by E.M. Bergeron
Explanations
Have you ever wondered what’s under the sea? And, no, I don’t mean the fish and such that are inthe sea. I mean
below all the water and the sand at the bottom. Because, well, that’s where I live. It’s amazing, but under the sea, there’s oxygen. It’s just like above the ocean, where the humans are, but the air is in superior health. There’s no
pollution whatsoever, and there’s nothing to create any contamination. Everything’s completely green.
You may be wondering whether we’re humans or not. So I’ll explain that as
well. We used to be humans. Someone was able to get down here, though we’re
still not sure how, thousands of years ago. So throughout the years we’ve
adapted to the certain differences there are from above and below the sea. For
example, there is hardly any item under here that isn’t brown,
white or green so our skin is one of those three colors (in many different shades) to camouflage in case
of an invasion. We have a single feature that is chosen at birth that shows our
true emotion no matter what we say. The size of our heads depends on our
arrogance, if you’re very arrogant, you have a large head, if you’re not, you
have a small head. I have a head that is slightly larger than usual, but I don’t
know why. I don’t think I’m at all conceited. Its really hot down here because
we are closer to the core of the earth. At our hottest, we can reach up to 1000
degrees, at our coolest we can go down to 200. For that reason, we all have a regulating necklace which keeps us the average temperature, even at the hottest of times. We call ourselves “namuhs.”
Our money system is fairly simple. Dlog’s, the gold ones, are worth
twenty-nine dollars. Revlis’, the silver ones, are worth thirteen dollars.
Eznorb’s, the bronze ones, are worth one dollar.
I believe I should also mention some of my personal life. My name is
Nagella Oregreble and I’m sixteen years old. I have two younger sisters,
Nylatia, a.k.a. Tia, who’s eleven, and Leanorae, a.k.a. Oreay, who’s six. Tia is the
most evil little sister anyone could ever have, but Oreay is
sweet. My
parents are kind, but are very strict on manners and rules. My father is
stricter than my mother, though.
My best friend forever is Lurali Ottginiddern; she was born only a week
after I was. I have one other friend that I’m really close to as well. Her
name is Liz Madre (she has such an odd name!). Lurali is
girly, but is also very smart. Liz is sarcastic and observant; she’s also kind of peculiar. As for me, well, nobody exactly knows what I’m like. I’m a decent
liar which therefore makes me able to fool myself as well. I act differently to
virtually everyone I meet. I don’t even know who I am. This is the story of me
and my friends as we fight the fight that will either lead us to extinction, or
save all our lives.
A
Last Minute Invitation
“Ella! Wake up if you want breakfast!” I hear my little sister Nylatia
scream from down stairs. I check the clock. It is 7:30a.m. “Be right there,” I
yell halfheartedly. I lie back down after attempting to get up a few times. I am
exhausted, I never get up this early even at school time, let alone summer
vacation! A few minutes later I hear the pitter-patter of my other little
sister, Leanoerae, running down the hall. My door opens and she enters. She
then taps me on the nose and whispers, “Waffles are ready, Ella.” I smile. Then,
because it was Oreay who had asked me to, I get up and sit down at the dining
room table. I eat without speaking, clear my plate, and go back to my
room.
Right as I lie down, Lurali’s picture pops up on my wall. (This is
like the humans “web cam”) “Hello Sleepy Head!” Lurali says. She's obviously
wide awake. “Hey Lurali! How’s it going?” I answer with fake enthusiasm. “Could I
come by? I have to show you something,” she
asks.
“Sure. Whatever,” I say, not even knowing what she
asked. I lie down on my bed and fall
asleep.
About thirty minutes later, Lurali shows up at my house. “Hey. Why are you
here?” I ask, now fully awake and dressed. “I asked if I could come by
here and you said yes,” Lurali answers. I shrug and say, “If you say so.”
She grabs my hand and pulls me into my room. “I just got some new lip liner!”
she squeals, her curly hair bouncing. Lurali has dark brown hair and white skin. She has a dark blue
ring around her irises and inside they’re a greenish-blue inside. Her feature’s her
lips. They were abnormally large and pretty. She loves them. But she still has a
regular sized head. I close my eyes. They’re my feature and I didn’t want her
to see the anger I felt. “You woke me up and came over here just to tell me you
got some new lip-liner!?!” I ask, sounding totally annoyed. “No. Of course
not. I came here to show you the paper,” she tells me as if it were completely
obvious. She pulls the Sunday paper out of her back pocket and shows me the
page where you can win a trip to a certain place and said, “I won! I can take a
friend with me!” I am completely confused. I didn’t even know she had entered! And
why did she want to go to Nig Citywith me? There’s nothing extraordinary
there. “I’m guessing I’m the friend. Right?” I ask. “Duh! Why else would I
tell you about it?” she answers. “When do we leave?” I ask smiling.
“Tomorrow! 6:30a.m!” Lurali squeals. My jaw drops to the floor. Talk about a last minute
invitation! When I was able to speak again, I say, “Let me ask my parents.”
She
grabs my hand and drags me into the living room, where my parents are
sitting. Then she pushes me toward them. “Hey Mom, Lurali wants to know if I
can go to Nig
City with her for a week,”
I tell them perfectly calmly. “When?” Mom asks. “Tomorrow,” I reply quietly.
“You better pack quickly,” is Dad’s simple answer, and my mom nods
hesitantly. Lurali does her signature squeal, runs into my room, and by time I get
there, I'm almost packed. I just smile and shake my head. This is too good
to be true. Something is bound to go wrong.
