“He did what?” Rigar snapped, his voice booming off the walls.
“I didn’t let him, he just said that he felt drawn to the room, like he should know her,” she quickly countered, following his gaze into the room. “What do you think it means? Why do both of you feel like you should know who she is?”
“I don’t know, but it makes me uncomfortable to still have her here around the two of you. I worry all day about something happening to one of you, that she will awaken and I would come back to find the both of you hurt or worse. No, no I need to stop wasting time with this damn road and find a location, soon.”
“Rigar, you have to go to work. If you don’t they could come and arrest you and Mirna, not to mention you wouldn’t get your rations.”
“I know, but that doesn’t make me feel any better about leaving you here with her.” He said biting out the last word. Citera picked up on a slight change in his tone, and when she looked up at him to see what was wrong, his gaze was intensely fixed on the girl in the room.
“What is it?” she asked as Dirik walked up behind the two of them. He followed their attention into the room. “Did something happen, did she move?”
“No,” Rigar answered without breaking his gaze on the room, “but she is awake.”
The statement caught Citera off guard. She returned her attention to the room. The girl remained just as she had been for the last week, making her curious as to what her guardian was seeing that she wasn’t. “How do you know?”
“I can feel it.” With a worried expression, he turned to Citera and Dirik. “I will find something for sure in the next day or two, no matter what. In the meantime, I want the two of you to promise me again that you will not to go in there.”
“We won’t, will we, Citera? I mean, what reason would we have to go in?” Dirik responded, nudging her with his elbow as he spoke.
She hesitated; she knew they were both right, but deep inside was a desire to go in and confront this girl who had attacked her father. On the other hand, there was also a small part of her that couldn’t help but wonder if maybe they were the ones making the mistake. Citera stared into the room at the girl, chained and strapped to the bed. One question had bugged her for the last few days, though she dared not mention it to Rigar. If the girl had truly intended on killing her father, why hadn’t she? There was no one here to stop her.
Rigar, noting her hesitation, became frustrated and reiterated, “Citera, are you listening? Do not go into that room, do you hear me?”
“Yes, yes I hear you. I won’t go in,” she consented, waving him off, but the question was still clawing at her mind. “I’m going back to check on my dad, I’ve left him alone long enough.” And with that she turned and left the two of them standing in the hall watching after her.
Back in her dad’s room she sat down in the chair by the bed and took his hand into hers like she had so many times before. “Dad, I’m back, can you hear me?” she asked, squeezing his hand tightly. “Dad, I need your advice. All my life you have taught me to treat people equally and without discrimination, no matter who they are or what their past may be. But what do I do about this girl? Part of me hates her and wants her to suffer alone in that room for what she has done to you, but the other part of me keeps hearing your voice, scolding me for leaving her in that condition for so long.” She placed her face in his hand; despite his unconscious state and severe blood loss, his skin was surprisingly warm and comforting to touch. “I know you would be disappointed in me for letting the girl stay in there for nearly a week without so much as a drink of formula, but Rigar is in charge and you know he isn’t as open-minded as you are.”
She hesitated, hoping for some sort of sign, but once again his silence left her disappointed. Carefully she laid her head down on the bed next to him, her eyes becoming heavier and heavier as her full stomach made the exhaustion all the more harder to fight. “I love you, Dad,” she whispered just before allowing sleep to conquer her body yet again.
It must have been hours before she awoke to the silence of the clinic. Her throat was as dry as a desert and her whole body ached from sleeping slumped over the bed. She looked over to her father, who remained fixed in his death like slumber. Slowly she stretched her spine out one vertebra at a time, allowing the bones to fall back into alignment, and relieving some of the tension in her muscles. After kissing her father’s hand, she eased it back into the bed before heading out of the room and straight for the stairs to the apartment. Citera did her best to make her way up the wooden steps quietly, a near impossible task giving their current condition, each one giving off a different sound with each step she took.
Somehow she made it to the top without too much of a disturbance and found a fully dressed Dirik asleep in the living room half hanging off the couch. The sight brought a smile to her face as she remembered the first time her father had introduced the boy to her, saying he would be living in the clinic with them, serving as the new delivery boy and messenger. She had been so angry and jealous of their relationship that she hadn’t talked to either of them for nearly a month. Yet despite how mean and cruel she had treated with him, Dirik never once uttered a cruel word or acted with any malice toward her, and little by little he won her over.
Taking care not to make any sound, she tiptoed past him and made her way into the kitchen. She dug around in the barren fridge until she came across a bottle of juice and made quick work of the cold, refreshing contents. With her thirst finally satisfied, she retreated back through the living room and down the stairs to the clinic to try and figure out where Rigar may be.
After looking through several of the exam rooms and not finding him, she decided to try her luck in the lobby. There she found him, her guardian, sound asleep in a chair that he had wedged against the front door. She smiled. Her guardian, that’s what Mom had called him; for as long as she could remember he had always been a part of her life. Many times she had asked her father how they had met, especially since relationships between Full-bloods and Terrians were rare and frowned upon. But every time she had asked him, her father had always responded with the same vague answer, “People who are meant to play an important role in your life will often come knocking on your front door. However, it is up to you to decide whether or not you want to open the door and let them in.”
