by Desy Smith
“No!” I scream as Serenity wrestles me, now pinning me to the floor. “Don’t let them forget me.” I continue screaming. Don’t let them forget me, I scream, now mentally, to which Serenity shrieks.
“Stop it!” Serenity yells. “Do not make me command you to sleep,” she warns me as the door opens. We stop wrestling, noticing Grand Dame, who frowns at us both.
“Stop it, Essence, or I’ll go back in there and put them to sleep forever,” Grand Dame threatens, which instantly makes me push Serenity off of me. I move back to my seat.
“Why?” I ask Grand Dame, tears now falling down my eyes.
“We need you,” Grand Dame says.
“Need me for what?” I cry.
“You’ll see, Essence, you’ll see,” she tells me. She tosses my book bag onto the seat and hands me a book, the very same one I was reading before she ruined my life.
“Serenity, double-check to make sure they have no memory of her,” Grand Dame instructs her.
“If they do?” Serenity asks, now rising from her position on the floor.
“Come back and get me,” Grand Dame says as Serenity exits the limousine. Grand Dame places her hand on top of mine. I want to jerk away from her, but I’m afraid how she’ll react.
“We’re your family now, Essence,” she tells me. “We’re your family now,” she says again.
Chapter Two – Horatio
Planet: Gaia
Scipio: Men’s Division
A few minutes later . . .
The sound of snoring and crickets combined with the smell of damp earth and the cold ground guaranteed I wouldn’t get any sleep anytime soon. I loathe these camping trips. I preferred to sleep in one of the king-size cushion beds inside the palace, where there’s air condition and the sound of a roaring fire to put me to sleep. For the hundredth time that night, I wondered how these fools could even sleep in these conditions. I pitied them all.
The sound of my tent being unzipped makes me growl, wondering what it could possibly be now. Not even an hour ago, I was forced to find firewood for the fire that no one was utilizing since they were now inside their individual tents. I didn’t understand why I was being forced to participate in this nonsense.
I wasn’t like the others here. I was special, and everyone knew it. I pull the now damp sleeping bag up over my face, pretending to be in a deep sleep. I feel my body being kicked. I jump up, agitated and ready to punish whoever had the balls to kick me when I see Christopher, Emperor’s bodyguard. I knew there was nothing, I could say or do to get him in trouble, even with me being who I am. He’s been Emperor’s bodyguard for three centuries now.
“What?” I hiss as I wipe down my sleeping bag, wetting my hands in the process. Why is it so fucking wet out here? Did it rain?
“Emperor wants to speak with you,” he tells me and then exits the tent. I lay back down, not comfortable but not wanting to get up and walk either. I suppose I was content. “Did you hear me, boy?” Christopher's voice sounds outside the small tent.
“I’ll be there momentarily,” I reply, still laying down.
“Now!” Christopher roars. When I still don’t move, I feel the sleeping bag being picked up, me along with it, before it’s tossed back down. I jump up, untangling myself from the sleeping bag, getting in Christopher's face, to which he’s unfazed.
“Do you know who I am?” I yell at him. He says nothing. It’s a redundant question because he knew. I was like a son to Emperor.
“Emperor will have your hands for this!” I yell as I push against him, barely moving his solid body. Christopher's response is a chuckle before he turns around, walking in the direction of Emperor’s tent, I assume. “Laugh it up now, clown,” I tell him. “We’ll see what Emperor thinks of your treatment of me,” I follow behind him.
In the distance, I see the ballroom tent, large enough to accommodate all ten of the campers here. Christopher holds the tent flap open for me.
“That’s right, servant,” I tell him as I pass by him, “remember your place.” I approach Emperor, who has his back turned toward me, occupying himself with some paperwork.
“As you requested,” Christopher states, “Horatio is here.” I watch as he takes his position in the corner, standing at attention.
“He put his hands on me,” I tell Emperor, pointing at Christopher, who is glaring at me. Emperor continues looking through his paperwork.