“Liz
is here!” Nylatia screams. “Send her up to my room, Tia!” I call. “She’s in
her room,” Tia tells her. I hear Liz running up the stairs. Obviously
something essential is going on. My door opens without even a knock. “Did you
hear about the pipe in NigCity?” she asks. “What?”Lurali and I
ask in unison. “Humans might be
inv-” the picture that appears on my wall cut her off. It's her mom. “Hello,
how are you today?” Liz asks sweetly. Mrs. Madre is not amused. Liz put her
hands behind her back, they're her feature. “You were reading the paper and
then all I saw was a flash of green and you were gone!” Mrs. Madre says
dramatically. Liz hangs her head. Green skin is a bad thing, and she has the
greenest skin you could have. “Why couldn’t you say ‘I saw a flash of dark
blonde hair and you were gone’ instead?” Liz mumbles quietly. Mrs. Madre just
looks at her menacingly. “I gotta go,” Liz says as she runs
off.
“What was she saying about humans?” I ask when she's
gone. “I don’t know, but I heard something about Nig City and a pipe. I bet that somehow that
pipe will ruin our vacation,” Lurali answers. I smile because I know it's
true. Trouble always seemed to find us, so we’ve learned to accept it with open
arms. “It will,” I assure her. She smiles too. “See you tomorrow!” she says
then runs out the door. I wave. When I look in my bag I discover a bunch of Lurali's frilly pink clothes. I unpack it all, and repack with some tee shirts and jeans.
The
Praine
I
wake up to Lurali shaking my shoulders roughly. “Wake up!” she says, sounding
exasperated. For a moment I want to say, ‘no way!’ but then I remember that our
praine (a train that flies) leaves today at 7:00. I get up sleepily. Lurali
pulls me to my closet and shoves me toward it. “Get dressed,” she orders, “I’ll
grab you’re bag.” I grab a jade-green tee-shirt, a pair of old jeans, and some
old brown tennis-shoes and put them on promptly.
Lurali is already on her HoverExtreme2000 when I get out
there. My FlyBoard500 is waiting for me with my bag on it. My board is really
slow and out-dated, but Lurali’s is brand new and the fastest model yet. These
boards are the only way of transportation for people without a license. They are
pretty much like humans motorcycles, except where the wheels should be, there’s
a two and a half foot long piece of metal, and of course, it flies.
I
get on, sit on the seat, start the engine, and go as fast as I can to keep up
with Lurali. The wind whips in my hair; I smile and laugh out loud. ‘I love
flying!’ I think without a care in my mind. I hardly notice Lurali, who is about a hundred meters ahead of me.
“Hurry up, slow poke!” she taunts. I step on the gas harder so I am only about sixty
meters behind her. She smiles and slows down. I catch up with her. “You need a
new board,” she says grinning. We laugh for the next five minutes for no apparent reason other than we are completely giddy to be going on a vacation. “We’re
here!” Lurali says merrily. We land just at the praine station.
“We
have to make a stop at Timide
Town, and then we take the same praine from
there to Nig
City. Our praine leaves in
ten minutes,” Lurali reminds me. I nod.
“Where does the praine leave from, exactly?” I ask her.
“Zone 947.”
“Uhh, Lurali?”
“What?”
“We’re right next to Zone
19.”
“Shoot!”
We run fast as we can. This is the biggest praine station in all of
Acirema! (the country I live in) After five minutes of sprinting, we’re at Zone
467. Then we remember that our boards follow us wherever we go, if we’re wearing
our bracelets. Just as we thought, they are right behind us. Three minutes until
our praine leaves. We hop onto our boards, step on the gas, and go as
fast as we can. Two minutes now and we are at Zone 798.“We’re going to make
it!” I yell. Lurali nods. Thirty seconds left. Zone 946…and, “We’re there!” I say We
land smoothly, grab our bags, and run to catch the praine. “All aboard!” I
hear the conductor yell. We run and hop on as fast as we could. “Well, we
made it,” Lurali says, panting. “Yeah, with two seconds to spare,” I say sarcastically.
She smiles tiredly.
We
walk along the praine, trying to find a seat. At the very end of the praine,
we find a compartment with two people in it, a boy and a girl. “Perfect! Two
extra seats!” says Lurali joyfully. We walk in and sit down. “Hello! I’m
Lurali!” she says. “My name’s Patrik,” says a boy with black hair, green
skin, and silver eyes. “I’m Ladnek,” said the girl. She's buff, has thick
blonde hair, white skin and bright yellow eyes, like a cats. “I’m Nagella
Oregreble,” I say.
Right then, an ugly girl with orangey hair that clashed
with her revolting green skin and hideous, blood-shot purple eyes walks into
the cart. She pulls me out of my seat by the collar of my shirt and says, “I
own this praine. I own this city, and I want that seat,” she said gesturing to
the seat I was sitting in. I pushed her off me and said, “No way! I was here
first!” “I’m here now,” she answered threateningly. Then, a thought crossed my
mind. Rib break. I hit her with my fist right where her ribs
stop and her stomach starts.
The
punch catches her by surprise and she stumbles backwards out of the cart. I
slam the door shut and lock it quickly. I smile triumphantly. Patrik was
staring at me in awe. Then he walks over to me and shook my hand, mockingly. “Thank you!