Citera turned back down the hallway stopping outside the girl’s room. She stood looking through the window at the girl still strapped to the bed. I know I shouldn’t go in there, she thought, as her promise to Rigar and Dirik replayed in her head, but there was something about that room, an overwhelming urge to go in, that drove her forward. She glanced down the hall to where Rigar was still asleep, then slowly placing her hand on the door knob, she quietly stepped inside, and pulled the door shut behind her. The entire room had an eerie, ominous presence that had Citera’s hands and knees shaking as she continued to make her way carefully toward the bed.
The girl remained motionless, eyes closed, and if Citera hadn’t known better she would have thought she wasn’t breathing. Rounding the end of the bed, the badly swollen and deformed side of her face came into view. Citera couldn’t help but grimace at the sight, imagining how painful the blow delivered by her guardian must have been.
She continued examining her, until she caught sight of blood dripping out from around the ankle and wrist restraints. Curious, she crept closer to get a better look. Underneath the restraints, the dressings were saturated with blood, and in several places the dressings themselves had been worn away; as if the girl had been pulling and twisting against the leather straps encircling her wrists. As Citera stood staring at the puddle of blood that had collected on the floor below the bed, a twinge of guilt began to take ahold of her gut.
What have we done? she thought as another drop of blood dripped off the side of the bed to the floor. My dad would be so angry with us if he saw this, this is not what he would have wanted. Awakened by the thought, Citera went to work. All of the training her father a
nd mother had given her over the years replayed in her mind as she headed straight to a cabinet, where she pulled out a bottle of antiseptic and gauze, before crossing to the other side of the room to retrieve an ice pack from a small fridge. Neatly stacking all the supplies on one of the bedside tables, she dragged it near the head of the bed and stood there staring down at the girl.
“I should have done this earlier, but after what happened to my dad,” she paused, taking the gauze off the table, she coated it with the antiseptic then cautiously began to clean the wounds around the restraints, “well, I was angry and scared.” Taking her time to get each one cleansed to the high standards that her father had drilled into her, she then made her way to the head of the bed. Carefully she took one of the pads, covered it in the solution, and slowly touched it to the girl’s face, jerking her hand back quickly in anticipation of her awakening … but the girl did not move. Slowly she repeated the movement, this time leaving her hand in place and once again the girl remained motionless. Feeling slightly more confident that Rigar may have been wrong in his prediction of her being awake, she continued cleaning the blood off her face little by little.
Once the girl had been cleaned to satisfaction, Citera took the ice pack and gently placed it on the worst part of her swollen face and held it there. She had now been in the room for a while without incident and Citera could feel herself slowly relaxing. She peeked under the ice pack, and satisfied with the way the swelling was receding, decided it might be better if she could find a way to secure it in place and leave it for a while, then she could return in a few hours and remove it before the guys woke up.
With her back turned to the bed, she began digging around in the drawers, trying to find something to wrap the ice pack in, when a calm, serene voice called to her; sending a chill down her spine. “You aren’t supposed to be in here.”
Citera froze with her back still turned to the bed, afraid to even take a breath. Even though she knew the girl was tied to the bed several feet away, Citera couldn’t help but shake the feeling that she was standing behind her, whispering the words directly into her ear.
“You’re awake,” she muttered, keeping her back turned.
“I am, but you knew that when you came in. That is why you are here, isn’t it?”
Every fiber of Citera’s being was telling her to run for the door and not look back, but she couldn’t, there was something about the girl’s voice that drew her in, coaxing her to turn around and face her. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, Citera began to slowly turn. “Yes, I guess it is.”
In the dim light of the room she could see the girl had opened her undamaged eye. “The Full-blood is going to be angry with you when he finds out.”
“Who is going to tell him, you?” Citera asked, placing her hands on her hips. The girl chuckled lightly at her defiance.
“No I don’t suppose I will, as I seem to be a little tied up at the moment. Anyway, I am curious as to why would you risk angering him, are you not afraid?”
Citera slowly advanced closer to the bed, making a point to stay on the girl’s blind side. “Afraid of Rigar? No, he’s a friend. He’s only trying to protect me because he feels he owes it to my father to keep me safe.”
The girl remained silent, giving the statement some thought.
Citera, who was now only steps away from the bed questioned, “Do you have a name?”
There was a long pause before the girl decided to answer, “I have several, but none that are important. How about you, what is your name?”
“Why should I tell you my name if you won’t tell me yours?” Citera tried her best to sound confident, when in truth, she was terrified.
“Come on the other side of the bed where I can see you and I will tell you my name,” the girl responded, shifting around in the restraints as much as they would allow her. Citera didn’t like the idea of moving to where she could be seen. She had no idea what kind of powers a Full-blood like this could possess.
“I don’t think that is a good idea. I prefer to stay on this side out of view, especially since I don’t know what you are capable of doing.”
