Sleep (Portraits of Gentry Book 1)

by Deborah Anne-Marie Palmer

  "Was that your first kill?"

  "Naw, but it was the first time I feared for my life. However, I couldn't let myself die. Not while Mason still needed me. Sure he was smart, but he was easily distracted, so I could not abandon him. That was what kept me moving. But do you want to know the best part? Go on tell them!" She said as she elbowed him.

  "I don't want to."

  "Come on! If I tell them, I'll only exaggerate!~"

  "Fine!" he sighed. "I was ... reading a book I found."

  "A picture book!"

  "It wasn't a picture book! It just had a lot of pictures!"

  "That is the definition of a picture book to me."

  "Forget it. I'm not having this fight with you again."

  "Aww, can you believe how sensitive he is?" She said with a giggle. For a second, Lys thought she saw her drop her defenses. "Either way, I learned that day that I could do anything in the name of family. Nothing is more important to me than my brother."

  A snort pierced through the conversation, like a bullet. Everybody looked towards to culprit.

  "I guess these past three years most have been very hard on you." Was all Mia provided as an explanation.

  "As a matter of fact, it was." And just like that, the tension that had slowly been lifting, crashed back down with ten times the power.

  "Well, that was an amazing story. None of my sisters ever did anything that cool."

  "Sorry, I just felt life was stressful enough without wrestling predatory cats." Mia commented

  "And you don't feel stressed living in a dome underwater?" Polly challenged.

  "Not until I heard people were leaving the dome to start petty fights."

  "You know, I'm glad us risking our lives seems petty to you. Makes me feel like our cause is bearing fruit."

  "It's good to be optimistic." She stood up from the table as she said this. "Raye, make sure the dishes are washed." she said heading to the curtained off area that served as the bedroom.

  "Hey! Why are you pinning the dishes on me?" Raye protested, but to no avail. It wasn't long until the rest finished their meals and after Raye strong-armed her brother into helping her with the dishes, they all went to join Mia in rest. The only ones who remained were the reunited siblings. Lys hoped the tension would dissipate by morning, as she fell asleep.

  Chapter 8

  There were few conditions that Lys couldn't sleep in. Being kicked in the shin definitely counted as one of them. She roused herself to confront the culprit, only to find the suspect to be seemingly fast asleep. She was seconds away from waking Rosie, when she heard voices.

  "That's some living arrangement you've got going on."

  "It's snug, but comfortable. Okay, maybe the bathroom in particular isn't all that comfortable, but I spend most nights reading anyway. So it's a moot point." A small laugh echoed through the room.

  "So, why didn't you get your own place?"

  "I thought about it a few times, but something always held me back. I was either too busy with my occupation or teaching Lys how to read, or I just didn't want to be on my own. Regardless, I just wound up procrastinating. Now that you're here though, I could get a place for us."

  "Yeah, you might have to put a hold on that plan a little longer." As soon as Polly said those words, a heavy silence fell between them.

  "Are you leaving again?"

  "My fight is far from over. Your angry friend might say otherwise, but it is necessary. I can't stop now. Not while we're in the heat of things."

  "I understand. I don't like it, but I understand." Once again there was a short pause.

  "You know, we could use your help."

  "Right. I'm not a fighter like you. I'd only get in your way."

  "Our cause needs more than fighters. Besides, you've done pretty well for yourself on your own. You found your way to this place by yourself."

  "I had help."

  "Yes, it's hard to get here without a native, but the years we spent apart? That was all you."

  "Honestly, I only survived by taking the least risks possible."

  "And if you helped us we would be the ones taking the risks for you. Here I thought you would be more eager to spend time with me."

  "I am!"

  "Then you have to help us. This is my world now, Mase. Take it or leave it. If you want to be a part of my life now, you have to get involved with the Rebellion."

  "What if Mia's right? What if all you're doing is poking the hornet's nest? What happened with 'Don't sweat the big stuff'? Didn't you always tell me to not waste time on things that didn't concern me?"