I’ve wanted to do that for years!” he tells me, laughing. Lurali stifles a laugh. Only Ladnek
doesn’t look happy. “What?” I ask her smiling. “That’s Cinorec, and she’s mean.
You just made yourself a permanent enemy, and put your life in danger. I’d
recommend being accompanied by at least one strong person wherever you go,” she says. I'm
waiting for her to start laughing and telling me how gullible I am, but it
doesn’t happen. She's completely serious. “Oh,” I answer, as I sit down
looking around the cart every few seconds for the rest of the
ride.
Nig
City
“NAGELLA!” Lurali yells in my ear. “Huh?” I reply
groggily. “Welcome to Nig City!” she says vivaciously. I smile. “You
fell asleep three hours into the ride and missed the stop in Timide City,” she explained when she saw the
‘when did this happen?’ look on my face. I nod.
I
try to stand up, but I can’t. It's as though I'm stuck to my chair.
“I’m stuck,” I say embarrassedly. Lurali muffles a giggle. “Cinerec,” Patrik
says accusingly. What if I miss our stop? I'm completely humiliated.
Then, as if to make matters worse, Cinerec walks into our compartment.“Stuck?”
she taunts with fake sympathy. “No, I just thought I’d stay here a while
longer,” I tell her. “I got a new magic remote and stuck you to your seat,” she
tells me as she rolls her eyes. Then she walks
away.
“You
guys go on without me,” I say sadly. I was seriously upset. Patrik
gestures fo Lurali and Ladnek to leave. Ladnek left happiy, and Lurali slowly
walks out of the compartment. Patrik’s silver eyes were specked with
malevolence. “I got this,” he tells me. He steps out of the compartment and
bellows, with an odd accent, “Ellejolie!”
Right then, a very pretty girl of about fifteen,
appears out of nowhere. “Yes, Daddy?”the girl says as she appears. Though as
soon as she realizes it is Patrik, she drops her proper composure and says, “Oh,
iz on’y ‘oo, Pat-rik. What choo want?” Patrik thinks for a moment then says,
“Give me your magic remote!” The girl scowls, but still tosses him her magic
remote. Patrik smiles.
“Why
are you so arrogant and rude?” Patrik snaps suddenly, stopping Ellejolie from
leaving. “I dunno,” she says. “You’re not even that pretty,” he replies, rather
harshly. “Liar,” she says smiling, revealing her perfect, white teeth. She
flips her flawless blonde hair, winks a glimmering blue eye, and
disappears.
“I’m
a bad liar, aren’t I?” Patrik asks as he stumbles back into the compartment. I
nod and ask, “What in all of Acirema was that all about?” Patrik smiles and
quickly says, “Ellejolie and I went to school together. She’s Cinerec’s younger sister,
though it’s hard to believe. She has a curse on her that forces her to obey
people older than her. Must be a terrible life to have to always obey Cinerec. Isn’t she gorgeous? I love her accent. She's very smart, also. She speaks french.” I shake
my head trying to take in all he just said. “Tell me what French means later,” I
tell him.
I
hear the conductor yell, “We leave in five minutes!” “Enough talk! Get me out
of here!” I say. Patrik presses a combination on the remote, and frees me. I
stand up with ease and smile. “I’ll get your bag, Lurali has your board, go!”
Patrik informs me as he shoves me out of the
compartment.
I
ran and shove five Eznorb’s in the conductor’s hand and jump off the praine. My
jaw drops as I look up at Nig City. Lurali swoops by on her board and
asks, “Isn’t this place amazing?” All I do is nod. Everything here is white. I
don’t mean that figuratively, either. There was nothing that wasn’t made of
pearls and marble, or at least painted white.
I
walk over to Patrik and discover he is holding a rather ugly cat. The cat is very large
with a white stomach and face. The color of its back is completely
blond; its eyes are the same as Ladnek’s. I look at Patrik
questioningly and he says, “French is a human language that comes from the
country ‘France’,we call this language
‘Charmes’.” I nod, as if I understand. He sets down the cat and, to my great
surprise, it turned into Ladnek. I scream, not knowing what just happened. “Does
my hair look that bad?” Ladnek asks and immediately begins combing it through
with her fingers. “No, your hair looks fine, but you were a cat a second ago,” I
say. Patrik and Ladnek laugh. “I’m a were-cat. Couldn’t you tell by my eyes?”
Ladnek giggles. “Oh, right,” I say, feeling quite
foolish. I live in a small town, so I have never seen a lot of the common namuh things,
When
I turn the other way, I see Lurali almost falling off her board because of a
bunch of other namuhs on boards flying by her. “Do you guys think you can show
us where the Mandrake Motel is?” I ask them. “Yeah, I don’t think we’ll survive
on our own!” Lurali adds. Patrik and Ladnek nod and tell us to get on our
boards.
Dinner
and Dancing
We
drive for about ten minutes in silence when Patrik says, “Here we are!” We all
jump off our boards. “I’ll go sign us in,” Lurali whispers in my ear. I nod at
her. Ladnek tells Patrik she’ll go with Lurali as she turns into a cat. It is
just Patrik and I. “So, I guess I’ll see you
around,” I say, then, realizing he was, for some reason, mesmerized by me, I
add, “Thank you for leading us here. I appreciate it and
hope to see you soon.”
