Something About - Chapter Eight
Ani's Tale.
Ani closed her eyes tightly together for a quick moment, squeezing her face up beneath the curtain of auburn hair. Faeryn sat in quiet patience and she judged by Dusty's look of interest that Dusty hadn't yet heard Ani's tale either. They both waited in silence for Ani to be ready to continue. When she spoke her voice was clear and crisp. It sent a sharp shiver down Faeryn's spine and surprised her deeply to hear such a voice come from the red-headed demon's mouth. But it did, and Ani spoke.
"I'm from Brook. That was where they found me, with Dusty-Rae. That was where I spent all my life. This is the furthest from home I have ever been. I'm not sure where you want me to start with this, but I guess this is as good a start as any."
"I don't mean to interrupt," interjected Faeryn, "And this is the last time I will, I promise. But you said Brook? The city? People actually live there still? Every story from my childhood told of the civilization that used to be in the cities, but was no more."
"That is where I came from, and many others."
"I always suspected those stories fake." Faeryn breathed, incredulously.
"I've been through there myself, when they found her, and it is true, and incredible. Yet still true. I've never seen anything else like the city, Ryn." Dusty cut in.
"Please continue Ani."
And she did:
"I was born there, raised there. My father was a hunter and butcher and my mother stayed with me and my sister. My sister died when she was only seven, I don't have very many memories of her before she was sick. They called it cancer what killed her. My mom said it was something that could have been cured in the days of our great-great-grandparents, but the cure died with them. So she died. My father was grief stricken and didn't work for what seemed like forever. One day the landlord came to him to collect money from him for our home. When he couldn't pay, the landlord tried to kick him out. He refused to leave as well. They fought and my father was killed. My landlord had iron, like yours, but not as nice."
She gestured to Faeryn's gun warily. She took a deep breath and continued.
"He apologized before he left and took with him what little possessions we had in payment. Told me that it was business, that was all. He looked right at me and said 'This is not a nice world, nor is it kind. Learn this now and you will be ok.' A week later I came home to hotel room we had been staying in to find my mother hanging from the rafters. I was fourteen years old when I was left all alone in Brook."
Ani took a pause again. She was silent for what seemed to Faeryn like an eternity. Ani swallowed dryly. She glanced up through her curtain of dusty red hair at Faeryn.
"Do you have some water?" She asked Faeryn.
Faeryn handed her the canteen and watched as Ani drank down in big greedy gulps, some instinct in Faeryn arose and it was all she could do to not reach over the fire and slap Ani across the face. Her intrigue in Ani's tale held her back though and once again she found herself making that impatient 'hurry up' gesture. Ani cleared her throat.
"I don't want to get into the dirty details but I did what I had to survive. Years passed and I moved from dirty apartment to hotel room, finding work and food where I could. I did say people still lived in the city but none live very well. Most just find it a comfort to be surrounded by the buildings, there is always a place to hide. It's home turf and when you know it inside out, every alley and stairwell it kind of feels like home, or sanctuary or something. Anyway, one day I was approached by this man, he owned the only strip club in Brook, the only surviving one anyway and he said he had seen me wandering and thought that I could make a living there. Long story short I was there the day that those fuckers came through and they decided they liked me so much they wanted to take me with them. The shop had been losing business anyway ever since the East had been invading more and more, no one wanted to venture out, not even for a look at a good girl. It wasn't hard for them to take me, no one fought them off, and they killed everyone in there anyway. And here I am I guess."
She finished her tale and sat there looking desperately across the fire as though she wished she could take back everything that came pouring out of her mouth. But she couldn't and a small and sorry sob escaped her lips.
Faeryn wasn't feeling particularly comforting, she never really was, but she whispered a soft 'sorry' across the crackling fire to Ani. She cleared her throat.
"Let's get some sleep; we will have to move on in the morning."
No one said a word; they lay down in heaps of tattered clothes and dirty hair next to the warmth of the fire. Faeryn couldn't escape her own thoughts despite the background noises of the desert. And all that was on her mind was Ryder. He had left the same day as her, but why didn't he want to go with her that day. She had asked him and he said no, but he left anyway. Left without her. But she had really been the one who left without him hadn't she....
That night Faeryn drifted off into a shallow and restless sleep.
