The Chosen Ones: Red Smoke

by Mitchelly Melo

  "Right," she said. "I'll take you and Maena tomorrow to buy dresses. I want you to look beautiful! I already bought mine, of course.”

  "I don’t need to buy dresses," Maena said. "I have many that have never even used. I'm sure I can find one for tomorrow.”

  "Why do I feel that you can’t say the same thing?" Isys said, looking at me with a dubious expression.

  I looked down to realize she was right. I had — not here or at home — no dress. The most presentable thing I had was a short flower-print dress that Grandma had bought for me, but something told me it wasn’t good enough for the occasion.

  "All right," I agreed with her.

  To refuse wouldn’t do anything. She was right. And deep down, I wanted to go. I knew I was stupid, but I wanted to feel pretty and relaxed for one night.

  “Okay. Now that that's settled, there's only one thing left to do. "Isys said, a smile streaming down her face.

  She jumped toward the kitchen and we all followed.

  When there were no more slices of any of the cakes, Isys decided which cake she wanted.

  "I prefer lemon and blueberry," John said, taking another bite and putting it in his mouth. “But it's your party.”

  "My favorite is chocolate, so it'll be chocolate," Isys said, licking her fork.

  I looked at Runne and she was concentrating on finishing her slice of coconut cake. The second in a row.

  "What about you, Runne?" I asked, trying to get her into the conversation. “What is your favorite?”

  John looked at me and then at Runne.

  “I bet it's the caramel. I remember when we were little she invaded the kitchen and stole a full pot.” John said smiling.

  "I remember that," Zal said. "When we went into the kitchen looking for her, the floor was full of caramel and Runne was in the corner, covered from head to toe.”

  "It looked like she’d bathed in it," Isys recalled.

  Everyone began to laugh, and even Runne didn’t stop. After that moment, she began to talk more, participated in the conversations of the others and smiled more. In that instant, she was once again one of us.

  The next day I woke up early to make the cake and to make sure I had time to buy my dress. After wishing happy birthday to Isys as soon as I saw her, I began to work. Between one cake coming out of the oven and another coming in, I called John to warn him that I would go home and get some money. In my time working at Joe's I had saved a fair amount. It would be enough to buy a good dress.

  "I'll go with you," he said as I finished speaking.

  "I won’t be two minutes," I explained. "The money's in a little purse in the back of my wardrobe. I'm just going to go up and get it.”

  "Okay, so I'm going alone," John said, teasing me. "It won’t be long."

  I looked at him with an arched eyebrow.

  “Fine. We’ll both go.” I gave in.

  “Are we going now?” he asked.

  I looked at the timer in the oven and saw that I had more than twenty minutes. It was more than enough.

  “Yes” I said.

  I took John's hand and a second later we were in the living room of my house. It seemed strange without the light coming in through the window and without the smell of something baking in the oven. I tried not to look at the armchair where Grandma appeared in my nightmares. I went upstairs and went into my room. I took the small bag and went back down quickly.

  "There," I said.

  For understandable reasons I didn’t want to spend any more time there.

  "You don’t want to visit your grandmother?" John said.

  I didn’t want her to see me and realize that I was scared, which was very likely. But I wouldn’t miss the chance to see her, either.

  "Of course," I said.

  We left the house and crossed the lawn to Agnes's house. I knocked on the door with fear and excitement at the same time. Agnes opened the door a few seconds later. After a few minutes pointing out everything that was different in me, she went to call Grandma.

  "I can’t believe how different you are," Grandma said after we sat down on the couch. "Have you been working out?"

  John laughed.

  "Yes, Grandma," I said, smiling. “I train. Same as all the Chosen Ones.”

  "You didn’t tell me you were coming," Grandma said.

  "I was at home and thought I’d visit.”

  "What were you doing there?"

  “I went to get my money.”

  “Why? What are you going to do with it?”

  Grandma was worried now. Did she think I would run away?