He
nods and answers, “I hope I’ll get to see you, but you never know. Ladnek and I
don’t really have a home, or even a place to stay. We just buy our praine
tickets and wander around. We’re orphans.” As he says this, I feel a
razor-sharp twinge of guilt- as though all this were my fault. Without trying
to, my eyes start to tear up a tiny bit. “I’m so sorry,” I choke through muffled cries.“Err, its alright,” Patrik says, noticeably bewildered by my sudden
weeping. “I hope I’ll see you around,” I nod and give him a quick hug as I bid
him good-bye.
I
walk into the hotel and find Lurali standing by the stair case. I told her
everything, expecting her to be totally astonished and sad. Yet instead, she
simply answered with saying, “Here’s your room key,” I was absolutely appalled
by her answer. My jaw drops. “They chose this life, they could’ve gone to an
orphanage.” Lurali says. My last thought before I step in the hotel room is,
‘she doesn’t understand.’
However, when I stepped in the room, all my predicaments
vanished, as though into thin air. Everything in the room was white and
absolutely spotless. Despite the fact that I know there are people who come and
clean the room everyday, I feel as though I shouldn’t touch anything because I
might get dirt on something. I take my shoes off and tiptoe over to my bed of
white. I cautiously shove my suitcase under the foot of the bed and, suddenly,
plop onto the cushiony, light surface. I notice Lurali is doing the same on the
bed left of me. I smile as I drift off to
sleep…
In
my dream, I see myself floating on a cloud wandering about the sky.
Lying peacefully in my cocoon of serenity.
I imagine the scenery; the perfect, flawless green sky. I close my eyes
and hope to never awaken. But then, a human, with tan skin and razor sharp
teeth, invades my tranquility and throws me off my cloud. It sends me falling
down, down, down…
And
I wake up with a wrench; panting heavily. Lurali is sitting on the side of my
head, braiding my knee-length caramel hair back. “It’s all right Ella. It was
just a dream,” she tells me soothingly. I nod. “I’m hungry. We should go eat,”I
say. “There’s a nice little place just down Kindette Lane. We should go there,”Lurali
replies. I nod and Lurali smiles like she somehow tricked me into something.
“Do
you know what was up with Patrik? He seemed to be acting all weird tonight,” I
ask Lurali. She giggles and says, “How can you not see it? Patrik
got a new magic remote. He put a spell on you that makes you sympathize
everything he says. You’ve never cried in your life, yet that little story got
to you. The spell was powerful.” I nod. It made sense now that she told me.
“Here we are!”she tells me in a sing-songy voice.
When
I step in the restaurant, I see about eight small tables outlining a huge dance
floor. Dancing was the one thing I couldn’t stand. I was bad at it and all it
did was humiliate me. “Dancing? I’m not dressed to dance!” I exclaim, even though clothes are the least of my worries at the moment. “That’s
why I’ve been creating a dress for you! Lets go in the bathroom and we’ll both
get ready. I nod hesitantly and follow her to the bathroom. She thrust a box at
me, pushed me into a stall and orders me to
change.
I
open the box and discover the most alluring dress I have ever seen. The dress
is satin and a very dark purple, my favorite color. It reaches my ankles and
wraps around my body very tightly. The two inch sleeves flow elegantly off my
shoulders. I look down and smile. The dress was beautiful, but I refuse to let
Lurali know that I think so. I step out of the stall and look at Lurali. My jaw
drops.
It
turns out that Lurali made her dress even more gorgeous than mine. It was
sparkly pink silk with a fluffy bottom and a sleeveless top. “You look great,”I
tell her. “Yes I do. So do you,” she says smugly. “Well, let’s go,” I say.“No!
You’re not wearing any make-up. Neither a I!” she nearly yells at me. “No! This is
taking it too far. I’m wearing a dress,” I complain. In reply, Lurali takes out
mascara, lavender eye-shadow, and pastel pink lip-gloss and quickly begins
working on me before I can diverge. I give-up and just stand there like a
good girl.
When
Lurali turns away from me, I take the chance to look in the mirror. I actually
looked somewhat decent, considering the mess my face normally is; I am often
covered in dirt or blood. I decide not to wipe any off. As she is turning back
around, I catch a glimpse of Lurali’s flawless face. Though I know she looks
beautiful, I merely nod at her
approvingly.
Let’s get this over with, I think. “Come on,” I say,
dreading the second I’ll walk out the door of the bathroom. Lurali grabs my
wrist and literally drags me out the door. I walk along to a table, for I’m
intending to sit and eat while Lurali dances. I tell Lurali to go and have fun,
and she goes immediately without looking back. I smile as I see Lurali has
already found herself a dancing partner, who was, by the looks of his suit,
extremely rich.
“Care for a drink, ma’am?” asks a waitress dressed in a
white dress and apron and was carrying a tray filled with full glasses. “What is
it?” I ask the girl. “Just raspberry tea ma’am,” she replies, almost as though
she’s scared of me. The girl looked about my age; she has light brown skin, black
hair with purple highlights, and an indifferent expression is placed on her
face, making her look nearly like she might be completely unresponsive. “Sure.
Thanks,” I say. Then looking at her nametag, I add, “Have a nice night,
Twillar.” She smiles dreamily at me and nods as she walks
away.
I
sit watching Lurali dance and Twillar serve tea and sugar cookies for about two
hours, when finally Lurali tells me it’s time to go back to the hotel. As we
walk out the door, I forget which way to turn. Twillar runs out the door at
that moment and asks, “Have you ladies seen The Pipe?” “No, but we’ve heard
about it,” I answer. “Then come on! I’ll show you it. It is quite astonishing. I'm finally on my break,”
she says, pulling both of our wrists toward the lavender, setting sun.