“Do I look like I am capable of doing anything to you?” the girl snapped, angrily pulling against the restraints.
Citera noticed a flash of red in the girl’s good eye, but remained where she was. “Either way, I think I will stay here,” she said, then taking a moment to reconsider, she continued. “Actually, I should go. The guys will wake up any minute and I can’t be caught in here.” She headed across the room toward the door, but as she turned the knob to leave she heard the girl say something quietly.
Citera glanced back at the bed over her shoulder. “Did you say something?”
“You may call me K.”
Acknowledging the comment with a nod, Citera opened the door. “My name is Citera, but I suppose you already knew that.”
The girl made a sound, finding it amusing that she had been caught in her deceit. “Yes, I suppose I did.”
Citera said nothing else as she closed the door behind her. Once on the other side she collapsed against it and stood in the darkness of the hallway trying to gather her thoughts and calm her racing heart. There was definitely something frightening about her, but K did not give her the sense of being threatening, only frustrated and upset about being tied to the bed, but who wouldn’t be. Citera glanced down the hall to where Rigar remained asleep in front of the door. Satisfied her disobedience had gone unnoticed, she then returned back to father’s room, flopped into the chair, and stared into the darkness waiting for daylight to come.
*****
The next few days went on without incident, and despite having several opportunities to do so, Citera couldn’t bring herself to go back in the room with K. Half of her felt the need and desire to go in and talk to her, to find out what she could about this strange, yet alluring Full-blood. But the other half, the part that won out, kept reminding her that this same girl was also the cause of her father’s current comatose condition.
She was resting quietly in her father’s room when she was awakened by the sounds of Rigar getting ready to leave for work. Deciding to go ahead and get up herself, she began her normal ritual of checking her father’s lines and dressings, a routine she could now complete in a matter of minutes. She was about finished when Rigar walked in.
“Here let me help you,” he offered, joining her by the bed. The two of them pulled Mikel up and propped a pillow underneath him, trying to make him as comfortable as possible.
“Would you like some coffee? Dirik made a fresh pot upstairs.”
Citera nodded and followed him up into the kitchen where Dirik sat waiting. She took a seat at the table next to him as Rigar poured her a cup and handed it to her, he then reached into the fridge and pulled out a bottle of formula for himself. The three of them then sat across the table from one another staring into their drinks in an exhausted silence.
“I’ve got to find somewhere to take her, I’m running out of time,” Rigar said suddenly, his eyes downcast. Dirik and Citera both glanced at him over their coffee as he continued, “Remember, while I’m gone the two of you stay out of that room.”
They both nodded in agreement; it was the same thing he said every day before he left. Citera felt guilty for not telling him the truth about going in the other night, but she knew he would be angry and in no way understand why she went in there, she still wasn’t sure she understood it herself.
“All right then, I will see you two this evening. Keep the door locked, and don’t let anyone in.” Rigar hurriedly finished off the bottle of formula, then turned and headed down the stairs with Dirik following behind to lock the door. Citera sat at the table, alone, sipping the warm liquid.
Her mind began to drift back to the room and to K still tied to the bed, unable to move. Not once when she was in the room with her did K appear threatening, not once did she demand to have the restraints removed, the only thing she had seemed concerned about was whether or no
t Rigar was going to be angry with her for disobeying him. But why? It didn’t make sense, if she was as horrible a creature as Rigar seemed to think, she should have been screaming and cursing at her, threatening her. And more importantly, why did it all bother her so much?
She was in the midst of this inner turmoil when Dirik walked back in. “I think I will go to the market today, do you want me to get you anything?”
“No, I don’t…” She began, then her mind suddenly flashed back to a paste that Janil used to make. “Would you buy some herbs for me? I want to make a paste to try on the gash in my dad’s head. It’s not healing as well as I had hoped it would.”
“Of course, I’d be glad to,” Dirik said, seeming glad to have a purpose to his random trip. She walked to her dad’s room and pulled some money from the jar he kept it hidden in, then grabbing a piece of paper and a pencil, made a quick list of the items she needed. Back in the kitchen, she handed the list and money to Dirik who began to protest, “No, I don’t need your money. I have some and you may need that later.”
Citera shook her head. “Dirik, don’t lie to me, I know you too well. You don’t have any money because you haven’t done any jobs in days. Dad has turned his head for years, pretending that he didn’t know how you always managed to get things we needed in a pinch, but we all know what you do. Patrols are doubled right now and the risk is too great, so take the money and pay for these items and whatever else you need. And promise me, no stealing. I couldn’t handle losing you on top of everything else that has happened already.”
Dirik started to argue with her, but seeing how concerned she was, dropped his gaze and nodded, before reluctantly taking the money and the list. “I’ll be back in a little while. Would you like me to bring you something to eat when I return?”
Hunger was the last thing on her mind, but she knew she should eat something. “Just bring me whatever you are getting for yourself.”
K: The Awakening (The Shadow Chronicles Book 1) Page 14
