The Broken Destiny

by Carlyle Labuschagne

  “We’ll be out soon,” she yelled over my shoulder.

  “We’re leaving in one minute.” His voice was clipped and riddled with impatience.

  “Fine!” she shouted back.

  She stomped toward him. I marveled at how I could not figure that man out. He had saved me by pulling me from the water, but he seemed to hate me – he was so mean to me. He made it easy for me to despise him, but I didn’t – I wanted to get to know him instead. What was I thinking?

  “We’re getting dressed!” she yelled as she reached the bedroom door, closing it to shut him off from us completely. “Idiot,” she spat, leaning back against the door for a second before jumping up again, almost skipping toward me. I giggled into my hand at how annoyed she was with him.

  Dressing swiftly, I pulled the sweater over my head as static electricity made the fine hairs on the tip of my head jump to life. I should never have cut my hair so short, I thought. Maya laughed handing me a brush to flatten the spray of hair around my head. The boots Maya had given me were too big, so I decided to use my slim black boots instead, and much like Anaya’s, my boots could fold over my knees; came in handy on cold days. I grinned to myself. I had saved up many coins for many weeks to be able to afford leather. Replicated leather, but nonetheless, I loved gorgeous things – perhaps they made me feel better about myself, a curse in itself. Might have been one of the reasons other girls made my life a living hell. Sometimes, my things were the only things that comforted me when Sam was busy living up to her ‘over the top achiever’ duties.

  “Oh no,” Maya said, shaking her head. “They’ll get ruined. We’re going to climb a mountain and…” her voice trailed off, as she headed out the door.

  I had begun lacing up my boots when Maya came back in and stood staring at me, her navy eyes scanning my every move like she was studying me. She had a pair of boots in her hand, but decided against giving them to me as I stood pleased with myself. When I saw a strange look on her face something inside me flickered. I wasn’t quite sure what it was, but I felt it, and feeling was better than being numb – for now. Soft footsteps approached, tearing us from a moment I knew I had to get back to with her. She was about to tell me something – I could sense it.

  “Girls?” Arriana’s voice called from behind the door.

  “Come in!” Maya yelled. “We’re decent, mom.” She gave me a dry smile.

  I acknowledged her with a nod. We would come back to it later, I hoped.

  Arriana drifted into the room. She held a square container firmly between her beautifully slim fingers.

  “I packed you some…”

  Maya leaped forward before her mother could finish her sentence.

  “Banana seed loaf!” She did a silly little dance.

  The force of her overexcited grab almost knocked the container out of her mother’s hands. Before we left, I gave myself one last glance over.

  The clothes Maya had given me were completely oversized. I rolled the sleeves up and took a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves.

  I looked up at the sky; the clouds seemed to be slowly drifting back over the ocean. Dew had gathered on the leaves all around the valley. A slow fog crawled over the fine beige sand. I smiled to myself feeling very optimistic about the change in the weather. I couldn’t wait for the rain to come, to wash away a dusty past and bring a spark to this planet. However, it was not only the change in the weather that had left its mark on me. I had felt myself beginning to change with every passing minute, and I knew it was only a pale reflection of what was coming. Gently lifting my nose to smell the moisture in the air, I took in a deep breath to steady my heartbeat. The hint of freshness smelled strange to me. I had gotten used to the stale air, which had seemed to have stood still for so long that it had stifled all life on Poseidon. I could finally sense change all around me. The anxiety of uncertainty, of fear, threatened to buckle my strength. Something was coming, I could feel it. Change was drawing near. After we had talked about it over and over again the previous day, I had opened my mind to the idea of the Change. I could almost taste it, reminiscent of iron – strong and bold, but also cold and unfamiliar. I pushed down the fear I was feeling. I would make it happen. All the talk about abilities and prophecies made my past seem like a dream. Only now was I heading toward what I had always known was there. I was in a world I could not begin to explain, where the possibilities were beyond my imagination. I both loved and hated the conflict of loving, and fearing the Change. Pieces of a falling star were gathering for what would become my destiny.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Never-ending Cry

  I held my hands over my ears as we neared the beach to protect them against the bitter breeze. Maya turned toward me and handed me a pair of black leather gloves that looked new in terms of wear, but vintage in terms of design. The stitching was delicate and fine. The wrists were adorned with a twirling pattern of leaves that had been embroidered with a shimmering gold thread. I noticed the finger tips had been removed – I couldn’t quite understand what the point was.