  His sister sighed at this. "Yes, but three years is a long time, Mase. Even though I didn't want to, I wound up picking up a sort of replacement family, like you. Except mine is a bit bigger. And they all lost somebody. From starvation, dog raids, or random executions by the Haven dwellers. I couldn't ignore them anymore. I needed to do something to prevent this from happening to anyone else. I owed it to them, and so do you."

  "I ..."

  "Look, I understand. This is all so sudden and there's a lot to think about. Sleep on it, and whenever you're ready, find us at the campsite in the south quadrant." She said as she stood up.

  "You're not staying the night?"

  "Eh, I don't want to take up any more space. Besides, Watts gets out of sorts when I'm gone too long."

  "... Goodnight, Polly."

  "...'Night, Mason-Jar. Hope we can keep in touch."

  After she left, silence returned to the night. Before long, Lys could hear Mason's sleep sounds and breathed a small sigh of relief. However, her relief was quickly replaced with concern. True she might not have known Mason for as long as his sister, but she felt quite close to him and didn't want him to do something that could endanger him. Yet, she didn't know how to convince him without revealing that she'd overheard his conversation. She might have little experience in dealing with people, but somehow she felt that she had no business overhearing their dialogue.

  'Hopefully, he'll talk to me about it.' she thought as she slowly drifted off to sleep herself. But even this thought could not quell the anxiousness she felt.

  Chapter 9

  On the surface, the following day started out like any other. If you were not a member of this particular household, then you would not even sense the subtle shift. However, Lys did belong to the household, and coupled with the fact that she'd overheard the Keid siblings' conversation, the underlying displacement was all too clear to her. She wished she could do something to dispel the tension, unfortunately, she had no notion of how to do this. Lys looked towards Rosie, hoping for some guidance. She got an apologetic shrug. Brilliant.

  As if the overwhelming awkwardness had somehow become a catalyst for inspirations, Lys ran to the bathroom to retrieve a pencil and a notepad she'd been practicing on. 'Lesons Today?' she wrote on a piece of paper, that she passed to Mason. The boy smiled even as he added the extra 's' and momentarily looked satisfied. However, the words he said were not the ones Lys was hoping to hear.

  "Yeah, it's true that I can spend a little more time on helping you now that Polly's back, but not today. I have a few things to take care of. I need to deliver my workload to the Central Information Hub, and I kinda wanted to show my sister around."

  "Oh." she replied in a resigned tone.

  "Hey, you can come with us if you want."

  "No, this is about family. I'm sure you wouldn't interrupt if I was spending time with my mother, wherever she is."

  "Are you sure?"

  "Yeah, we have all the time in the world, right?"

  Mason paused contemplatively before answering. "Yeah, pretty much."

  ___

  She didn't ask for an explanation the following two days, when Mason made more excuses to get out of lessons. On the third day he finally relented. However, he was not as involved as he used to be, and the lesson was considerably shorter. So on the next day, when he left their home full of excuses again, she decided to follow him. Cover
tly, of course, since he was being so secretive these days. At first, her task was easy enough. Although Mason was considerably tall, he wasn't the type to rush. Lys could easily keep in stride with him. Her biggest challenge was keeping hidden. Every once in awhile, he would scan the area, making Lys scramble for some cover. The further they went the more often he would stop to look around. Soon Lys grew tired of all close calls and decided to make a construct and lift herself. However, as soon as she was a good distance in the air, she lost sight of him. She tried to find him among the throngs of people, yet couldn't quite catch a sight of him. She was puzzled at how he could have given her the slip so easily; after all she had only taken her eye off him for a few seconds. And then it hit her. 'Of course he knew.' She thought confounded, as she scowled at her shoes. Having lived the majority of her life without shoes, made adjusting to them since coming to Gentry a little difficult. She wore them, because Mason and Mia both insisted on it, but even though they prevented her feet from getting damaged from walking all over the pebbles that made up the streets here, she couldn't help but blame them, anytime she had some kind of walking/traveling related mishap. Not to mention, the fact that Mason and her had spent the better part of a month trying to find his sister meant that he knew all her weak spots. He had shaken her on purpose.

