Episode Nine: "Grounded"

Episode Nine: "Grounded"

I didn't know what I wanted anymore considering everything I had was gone. Every possession of mine, those few people left in my life that mattered, no longer mattered to me after death. I viewed death in an entirely different light than most people, and little did I know that later that would all change.

Mr. Trice took me in, and made himself a father for the child he never had. His wife died during childbirth when his years were young, and the child perished as well. When he spoke to me about them, he no longer cared. "Because we should care while we're still here." He said. "Because you can't fix anything after death." He said. "It's the living that we can hurt, not the dead."

"Let go of the dead, and care for those standing around you. It will bring you more pleasure than grieving."

I hugged myself on the front porch of his home as the rain hammered down. We needed the rain, though it's appearance was quite random. We did often times have freak weather, and that was okay. It calmed me, and during such events and shocks, I needed it more than ever.

Kaze closed the door behind him. "I'm very sorry." He said. "I'm leaving now. Go back to my home, and I won't bother you there. Gairee will continue to stay, and I'll send more clothes."

"It's unfair for me to be angry with you."

"Why would you call that unfair?" He inquired.

But I refused to look at him. "You can go now." My tone was rude. "But thank you for everything you've done for me. You're literally the only thing I have left."

"And why is that? You have a sister, don't you?"

"We've never been close." I looked up into the ceiling. "Please don't ask me anything else. Just go."

He said not another word, placed his hands in his pockets, and like a beaten dog, he walked into the rain, his boots seeping into the mud with every step. He turned and glanced at me only once, and I assumed that he wanted me to call for him to return, but I couldn't.

Krio and Patrix's issues came from Dyllynn. It all made sense now. Krio blamed Patrix's sister for the murder of my parents, and apparently Patrix grew angry over the assumption, which was never an assumption. The evidence against her was hard to beat, but they let her go for obvious reasons; she's the Village Leader's daughter. The only issue with the case is that there was absolutely no motive behind the killing. Some mysteries were meant to stay buried beneath the sand.

I waited until Kaze fell out of sight before going back home, or what I had called home at the time. The rain soaked me, and I needed it. The heat would have killed me if I had to walk in it for too much longer.

The urge to tell Krio about Mr. Trice's murder almost destroyed me. Krio vanished, which I didn't blame him, and he left my sister alone in the middle of nothing. I only hoped that he took her food and water in her condition.

I stopped by the store for a second time that day. I remembered the note on the counter beneath the key. If I twisted the back door just right though I could slip in, and with the rain beating down so heavily I wouldn't be seen.

I did so, and everything in the store had been left as is. The deeds for the shop still laid on his back desk. I picked them up, glanced at his signature, and I didn't have the heart to sign it. The shop would rot before I ran it, so I thought, until I reached the note laying beneath the key.

It read:

Serenity,

I don't know where you are, but I will come to the shop every night when the second sun sets until I find you. I saw the key, and knew it was yours. I need to talk to you. I hope you're safe. Lauren is safe.

If you're reading this, then please stay where you are.

--Krio

I placed the letter back on the countertop, and thought. I could go back to Gairee's but the chances of Patrix finding me there were too high. Krio could take me back to their home. But something told me that he wouldn't, because he asked me to stay with Mr. Trice, and obviously I didn't do as he asked.

I looked around the shop, and with first intentions of letting it rot, I realized that I could have actually lived here for a while. The back office would be perfect, and I'd feel a little more safe. After all, I shouldn't have any business here now that Patrix killed Mr. Trice. He wouldn't know to look for me here. I had plenty of supplies too. It was nothing that I'd want to live off of for a long period of time, but I made do and planned to stay for a few days.

I sat a pail outside the backdoor to collect rainwater, and quickly started making my bed. Mr. Trice messed around and ordered too many quilts, and as a result, we had a huge stock of them. I swept the floors in the office, moved the chair across the room, and made a bed under the desk. The ceilings were high, and I felt more secure sleeping in a smaller place.

I drank. And I drank some more. I ate some jarred peaches and pears. I wanted meat, but I lived. I also went to the safe, and seen that Mr. Trice left all of his money. Guilt consumed me when I removed some of it and put it into my coin purse, but I kept telling myself that it didn't matter. He'd take it. I knew he would. And I mildly laughed to myself thinking about him and his quirky ways.

The worst part about his death was that no one would notice him until he's almost bones. He had no family, and in a lot of ways reminded me of myself.

And I slept the evening away.