After about three minutes, Twillar announces our arrival.
Approximately thirty-five feet above our heads is a black pipe about eight feet
in diameter. “Our scientists believe it comes from the human land and they might
be assaulting Acirema,” Twillar explains. It was a serious let down considering
I thought it would be some magnificent pipe of gold giving us a clear view to
the human world. “Well, we should
be on our way. Thanks, Twillar. I’ll go ask that man for directions,” I say and
begin jogging toward the man. But before I got halfway there, I hear Lurali
scream.
I
sprint back to them and cover my mouth at the sight. On the floor lay Twillar’s
body with a human knife in her throat. She was obviously
dead.
Death
“What happened?” I ask Lurali franticly, “Is there a
human here? It’s obviously their knife!” Lurali stares at me with terrified
eyes. “She was looking up at the pipe, and this knife came plummeting down from
the sky straight into her throat with such a deadly force that it slammed her to
the ground and…” she tells me, but breaks out in sobs and can’t continue.
As I
think what to do, I hear the cop’s siren in the distance. That namuh man must
have blabbed to the police. I know the cops will kill us on the spot. The
evidence that we’re the murderers is astronomical.
Without thinking twice, I grab Twillar’s lifeless hand
and began dragging her to the nearest pond, which was about one-hundred fifty
meters away. Considering I’m really strong for my size, it would have been easy.
Except for the fact that I’m five foot two, weighing 100 pounds and Twillar must be
at least five foot six, weighing one hundred twenty pounds. To add to the difficulty
of it all, the pond is uphill. Lurali is completely distraught and refuses to
help.
“Help me!” I whisper at her frantically. She nods and
slowly picks up Twillar’s left hand. We begin the back-breaking process of
dragging Twillar’s body to the pond.
Within minutes, Lurali and I are at the top of the
hill. Out of respect, I take the knife out of Twillar’s throat. I discover that
the knife was actually a beautiful, handcrafted dagger from the human world. The handle was made of shockingly gorgeous obsidian. The
blade was skillfully crafted of pure silver with the words, ‘Be
Rid of the Namuhs,’ in beautiful script. I
gasp. The humans know we exist. This human dagger fits perfectly in my hand. As I’m examining it, I
realize that along the bottom of the blade, there is a tiny piece of paper. It
reads, in nearly illegible scrawl: We
are coming to take over. Humans against you
creatures.
Signed, Solider
Green
I
take the paper off the dagger and drop it in the pond after throwing Twillar’s
body in. I rinse off the dagger and put in my coin pouch. The cop’s siren is
getting louder by the second. “Come on!”
I whisper anxiously at Lurali. I grab her hand and drag her to our
boards. She’s so distraught I don’t think she can ride. I help her get on the
back of my board and drive us, full speed, back to the hotel.
We
get back into our hotel room and I look at myself in the mirror. I see that my
once dazzling dress in now splattered with mud and torn in several places. I
realize what a mess I am and shudder. I take a quick shower and dress for bed.
Lurali falls asleep nearly instantly, but I sit up and ponder what the humans
want with us. I sigh and eventually drift off in a restless sleep.
Hallucinations
I
wake up and discover that Lurali is not in her bed. I whip out my dagger and
search the room. Eventually, I find her clutching her knees while rocking back
and forth in a corner. “Human!” she screams pointing behind me. I turn around
marvelously fast, dagger in hand. I simply slash the air though. “There’s no
human. Very funny,” I say. I look at her- she’s dead serious.
“Ella, watch out! He has a sword!” she cries. I glance
back, but again find nothing unusual. “No, there isn’t,” I say calmly, though I
am kind of creeped out.“Ella! You’re dead!” she yells. “No, I’m not. I’m alive
and well,” I say as I sit down and rub her back. “No. You’re bleeding worse than
Twillar! There is a knife through your back!” she tells me adamantly. “I’m fine.
Feel this,” I tell her as I lead her hand to my heart. “That’s my unfaltering
heart beat,” I add. This calms her slightly and she
nods.
“Liz! Run, Liz!” she says. “Liz is safe at home,” I say,
somewhat impatiently. She shakes her head and begins sobbing, “She’s dead, she’s
dead.” I help her stand up and tell her we have to take her to the doctor. She
nods, eyes wide.
For
the entire twenty minutes it took to walk to the hospital, Lurali was telling
me I was dead or Patrik’s dieing or there’s a human behind me. I eventually
ignore her. A doctor is available and tells me he’ll take a look at her for one
dlog, I agree and send Lurali with him. “He’s a human! Don’t you dare leave me
with him Nagella Orgreble!” she screams at the top of her lungs. I give her a
push toward the doctor. “You’re a namuh,” she says with relief when she notices
the deep chocolate brown of his skin. He smiles kindly and nods. “Follow the
nice doctor, Li,” I say using the nickname her mother calls her. I hear her
blood curling scream a few times and it makes the hair on my back stand up. I
hate seeing her in pain.
The
doctor comes out and asks to have a private word with me. I agree.“Your friend
has gone insane with fear. She’ll probably never be quite right again. Though,
if you slip half a teaspoon of this into her water,” he says handing me her
medication, “it will get rid of most of the hallucinations.” My jaw drops, but
I take the medicine without a word.
Throughout the entire walk home, only one thought crossed
my mind: I really hate humans.
