Chapter 3

B

 

y ten o’clock everyone in my hall had already fallen asleep or weren’t anywhere near their rooms. I decided it was the best time to sneak out of my room to see Narreed.

       Walking through Metrial I could hear people talking, laughing, and sharing stories- even in that late hour. Laughing…I didn’t remember the last time I had laughed. Two, three month’s maybe. Longer? Laughing seemed like a dream to me now, but I knew that it would come to me sooner or later.

       More and more talking filled my ears on the way to Metrial’s one and only hospital.  There aren’t many people who got sick in Metrial, or get into some kind of horrible accident. When me and Mother had first come here, people from all over Zilponla had been filled into the hospital. Many of them died because how bad their wounds were or because they weren’t used to their environment that they had a total mental breakdown in the hospital before the doctors could stick a needle in their arms. I was almost one of those people who had died because of breakdowns. I was said to be a miracle child. Me surviving my attack and making my way back to Metrial with another boy was more a miracle than anything that had ever happened there. This certainly didn’t help me at all. If you haven’t noticed, I’m not one for attention. Well, not anymore, anyways…

        The doors leading to the hospital were wide open. I honestly expected them to be closed and locked which would have given me the excuse to go back to my room and sleep like I had been for the past five, almost six, days. 

         I walked in slowly, expecting a nurse to guide me out of the hospital. Well, that’s another expectation that didn’t happen. Most of the lights in the halls were off, and practically all of the hospital rooms were empty and very, very vacant. I slipped past the office where the doctors spent most of their time, but I heard little conversation. It seemed like a ghost town in there

         The door to Narreed’s hospital room was open, and the lamp next to the bed was on- just barley flickering on and off every now and then. He sat up in his bed, holding a book in his hand. I didn’t see how he could read. He had to have been in a lot of pain, and his right eyebrow was swollen to the point it covered most of his eye. Yet he read like he couldn’t do anything else in the world- which, at the time, was probably true.

         His breathing was regular and peaceful, unlike mine that was staggered and uneasy. He slowly looked up from his book and stared straight into my eyes. He wasn’t surprised at my sudden entrance- or, at least, he didn’t act like it- and he gave a smile. His teeth were perfectly white, and his eyes were pure chocolate…like looking into the deepest part of space. Something I couldn’t have been able to see in the dark, and something I defiantly have remembered.

         “Hello,” Narreed said patiently, “I reckon you’re Annabe?”

         “Yes,” I said, “of course. I wouldn’t be anybody else, now would I?”

          He shrugged and nodded. “Yes, I guess so. You don’t get much visitors when you don’t know nobody around, do you?”

          “I guess so.” I leaned on the door seal and looked Narreed in the eyes again. Mesmerized by his eyes I couldn’t speak for a second, until his voice brought me back into reality.

          “In case you didn’t get it that night, my name is Narreed Gastly. Weird, yes, I know. Based off of your names here, though, it’s no more crazy than mine. And I’m guessin’ you want a back-story?”

           “No, no. That’s okay. I don’t need your life story. I’m fine with being free of unhappy memories.”

            “How do you know their unhappy?” He asked in an even more calm, casual tone.

            I slumped into the door even more, burying my shoulder in the crease of the door.  “Well…there can’t be anything good about your past, can there? If so, I guess I’m just used to bad news. It’s not anything new to me, trust me.”

            “Believe me, I’ve had my fair amount of bad news in my life, and nothing really benefitted off of anything in my life, either.” He paused trying to think about something to say next. “And I can tell you have had enough bad in your life…am I correct?”

            “Yes, you are correct. I’ve tried to forget about all that lately. Being alone helps clear the mind. And yet, something about me being alone seemed to make me fell…alone. For the first time in years, actually.”

             “If it helps, alone was practically me first word. Well, help was first, but alone is a close second.” He added, “My parents abandoned me when I was two, three weeks old. If it wasn’t for the housekeeper, Ameria I probably would have died. Only a year and a half ago did they take me from the housekeeper who I had been calling Mother since I could recognize her face. They gained custody of me, and ever since things for me haven’t been the best, like I said. They started to beat me at night after they fed me the rest of their dinner they hadn’t eaten. They locked me in closets for days until they felt I had learned a ‘lesson’.”

             “That’s terrible,” I said trying to control my twitching hand behind my back. “What kind of parent would do something like that?”

             “Parents who were getting paid to beat their child senselessly,” he muttered.

             “What?” I asked, “You mean to tell me that your parents were being paid to beat you to the point you were in a coma?”

