A Modern Myth

by Clara Wake

  As he speaks the words of solace, she curls herself around him and leans into him. He makes her feel so warm, so safe, and so loved.

  She’s never been too happy, so overjoyed, and excited about anything or anyone. She can’t bear the thought of losing this feeling or him.

  Nickolai is finally opening up to Skye, like he did with Jake.

  Jake and Skye see the glimmer of a sweet, kind, and gentle soul behind the wall made from the tongues of the weak and blood-curdling anger.

  Built and taught to feel nothing but hatred, anger, and sorrow. To hear the tone and voice of their Captains constantly ringing through their minds. To have no other thoughts, then to search and destroy.

  Never question the ulterior motive of The Governor. To accept her and her views. She built this from the ground up, to be thankful for her – for choosing them. Do as instructed and nothing else.

  Emotions are undervalued. Untouched and lost.

  Each night with Skye, they talk of a dreamland beyond this hell—a world of happiness and joy they’ve only ever dreamed about. Leaving this place, escaping, and finding the opposite of what they tell them.

  They tell them the world is corrupt, overrun by technology. Searching for a way out and off the planet Earth. Vegetation and resources are extremely low, and companies are drowning. Racism, hatred, and fear collide, and everyone is separated. There is no nation, no man of power. The world is lost, and the droids and technology rule it.

  Whether this is true or not, they’ll never know unless they step outside and experience it themselves. That itself is a task and a risk on its own.

  They’ve spent their youth learning everything they could, only the small things about the world beyond and the rest: the need to know. Even though, with the top-notch one-on-one education they’ve received, they hold so many questions bubbling inside, ready to burst. Of course, they can’t ask; they can’t speak their confusion or concerns. Bottling things up is what they are meant to do. It’s their only choice in the matter.

  Nickolai and Skye have each other. They bounce ideas and questions off one another and come up with their own tales. They spend all night dreaming and talking about the things they have their lips sealed about.

  Dreaming together of a better world.

  “Tomorrow?” She looks over her shoulder, smiling softly at him, waiting for him to repeat the word like he’s done so all this time.

  “Tomorrow,” He tells her with a small nod, watching her carefully before she gasps loudly and spins around on her heels.

  “Oh! I forgot!” She exclaims as quietly as she possibly can without screaming and waking the boys from their slumber.

  She’s excited and slightly nervous as she sits back beside Nickolai, her smile wide with pride.

  His eyebrow arches slightly, as his ear twitches. Confused, he gives her a dumbfounded look and waits for her to inform him of what she’s forgotten. “Out with it,” he teases her, shaking his head before she leans up against him attempting to bump him.

  “Here,” she lightly replies, grabbing his hands and placing something inside his palm. “I made them for you,” she tells him, her smile beaming with pride.

  “What is it?” He looks down and his left ear drops in confusion as he holds up a long piece of braided leather, two long pieces embedded together as a choker or necklace. A smaller set piece rests in his palm for his wrist.

  She can’t help but giggle at his response; he is so adorable when he is confused. She can’t wipe the smile off her face, even if she wanted. “It’s a necklace,” she tells him, “and the other goes around your wrist, see?” She shows him, as she waves at him with her right hand, dangling it – exposing the braided leather wrapped around her wrist comfortably. “I have one too!” She smiles, her cheeks flushing even brighter.

  “Impressive,” he compliments her. “You didn’t have to do that,” he tells her, turning his head to face her properly, and finally a soft and sweet smile presses against his lips. It’s the first time she’s seen him smile properly. It is so gentle and caring as his cheeks pinch a soft shade of pink. The curve of his lip is subtle, but it’s clear he’s smiling.

  She’s screaming with joy inside. She wants to stop breathing from his response, but she holds it in and jumps up with a burst of excitement. “Tomorrow?” She asks with a squeak, smiling even brighter than before. She could swear her cheeks were aching now, but she doesn’t care. He smiles.

  “Tomorrow.”