“Will you deny it now in front of him?” I ask Christopher, to which he says nothing, making me angrier. “He raised his voice at me,” I tell Emperor. “To me!” I stress. Emperor raises his hand, letting me know to be silent. I hold my tongue as he drops the paper he was examining before turning around to look at me.
“Have you been stealing funds from the Heroes of Scipio?” Emperor questions.
“No, of course not,” I reply, confused, not understanding why he asked and fearful of where this is heading. Why would I need to steal from them? Emperor ranked the highest in Scipio, Knighthood, leader/founder of the Heroes is ranked number two, and I come in at number three. I didn’t want for anything. I would also like to add, the Heroes of Scipio had nothing I wanted or needed. Nor did I want to associate myself with the likes of them. I prefer the life of luxury to that of servitude.
“Don’t lie to me boy!” Emperor yells
“I’m not!” I yell back. Emperor turns around, picks up something, before turning back around, throwing this item in my face. I realize it’s my bandana, the very same one that was stolen from me months ago. I always wondered what happened to it.
“You left this behind,” Emperor tells me.
“Someone stole that from me,” I reply. “I told you about it, remember?” Emperor glares at me.
“No,” Emperor replies short. It should be no surprise to me that he doesn’t remember. Emperor, as great as he is, seems to forget a lot of things. I noticed it about a year ago, the symptoms resembling the beginning of Alzheimer’s, according to my research. I’ve never asked him about this nor did I think to ask anyone else because I didn’t want to embarrass him. I could only imagine, how the men of Scipio would perceive this piece of information. I turn to look at Christopher. “Can you please remind him that was stolen from me?” Christopher remains silent.
“You fucking asshole!” I scream at him.
“I found you on the street, boy . . . ” Emperor begins yelling, but I interrupt him.
“I didn’t do it!” I yell back.
“I gave you everything, free reign to do anything, and you fuck with the Heroes of Scipio . . . ”
“I did not,” I tell him, interrupting him again.
“Our only defense here in Scipio, on Gaia . . . ”
“It wasn’t me!”
“Our protectors against the Disturbed.”
“I would never!” I continue screaming. Silence follows my statement. Emperor looks at me long and hard before he shakes his head.
“I am done with you,” Emperor replies finally in disgust. He turns around, now walking out of the tent. “You mean nothing to me.” Emperor exits the tent. I wait for Christopher to follow. Instead, he stands there with a coy smile on his face.
“I’ve been waiting for this moment, boy, ever since he found your fat ass on the street,” Christopher says as he walks towards me, rolling his neck.
“Now you’ve got the balls to fuck with me since I’m no longer under Emperor’s protection?” He shrugs his shoulders.
“Something like that,” he tells me. It then dawns on me that he set me up. It’s the only thing that made sense. I knew he didn’t like me, most of the men here at Scipio didn’t due to my position. I didn’t think he would try to do anything about it, though. He didn’t strike me as the plotting type.
I take a step back, fearful all of a sudden, not knowing how to fight nor defend myself. As Emperor's favorite - well, not anymore it appears - I had no reason to learn such things. No one dared pick on me. I suppose that
protection is over, I wondered how many beatings I would receive, once the word was out. I couldn’t – well-wouldn’t - live like this, not in fear.
Christopher punches me in the gut, causing me to double over. I clutch at my now aching abdomen, fighting through the pain. I would do whatever it took to prove my innocence, I tell myself, and I’d make Christopher pay for this. I rise up, still in pain, hoping like hell that’s it. When he uppercuts me, causing me to fall back on my ass, my eyes widen in surprise, realizing I may not have a chance to prove my innocence.
“I would call you a bitch, but that’s an insult to the women of Diara. Even they know how to defend themselves.” He kicks me in the gut hard, causing even more pain there. “You’re more like a worm, spineless and weak.” He continues kicking me in my stomach, the taste of iron fills my mouth, blood. I turn on my stomach, knowing I can’t allow him to kick me there, not again. The pain was becoming too much. When his foot lands in the middle of my back, I cry in pain before I black out. Him kicking me there again brings me back. I switch positions and regret it when his foot connects with my nose. I hear a crunch, before I feel something hot, blood drip on my lip, now running down my neck.