  "I'm just going to do some shopping," I said, and she calmed down again. “Isys is having a birthday party.”

  "Even with..." she stopped. “With everything going on?”

  "She can be very persuasive," John replied.

  “Grandma, we need to go. The birthday cake is baking and I'm still going to buy a dress,” I said getting up.

  “But already? We barely talked.”

  "We talk every day," I said, smiling.

  "But it's not the same," she said. "I miss you, honey.”

  “I know, Grandma. I miss you too.”

  Grandma's eyes began to water and I threw my arms around her. I inhaled her floral scent. Throughout my life Grandma was the only family I ever had and now only my presence put her in danger.

  "I'm sorry," I said, struggling not to cry. "I'm sorry I put you in danger. We are only in this situation because of me.”

  "It's not your fault, my dear," she said and released me, holding my face and looking me in the eyes. “And I love you. Any risk is worth it.”

  She smiled and wiped the tears from her rosy cheeks and hugged me again. I smiled back, but the words didn’t enter my head. I knew it was my fault. I realized that the fear of losing her was amplified by the certainty that if I lost her it would be my fault.

  “Sorry, Grandma. We really have to go.”

  "All right," she said and hugged me again. "But I don’t want you to go this long until you come to see me again, do you hear me?"

  "I hear you," I said, smiling.

  "And you," she said, pointing at John. “Take care of her.”

  "Yes, ma'am," John said, swallowing. "I mean, yes, Mary.”

  Grandma smiled and I shook my head disapproving of the joy she felt in frightening John.

  "I love you," I said. “Talk to you soon.”

  She nodded and I looked around to make sure Agnes or someone else wasn’t around. When I was sure, I took John's hand and we went back to the hotel.

  We appeared in the kitchen and I went straight to the oven, seeing that I had arrived just on time. As I took the cake from the oven, letting it cool down on the counter, John settled into a chair, watching.

  He stayed there for a few hours, until the cake was with its four tiers. As soon as I finished, Isys appeared in the kitchen calling me. After spending a few minutes staring at the cake, John brought her back to reality.

  "I'm coming too," he said. "It's still my job to protect you after all."

  "No way," Isys replied. "I don’t want anyone to see the dress before the party."

  "Isys, it's not a wedding," I interrupted.

  She cut me off with a furious look and I raised both hands in the air, giving up. I wouldn’t irritate her in the near future.

  Ever since she'd discovered that the party was really going to happen, Isys didn’t rest for a minute making sure everything went the way she wanted. As a result, she wasn’t a very nice or calm person lately.

  "John, you don’t have to come," I said. “It's just the girls.”

  "And the store is near here," Isys added, seeming to be calmer. “We’ll even walk there.”

  He pondered for a few seconds before nodding. I kissed him quickly and went out with Isys. As we walked, I thought of Runne. She deserved to go with us and buy something that would make her feel good.

  "Isys, we should call Runne. I know she'd like us to invite her.”

&n
bsp; "Oh, she's already waiting for us at the door," Isys said, surprising me. "She was putting the candles outside and I invited her.”

  Knowing that people were recognizing her again made me extremely happy.

  "Why are you smiling like that?" Isys asked.

  “Nothing. I'm just glad she's coming with us.”

  We arrived at the hotel door and Runne, Eimée, Maena and Uri were waiting for us. I looked quickly at Eimée and she returned the look, but quickly turned away. The last time we spoke, I was hard on her, and from that day on she has avoided being in the same room as me. I can’t say I didn’t enjoy not having to hear her nasty comments all the time.

  Uri was one of the twins who had her birthday a week before. Isys was feeling a little — just a little — guilty that they hadn’t had a party, though she knew they didn’t want to, and invited her to join us in the hunt for the dress.

  Uri looked uncomfortable. She looked at her feet and ignored Maena's attempt to talk to Runne. Her brown hair was divided into two braids that rested on her shoulders. I had never talked to her, so I had never seen her so close to notice her delicate face. Her nose was straight and her lips were a pale pink. The eyes didn’t seem to belong to that face. They were a bright yellow, resembling the eyes of a cat.

