Somewhere Away

ch. 11

11 - Somewhere Away

            She stood at the dock counting the minutes 'til a familiar tugboat pulled in. She waved to the friends she saw once a month, twice when the children were having growth spurts, "Well the familiar strangers decided to show up huh? But really it wouldn't kill you to come visit now and then." She giggled playfully but a sadness lingered in her smile as well.

            "If you feel that way you can always visit us." James teased, walking past her.

            "You know I'm busy relocating refugees."

            "And yet you assume that we can come visit when we have an island of kids to baby-sit?" James laughed as the turned heading towards the warehouse.

            She listened to the jokester's cackling as it grew faint and waited for the shadowy figure that always accompanied the jubilant James; the enigma, Loa. Slowly he emerged his ghostly silence unchanged from all the other times he'd come before. He drifted towards her; the only sound was the faint creaking of boards and the lapping of waves. Finally when he came close he said, "It's good to see you again, Sylvie." His voice was barely above a whisper.

            "It's good to see you too..." She tried to smile but her puzzlement at being unable to decipher Loa's thoughts trumped her happiness. He had the same deep eyes that took in everything yet saw nothing.  She followed behind him, "So, how have things been?"

            Long pause, "Ok, I guess?"

            Sylvie sighed, "I guess? Is something happening?"

            Another long pause then came the usual humming sound from his chest, "Mm...not really."

            Now she arched her brow, "Not really?" She said flatly, "Loa."

            "Just a little rowdiness is all. It will calm down." Loa whispered turning to face her, "Nothing to worry about."

            Sylvie put her worry aside for the time being, "I see, well if there are any problems you'll let me know right?"

            Silence.

            "Right, Loa?" She huffed, he was hiding something but in her position there was little she could do to investigate her suspicions. He didn’t answer instead he turned into the warehouse and helped James move out loads of supplies. She stood there watching them awhile before she started assisting them; they went on in silence until Loa stepped out.

            “Loa got you down again?” James leaned against some boxes.

            “He...doesn’t notice me, does he? Am I a bother to him?”  She sat on a crate next to him.

            “It’s not like that, he’s very grateful to you, it’s just that...he’s in his own world a lot of the time.” James paused a moment, “He’s always somewhere away...it makes me worry too, he never shares his pain with anyone, you practically have to beat it out him. For some reason he thinks he has to shoulder the burden all by himself.”

            This gave her some relief, “I wish I was more like you James, you always know what’s going through his head.”

            “Not always, you don’t know how hard it is sometimes. How hard it is to get him back when he’s in that place far away...some days it seems like I might lose him in there. Like just the other day--” He stopped suddenly, “Never mind.”

            “James?”

            James shook his head, “It’s not important.”

            Sylvie stood up and cornered him, “That’s enough, what’s going on? Something happening on the island isn’t it?”

            “Nothing’s happened yet.” James answered quietly.

            Sylvie backed away slowly, “...yet? What do you mean?”

            “It’s really nothing you need to worry about, just some disagreements between the kids.” James sighed scratching his head, “So...we aren’t gonna stick around cause we don’t wanna leave them alone with how heated they’ve been getting.”

            “That bad? What are they so upset about?”

            “Who knows, kids get irate about the stupidest things, any-who, they’re ready to start murdering each other so...”

            Sylvie was very troubled by this, “Are you sure you two can handle this on your own? I could--”

            “It’s ok, getting more people involved in this would probably just make it worse, we’ll get things under control when we get back.” James rubbed the back of his head.

            Sylvie took a deep breath, she knew there was more to this, but it was too soon to make a decision on what she should do. “I see...well, if things get out of hand give me a call, ok?”

            “Of course...what is taking Loa so long?” The two went outside there they saw a small crowd of young men around Loa. They were screaming all kinds of slurs and curses, Loa however said nothing he only stood there staring, this was not unusual whenever they came. “I guess some people of nothing better to do with their time than wait till we come to harass us.” James hissed.

            “James go get the Dock Police.” Sylvie ran out towards the crowd, “Hey! Stop that!” She step between them and Loa.

            “Out of the way woman!” One of the crowd members barked.

            “Sylvie...” Loa’s whisper was nearly drowned out, “Just leave don’t get mixed up in this, you’ll only get hurt.”

            “I can’t!” She whispered back, “The Dock Police will be here soon; return to whatever cave you crawled out of.”

            “There’s no reasoning with these people.” Loa said in a hushed tone.

            “You oughta be giving us that food instead of giving it to those monsters!” Another crowd member piped up.

            “This man is a caretaker for an orphan facility; these supplies are for the children there. If you want to fight a monster then go beat up your mirror!”

            “You B***H!” The man charged her, Loa pushed her out of the way, and the man crashed into him and both fell to the ground. Loa rolled and knocked the man off him, as he stood another man sucker punched him in the mouth. Loa staggered back a few steps holding his mouth. Before he could regain his balance the crowd swarmed in pushing Sylvie far out of reach. She could only watch as they relentlessly kicked his curled up form.

            “Stop! Stop it!” She tried to pull one of the assailants off but was quickly knocked aside. She wasn’t sure how many minutes passed, but the beating only let up once the wailing of the police sirens came roaring up the docks. The crowd scattered to the wind, James and several officers came running up, “James...I...I‘m...” She tried not to cry.

            “It’s not your fault.” James knelt down by Loa and rolled him over, “You still with us?”

            A low whimper came from him, “Yes...I’ll be all right.” He groaned as he tried to sit up. “We need to finish loading up the supplies and get back.”

            “Loa at least get looked at by a doctor before you go.” Sylvie wiped away her tears.

            “I’ll be fine; I’ve been through much worse than this, besides we can’t afford to stay here much longer. We need to get back.” He took a few deep breaths, wiping the blood off his mouth with his sleeve.

            “But--”

            James cut in, “Sylvie, thank you, but this isn’t anything new for us. We’re used to this. The best thing you can do for us right now is to help us finish.” A moment of silence passed, she didn’t answer; she just got up and returned to the warehouse bringing out more boxes. Several more hours passed before the finally finished their task. “Thanks again, you really don’t know how grateful to you we are. I’m sorry we can’t spend more time, I’m sorry we can’t not ever cause you trouble...” James’ voice trailed off.

            “It’s no trouble; it’s not you who has the problem.” She sighed, her gazed shifted to Loa who was resting on the boat, he still looked like he was suffering. “James, please take care of him...I wish I could.” She looked down.

            “I will Sylvie, for both of us.” He turned away and joined his injured companion.

            Sylvie stood there watching them disappear over the horizon; No matter how hard I try my feelings just don’t reach him.