Inevitable

Draic realizes that he can no longer hide the secret of their past from his youngr cousin.

 

            Draic Cadogan sat quietly in the corner of the dingy little bar in the outskirts of New York City. It reeked of sweat and alcohol from all of the disgusting humans, drinking and swearing and starting fistfights over nothing. He despised them. They were such useless creatures; he didn’t understand why they were allowed to exist. If it were up to him, he’d destroy them all. Yet for some unfathomable reason, his cousin, Sekani, seemed to adore them. He looked over to see what little idiot was doing now. “Of course,” he muttered to himself as he spotted the young man surrounded by a group of girls. “What else would he be doing?” Draic decided to use this chance to escape and get some air.

            He began fighting his way though the crowd of filthy humans and was bumped and jostled several times on his way to the door. One enthusiastic young girl even had the nerve to try to dance with him, rubbing her thin body up against his hips. Draic was disgusted. He gave her a rough shove and continued on his beeline for the exit, ignoring her protests. He had just reached the door when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see his cousin smiling up at him.

            “You didn’t think I’d let you escape that easily, did you?” Draic groaned and walked out the door. The fresh air was almost enough to improve his mood. Almost.

            “Hey come on man,” said Sekani, punching him lightly on the shoulder. “You weren’t really about to ditch me, were you?” Draic didn’t bother to answer him, but simply turned towards him to glare. Sekani took the hint.

            They continued walking on in silence, and Draic used the rare opportunity to think. Why did he put himself through this? Why did he risk his own a*s to save a race that he’d rather see extinct? And why did he allow his cousin to help him? 

            He looked over at the person standing beside him. He was just a kid really. Only 19 years old. And yet he was already quite popular, particularly with the ladies. Of course, that wasn’t surprising really. Sekani was a very handsome young man, with his dark skin and hair and his mesmerizing black eyes. He had an altogether pleasant and friendly air about him and his charming personality made him all the more irresistible. He always seemed to know just when to break the ice with a quick joke or a witty comment. As if on cue, Sekani spoke up.

            “If I get you a girlfriend, will you stop getting jealous and running away?” He asked.

            Draic snorted in response. “Me jealous of you? Yeah, right. Just remember to wake up in time for me to kick you in the behind.” He said, his Irish accent still present after so many years away from the country. He gave the kid an affectionate shove, but soon found himself getting lost in thought. The truth was that he did envy his cousin. Sekani was gentle and compassionate. He could see the good in people, and that was something Draic would never learn to do.

            “Oh yes!” Sekani shouted, shaking him out of his daze. “Home sweet home.” He ran up the steps of a beat up, broken down little shack and pulled open the door, but turned back to face him saying “I’m going to flop on my sack of hay and go to bed, and because you were mean to me, I’m going to lock you out.”

            “Yeah, well that sack of hay is all we’ve got right now, so be grateful. And I have the key anyway, so good luck locking me out.” He replied, feeling a sharp pang of guilt for the fact that he couldn’t provide better for such a deserving person.

            Sekani frowned at him. “Do you think for once that you could just let me feel cool for a little bit, huh? No, You’ve gotta shoot everything down right away. Jeeze!” With that, he slammed the door in Draic’s face and sulked off to his room.

            Draic couldn’t help but smile, though his heart was heavy. Sekani was too good for this. He didn’t deserve to live in a shack, sharing a room with his grouchy older cousin, and sleeping on a bed of hay. Animals lived better than this. He should be in college, with friends his age, not following him around like a shadow, waiting for his next premonition. But he just didn’t have enough money to send him to college. 

            Draic opened the door and sat down on his own hay sack of hay. There had to be something he could do, some way to get Sekani out of this mess…

            “Hey Draic?” His thoughts were interrupted by his cousin’s hesitant voice.

            “Yeah” he answered.

            “Do you think they’ll come back? The guys who killed mom and dad I mean. Do you think they’ll find us?”

            Draic sighed. He’d known this was coming, but he’d hoped it would be later. He was not looking forward to telling him the truth; that they would always be in danger. That no matter where they went they would be hunted. That the reason his parents had been killed was because of him. But he had a right to know the truth. He sighed again and got up to walk across the room, which wasn’t much of a distance. Sekani sat up and made room for him on the bed.

            “Look, I know you’re really confused, and you may hate me from now on, but I’m going to tell you the truth, the real truth. I’m not supposed to, but you’re involved now, and it’s the least I can do after dragging you through so much.”

            “What are you…” he began.

            “Just listen,” Draic said, cutting him off. “It’s a long story, and you’ll understand everything at the end of it, I promise, but for now I need you to just listen, okay? Once I’m finished explaining, you can feel free to judge me, and it you want to leave, I’ll understand. But first, there are a lot of things that you need to know about me. And about what really happened to your parents.”

            Now thoroughly interested, Sekani got as comfortable as he could on the makeshift bed and listened to the tale that his cousin and closest friend seemed so reluctant to tell.

Author's Note

What do you think I could do to improve? I want to make sure it is the best it can be.