When he picks me up by my shirt, I smile.
“Is that the worst you can do?” I ask him not recognizing my own voice, it sounded distorted. I suppose a brutal ass-kicking does that to it.
“I’m only getting started,” he replies with a smile of his own.
“Enough,” Knighthood’s voice sounds in the tent. I turn in his direction, where I find him standing by the entrance, looking bored. How long had he been there? His overwhelming six-foot-five height, dark nutmeg skin tone, bald shiny head, and full ginger beard makes him look intimidating, even more so than Emperor. I take notice of his Heroes entering the tents with long sheets of iron about five inches in length. They place them around the perimeter of the tent, forming a defensive circle of sorts. I recall the iron sheet use from the textbooks. Iron interfered with the women of Diara’s ability to read the men of Scipio’s minds. My Science teacher said the iron causes them intense migraines. I never understood why Knighthood used them in Scipio, considering there are no women residing here.
Christopher drops me as he heads toward Knighthood. I expect Chris to square up with Knighthood, but he doesn’t. He waits for the Heroes to exit the tent before he follows behind them, snorting under his breathe. I rise up, using my shirt to wipe my nose, wincing in pain, when I rub it too hard. I rub my back, to no avail, hoping that will cause the pain to go away, as I hold my stomach. Knighthood takes a seat on top of the piles of pillows laying on the floor of the tent. As he makes himself comfortable, one of his Heroes brings him his pipe and he begins smoking. I begin to leave but stop short, when I take another look at Knighthood. I was accused of stealing money from him. I could plead my case with him, tell him how Christopher set me up, and clear my name with Emperor and see to it personally Christopher got what is coming to him.
I turn around, step in from of Knighthood, respectfully keeping some distance between us. I bend down, ignoring the pain in my back. I get as low as I can, my nose touching the floor.
“Knighthood,” I call out to him, my voice still unrecognizable.
“Rise, Horatio. I can barely hear you,” he tells me. I immediately comply. “Off your knees,” he commands, making me stand. I do as I’m told, ignoring the pain.
“I’ve been set up,” I tell him getting straight to the point. “I would never endanger you or the Heroes. I know your importance to everyone here in Scipio.”
“I’m aware,” Knighthood replies, exhaling, smoke now filling the room. The putrid smell invades my nostrils and makes me mentally flinch. I don’t know how anyone could smoke or rather enjoy smoking that weed shit.
“Christopher did it,” I tell him getting straight to the point. “He has a hard-on for me or something, I don’t know, but he set me up.” Knighthood inhales, as he nods his head. “Could you please tell Emperor?” I ask him. After the past few years, I couldn’t imagine living off scraps again. No, I was used to this life. This life was meant for me.
“Stop with the pleading,” Knighthood says as he blows out the smoke. “You sound like the women when they're on their rag.” I wasn’t familiar with the term ‘rag’. “When they’re bleeding,” he clarifies for me noticing the look on my face. “Get me this, please. Get me that,” he says, his voice rising a few octaves to sound like a woman I suppose. I immediately take offense to being compared to the women, especially during their time of the month. How disgusting.
“How dare you?” I reply, becoming angry. “Do you know who I am?”
“Who you were, you mean?” Knighthood replies. “No longer are you the orphan son of Emperor. You’re just like the rest of us men.” I saynothing. “If I would have known this is all it took to have Emperor disown you, I would have done it when he found you four years ago.”
“What?” I question him, not understanding what he means, what he’s insinuating. “You set me up?” I stutter.
“That I did,” Knighthood replies, still smoking. He moves his hand and a pillow flies toward me before falling to the floor in front of me. “Sit.”
