by Lauren Wood
“Officer Yru.” Qinto corrected.
“Help me out here, Qinto.” Xra begged. “She truly is from Earth. It is a miracle that she was able to pass the bars into our galaxy. If that doesn’t tell you she is special, I don’t know what else would.”
Qinto glanced down the hallway.
“I’ll be back.” He started whistling and disappeared around the corner.
“Now what?” I asked.
A smile crept over Xra’s blue face. In the dim lighting, it made her look crazy.
“We wait.”
Qinto reappeared whistling the same out of tune jingle. Without as much as a hint of eye contact, he slid a key into the barred door and turned it effortlessly. The click of the latch released echoed sweetly in my ears.
“You.” Qinto motioned toward me. “Come with me.”
I hopped over to him excitedly. I was finally free!
“You owe me, big time.” He pointed at Xra.
She danced her way toward him and pulled him in for a quick kiss.
This time my eyes widened. Xra was a Cyan, Qinto was a Magenta. No wonder Xra was so eager to help me, she knew the pain of forbidden love.
“You go get your man.” She winked at me.
I followed Qinto down a long narrow corridor. After about fifteen minutes of walking, I wasn’t sure if the corridor would ever end or if it spanned the divide to Earth and they were simply making me walk home.
My feet ached and the corridor showed no end in sight.
“Where are we going?” I quizzed Qinto.
“You’ll see.” His voice was shrill.
“Are they going to release me?” I had to know what was going on. I was going out of my mind with worry.
He restrained, holding back his answer.
Whatever hope I had been clinging to suddenly fell flat on its face. My heartbeat echoed empty in my chest and my stomach fell to my knees. My entire being was deflated. This was the prime reason I never hoped for or expected anything.
I trudged along numbly until we reached an unmarked door at the end of the corridor. Qinto held it open for me and I reluctantly entered.
This room was unusually dry compared to the damp cell I had spent that past hour in. Every section of the room was painted glossy white, including the floor. In the center of the room there was a metal table with two plastic chairs on either side of it. The fluorescents messed with my vision casting blue hazy dots along the shiny walls.
I jumped at the sound of Qinto closing the door. In such a small room, the sound lingered longer than I had wanted it to.
What good was this escape? I was an outsider. I am nothing to The Leadership. What did they care if I was dead or alive?
With no indication on what might happen next, I took a seat at the metal table and laid my head down.
The table was alarmingly cold as I pressed my cheek against it. I could feel my nerves screaming under the extreme sensation. But agreeably any sensation was better than the numbness that I had succumbed to. I held my cheek there and let the nerves sing out in agony.
I closed my eyes, uncertain that I would ever want to reopen them again. The blinding white of this room would be the last sight in my memory.
How unfortunate.
The doorknob rattled but I held my eyes closed shut. I was uninterested in what was on the other side of it.
“Kate.” A man’s voice boomed filling the emptiness surrounding me.
“What?” I snapped. Eyes remained shut.
I heard the screeching of the chair as he hauled it out from the table and took a seat.
“I am Leadership Officer Zed and I am here to discuss the recent charges against you.”
Zed. He must be a Yellow. Not that it even mattered to me at all anymore. I just wanted this all to be over with.
“I. Don’t. Care.” I annunciated.
“Well we do. I do.” He stressed. “Kate listen, between you and me, you being here is a miracle in itself. My ancestors were among the few Moalites that ever touched down on the surface of the Earth. Their teachings have rang true to so many generations including my own. We worship your people and your effortless ways of life. I am personally going to assist you on your mission to find Xam. It is our way of thanking you and all Earthlings for your teachings. The Leadership wants to express our sincerest apologies for the distress we have caused you. Under rule 67209-A, you are to be released immediately.”
At this I sat up in my seat and opened my eyes. I studied the man in front of me. He was gigantic. His yellow eyes were much to small for his pumpkin sized head and they seemed to stare right through me. His black hair had been buzzed off leaving only a dark shadow of what used to be. His leather suit squeaked under his heavy breaths. He looked uncomfortable in his own skin as he shifted in his chair.
“Where is he?”
“I have been able to track him down at a prison on a neighboring planet called Ceban. I have fueled a portal and I have taken it with me if you are willing to go there right away.” He removed the device from his pocket and engaged it. “Are you ready?” He outstretched the portal in my direction, his large yellow hand nearly encasing the entire device.
“Let’s go.” I reached my hand out and grabbed it. Within a matter of seconds, we were no longer in the white room.
Chapter 4
I couldn’t believe the state of this Ceban prison. Mold clung to the walls and the smell of stale blood polluted the air. I could hear prisoners moaning and crying for death. Overhead, what few lights they had, flickered incessantly. For fear of an induced seizure I squeezed my eyes shut and followed behind the sound of Zed’s heavy footsteps.
“You stay here, I am going to speak with the superintendent.” Zed turned to me. I opened my eyes to see his expression was serious. “I have no authority in Ceban. The superintendent makes the final decision. I need you to be patient.”
The door clicked shut behind him and suddenly I was alone.
