he asked.
“Back in my room…just before I fell asleep.”
“What did it say?” he asked as he stood up.
“I don’t know,” she replied, shaking her head. “I couldn’t make out any of the words. It was like a…whisper.”
“Where was it coming from?” Rex asked, concerned, as he quickly eyed all corners of the room.
“That’s the thing,” she said, now clearly uneasy. “It sounded like it was coming from inside my head.”
They both looked at each other in silence as they felt a hauntingly cold chill.
9
AN ENEMY IN OUR MIDST
The next morning things were noticeably awkward with DiNiya, not that Rex really blamed her. After all, how was she supposed to feel after climbing into his bed the night before without remembering? Also there was the matter of what he saw. Had that just been part of his dream, if that was even the right word for it anymore? Things had felt very strange between them when she left his room afterwards. She had not even been able to look him in the eye; rather, after their initial discussion, she had just stood up and walked out.
Those eyes, he thought as he ate breakfast in silence. They were so cold yet they burned in his mind. DiNiya was on the opposite end of the table, just as seemingly lost in thought. Occasionally he would catch her glancing up only to quickly look back down at her plate whenever he tried to meet her gaze. This is stupid. If she stops talking to me, who the hell is going to make anything in this place make sense? Her father and brother are always busy, and the only other two people I really know are TarFor and that asshole TyRoas! Glancing up briefly, he plotted his next move. I have to try to break the tension, lighten things up a bit. “Hey, DiNiya,” he suddenly spoke up, grinning sheepishly, startling her slightly. “So, do you normally crawl in bed with all the new guys or was that just special for me?” She stared at him for a moment without saying a word before furrowing her brow and looking back down at her plate. Damn! Now she’s really angry! ‘Do you crawl in bed with all the new guys’—real smooth, dumbass! He bravely ventured another glance only to see her eyes look up in turn and meet his with a fiery stare. Yup, she hates me for sure now. I have to do something before she gets angrier. I need to change the subject to something else. What about that person her dad mentioned yesterday? No, no she got really angry over that, too, but then again maybe if I get her angry about someone else she’ll stop being angry with me. “Hey, so…who is this person your dad was—” He was cut short by a look of pure malice and what he swore was a low growl. Shit! he screamed inside his head. Bad idea! Abort!
Just stop talking, came a soft voice on a warm breeze through the window.
“What?” he blurted out, causing her to look at him strangely. “Did you say…I mean…you know what…never mind,” he stammered before shutting up and staring at his plate. Great, I’m going crazy now, too.
As he wallowed in self-pity, a tiny piece of fish sailed through the air with a deliberate trajectory and hit him square on the forehead. Looking up quickly, he saw to his surprise DiNiya covering her mouth, giggling. “What’s so funny?” he asked, unconsciously curling his lips back into a snarl.
“You,” she said
, trying very hard to hold back her laughter.
“Me?” he asked, confused. “What did I do?”
DiNiya burst out laughing. “It’s your face!” Rex frowned. “No, I mean, the look on it,” she explained while trying desperately to regain her composure. “You look so serious, like you’re trying so hard.” She burst out laughing again.
Rex, try as he might, felt her levity sinking into him, and soon he was laughing at the absurdity of the whole thing with her. They continued to laugh and joke before forgetting all about what had made them so uncomfortable around each other to begin with. Twenty minutes later, they cleared the table, washed the dishes, and headed out to the fields for a long, hard morning’s work that Rex was actually looking forward to.
DiNiya had been doing her best to put on a strong face for Rex, but the reality was that she had barely slept the night before. She had been so afraid to even close her eyes, and the memory of the voice haunted her. For as long as she could remember, she had felt a presence deep within her, something moving through the back of her mind and watching her from behind her eyes. She had always kept it to herself, fearing to tell even her father, but she had never had such a visceral experience with it like she did last night. For the first time, she heard this mysterious presence rather than just felt it. What’s happening to me? she wondered. Why is it so much stronger now? Is it because…of him?
She continued to wrestle with her anxiety over the matter as the morning turned into afternoon. The two of them worked diligently in the fields, and soon DiNiya found herself playfully competing with Rex to see who could work the fastest.
Rex thought for sure that victory would be his because of his superior size and strength, but he found himself constantly being outpaced by DiNiya. “Pretty impressive for a girl,” he said, panting as sweat ran down his face.
“A girl?” she replied, putting her hands on her hips and giving him a disapproving look. To both her surprise and relief, working alongside Rex had made her forget about her fear of what happened the night before and replaced it with a curious sense of determination. She had met rivals before, but they had always been a source of torment or frustration. This unusual young man, however, was evoking an unprecedented sense of competitive play in her, which she had never before experienced. She was actually having fun, a lot of it, in fact. I wonder if this is what it feels like to be a normal person, she wondered. Still, does he really think he can beat me? Just look at that smug little smile of his.