  Day by day, Nickolai accepts his bow again and marks those incredible shots. It is once again his own and sits proudly above his bed now.

  Instead of handling it with hesitation and throbbing memories of the witch holding it, he overlooks it and dreams of the day he’ll land an arrow in between The Governor's eyes—with the poison arrow. Better yet, he’ll nail her in the kneecap and make her suffer almost as much as he has since birth. The possibilities are endless.

  Her eyes fixate on Skye – the very same curious girl from the laundry that day.

  Skye is so much more upbeat, floating around with a smile that never fades. Skipping and happy? Something is up and off. Who the hell was happy in this place? Certainly not her.

  Her dark brown eyes narrow on Skye’s movements.

  More theories began to thrash her mind. Was she taking drugs? Happy pills? Getting special treatment from someone? Found a best friend? No, that look was something else. She’s in love.

  With that realization, she wants to destroy it.

  She wants what Skye has, and she always gets her way. She is tall and has the longest dark, thick hair that falls to her knees. She has the nickname Rapunzel, but she isn’t as kind as the fairy tale character. No, she is the opposite.

  She does everything and anything to get what she wants and uses manipulation and blackmail to get it. Others who cross paths with her often assume her to be The Governor’s daughter—she is that noxious and conniving. However, there is no evidence to support such an inkling.

  She’s been watching Skye for a while now that there are fewer of them in their Squad. Sometimes, she goes into Skye’s room, but she finds nothing to support her suspicions. Until one night, she sees her crawling out of her window and making her way towards the boys’ squads.

  Even on the coldest night with snow blanketing the entire compound and hail falling from the sky, she never misses a night. She never stays there; she always leaves and comes back the same night. Something is going on, and she has full intentions of finding out.

  Sure, others are sneaky: stealing a cigarette in the middle of the night or some alcohol. This is different, and the fact that she doesn’t know what is going on and with whom has her itching and craving answers.

  Eventually, she finds the opportunity to follow, and when she realizes who she’s with, she can’t help but put the dots together and realize she’s the one the elf denied.

  She smirks, and it’s no ordinary smirk; it’s contaminated with venom. She’s already forming a plan within her corrupt mind, and eager to act.

  The clock finally hits three am, and she’s leaping from her bed and ready to meet Nickolai. Before she’s able to prepare herself, she’s met with a very silent and rigid hit to the back of her head. The pain flashes a white spark in her eyes and she hit the floor of her bedroom hard.

  The last thing her disoriented state sees is a girl leaving her room from her window before darkness curls around the corners of her eyes and her body gives in to the heavy blow.

  “Wow, for once you’re late,” Nickolai already begins to greet her, as he hears her feet shuffling and finding her way through the window, but he’s immediately alert when his sharp eyes catch the flow of dark hair instead of Skye’s natural light brown.

  “Who the fuck are you?” He’s quick to question, standing tall. He towers over her. Looking down at her, glaring.

  “That’s not a way to greet a lovely lady, now is it?” Rapunzel scoffs, with a wry tone. Stepping in, she stands as if she owns the place. H
er eyes glance around, taking a detailed look at his room, then him.

  “Get the fuck out,” Nickolai scowls. He’s not messing around, and he has no time to play games, and most of all he wants answers.

  “Where is Skye?” He barks at her and steps before her, restricting her from stepping any further into his room.

  “You’re really rude. It’s not cute at all,” she breathes, shaking her head before crossing her arms over her chest. and finally looking up to meet those alluring eyes of his.

  “Skye? Oh, you don’t need to worry about her” She replies bluntly, as her eyebrows raise, and she moves forwards to lean closer towards him, her hand soon resting on his chest. He’s very swift to smack her hand away.

  “Don’t touch me,” he snarls, stepping away from her now. He keeps his distance, but his eyes never leave her gaze.

  “Get the fuck out,” he repeats his demand, but she’s smiling. He can feel his neck flush with warmth and his eyes burn as he watches her.

  “No, I’m not going anywhere,” she slowly breathes, before she sits down on his bed and hums softly to herself, taking a moment. She continues to flash her smile around, making herself comfortable.