I woke shortly after the first sun had set. The second sun began a slow sink into the distant trees. The rain vanished, but it left its mark with mud and dampness.

As I stood at the window watching people lock the doors of their workshops, stores, etc., that's when he came.

Black smoke plumed as Krio fell from it with a light thud.

"Where have you been? Why is the shop closed?"

"Krio, Mr. Trice is dead."

He stood silent and I looked for his expression to alter or show any type of emotion. He chose to stand, stare, and only his jet eyes flickered. He gave me nothing more.

"I've been staying at Kaze's home." I explained with my head down. "But honestly, I think I made the right decision after discovering Mr. Trice's death."

"How was he killed."

I shook my head, and recalled the morbidity of scene. "There was glass, debris everywhere, and Kaze said his lungs were full of glass."

"I think we both know who did it." He came to sit on my old stool behind the counter, and leaned himself across it cross-armed.

"We're certain it was Patrix. He arrested me yesterday, and I spent the night in the jail."

"He did what?!" Krio's voice fell deeper as he pulled his head up. "How did he find you?"

"I was looking for Kaze, and we ran into one another."

Krio stood up and stared into me as if I were a monster poaching him. "Kaze, he's engaged to the Village Leader's daughter, is that him?"

The room closed in just enough for me to breath as I stared back at him uncertain of how I should answer.

His eyes widened. "Don't tell me that's him. Serenity, you must keep away. That situation is far more complicated that you'd ever care to get involved with. It will not end well."

"I believe I'm already involved."

He rose his brow. "In what ways are you involved?"

"I�"" I inhaled, turned, and walked away. "I really don't know. I don't understand what's going on anymore." I whispered enough for him to hear, though he moved closer. The boards creaked when he moved.

"Dyllynn is trouble, you and I both know that. She killed your parents."

I snapped at him. "I didn't know he was engaged to her. All I knew was that he had a ring on his finger. He didn't tell me until after he saved me from the jail, more than what you did for me."

"He broke into the jail, and helped you escape. This gets better. It has to get better." Krio aggressively paced, and waved his hands. "I've done everything I could for you and your sister after your parents were murdered. I've provided, and sacrificed my life for you as if you were my own child; and my wife is pregnant with another man's offspring; and you are upset because you didn't follow my directions and got into trouble. Now I'm telling you to keep away from Kaze, and I know you'll do right the opposite."

I winced when he disappeared into a cloud of black smoke, and appeared right before me. The veins bulged from his forehead. "You have absolutely no idea what I've been through to keep you safe. You just don't know. I can't tell you. I don't think I'll ever be able to tell you. But listen to me now when I tell you to stay away from him. Keep your distance. Stay low until I clear these issues at hand."

He vanished again.

"Krio!" I screamed. "Come back."

"I'm here." He responded from a corner with his head held down. "I can't make you do anything, but please keep away from him."

"What's wrong with him?" I craved for his knowledge. "Im sick to the bone of your cryptic words and messages. Tell me."

He kept to himself for the moments after, and finally responded, though hesitant. "He's using Dyllynn."

"But why?"

"Because of Gairee. Her defiance has almost placed her at the end of a rope. She's nearly killed many people, and the Village Council fears her." He pulled his head up. "Dyllynn has the power to stop it. That's why he's marrying her."

I bit my lip, found my way to my stool behind the counter, and sat in rigorous thought. Kaze was marrying Dyllynn to save his sisters life. He put her before himself, and I didn't know at the time and gulped when I wish I had.

"So what do I do now?" I asked. "I'm here, and have no where to go."

"Stay!" He pleaded with me. "Stay here, indoors, keep the doors locked, and I'll bring you supplies."

"May I see Lauren?"

"She's asleep now, and resting. We believe the baby may be here any day now."

"Come get me when she's awake." I demanded with a soft tone. "I need someone to talk to."

"I will. I promise."

I nodded, and stared at a shelf though I never focused on the items that sat on it. "Krio, I'll let you handle this."

"I'll fix things back to the way they were supposed to be." He grabbed my shoulders and squeezed. "I've ruined enough things in my life. I won't ruin you or your sister. And if I had known that you had been arrested, I would have come for you."

"I know you would have. I apologize for assuming such a thing."

He released my shoulders. "I'll be back tomorrow sometime to bring you more items."

He left me.