“Fuck you!” I tell him, now walking toward the exist. He must have breathed in too much of the Disturbed’s rotting scent when he went on his monthly missions to Earth if he thought I would take a seat with him after his betrayal. I open the tent flap to leave, but it closes shut immediately.
“I said sit, Horatio,” he tells me again.
“You’re stupid if you think . . . ” I breathe in and out, trying to contain my anger. “I’m telling Emperor about this, all of this,” I inform him now glaring at him.
“It’s you that’s stupid if you think you're leaving and telling him anything,” Knighthood replies as he raises his hand, lifting me up without actually touching me. He brings his hand toward his chest and I go flying toward the pillow he placed in front of me. “I said sit,” he tells me again, releasing me to the floor where I fall face-forward on the pillow. I suck in a breathe, as pain radiates in my back and stomach. I sit up quickly, knowing if he wants he could force me to do so, and that would cause me even more pain. My body couldn’t handle anymore.
“I’ve done nothing to you, Knighthood,” I reply to him upset. “I’ve always stayed out of your way.” He breathes in the smoke and releases it, making small circles with his mouth.
“This is bigger than you, bigger than us both,” he replies. What in the hell did that mean?
“What?” I ask him now annoyed.
“What do you know about the history of Gaia? About Scipio, specifically?” he asks me. I roll my eyes in response.
“You can’t be serious right now?” I question him, annoyance riding my tone. Knighthood raises his hand and balls his fist. I feel a tightness in my chest and I know he’s messing with my body, my heart more specifically. I clutch at my chest as I drop my head, trying to breathe.
“Fine,” I manage to get out. “Fine.”
“Enlighten me. Let’s see how much you’ve retained from the teachings at the Palace,” he says sarcastically. He spoke as if he didn’t stay in the same palace as I did. Granted, he was never there, but still, it’s his home.
“Before this, we lived on Earth and men and women were equal, much to the men’s objections and the traditional teachings. But as usual, women weren’t satisfied . . . ”
“They’re never satisfied,” Knighthood grumbles, interrupting me. I give him a look.
“I’m not going to tell the story if you’ll interrupt me,” I tell him, meaning it.
“I can’t wait to train that annoying better than thou attitude out of you,” Knighthood says, making me cringe at the word ‘train’.
“What do you mean ‘train’?” I ask him.
“Continue with the story,” he tells me. I open my mouth to ask him again, but he raises his hand and slowly begins to close it, indicat
ing he’s going to attack my body again as he did before.
“The women wanted to be us,” I continue with the story. “They wanted to wear the pants.” Whatever the hell that meant. I’ve heard this expression a lot from the older men around here. “To make us inferior to them, they invented a new form of birth control, an IUD, which
eliminated what made them a woman.” An IUD was a small T-shaped device that the women inserted into the very tip of their uterus. It did the following: stopped their monthly cycles completely, helped them maintain their weight, and gave them the option to have more sex. This particular part of our story didn’t make sense because the women in Diara were still using this IUD.
“Continue,” Knighthood tells me, exhaling.
“They didn’t test the IUD well enough and it turned them into the Disturbed. Through sex, they began to infect us, men.” It was a nasty cycle of infection. “Before long, seventy-five percent of Earth’s population was infected.” I look to Knighthood as he inhales smoke. “Emperor and a few men, along with Highness and a few women, escaped Earth but ran into some trouble with a meteorite shower, where we, men, were given the powers of telekinesis, we can manipulate objects and each other's bodies and we stop aging after thirty,” I finally finish.
“And here I thought you weren’t learning shit,” Knighthood replies. I rise up.
“Am I free to live what’s expected to be the rest of my horrible life, thanks to you?” I ask him now getting up.
“What if I told you none of that really happened?” Knighthood asks.
“What?” I question, not knowing where he’s going with this.
“What if I told you the story you were told isn’t real? That all of it was made up?”
“You do know by saying this, you’re speaking blasphemy against the teachings of Emperor?” I warn him.
“I’m aware,” he replies.