  “What do you want?” Nickolai growls, frustration clear in his features as his eyebrows furrow and knot. Gritting his teeth, livid.

  “How about you give me what you didn’t give Skye?” She carefully delivers, as she drags her fingertips over her chest and plays with the straps of her dressing gown, flashing her dull eyes to meet his. Lust is evident in hers while fury flashes through his.

  “Get out,” he demands roughly once more. Bitch must be deaf; he’s said this three times already and there she is sprawled across his bed like she owns the place.

  “I get it, you chose not to fuck her because she’s ugly, it’s okay. I’m here now,” she delicately states what she believes, as she carefully loosens her strap, pulling it from her shoulder. “Come on, I know you want to,” she adds on, biting her bottom lip and launching upwards, causing the dressing gown to fall further.

  “I don’t, so fuck off,” he barks, before he springs forward and grabs her arms, pulling her up from his bed and throwing her towards the window. “There’s the window; get out!” He demands, blocking her up against it.

  “You don’t give me what I want, and I’ll tell The Governor all about her and your little midnight meetings,” she hurriedly slams him with blackmail. Feeling the sense of panic, that she won’t get what she wanted. “You want her to go down there?” She continues, only igniting the pure rage that bursts inside of Nickolai’s chest.

  “You wouldn’t dare,” he finally speaks, feeling his breathing become frantic; he’s fuming. His neck surfaces a red tint, and his eyes burn with fury as he watches her threaten Skye’s life for a few moments of bliss.

  “Fucking try me, elf boy,” she spits at him, lunging slightly at him with her body thrashing backwards up against him. “You tell me no one more time and I’ll go straight to The Governor, you hear me?” She threatens, the anger spreading through each word that leaps from her harsh lips.

  “No,” he yelps in her face this time and presses against her, pushing her further towards the window.

  “Well, I hope you can sleep knowing she’ll be in the chamber because you’re a fucking prude.” She turns with a bewitching smile, and the smile itself has Nickolai tick.

  All he can see is pure red. His tunnel vision emerges, and he’s riddled with anger and rage. Wrapping his arm around Rapunzel’s neck, he pulls her back from the window and swings her around forcing her to the ground. No one is going to hurt Skye. No one.

  His hands are firmly and violently curling and holding her face before he screams loudly and pulls her head up and smacks the back of her skull against the concrete floor.

  A loud crack and smack are heard but he doesn’t stop as the anger and heartache erupt from his chest. He’s scared to lose Skye – to have her suffer like him – he can’t have it. He can’t risk her hurting Skye in any way, to hold something like this over her and continue to torment her. No, that isn’t going to happen.

  Blood gushes and splatters everywhere. A pool saturates the concrete beneath her head. With each smack, it splutters up and meets his face. He doesn’t stop until his hands shake uncontrollably and violently, and he finally pulls back and breathes.

  A loud gasp, as he can feel tears slipping from his wide, startled eyes as he stares down at her. Her eyes wide, dilated, and lifeless.

  He stumbles backwards and bangs his back up against the wall. Trying to control himself as he flexes his hands dripping of Rapunzel’s blood. He’s shaking in pure shock; he’s never felt anger so alive and roaring so deeply inside. He just couldn’t let Skye become a victim of the pain and suffering from below. She is already being raped almost every night. She doesn’t deserve this.

  He sits there in silence, only the sound of his own heartbeats thrashing in his ears and his staggered breaths. He pants as he stares down at her motionless body. His trembling hands soon run through his hair, and he’s lowering his head down to his knees, curling up.

  He’s scared, afraid of what he’s done. What has he done? He’s just murdered someone in a fit of pure rage. He couldn’t find a way to justify it, he did the wrong thing.

  He's killed many people during missions, but they were all hostile. Minus a few of course, but in those situations, he had no choice— just like this.

