The Madness at Koresh Manor­ Part 4

Raphael sat down on the hard bed watching Karalius head for the iron stove to warm her hands. Hands? He questions himself or does he call them paws now? He didn’t know but wasn’t going to ask her, not now anyway. He did study her long black fox tail for a moment and had to ask her, “Is having a tail nice?”

                Not that he ever wanted a tail, but he did recall Karalius once saying she wished she had a tail. She looked over her shoulder with a small smirk and said, “It gets in the way sometimes.”  

                “I can image,” he said smiling at her, happy to have her in his sight. It was nice having her around again. They didn’t talk about them on the trip up here but instead talked about how much their lives had changed. He wanted to ask more question about why she left him, why she stopped talking to him out of the blue, but it didn’t feel right. She hurt him, and he shouldn’t bring up the past. The more he dug up the past, the more pain he seems to find in his life.

                “They are checking out your car, by the way,” she said rubbing her hands together.

                “We both knew they would,” he said.

                “They say anything about Rain yet?” She asked.

                “Not yet,” he said, “but I should be meeting him soon.”

                She nodded looking at the fire. “You in love with him?” Raphael asked.

                “What? No,” She said shaking her head. “Not at all.”

                “Then why are you so worry about him?” He asked.

                “If it was Michael in there, wouldn’t you be worry?” Karalius asked him.

                “So, he is like family?”

                “Yeah,” she said walking over to him sitting down beside him. “He found me before any of the Inquisitors did. He didn’t care what had happened to me. He helps me a lot dealing with ---” She glanced down at her body, “with this. He became a great friend.”

                “That’s a good thing,” he said. “How did this happen?”

                “I was playing with magic I didn’t understand,” Karalius said.

                “You can’t undo the spell?” Raphael asked wanting to pet her fur like he did with her hair when they were lying in bed.

                “I have tried,” she said softly, “but no.”

                “Do you like it?”

                “I’ve got used to it,” she said. “Not much of choice.”

                “Well,” he smiled big, “I like it.”

                She smiles as well looking away a little. “Thank you.”

                “But you must go through a lot of shampoo,” he said.

                She giggles a bit. “You have no idea.” They both laugh together. It was nice because he couldn’t recall the last time he laughed for the enjoyment of it and not to fake it among his family. He was laughing because it was nice, and it warms him more than the fire to hear her laugh again.

                “Can I ask you something?” He questions after the laughter died away.

                Karalius stood up and said, “Not if it is the question hanging in the air.”

                “Why? Why can’t we talk about it?”

                “I can’t not right now,” she said.

                “Alright, fine,” he said looking out the small window. “But I need you to know one thing ---”

                “What?” She asked not happy with him saying anything more.

                “I miss you a lot. I miss having my best friend around,” he said letting his jaw lock. He wouldn’t look at her. He didn’t want her to see the tears building up in his eyes. He had been alone ever since she walked out of his life and for the longest time, he didn’t understand why she did it. He sent text messages and e-mail and letters to her, but she never wrote back. He give up after a while. She was the one person he would go back too, no matter how many times she hurt him.

                Her arms dropped around him and he wished he could feel her fur, but the combat suit she wore kept him from feeling her until she presses her face against his skin. He smiled, she always did give the best hugs, and said, “I have missed you too and maybe, one day we will talk about all of this, but not right now. Now I need to save my friend.”

                “We will,” Raphael said, “we shall save your friend.”

                She let go of him and said, “I need to get back to the camp, let me know if you need me.”

                “Will do,” he nodded. “You still the best shot I know?”

                “Unless you found another sniper I don’t know about?” She asked phrasing through the wall with a wink. Once, she was gone he wished she didn’t leave at all, but he understood why she was gone. It was dangerous for her to just be hanging out with him. They didn’t know when someone was going to come up the cottage and he didn’t think there were cameras in the room. He quickly glanced around the room trying to find the little eyes, but there was nothing. All he could was pray there were no cameras watching him, either way, he needed to get some rest before tomorrow. He had a feeling thing was going to get rough from here on out. The easy part of was over.

 

Author's Note

Writer’s Notes: I normally try to keep the parts of my stories around a thousand words as to make it easier for the readers. I noticed a long time ago that most people find it hard to read something online over a thousand words or in my case over twenty-two pages long. At length, I write you might as well buy a book, but I don’t want to put these stories into book form right now. Right now, I just want to write, share a little, and for you to enjoy my work.

I bring this up because the part above is no near thousand words. In fact, it was one of the shortest parts I have written in the stories so far. I did this because I couldn’t find a thousand words in this part. What is going on between Raphael and Karalius aka Phantom Fox couldn’t come to a head in one simple part of the story. I know it is going to take a little longer for them to rebuild any kind of relationship and this is the first step toward that relationship. Either way, I hope you enjoy this part more than some of the others. I always enjoy writing the more humans parts of any story.