Surprise
Visit
My head is steaming with fury. “Must destroy THEM,” I scream, accidentally. I’m so upset that I get chill bumps every time I think of humans. After two weeks of doing absolutely nothing productive, Lurali reminds me that we’re supposed to be home by now. “Oh, that’s right,” I comment, but honestly, I could care less. I’m actually vaguely at peace at the moment. Lurali may be slightly insane, but the hallucinations are gone and she’s coming around. She’s not too crazy. I smile as I watch Lurali play with a stray kitten she found on the road when we were walking around. She calls it Peanut. Just then, I heard a banging on our hotel door. "Who is it? " I ask from my bed. "Open up now or I'll break down the door!" says a rough, mean voice that only one person could make.
Cinerec. Why in the world would Cinerec be here at my hotel room? Hadn't she already gotten revenge on me on the train to Nig City? Another banging at the door stops my thoughts. I slowly get up and reluctantly open the door. Cinerec shoves past me as soon as the door opens a crack. "Lurali! How are you feeling? I've been so worried about you!" Cinerec says in such a girly voice that it nauseates me. "Umm, I'm feeling alright, I guess," Lurali answers, obviously confused. "Do you want to go see a movie?" Cinerec asks with fake excitement. Lurali, obviously convinced Cinerec had changed, happily agrees. "I'll stay here, go have fun," I tell Lurali sulkily. Lurali smiles as she skips out the door. "Be right there!" Cinerec calls and then turns to me and says, "I don't play to get even, I play to win." Then Cinerec runs out of my hotel room to catch up with Lurali.
To my own surprise, I can't stop grinning. I really don't know why. My best friend has been stolen, a new friend of mine died, humans are invading- there is absolutely nothing for me to be grinning about. Yet I feel as though something good has to come from what I'm about to do. I take a deep breath and yell, "Ellejolie!" Immidiately, the beautiful girl swoops in with a scowl on her face. "What do you want?" she rudely asks. "I need help- a lot of help." I tell her. She says nothing, so I continue. "What does Cinerec value? Does she love or care about anything or anyone?" Ellejolie stares at me with her penetrating blue eyes that seem to see directly through my plan. "It's not going to work. The only thing Cinerec cares about right now is making your life miserable," she informs me. "I don't think you understand, Ellejolie, because that will work perfectly," I tell her. She rolls her eyes and asks me if I need anything else. I excuse her, and she's gone in a puff of smoke.
"This is perfect," I think out loud. All I have to do is make sure Cinerec doesn't get what she wants. I have to make it seem thet I don't care- or, better yet, really not care. I apparantly spent more time then I thought with Ellejolie, because right then, Lurali and Cinerec walk through the door holding big buckets of popcorn. "That was so much fun! We need to see eachother again soon!" Lurali squeals. Cinerec nods with fake happiness. At least Lurali was back to her normal bubbly self. The only problem with that is that I'm not the one who healed her and made her happy again. Cinerec did. But, I couldn't let it get to me. I had to act happy for her and I have to be friends with Cinerec.
"Yes, we should. And next time, I'm coming with you," I say with a malevolent grin. Cinerec tries not to look like this bothers her, but you can tell by her eyes that it really does. "Well, maybe," Cinerec slowly replies, as if she's attempting to put what she's thinking in a way that Lurali wouldn't think she was intentionally offending me. Lurali smiles and tells us how happy she is that her two best friends get along. Wait a second. Did she say 'my two best friends'? They have literally spent half a day together, whereas I've spent the past twelve years with her, yet already Lurali considers us both to be her best friends, not just me. But this can't bother me on the outside, so I say nothing.
"Cinerec, Ellejolie called for you while you were at the movies. She said something about your dad wanting you home immediately," I lie. All the color drains from her face as she hastily mumbles, "I have to go," and runs out the door. "So, Lurali, what movie did Cinerec and you go see?" I ask, uninterested. "Cinerec said not to tell you anything anymore, because you would betray me. So, I can't tell you that," she says sadly. "What!?! That crosses the line! It's been a half hour, and I can't take it anymore! I'm your best friend! Not her," I suddenly scream. I'm usually very good at holding my emotions inside of me- no one knows when I'm in pain, or when I'm sad. But for some reason, I couldn't hold myself back. Lurali stares at me, horrified. "I can't believe you would say that. She makes me smile. Sometimes it's nice to not have to be the one that entertains, but instead the one being entertained. You're so serious. I'm not your property, don't be so protective, I can take care of myself," she whispers, obviously offended. And with that, she grabs her bag, and leaves the room.
For hours, I just bang my head on the footboard of the hotel bed. I must have a huge bruise by now. Why did I say those things? If Cinerec makes Lurali happy, then who am I to keep Lurali from her? I really don't think of Lurali as my property. But she's just so innocent and fragile. I've always felt like I have to protect her. I wonder where she will go. Is this temporary? Or will she never come back? I force myself to put this out of my mind and think of the more important issue at hand. Humans may be invading and I have to do something about it. I may just be your average namuh girl, but I know I can stop this. And I know exactly how.
I have to find a way to get up that pipe and talk to these creul, disgusting creatures. I quickly stand up and walk out the door, grabbing my bag on the way because I probably won't be back here for a while. I take a few deep breaths and I ask myself why i'm going to do this. The answer, I try to convince myself, is that I no longer need to protect Lurali so my life has no further purpose. When I get out of the hotel, I hop on my board and fly toward the pipe as fast as possible. After five minutes of flying, I arrive at the simple, yet deadly, pipe. My board can fly up twenty feet up, but the pipe is at least thirty. I try to jump, and grab onto the edge. But then I slip and fall back onto my board. "Well, that didn't work," I mumble under my breath. Just then, a brillliant idea comes to mind.