I cried out that night because no one was around to hear me. It also rained, and never let up. Just as soon as my cheeks became dry, I went back to Kaze. His dreams puzzled me. He called me by the same name I went by in my dreams. It didn't make sense. I constantly questioned whether or not I should also tell him about my dreams; he may think I think he's insane, but little did he know that I found him to be something bigger than life itself.

His engagement with a foreign woman had me keep my distance, but his engagement with Dyllynn only further complicated the events that would come.

Callice, the young woman who I shared a jail cell with, said she'd see me use my abilities in the future. As I laid in the pad on the floor, I held my hands above and took in every detail of my palms. The candle light flickered beautifully against them too. I opened and closed my fist, and their shadows moved across the wall like a rolling spider.

Most non-human's found their source of energy to come from their hands. It made sense, but I'd never understand until I knew what I was capable of doing. I wasn't sure if I'd be a type of psychic, or if I captured a certain object.

At the moment I knew nothing and I sighed while dropping my arms against my sides. The rain soothed me into a sleep unlike any other, and the dreams became strange.

I dreamed of an alien world, a world that I had only visited once. Walls with stones the shade of the sky surrounded me, but it lacked a roof. Only a rotting board sat attached to the top of the wall furthest from me. Plants flourished with flowers of any color imaginable. Vines with leaves of deep red tangled in the crooks and cracks of the walls, and appeared to cascade on the other side.

A man followed me. "We shouldn't be here." He quivered. "This is a place for the Gods."

"Then you must leave." I vocalized boldly. "Send for Lance. He will come."

The strange man who's name I never knew bowed, and backed through the entrance. He ran, and as I waited I marveled at a flower in the center of the garden.

Near its base were leaves that starred out similar to its single flower at the top the stem. I cupped my hands around the petals to drown out the background, and gazed at its beauty. Not a single white petal had been punctured by an insect, and neither were they dirty.

"Don't touch it!" Shouted Lance.

I pulled my hands back, and slapped my thighs. "And why mustn't I?"

He advanced with his hand held outward from his body, yet he kept it horizontal with the earth at all times.

"Because this is the Garden of Forbidden Sins. Touching anything here will change you." He explained as he knelt beside the flower.

"You may�"" a stranger spoke from the darkness beneath a low hanging reef of twisted vines. "I say this, but you know�"" He cut his sentences off and his silhouette swayed from left to right every time he spoke anew. "Have you ever�"" His vowels pitched higher and higher with every new word. "But will you come?" He stepped forward, but his suit hardly became colored in the low light.

Lance's breathing hardened. The fright in his focused eyes transferred into me. The ruthless man had never shown me fear. He was a battle hero, and higher than a god with his sword. However, he spoke, but he spoke lightly. "Are you Hayxrin?"

The strangers voice quivered with satisfaction. "I'm a lot of things, really. Everyone sees me...differently. I've never really been able to blend in with a crowd. Particularly and especially when the crowd is blended." He popped his tongue against the roof of his mouth.

"Step out from the shadows." I commanded him. "I must see your face."

"Too you, I'm a face you'd recognize, because the thing you fear the most is also the one you...love the most."

He took but a step forward with a ray of sun lighting the contours of his brow, cheeks, and jaw. I gasped when I realized he appeared exactly like Ray. Ray had died months before though. Ray didn't exist anymore in the flesh.

Hayxrin popped his tongue against the roof of his mouth, and never once moved his expression. "Why is it you fear him?"

"But I don't fear him." My chest became heavy as I stared into the eyes of the man I once loved. "I've never feared him."

"Then you fear loosing him. But he's...already been lost. You lost him."

"He pulled out his own heart!" My voice crackled and echoed against the stone. "You did it. You killed him."

Hayxrin flicked his eyes across the garden, and stepped into full light. He carried himself much differently that Ray. He twisted his feet with every step, and kept his hands crossed behind his back.

"I never really understood what...people...were made of. Not until�"" he popped his tongue against the roof of his mouth. "Not until I took them apart."

My breaths grew heavier with Lance. We held our ground. We held it as boldly as we could as death seeped it's ways into our mind, body, and soul.

"Do you have the slightest clue as to what I am?" He stopped and kept a cold stare. "I'm sickness. I'm that little...small...no�"smaller...part of your body that turns off your pulses when you least expect it. Even when I'm dead, I'm simply caged, and mice bring diseases and plagues in and out of cages. I'm the deliverer of death when the light no longer�"" he smacked the roof of his mouth. "When the candle has but just that small red glint at the tip of the wick while the wax suffocates it. I'm the wax, and the wax does not burn."