  The worse realization is what Skye would think of him? She’ll run away, she’ll scream in horror and see the monster he believes he is. She’ll see just how much of a freak he truly is. He’s so scared of her reaction, and how she’ll see him now…

  “Nickolai!” Skye calls out and crawls through the window, her voice frantic and in panic, as she moves in. She locks her eyes with him. curled up in himself with blood splattered and tainting his hands.

  She doesn’t ask him, she finds herself searching and looking around, and there she finds the body of the one they call Rapunzel.

  Her eyes widen, and she yelps before smacking her palm over her lips. Putting two and two together, she realizes that she was responsible for the bump on her head. She turns to Nickolai. He’s still shaking, like a little boy waiting for a beating from his drunk father.

  “Hey,” she whispers, moving in slowly, before taking his hand from his face to get a better look at him. He’s petrified and shaking violently, “What happened?” She carefully asks, holding his hand tightly.

  “She-she said she’d tell The Governor about us, about you.” He’s surprisingly quick to reply – as if he’s telling himself as well. “I-I couldn’t let her…” His words begin to stammer now. “I said I’d protect you,” he whines and finally looks up to meet her concerned gaze, as thick tears fall.

  “It’s okay, you did what you had to,” she tells him, and in her haste of words, she wraps her arms around him. She pulls him closer to hold him, to stop him from shaking, to remind him that he isn’t alone. Not anymore.

  “Nickolai, we need to clean this up,” she starts, as much as she wants to sit there and hold him tightly, she sees the flashes of reality start to edge her mind.

  She’s still holding him, and for once he’s holding her just as tightly, an embrace she wishes would last forever.

  Eventually, she slowly and carefully pulls away and cups his face. “We need to get rid of her,” she tells him, before resting her forehead against his and closing her eyes. Taking everything in, she is trying her best to be as calm as she can without screaming.

  “I... killed her,” he softly mumbles in a shaken breath, shuddering his head slowly. He motions to stay, before she’s locks her eyes with his once again and gives him a very firm look.

  “This isn’t your fault, Nicko. She threatened you, and you did what you had to. It’s her fault, she messed with the wrong person.” She stops there and strokes his cheek. “You saved us. You saved our lives. Otherwise, she’d be out there destroying everyone else’s while we suff
ered for being happy,” She tells him with a very confident and strong tone. She believes in what she said and what he did. She wants to say something else, but she pulls back and steps up.

  They had to clean up the blood and bury her body in the wake of the night, as quietly as they could without disturbing anyone. It was certainly a task, but Skye had perseverance in them, as a team they could conquer anything. Together.

  Assumptions are made about Rapunzel’s disappearance.

  She got pregnant, was murdered, or suicide. No one knows, and frankly, no one cares.

  She is just another one that is gone. It helps that no one liked her. She deserved such a fate, and she is soon forgotten. Like the rest, of course. Another one “bites the dust,” as The Mothers put it.

  Nickolai must do the same, but her lifeless eyes haunt him. As if nothing else hasn’t already tormented him, each time he closes his eyes. He tries to see the reason behind his actions, but he can’t. All he remembers is pure red, flashing and wailing at him. Rage overtook him. In some cases, he is like the Hulk—completely blinded by the fury within as it unleashes. He’s buried so much hate and anger inside. Eventually one day or another it will claw its way out.

  It took a threat to those he cares about to release the panic and rage. He can only imagine how far he’d go if Jake or Skye were harmed in any way. How far he’d leap.

  Both Jake and Skye help him and without them, he doesn’t know how deep into despair he’ll fall. He is always so thankful for them, and everything they do. They always did it out of pure devotion and nothing else. No games, no favour returned. Nothing, and he did exactly that for them. He’d protect them and be by their sides no matter what.

  Skye arrives earlier this night, after almost always being on time or maybe just slightly late. She is never early, which is quite a shock, considering how eager she’d be to see him. She gives him space and room.

  Slipping through the window, she enters to see him almost asleep. She can’t help but smile to herself. “Hard day?” she asks him, as she moves onto his bed and lies beside him, facing him and watching him with a face filled with love.