I fling the handle of my bag up, so it catches on the groove at the end of the pipe. I jump up and grab onto my bag. I greulingly lift myself up until I am in the steep pipe, standing in one of the ladder rungs. As I grab my bag, I begin to climb. There is only one problem: This pipe is at least twelve miles long, and it's extremely steep. Also, my head is throbbing from where I bruised it on the hotel bed. Suddenly, the cold, had truth hits me like a ton of bricks. There's no way possible that I can do both succeed and survive. In fact, I'm not sure I can do either. But I have to try. So, I climb. And climb. And climb, until it's physically impossible for me to climb any more. I don't think I'm even halfway there, but I know I can't climb any more. So, I secure myself behind the ladder rungs and attempt to get comforterable. Although I can't, I eventually falll asleep anyway.
After what must have been at least six hours, I wake. As I begin to climb, something very strange happens. On the side of the pipe, a small door opens up and a girl is revealed from behind it. Her eyes widen and I pull my dagger out from my pouch. But then, the girl smiles. Not a smile of fear or hatred, but a genuine smile. That smile makes me put my dagger back, and almost smile back. Almost. "What are you?" the girl asks curiosly. I don't answer, but instead, I shoot back a question of my own, "Who are you?" The girl giggles, as if my voice is hilarious. Then she answers, "I'm Noelle. And my stupid father runs the entire D.A.N. project. He sent me down here to see if the life here is intelligent, or if we can take them down easily." This results in me pulling out my dagger again and repling, "Who is Dan?" She laughs wildly and informs me, "Not Dan. D.A.N. It stands for Destroy All Namuhs. Are you guys really called that?" I nod. Still laughing, she asks, "What's you're name? And why are you in our pipe?" I think about this for a moment, not sure whether I should tell the truth or not. Eventually, I answer, "My name is Nagella. I am in this pipe because I want to get information on humans." Noelle again begins to giggle. I really do not understand this girl. "Well, why are you climbing the emergency ladder. That's going to take, like, forever. There's an elevator that will get you up there in an hour or two. Come on," she tells me quickly. I try to absorb what she just told me. After a while, I manage to do so and I climb into the elevator with this strange human girl. "I'll go up with you, then I'll go back down to learn about namuhs," she tells me as if it is really important that I be accompanied as I go up an elevator. I nod expressionlessly. "So, Nagella, what do you want to know about humans? I can tell you pretty much anything you want to know," she says. Now she has me interested.
"Well, do you guys really have to wear oxygen masks to make the air up there breathable?" I ask. In response, she reaches into her bag and pulls out an oxygen mask. I look at her in disgust. Her kind destroyed everything that was important to anyone. They have no limits on creulty, and they don't even remorse over it. "Now, I get t0 ask you a question. How hot is it where you are? Because I'm already sweating and I'm still twelve miles away," she says in exasperation. "It's usually about four hundred to eight hundred degrees. What is the weather like up where the human's are?" I reply. " Eight hundred degrees!" she exclaims, "I'd die if I get much
closer to that!" I consider this for a moment and then come to a conclusion. I
hand her my regulating necklace and tell her, "This will prevent you from
disentigrating." She releases a large breath of relief as she gladly takes the
necklace and puts it on. "Thanks," she says to me sincerely and I begin to think
that this naiive, evil human child might not be so bad after all. "Well, it's
usually about seventy degrees this time of year where this tunnel lets up."
"What!?! Seventy? I'll freeze to death before
I get the chance to destroy you all," I scream at her. At this, Noelle's eyes
water up as she whispers, "You want to destroy all of us? Even me?" I roll my
eyes. "Yes! of course I do! A man named Soildier Green threw this dagger," I say
as I show her my dagger, "down the pipe. And it killed my friend." I was trying
to sound hostile as I said it, but my voice cracked at the end, taking away the
desired effect. Noelle takes no notice of this and says, "Soildier Green is a
woman. In fact, she's my mother." With that, I open the elevator door and shove
her out, sending her screaming as she falls to her doom. "Well, glad that's over
with. My first human kill," I say proudly to myself. Of course, I knew that that
girl would forever haunt my dreams, but for the moment, I might as well act
proud of it.
For the next two hours, all I do is huddle up in the corner of the elevator; scolding myself for giving away my regulation necklace when I need it so badly. I'm going to die the second I get up there, yet I refuse to go back to Acirema. I deserve to die. I deserve to be taken away and tortured by the humans. Lurali is not my problem anymore. But then I remember that there is still one namuh that means everything to me. Someone more important than Lurali. Someone I would give everything up for. Leanorea. My precious little sister. How could I not remember that I have to protect her? If she is harmed even the slightest bit, I would never forgive myself. I have to live. I must make it through this. For Oreay. I will destroy the human race before they get to her. I will kill whoever I have to in order to protect my sister. I am no longer the Ella who left home. I am now a ruthless murderer. I will not remorse. I will not back down. Leanorea will stay safe. I stand back up. Rithen, the elevator stops. And the door slowly opens.