  ___

  An exasperated sigh left Lys as she lay in her bed. Another month had almost passed and she had maybe three lessons with Mason during this time. At least, it would be three if he didn't bail today. Ever since he was reunited with his sister, it appeared as if he only had time left for Polly. The only times Lys saw him anymore was when he was 'explaining' why they had to miss another lesson. It might not have been so bad, if she could spend time with him as he worked. However, he had taken to locking himself into the bathroom, much to the chagrin of all the others.

  "Hey, can we talk?" Mia asked, breaking Lys briefly out of her lethargy. She sat herself up to give the older girl her full attention.

  "What do you need?"

  "Well, it's actually about Mason."

  "I don't know where he goes."

  "I don't care about where he goes. This is about the bathroom."

  "Ooh."

  "Yeah, look. I'm grateful for his contributions to this household, and up till now we still managed to deal with him living there. But him locking it up constantly, is getting on our last nerves. Especially when he locks it up over night. You know how embarrassing it is to ask the neighbors to use their bathroom?" Lys nodded in agreement. She had her fair share of late night bathroom runs. "Look, I know he's been hard to catch recently, but you're the only one he'll slow down for before rushing of to God knows where. So if you could just mention that I'd like to talk to him soon. I would really appreciate that."

  "Are you going to ask him to stop locking up?"

  Mia's face took on a combination of caution and shame. "Actually, I was thinking of asking him to move. Not that I'm not flexible, we could still work something out, or I could take my siblings and find us a place somewhere else. I can afford it now! It's just, things are really inconvenient, but not to the point where I would force someone out of their home! I would never do that, in fact he could stay as long as it took him to find a new place ..."

  "Mia ..."

  "I hate it when families are torn apart, and yes we're not really family, but we've been living together for a while, and you and Rosie just got here so this must be really difficult for you ..."

  "Mia ... It's okay."

  "... You sure?"

  "Yes ...?" Lys answered in a confused state. She had never seen Mia this out of sorts. "If I see him, I'll let him know."

  "Thanks, Lys! You joining us for breakfast?"

  Lys shook her head. "I'm not really hungry right now. Maybe later. Have fun welding today!"

  "Will do!" she said as she returned to the kitchen area. By the time Lys ventured out to eat something, the only one left in the house seemed to be Rosie.

  "Is he still here?" She asked her. Rosie nodded. "How long till he leaves this time?"

  "3 hours."

  "Great." After she had eaten, she sat around waiting for Mason to leave the bathroom. In a way, it reminded her of her life back at the 'Haven', when all she did from day to day is wait for something to happen, while occasionally exchanging words with Rosie. As her friend had predicted, Mason came out of the bathroom right on the minute. He had a bunch of papers in his hands which meant that he probably would not lock up the bathroom this time. At least there was that.

  "How long are you going to be gone?" She asked him out of habit.

  "The whole night."

  "So no lessons?"

  "Sorry, kid."

  "Mia needs to talk to you. About the bathroom and stuff."

  "... I'll drop by the welders on my way. I can be a little late."

  "Late for what?"

  "I'll tell you soon."

  And with that he left the house. "Is he actually going to tell me anything?"

  "Not when you want him to." Lys groaned and headed for the door. "You're not going to follow him, are you?"

  "No, it didn't work the last few times. No point in trying again. Wherever he's going, he doesn't want me there." With Polly in the picture, she was beginning to wonder if he wanted her at all.