             He nodded. “But it gets worse, you know. The man and woman in those hills who had attacked you are my parents.” My jaw dropped. I didn’t need to say what I was thinking. He read my expression. “This is defiantly not something I would make up, not at all. Crazy, I know, unimaginable even. Something’s are worse than others. It also goes to show you how uncivilized and heartless people have become. And it’s going on all over Zilponla.”

             “Wait,” I stuttered. “You actually live in Zilponla?”

             “Yes,” he nodded raising his eyebrow- the one that wasn’t swollen. “Why is that so surprising?”

        “Zilponla get destroyed by bombs years ago, when I was four or five. That was eleven years ago. It was said to be uninhabitable for years- or at least that’s what I was told. How are you living in Zilponla? My mother and I were never to go back to our home there.” I shook my head, trying to clear my mind jumbled with questions.

        “How are you living in Zilponla?” I repeated.

        “I’ve been living in Zilponla ever since I can remember. There was no evidence of destruction of the city-state. Nothing. No pictures or documents telling about this…Are you sure bombs destroyed Zilponla? You must surely have the wrong city-state.” I could see the confusion sketched across his face. There was no way he would know about the bombing that stuck out in my memory like a bad dream…because it was.

        “How old are you?” I asked him. My whole arm was having a spasm attack now. He didn’t answer. “Please just answer the question.”

        “Fourteen years old. Only a year or two younger than you. Why?”

        “And you don’t remember any life before Zilponla at all?”

        “I told you already. I’ve lived in Zilponla since I could remember. If the bombing happened like you say it did, then I was only three years old, Annabe. It’d be a miracle if I could remember that far back.”

        My heart pounded in my chest. I could feel it pounding, and I could hear it, too. I had the puzzle pieces but none of them fit. I hate puzzles.

        Narreed slides his legs over to the side of his bed revealing scarred, thin things that only seemed to dangle. He looked down at the tiled floor, and then grazed his eyes towards me. He noticed my anxious expression crossed across my face. “You don’t have to stay, you know; if I’m making you uncomfortable an all.” He looked back down, setting his feet down on the cold floor.

        “You aren’t making me uncomfortable, Narreed,” I said trying not to show any kind of discomfort I may have been hiding secretly. “I’m just not used to see people as skinny and frail as you are, especially not a man.” I added.

      I tried to read the expression planted on his face, but he masked his emotions well. Something there in his pale beige face seemed to be hiding something, I was sure of that, but there was something there he didn’t want to share with the girl who had saved him from freezing during the night while losing a lot of blood. Yes, there’s nothing I would tell her if she was asking questions that might help her solve her mental puzzle…

        Narreed shrugged his shoulders and slumped over his legs. There are more things going on in his head right then than I did, I realized that. I still wanted answers.

        “It’s getting late,” I told Narreed, “I think I’m going to go back to my room now and rest. I’m very tired.”

        “You don’t have to go now,” he retorted.

        “No, Narreed, I’m serious. We both need our sleep, and you already know we’ll need it for something.” I stood straight up- startled by the stiffness in my neck- and say, “Goodnight, Narreed. Maybe I’ll see you in the morning.”

        I look back at him before I walk out of the hospital room. His eyes were no longer observing my every move, but scanning the room around him like he hadn’t been there for five, almost six, days.

        “Are you okay?” I asked.

        He was far off into another world while he looked around his hospital room, in a daze, and didn’t answer me. In fact, he didn’t answer me. He wasn’t ignoring me, though, and I sure was glad he wasn’t. I’ve been ignored, and it’s absolute torture.

        I looked at him once more before I left the room. He was still in a daze, but since he wasn’t paying any attention to me I thought then was the best time to leave. When I walked away, of course, he noticed. But this time he didn’t call after me. His eyes were no longer wandering the walls of the compact room but not on me, either. I couldn’t feel his eyes, and, as far as I knew, he had his eyes closed and had fallen asleep. All I really knew was that he didn’t call for me to come back. That’s all I knew…

        

 

        The next morning was full of surprises. I was called to Command �" again �" but this time by Segreth. He didn’t seem happy, nor did he seem unhappy. He was with Slackley, but she was in the corner eating something covered in jelly.

        Segreth sat at the table in the middle of the room- in the same place I had first seen him- with his hands folded on the table. His expression was blank, even more so than normal. He couldn’t have looked more dreadful than I had, and I’d never seen him like that before. I didn’t plan on, either.

          “Well, good morning to you, too,” I said thinking it might cheer him up just a bit. It didn’t. “What’s wrong now, Segreth? You’re not leaving again, are you?”

          “No, I’m not...well, not yet at least.” His eyes hadn’t looked towards me.

           “Then why do you want me right now?”

           “Well, I’ve been told that you went to see the boy in the hospital, yes?”