  “For better grip when you climb,” Maya’s voice called out from quite a distance in front of me.

  I snapped out of my trance when I realized that I had fallen behind. “You didn’t tell me you could read minds like your mother,” I said, baffled.

  “I can’t.” She smiled, her eyes fixed on the black figures in the distance. “I read the question in your expression.” She smiled proudly.

  “Come on!” the figures called to us.

  Coming to a standstill close to the warriors, I couldn’t help but be enticed by the presence of four majestic horses. We all bowed in greeting. Willard was mumbling something excitedly, but I wasn’t quite sure what he was on about. His voice was drowned out by the rushing waves and the wind whistling past my ears through the open expanses of the shore. Once again, I held my hands over them and I intently gazed into the dark, long-lashed eyes of the beautiful auburn horse at Enoch’s side. I had never noticed how big horses were before then, because I had never been so close to one – I wasn’t scared, though. I felt honored to be in the presence of such beauty. It hurt to think that Earth had once been such a beautiful place; a better place than this staged Utopia. Since I had been told the truth, I had started to wonder what Earth was really like. My mind spiraled back to the history of Earth, wondering why there had been so much anger and so much hate. Why all the bitterness and poison?

  Before I realized that there were only four horses and five of us, Enoch suddenly spoke from right beside me. “Has your friend ever ridden a horse before?” Enoch asked, gesturing with his head to show that he was talking about me.

  “Yes,” I said, lying impassively, and then looking up at him, I added, “It’s Ava, in case you’ve forgotten my name, or your manners.” I swallowed the last word, astonished at my rudeness.

  Startled by a crowd of laughter, my hand flinched under the touch of the horse. I realized that they were laughing at me. Their voices bounced off the dark-rocked cove and crossed over the empty space between the village and the marketplace. I had expected to see some life there as I looked back solemnly. It might have been early, but the beach and the market were eerily silent. The attack on Maya and I had affected everyone’s lives. I looked back at Enoch when he brushed his hand over mine while it still rested on the side of his horse. He forced a crooked half smile. I didn’t pull away – I should have.

  “Fair enough,” he said gently. “Get on.” He gestured with his head, his eyes glinting in amusement as he looked at me. He was in a really strange mood. I frowned up at him.

  He held out his hand for me and I nervously grabbed it, lifting myself onto the horse and seized the reins. When I looked down at him, a huge smirk appeared on his face. He shook his head.

  “I don’t think so,” he said mockingly and mounted the horse, gently pushing me aside to take his place as the rider in charge. My heart almost exploded out of my chest at having him so close to me.

  Maya giggle
d nervously and mounted a white, lean, graceful mare, with a gray and black mane. She shot Enoch a look of disgust as she kicked the mare into a slow gallop. Enoch bent over not the least perturbed and whispered “ride Gale” in his horse’s left ear as we took off. The horse launched forward powerfully, jerking me backwards and forcing me to grab onto Enoch’s shirt simultaneously pulling him back into me. He laughed while I attempted to hide my embarrassment by trying to compose myself quickly; before he could figure out that I had lied about being on a horse before. We raced past the others. Willard looked on, wide-eyed and waving eagerly when we shot past him. His brown and white patched horse bucked wildly, causing all the utensils to clatter together in a loud symphony of metal against metal. It would appear we were going to camp out. Sam would be so mad – all my peers would be so envious should they ever discover my new found freedom. Perhaps, life outside our city was in my destiny too, I smiled to myself. Willard snapped back to attention as the bucking of his stallion became almost uncontrollable, his eyes hastily returned to his horse as he steadied him again. I laughed softly and could feel Enoch’s body shaking as he joined in. Suddenly, I forced myself to tense up. I am too relaxed around this arrogant jerk, I reprimanded myself. He has to know that I am still angry with him. I stiffened my body a bit too much, feeling it when my behind bounced up and hit back down onto the horse’s spine making me cringe a little in anguish. Apparently, bare-back was the way to go? My body resisted and anticipated every unbearable hit after that. A while later, Enoch slowed the horse with a tight pull of the reigns. He turned his chin back toward me. “Stop resisting, or this is going to be a very long ride for you.” I could see him grin – he knew. “We have a long way to go.” He sneered.