Ani closed her eyes tightly together for a quick moment, squeezing her face up beneath the curtain of auburn hair. Faeryn sat in quiet patience and she judged by Dusty's look of interest that Dusty hadn't yet heard Ani's tale either. They both waited in silence for Ani to be ready to continue. When she spoke her voice was clear and crisp. It sent a sharp shiver down Faeryn's spine and surprised her deeply to hear such a voice come from the red-headed demon's mouth. But it did, and Ani spoke.
"I'm from Brook. That was where they found me, with Dusty-Rae. That was where I spent all my life. This is the furthest from home I have ever been. I'm not sure where you want me to start with this, but I guess this is as good a start as any."
"I don't mean to interrupt," interjected Faeryn, "And this is the last time I will, I promise. But you said Brook? The city? People actually live there still? Every story from my childhood told of the civilization that used to be in the cities, but was no more."
"That is where I came from, and many others."
"I always suspected those stories fake." Faeryn breathed, incredulously.
"I've been through there myself, when they found her, and it is true, and incredible. Yet still true. I've never seen anything else like the city, Ryn." Dusty cut in.
"Please continue Ani."
And she did:
"I was born there, raised there. My father was a hunter and butcher and my mother stayed with me and my sister. My sister died when she was only seven, I don't have very many memories of her before she was sick. They called it cancer what killed her. My mom said it was something that could have been cured in the days of our great-great-grandparents, but the cure died with them. So she died. My father was grief stricken and didn't work for what seemed like forever. One day the landlord came to him to collect money from him for our home. When he couldn't pay, the landlord tried to kick him out. He refused to leave as well. They fought and my father was killed. My landlord had iron, like yours, but not as nice."
She gestured to Faeryn's gun warily. She took a deep breath and continued.
"He apologized before he left and took with him what little possessions we had in payment. Told me that it was business, that was all. He looked right at me and said 'This is not a nice world, nor is it kind. Learn this now and you will be ok.' A week later I came home to hotel room we had been staying in to find my mother hanging from the rafters. I was fourteen years old when I was left all alone in Brook."
Ani took a pause again. She was silent for what seemed to Faeryn like an eternity. Ani swallowed dryly. She glanced up through her curtain of dusty red hair at Faeryn.
"Do you have some water?" She asked Faeryn.
Faeryn handed her the canteen and watched as Ani drank down in big greedy gulps, some instinct in Faeryn arose and it was all she could do to not reach over the fire and slap Ani across the face. Her intrigue in Ani's tale held her back though and once again she found herself making that impatient 'hurry up' gesture. Ani cleared her throat.
"I don't want to get into the dirty details but I did what I had to survive. Years passed and I moved from dirty apartment to hotel room, finding work and food where I could. I did say people still lived in the city but none live very well. Most just find it a comfort to be surrounded by the buildings, there is always a place to hide. It's home turf and when you know it inside out, every alley and stairwell it kind of feels like home, or sanctuary or something. Anyway, one day I was approached by this man, he owned the only strip club in Brook, the only surviving one anyway and he said he had seen me wandering and thought that I could make a living there. Long story short I was there the day that those fuckers came through and they decided they liked me so much they wanted to take me with them. The shop had been losing business anyway ever since the East had been invading more and more, no one wanted to venture out, not even for a look at a good girl. It wasn't hard for them to take me, no one fought them off, and they killed everyone in there anyway. And here I am I guess."
She finished her tale and sat there looking desperately across the fire as though she wished she could take back everything that came pouring out of her mouth. But she couldn't and a small and sorry sob escaped her lips.
Faeryn wasn't feeling particularly comforting, she never really was, but she whispered a soft 'sorry' across the crackling fire to Ani. She cleared her throat.
"Let's get some sleep; we will have to move on in the morning."
No one said a word; they lay down in heaps of tattered clothes and dirty hair next to the warmth of the fire. Faeryn couldn't escape her own thoughts despite the background noises of the desert. And all that was on her mind was Ryder. He had left the same day as her, but why didn't he want to go with her that day. She had asked him and he said no, but he left anyway. Left without her. But she had really been the one who left without him hadn't she....
That night Faeryn drifted off into a shallow and restless sleep.
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