Further down the corridor, I could hear drumming and laughter mixed with the desperate cries of death. For reasons I cannot explain, I felt compelled to explore the sounds further so I started my way toward the drumming.
The corridors lead to a large, circular room. It appeared to be a hub at the center of the prison. The white cinderblock walls were stained brown and red resembling a scene out of a massacre movie. I looked up to see the ceiling spanned up more than twenty stories with aisles of cells circling above. There were dozens of guards on each floor walking around with what appeared to be spiked clubs in their hands. I flinched at the thought of it.
I snuck behind some bleachers in attempt to get a better look at what was happening in the round-room. Inmates dressed from head to toe in black were lined up with their hands pressed against the stained walls. A few feet away from me, one of the inmates whispered to his neighbor. Within seconds a guard brought a spiked club down against his back. Blood splattered the wall and caught me in the eye.
I dropped to my knees and rubbed my face clean. When I was certain there was no blood left, I turned and peeked through the bleachers. What was going on?
A man stood in the center of the room pacing back and forth calling upon several inmates. There was something strange about that man. I couldn’t quite identify what it was.
Aside from his head, he showed no skin. He was layered in velvet cloaks the swept down to his feet. On his head he wore, what appeared to be, a crown of roses.
His expression was harsh. I swept his face and then it hit me. He had no eyes, instead there was a hollow where his eyes used to be.
I clasped a hand over my mouth to stifle my gasps.
“Lantz.” His raspy voice beckoned through the room baring his razor teeth.
One of the inmates was escorted into a queue in the middle of the room.
“Kisza.”
Another inmate was transported to the middle.
“Kate? What do you think you’re doing?” Zed scolded me at a whisper and grabbed my arm.
“Where
is Xam?” I snarled.
Zed was quiet.
“Zed. Tell me where Xam is.” I could hear a fire in my voice.
“They have denied his release.” Zed started. “He was caught trying to source outside information.”
“I don’t understand.” The numbness started seeping into my bloodstream again.
“He is being sentenced to death. Kate, there is nothing we can do. I am so sorry.” Zed reached forward in attempt to bring me to my feet. I pounded at him until he let me go.
“Hirt.” The eyeless man’s voice echoed.
“There has to be some way we can find him.” I cried.
“Xam.” The eyeless man’s voice boomed filling the hollow in my chest.
I heard my heart hit the floor.
“Xam!” I screamed. I pushed off Zed and darted to toward him. “Xam!”
Xam looked disoriented and confused but his expression lifted when he saw me running toward him.
“Xam!”
“Kate!” He shouted back trying to break free from the guard holding on to him.
As my legs pedaled me closer to Xam, the bruises and blood came into vision. It was quite obvious that he had been severely beaten. His left shoulder drooped out of place and his nose jarred in every imaginable direction. There were bloodstains across his face and running down his back. As he trudged forward, he limped pathetically favoring his right leg.
My pace quickened. He needed my help more than I had realized.
When I reached him I threw myself at him using my own body as a shield to protect him. He winced in pain as I wrapped him in my arms. He tucked his head into my shoulder and gently kissed my neck.
“Xam, I love you.” I whispered. “I have never felt like this in my entire life and I have never breathed those words. With you everything is good in the world and I am going to do everything I can to make you happy.”
I could feel him laugh in my embrace. He leaned back and kissed me. “I love you too.”
Normally a moment like this would make me want to throw in the towel and walk away from the television. The parameters of love tended to soar past my own imagination. But now that I was here, in this moment, I knew that love was an intangible thing. It couldn’t be accurately represented on a television screen or through words on a page. It was beyond describable feeling, beyond explanation. But in this moment I could feel it.
“Guards!” The raspy voice cut through my ears and suddenly Xam was ripped out of my arms and thrown to the ground.
Five guards circled him with their clubs raised in the air.
“On my count.” The man croaked. “Three.”
“Stop!” I screamed trying to fight my way through the guards.
“Two.”
“That’s enough.” Zed’s voice boomed, out voicing the eyeless man who jumped at the sound of it. “I demand sanctuary.”
The guards lowered their clubs and stepped away from Xam who lay motionless on the blood stained concrete floor.
“Who do you think you are to demand sanctuary in the midst of an execution?” The man sounded angrier than he had before if that was even possible.
“I am Leadership Officer Zed. I have traveled here from Moal to retrieve this man.” Zed reached down and plucked Xam up off the floor.
He staggered for a moment trying to gather his bearings. I ran to his side and held on tight.
“This girl is from Earth.” Zed started.
A hush fell over the room. Every prison guard and inmate held his or her breath in anticipation for what Zed might say next.
“She has been able to penetrate the barrier between our galaxies and has come to teach us her knowledge of Earth. This entire arrest has fallen in fault of misinformation to The Leadership. We are trying to rectify our mistake however we cannot do so without your confirmation and acceptance.” Zed cleared his throat. It echoed` through the room. “This could mean big things for Ceban.”
Applause erupted through the room. I looked up to see the inmates above us hanging over the railings, cheering. They pumped their fists in the air, clapped, and shouted for the guards to release Xam.
“That is enough!” The eyeless man bellowed, silencing the room and everyone in it.