(New
Chapter)
I take out my dagger, ready to kill anyone who gets
in my way. But when i see the person behind the door, I know instantly that I
can't kill her. This human girl, who couldn't be older than sixteen, steps in
without paying me any more than a sideways glance. She's mumling to heself and
pulling he long, matted brown hair out. She is very pale with tons of freckles
covering her face. Her crooked teeth are covered in colored metal. And she is
beautiful. Absolutely beautiful, and so filled with emotion. I can feel her
depression, her pain and sorrow. I take a step closer to her and try to
understand what she was mumbling. I was able to make out a few words like,
"Noalle," and, "impossible." "Hello," I say quietly. Her big, golden eyes widen
in surprise as she says, "Hello, my name is Jaycee. Who are you?" I gasp for a
moment as I notice that she has red blisters all over her hands and neck. She
must have been down to Acirema and she was going back up to her home. She was
wearing a namuh regulating necklace. My regulating necklace; the one I gave to
Noalle. "My name is Nagella, and can I have my necklace back now?" I say slowly.
She hands the necklace back to me and says, "It saved my life when I was down
there. And may I have my dagger back?" "Your dagger?" I ask rudely.
"Yes, I accidentally dropped it as I was coming down," she answers. "Then, you
killed my friend," I say quietly. "Yes, and you killed my sister when you shoved
her out of the elevator. I think we're even," she spits back. I have no clue how
to respond to that, and Jaycee knows that. She smirks as she pulls a notebook
out of her backpack and begins to write. I have no clue why, but I like this
girl. She reminds me of me.
I slowly look over
her shoulder and see that she seems to be furiously writing a poem. But then I
notice that she wasn't actually writing poetry, but instead reading it and
taking notes in the margins. "Jaycee?" I cautiously whisper. "What?" she replies
scathingly. "I need your help," I slowly tell her. "And why should a help you?"
she smartly says back. "I have a younger sister. Her name is Leanorea and I love
her with all of my heart. I need to get up to the human world, get information
on them, and get back down safely. I need to survive through this so I can
protect her. But I can't do it alone," I plead. "Okay, you can stay with me for
a while," she says, "but first, can you tell me what that horrible screeching
noise coming from your bag is?" I hadn't even noticed the noise, but I can hear
it now. Quiet screeching, the sound of paper ripping, and sad whines are coming
from my bag. I open it up and find that Peanut, the stray cat that Lurali loves,
had managed to get into my bag before I left.
I
laugh as I take the poor creature out of my bag and stroke its back. Jaycee
smiles and takes the cat from me, holding it lovingly. "This isn't a cat," she
whispers as he face turns paleas she
puts the cat and the ground at watches it turn into a namuh.
I smile as I see Patrik stand up where the cat used to be.
"You're a were-cat?" I ask. He nods, smiling; but then quickly drops his smile
as he notices that Jaycee is a human. "Jaycee?" he says in barely a whisper. She
smiles and hugs Patrik as if she'd known him for ages. "Patrik, what are you
doing here?" she asks, still holding on to him. "Wait a second! Explain," I
order them. "Patrik helped me when I was in Acirema. He gave me your regulating
necklace, after he found it on my sister. He kept me concealed and helped me
find information on namuhs," Jaycee tells me. "I saved her life many times, and
in exchange, she said that if you went up to America, she'd keep you safe,"
Patrik replies sheepishly. "Me? Why would you want to keep me safe? I barely
know you," I say, with obvious confusion. "Nagella, I know you more than you
think. And I know that you are going to be the one who saves the namuhs from
this age of darkness," he tells me. "How can you say 'age of darkness' with a
straight face? We're in a pipe on top of a city filled with nothing but light,"
I reply sarcastically.
Patrik's face suddenly
goes blank as he obsessively inhales. I look at him questioningly, and in reply
he sniffs the elevator door. "Patrik?" Jaycee asks cautiously. "There's a human
on the elevator across from us." I stare at him, honestly not knowing if this
is a good thing or a bad thing. "Why?" I ask. "I don't know that. All I know is
that we are going back down. We have to stop him," Patrik replies. Jaycee nods
her agreement.
We were so close! But, unfortunately, I understand why we have to go back to Acirema. I don't know who this human is, but they can be very dangerous. If in fact he were the one that destroys Acirema in the end, I would never be able to forgive myself for letting him live. All humans are terrible, well I thought so. But Jaycee isn't too bad. Perhaps she isn't entirely human after all. She thinks like a namuh. Suddenly, I realize something that could be disastrous for all namuh kind.
"We're not going to reach Acirema before he does," I comment slowly. "Obviously," Jaycee replies. "That would be why we're going to jump," Patrik says, as a mischevious smile spreads across his face. My eyes widen as I accept this idea. "Wouldn't we die?" I ask. Jaycee rolls her eyes and answers, "Only one of us would. If we all hold on to eachother, only the one on the bottom will die." "And, who would that be?" I ask.
"Me, of course," says an unknown voice. I jump and manage to stammer, "Who's that?" Then I smile as I realize that Lurali's board had followed us up here. "Well, what are we waiting for?" Jaycee asks as she climbs onto the board. I follow and Patrik takes up the rear as the board slowly guides us down.
In a matter of minutes, we are back on the ground. The human was there before we were, but nearly disintegrated from the heat. He was probabaly no older that four years, and he came with gifts. An apron stained with blood, identical to the one Twillar wore at her death scene. As examine it further, I discover that it is in fact her apron. Her name is stitched at the top. There is a slip of paper in the pocket that reads 'war' in the same scrawled handwriting as the last note. I drop the apron as I finish reading the note. Not out of fear. Not even out of hatred. But out of pure disgust for these blood thirsty human creatures.