  “Okay!” I shouted back, the heat flaring up in my cheeks once again.

  “First off…” he said, taking my hands and tightening them around his waist. My stomach twisted with pleasure at the touch of his rock hard abs, and at the discomfort of ever being so close to a man. Enoch was much older than I was. He must have been in his late teens, if not early twenties. My cheeks burned a steady glow at that thought.

  “Despite what you think, I won’t bite you.” He said, all knowing.” Now, move closer,” his arm bent back and pulled my body to meet his. I almost shook with horror. “Lock your arms around my waist and hold the horse’s spine between your thighs. Try to move with the horse, instead of against it.”

  “Become one with the horse!” Tatos yelled from a few paces in front of us where he had stopped to stare at us in amusement. I felt myself twitch at the revelation that someone had been watching us. Against my better judgment, I savored the feel of muscle beneath my fingers as I slowly laced them together. I was feeling a guy up! What had gotten into me? Why had Maya not insisted I ride with her? Don’t be scared, I determinedly ordered myself. I knew that this was not the time to be afraid. I needed to let go and stop over-thinking everything. Constantly fighting situations I didn’t agree with was tiring. Overnight, I had become ‘wild’, acting against our teachings as future diplomats of the last humans; or were we? As we accelerated at a steady pace, I considered the horse’s rhythm. I allowed myself to relax my grip, finally coming to terms with the feeling of Enoch’s muscles flexing underneath my touch. As I felt Enoch indulge in my grasp, I felt things between us change as well. Despite myself, I warmed up to the idea of him. I took in the beautiful landscape. My heart ached at the splendor of my surroundings. On one side, a deep turquoise ocean danced around us while the white powdery glow of the three moons stole some moments through the dark purple clouds against an early amethyst afternoon sky. Dark rocks closed us off on the other side in contrast to the blues and greys hugging the shoreline. They steadily climbed the horizon and ended in dark mounds that were shooting out of razor sharp rocks. This formed the base of Mount Inja. Savoring my surroundings was not enough; I felt a great loss come over me. A blanket of loneliness wrapped its dark embrace over my inability to share my feelings with others. It was a loss I had never identified with before. There was a hole deep inside of my being, and this hole was growing by the minute. I realized for the first time what my soul had been crying out for all that time. Never before had I felt such a deep need to share an experience with someone else, no matter how enchanting it was, but in that moment I wanted to share the intensity that the scenery held for me. I wanted someone to see the view through my eyes. For the first time I had succumbed to the feeling of the need – the need to be loved and to love. The Council would disapprove of my emotions. And at that, it all fell into place – our meetings, my meetings with Kim, perhaps these meetings kept the emotions at bay? Hypnotherapy? As I looked down at the coarse white sand, and watched the horse’s hooves kick up a fine spray of water around us, I felt guilty that Sam wasn’t the one I was sharing this scene with. Sam had been my everything for a very long time. I felt out of place without her. The steady hush of the ocean was only interrupted by a rhythmic beat caused by the waves crashing onto the rocks lined up beside us. A powerful energy buzzed all around me. The smells and sounds surrounding me lifted my spirits so high, that I almost felt intoxicated. The beach provided me with the peace I had been seeking all along. When I closed my eyes and focused on the stillness it brought to my mind, I started seeing colors I had never seen before. I saw blues and greens, white and silver. I felt weightless, invigorated and mentally strong, and most importantly I felt resilient enough to just be myself. The rhythm of the ride overpowered me and I drifted into nothingness. Silence droned through my mind, for the first and last time.