  It took me longer than I should staring into her eyes, stopping as soon as they found mine.

  “Don’t worry. That happens a lot,” Uri said, opening a smile on her calm face. “Humans are not accustomed to different things. They prefer dull to interesting.”

  "I'm not human," I said decisively.

  "By all means you kind of are."

  I never thought that one day hearing that I was human would annoy me so much. But it did. Uri didn’t seem to want to irritate me, just introduced the facts she thought were right.

  "So, following your logic, so are you," I said. "After all, you've been here as long as I have."

  She looked at me with half closed eyes. Just when I thought I had upset her, she flashed a smile.

  "You're right," she said. "It’s just that living here with the other Pacenians makes it seem like we're still in Pacem. It is as if we are in a completely different dimension from the humans.”

  "Maybe we can trade notes," I said, smiling. “I tell you how it was to grow in their dimension and you tell me how it was to grow in theirs.”

  "Deal," she said, laughing.

  "Right," Isys said. "Let's go, because I don’t want to be late for my own party. It's not polite.”

  "Come on," I said.

  "And something tells me we're going to have a lot of work to do," Isys said, looking at Runne from top to bottom.

  Runne grimaced at Isys. We left and walked two blocks until we found the small boutique. As we entered, a plump lady with a deep red hair came to us. She seemed to take too long analyzing our strange group.

  “Hello girls. I'm Marlene. How can I help you?”

  We explained what we wanted and Marlene, in quick steps, brought us everything we would need. In pairs we started to enter the two small tasters. I was starting to feel like the dresses just kept coming and I was beginning to lose hope. I tried numerous dresses, but I still hadn’t seen any that I liked.

  Isys just watched us calmly, and making comments when she thought it necessary, sitting with the saleswoman. I took the yellow dress that Isys had put on my pile and I didn’t even lost time trying it and left the dressing room.

  "I found a perfect one," Maena said.

  "I thought you weren’t going to buy one," I said, my frustration even more evident.

  "And I wasn’t going to, but you see this?" She said, gesturing with her hands to look at her body. "How can I not?"

  She left the dressing room and couldn’t help but get a little annoyed. The dress was red and had a dangerously revealing slit. It rested perfectly on Maena's slim, well-rounded body. I huffed and sat down in one of the puffs in the middle of the room.

  After Runne, Eimée and Uri found their dresses I had already given up.

  "Honey, are you sure you didn’t like any of those?" Marlene asked in a maternal tone.

  "Yes," I said, trying to smile. "Isys, I think I'm going to have to wear something I already own.”

  "No way," she objected. "You said yourself that you have nothing to wear."

  "Well, I suppose I could…" Marlene said quietly, as if to herself.

  “What?” I asked.

  "I think I could bring the dresses that arrived today," she explained. "I shouldn’t put them out here until next week, but you look like a good girl and I don’t want you to be the only one without something to wear."

  I smiled in appreciation and Marlene went to the back of the store behind the dresses.

  "That's not fair, Elizabeth," Runne said. "You get the new dresses and we get the old ones?"

  "You loved the dress you chose," Maena said. "Why does it matter?"

  "She's joking, Maena," I said, smiling.

  Runne smiled shyly at me, acknowledging that would take some time for other people to understand her and her sense of humor. Maena rolled her eyes and went to sit down. A few minutes later, Marlene returned with some dresses on hangers. As soon as she came in I knew I had found mine.

  She set them on the counter and I went straight to it. I took it off the hanger and admired it. It was long and champagne-colored, but with a gist of pink. It contained a modest V-shaped neckline and lace flowers embroidered from the bust to the knees.

  Marlene saw that I had already made up my mind and took the others back. Luckily. it was my size and I ran to try it. Perfect. I looked at the price and found it a bit expensive, but I was sure it was worth it.