He stepped down from his podium and stormed his way across the room quickly closing in on Zed, Xam, and me. The closer he got, the more terrifying he was. Even without the use of his eyes he seemed to know exactly where we stood.
“You are playing with fire, Officer Zed.” His voice lashed, his tongue as sharp as his teeth.
“All I ask is that you grant me fifteen more minutes of this man’s life and your time.” Zed pleaded but remained regal.
“I don’t do anyone any favors, you hear me?”
“I am not requesting a favor. I am simply vying for a few minutes of your time, sir.”
I was so proud to have Zed in my corner. He was a reasonable and stoic man. I would owe him majorly when everything was all said and done.
“Five minutes.”
“I accept.” Zed winked at me.
“Thank you.” I mouthed inaudibly.
Zed and the eyeless man headed to the right back down the long corridor that had brought me here. Just before they disappeared out of sight, the eyeless man braked in his tracks and turned toward us.
“In the meantime, separate them.” He pointed at Xam and me.
“Please, no!” I begged and dropped down to my knees in desperation.
Two of the five guards in the circle scooped me up and pulled me away from Xam. They followed down the same corridor as Zed and the eyeless man.
I squirmed under their grip in attempt to find Xam. I needed to know where they were taking him but it was too late. He was already gone.
The guards forced me into the corridor where Zed and the eyeless man were waiting for us.
“Let me go!” I shrieked. I clawed at the prison guards and threw my weight around hoping they would lose grip and drop me to the ground.
“That is enough!” The eyeless man slapped me across the face with the back of his hand. On his index finger he wore an iron-plated ring with an eagle perching. The eagle tore through my flesh like a razor blade. The nerves on my cheek caught fire and I could feel blood coursing out of the gaping wound.
Zed threw his elbow across the man’s chest and pinned him up against the wall so that he could see face him at eye level.
“You touch her again and you’re done.” Zed motioned across his throat.
I grabbed at my cheek in attempt to slow the bleeding.
“Are you alright, Kate?” Zed propped himself in front of me on one knee.
“I’m alright. Just the blood.” I looked down at the floor. I was standing in a vibrant puddle of red.
Zed tore off a piece of his shirtsleeve and pressed it against my cheek. “Hold this tight. We will be right back.”
Considering that every time I had been instructed to do something in the past and didn’t listen, everything seemed come crashing down around me. I couldn’t bare another set back in my life and I wasn’t about to toy with Xam’s fate. So this time, I decided to quietly obey.
Zed and the, now frightened, eyeless man disappeared into the room across the corridor. The heavy door swung closed follow by a large bang.
With the door closed, their conversation was muffled. I could, however, pick up on the tone of the conversation.
It started out loud as each man attempted to out-smart and out-alpha the other. I knew that if this was the case, Zed was absolutely a shoe-in.
Cutting through the muffled noises I was catching from behind the metal door, another sound flooded my head. It was the sound of someone moaning and calling out in pain.
I recognized the cries. It was Xam.
I leaned back against the cinderblock wall and slid down to the floor. I couldn’t bear to hear his cries of pain for one more second. But what could I possibly do that would jeopardize this entire plan?
I brought my arms up to my face
and buried my head between my knees in attempt to block out the sound.
Even still, it rang sharp in my ears.
My mind circled the possibilities. What would I do if Xam were denied sanctuary? What would I do if he were granted sanctuary?
All of these questions soaring through my mind were a reminder as to why I used to live the way I did. The less I cared about anyone, the less likely I was to get hurt. Now, here I sat, on this cold concrete floor, hurting more than I had ever thought possible. Not only was I in pain from the gash in my cheek. It was the internal pain that claimed center stage. My heart was hollow and my mind soggy. The thought of Xam being ripped out of my life was absolutely unbearable to me.
I couldn’t let that happen.
Silence surrounded me and screamed in my ears. Xam’s wailing had stopped. There were no longer inmates chanting in the cells. The conversation in the room behind the metal door had seized as well.
Uneasily, I got to my feet and paced three steps across the hall toward the door. I pressed my palm against it. The metal was cold and smooth to the touch. I placed my swollen cheek against the surface. The iciness brought instant relief to the fire burning beneath my skin. I leaned in resting my weight on my cheek. I could have cried it felt so good.
I heard the doorknob squeak, someone was about to open the door. Before I could step back I fell head first into the room right at the eyeless man’s feet. He looked down on me in pity and stepped over me.
Scrambling to my feet, I locked my eyes on the man as he marched himself down the corridor back toward the circular room.
Next out the door was Zed. I searched his face for an answer or a sign. Anything. But he was stone faced and illegible.
The guards followed in pairs falling stride with the eyeless man toward the circular room.
Zed watched after them but I kept my eyes fixed on him.
When they had disappeared out of sight, Zed turned to look at me. I could have sworn I caught a twinkle in his eye but his expression wasn’t giving anything away.
“Tell me Xam is safe.” Tears flooded my vision. My heart pained. I wanted this to end.
Zed pulled me and hugged me tight. He rubbed my shoulder trying to calm me down.