  “Ava?” Maya’s voice pulled me back to reality. I must have fallen asleep as I hadn’t realized that we had come to a complete halt.

  “Hungry?” Maya looked up at me, her eyes blinking expectantly.

  She had a sandwich in each hand. She held one out to me and took a bite of the other. I swung my legs over the horse with both Enoch and Willard rushing to my aid. I blushed. Enoch glowered at Willard, pushed him aside and lifted me from the horse, his two hands wrapped firmly around my hips sent ripples of pleasure through my core. I tried not to stare at him as I descended, but I couldn’t stop myself from momentarily stealing a moment to look in his eyes. They were the eyes that had saved me from falling to my death. He held my gaze until my feet touched the ground. I then did something so unlike me; I turned and walked away, leaving him staring after me. My stomach churned – I was playing a dangerous game. Maya beckoned for me to join her on the flat surface of a nearby rock away from the others. Once we were seated, she shot me a solid stare.

  “I assume you had a great ride then?” She asked with a judging stare.

  I just smiled and laughed softly. She turned away from me. I breathed in deeply and smelled the freshness of the banana seed loaf. Clumsily, I took a bite and silently swore as it crumbled in my hands.

  “Like this… see?” Maya demonstrated as she adjusted my grip around the thick slice. I took a bite, chewed and swallowed. As I kept an unnerving eye at the crumbs falling into my lap, Enoch approached with something that looked like a flask. It was hard to tell as our technology was way ahead of theirs. He was clasping the flash with such force that his knuckles had turned white. Was he nervous around me? The thick leather-bound tip of the bow strapped across his back peeked over his shoulder. Behind him stood Willard, his hand wrapped around the hilt of his sword.

  “You think you have enough weapons between the four of you?” I asked, catching a glimpse of the dagger wedged inside of Maya’s boot. Then my eyes fell to Tatos where he stood between Enoch and Willard, sharpening the tip of an arrow as he looked into the distance, scanning the scenery behind us. Inside his brown sheath made up of what could only be real leather, a dozen more arrows taunted me. I hated weapons.

  “One can never be too sure in unmarked territory,” he said.

  Enoch smiled faintly as he held out the flask for me to take. I looked down at my hands where the bread was balanced perfectly between my fingers. The crumbs stu
ck to the exterior of my gloves. Maya took the flask from him and shooed them away with a wave of her free hand. Her cheeks stuffed with bread, she tried to smile; crumbs fell from the corners of her mouth. Laughing out loudly, I kept my eyes on Maya’s amused face trying hard not to squash what was left of my slice. Eating so much food in one day was uncustomary for our kind. One meal a day was all we needed to keep up our strength and our bodily survival. But, when push came to shove, we could survive weeks without real food – that was our design. She spat out the remainder of the crumbs as she too burst out laughing. Her laughter rang throughout the small valley and I found myself following the sound with my eyes. A few steps away, the bushes parted where a small stream leaked into the ocean. Lush, dark green ferns hid what might have been a beautiful river. I squinted up at the sky. It must have been midday but it was hard to tell as the sun was hidden behind chunky, dark, gray clouds once again. Swallowing the last bite of my bread, I unlaced my boots, set them aside and lay back on the flat surface of the rock feeling the cold tickle of the breeze on my toes. It reminded me that I was still some part mortal. The way my mother described our existence in her journals, made me think otherwise.

  “Enoch is obviously trying his best to make up for his behavior yesterday,” Maya said.

  “Well, I think he might not be so scared of a human girl anymore,” I replied chuckling, but I found that I was the only one laughing.

  Slowly opening one eye, I looked in the direction of Maya who was sitting on the rock peering down at me, her arms hugging her knees, and I studied her face. She wore a look I couldn’t quite decipher, the same look she gave me earlier that morning before Arriana had interrupted us.