  "You look beautiful, Elizabeth," Runne said, peering over the dresser.

  "You do," Isys said, also putting her head up.

  "Thank you," I said, staring at the mirror.

  "I have a shoe that would look perfect with it," Maena said, joining the others.

  "Thank you, Maena," I replied, relieved that I didn’t have to buy a shoe either.

  "It's nice," Eimee said, and I looked at her in surprise.

  That was the nicest thing she had ever said to me. I didn’t know why, but I wouldn’t argue either. I just nodded and smiled. I think she was finally getting used to my presence.

  We left the store and went straight back to the hotel. The rush was visible as soon as we entered. Isys went upstairs to her room, taking my dress with her and telling me to go change there.

  "Hey," John said, coming down the stairs.

  “Hi.”

  “Did you find what you wanted?”

  "Yes," I said, smiling. “What about you?”

  "Yes, but I'm not as happy as you. Why do I have to wear a tuxedo?”

  "Isys was very firm about the dress code," I said, laughing.

  John rolled his eyes.

  "Well, you're the only reason I'm coming to this party," he said, grabbing me by the waist.

  He kissed me, pulling me closer. I ran my fingers through his soft hair and reached down to his neck. I felt like I could spend the rest of my life caressing his skin. I let him go to catch my breath. John was lightly biting his lower lip as he looked into my eyes. A malicious grin rose in the corner of his mouth. The second I went to kiss him again, I stopped to remember that I still had something to do.

  "Just one more minute," he said, pulling me around the waist. "Maybe ten more."

  "Seriously, John," I said, unable to keep a serious expression. "I need to take the cake to the salon. Let's go.”

  I took him by the hand and he followed me. Carefully we took the cake and took it to the hall. The place now looked like a real hotel. The armchairs and sofa came out and were replaced by tables with chairs that we distributed carefully so that the center could be used as a dance floor. The cake table was at the end of the hall and was the largest and most decorated.

  The chandelier was now on, and its countless small lights lit the hall. We placed the cake in the center o
n the square table and some people coming from the kitchen began to put other sweets on the table.

  "Now I'm going to light the candles in the pool," I said.

  “Should I ask?”

  “Isys put candles in the whole yard; around and inside the pool, "I explained.

  "Did she have the pool filled?" John asked in surprise.

  "Not before closing the hole I made," I said. "And the pool candles are anchored, so I'll have to go in."

  "Come on, I won’t miss this," John said with a smile on his face. "And you're not the best swimmer either."

  I grimaced at him and headed for the back of the hotel. Some people still hung strings of lights on the palm trees. I took off my coat and tied my hair in a ponytail. As John reminded me, I wasn’t the best swimmer, but now I could disappear from anywhere any time I wanted. I didn’t have to worry.

  I entered the shallow pool, the cold water making me shiver. I was quickly regretting doing this. I arrived at the first candle that was held by a light bowl that was tall enough so that the flame didn’t extinguish. I created a small flame at the tip of my index finger and lit the candle.

  I did this with all of them, always being careful not to let water get into the bowl. When I finished, I left the pool quickly, shaking with cold. John immediately came up to me, taking off his jacket and putting it on my shoulders.

  "Thank you," I said.

  I looked around and saw the dozens of candles on the lawn and around the pool still not lit. My idea ofgoing to light them was soon turned down by John.

  "It doesn’t have to be you," he said. "You've been in the cold water for Isys. That's enough.”

  I nodded and went up to Isys's room. Soon I saw that I wasn’t the only one to change there. Runne and Uri were sitting on the bed when I walked in, and Isys was doing her own makeup sitting on the dresser. My dress was hanging from the closet door.

  "Elizabeth, why are you all wet?" Runne asked.

  "I was lighting the candles in the pool," I said, taking a towel and wiping my face.

  "Well, you're on time," Runne continued. "As you know, I don’t go out much, so I decided that today I want to look beautiful.”