  Chapter 10

  Lys wandered around the town with no specific goal in mind. Sometimes she ran into people she recognized from 'Mazing' tournaments who would wave at her. Ever since Polly and her group had come to town, the Power Core had been occupied, leaving no space for recreation. True, the Telekinetics could make their own space, but the Classics were a bit more wary about running around in the sky. Lys had mostly avoided the area in the past few days, yet found herself going in that direction now. She was actually surprised to see the Center abandoned. Apart from some miscellaneous waste, there was no trace of the revolutionaries. 'Looks like we can have a tournament tonight.' she thought to herself as she kicked a piece of garbage. She was about to turn around, but something made her stay. She remembered Rosie telling her about the Power Core, and how it naturally drew natives of Gentry towards it. Though she couldn't remember if this phenomenon was supposed to fade after a while. Regardless, that strange humming inside of her mind had not faded ever since she got here, and she had noticed that it was considerably stronger when she was here. In any case, she walked closer to the Core, matching her pace with the hum she felt in her skin. She soon spotted a door, which she guessed was there for maintenance. Even though her common sense told her that it would probably be locked, her hands reached for the door, the hum completely submerging her.

  "Not yet!" suddenly cut through the hum, startling the girl. She was even more unnerved when she found out the speaker was one of the clairvoyants.

  "What do you even mean!" She responded exasperatedly. "Why are you even talking to me? I thought your kind didn't care about people who can't see the future." the young boy just turned around without changing his expression. "Hey, answer me!" he kept walking. Lys decided not to follow him, suspecting that he had ran out of words to say for the entire day. However, she had not quite expected to run into Rosie as soon as she turned around.

  "Gah! Why would you do that?"

  "I'm sorry, I should have made heavier steps."

  "No, kidding. What are you doing out here? Because if it's to see that creepy kid, you just missed him."

  "No, actually I came to see you."

  "... Do you know what I want to ask you?"

  "My powers don't work like that. I just know the when and where, but can only guess the whats. Though, I'd be lying if I said I don't have a good guess this time."

  "Do you now? So tell me, what do you think I want to know? Why one of my friends is ignoring me, again, or why the clairvoyant six year old decided to sneak up on me?"

  "Do you think this is easy for me? All my life, I've known where I needed to be without knowing why. The only outcome I can foretell is how the people involved would f
eel. It was easy back when the only thing I had to look forward to was a change in our diet. Now that I am among so many people, the possibilities are endless. And they rarely end with everyone happy."

  "So, this was your best choice? Because, we're in great shape now."

  "I was so tempted to prevent you and Mason from going to that rally. Or at the very least to leave you out. But the alternatives were worse."

  "How much worse?"

  "I tell none of you. He never meets her. Grows despondent, possibly kills himself. You blame yourself for the rest of your life. I tell him at the wrong time, he tries to get to her, but can't quite get through the crowd. So he misses her. Grows despondent, and possibly resentful. Moves away, and you blame yourself. He finds her, gets caught up with her, and we're back here except now he doesn't owe you as much, so he has less qualms about leaving you behind. And you feel abandoned. I cannot deal with you being sad. So, I picked this path."

  "That's your justification? Who made you in charge of how I feel?"

  "What do you expect me to do, Lys? Warn you every time there's about to be a big change?"

  "Well yeah, that would be nice. Aren't friends supposed to have each other's back?"

  "... Well in that case you should make up your mind quickly about speaking to this next person. You'll wind up angry either way, but talking will make it sooner than later."

  Lys looks around and doesn't see anyone she would usually talk to. She is about to continue her conversation when she spots Tilda. She has no idea how talking to Tilda would upset her, but when she looks towards Rosie for confirmation, she receives a nod. After a minute, she determinedly approaches her fellow telekinetic. "Hey, Tilda!"

  "Hey, Lys! It's been a while, right? I'm glad that our center has finally been cleared, but unfortunately, I doubt I'll be in the mood for any games."

  "What do you mean?"

  "The Rebellion. My cousin decided to join. They're leaving today. How do you not know this?"