           “Why’re you acting so serious Segreth?” I asked. “I’m Annabe, remember? Not one of the Commanders.”    

           “I know, Annabe,” he replied, “but there are something’s that need to be more serious than others…Anyways, back to my question.”

            “It wasn’t really a question, though,”

            “Annabe,”

            “Okay, yes, fine! I did! Are you happy now? Can go back to my room and get some sleep for once?”

            “Annabe, you’re just asking for trouble, aren’t you?” Segreth muttered loud enough so that I could hear. “That boy-”

            “You don’t have to call him that boy, Segreth. His name is Narreed.”

            He brushed my comment to the side, “He’s not mentally or physically stable for you to be walking into his hospital room without any supervision. He could have attacked you, Annabe, and without anybody to protect you it could become fatal.”

             “But he didn’t attack me, Segreth. Nothing bad happened.” I looked him straight in the eye. “And frankly I am highly offended about you thinking I can’t protect myself.”

              “I don’t think you can’t protect yourself, Annabe, I just don’t want anything bad to happen to you if I’m not there.”

              “So you think you can handle a tuff situation better than I can?” I sighed, “Jeeze thanks!  You’re so very reassuring, you know!” I got up from my seat, rolling my eyes. But Segreth was faster. He quickly got up and around the table to grab my arm before I could walk out of Command.

              “Annabe, you know what I mean,” Segreth says, “I’m not trying to sound offensive-”

              “You are, though…” I mumbled.

             “But right now you’re not able to handle something like that right now, not in the state you’re in.” I looked at me but I didn’t meet his eyes. “It’s not that I don’t think you’re able to defend yourself, it’s just that I don’t want you to get hurt…again.”

              This time I looked at him. He had his eyes locked on mine- a different scene than a few minutes before- and it didn’t seem like they were ever going to move away from my eyes. “Do you know the whole story, though?” I asked him.

               “What do you mean?”

               “Narreed told me what actually happened that night, Segreth, why he was in the hills.” We sat back down at the table. Still his eyes hadn’t moved. “His parents were trying to murder him. He said something about them getting paid to do so. Apparently they thought they did because the women said that they got the job done and then they left. The only reason the man attacked me was because he thought I was trying to save Narreed- which I was of course, but you already know how that turned out.” I turned to see his expression. It was happier than it was when I had walked in.

                “Keep going,” he urged.

                “Oh…anyways, the big thing about this is that he came from Zilponla, and he told me that he had been living there since he could remember. I’m pretty sure that Zilponla was repopulated with people after the bombings and the original people are still living in those camps.”

                 We heard a crash behind us. Segreth and I turned to see what had broken, and we found Slackley cleaning the remains of her tea cup. She looked panicked- like something had come out of nowhere and scared her half to death.

                 Segreth got up to help her pick up the broken shards of glass from the ground and threw them in the trash. “What’s wrong, Commander?” He asked.

                She turned to me, ignoring Segreth completely, and said, “You said that the boy told you he came from Zilponla? That…that he had been living there since he could remember and that there was no evidence of any kind of bombing?”

             “Yes Commander.”

             “That’s impossible. Zilponla couldn’t have been repopulated that quickly.” Slackley said rushed. “The bombs dropped caused massive radiation problems throughout the whole country. There’s no way any kind of living being could survive the radiation…” she looked up at me. I could see in her eyes that she was worried about something very important. “Narreed couldn’t have come from Zilponla. It’s physically impossible for anything living to be alive after that many years of being exposed to radiation.”

              “What about those thousands of people in the camps, though?” Segreth asked. “Where have they been hidden for eleven years?”

              “Who’s to say they’re still alive in the first place?” Slackley exclaimed. “Most of them probably didn’t make it out of the country in time.”

              “We need to find out, though.” I spoke up. “There’s no way to know if any of this is true without seeing it for ourselves, right?” Segreth and Slackley stared at me. “What? It’s true, isn’t it?”

              “Yes, but-”

              “Wait,” Segreth said, “if this boy, Narreed, is telling the truth and wasn’t under some kind of trance because of the pain killers, wouldn’t he have signs of radiation on him?”

              “Yes, of course!” Slackley exclaimed, “If he’s actually telling the truth he’d have traces of radiation in his system!” She quickly made her way to the phone planted on the wall near the countertop. She punched in the numbers to the hospital and spoke rapidly I could understand what she was saying, even though I already knew what she was talking about and who she was talking to.

               When she put the phone down she had to catch her breath. She looked up at me- my face struck with awe- and told me to go to the hospital. She ordered Segreth to go with me but with a quiet voice. I left the room, but Slackley kept Segreth back. Probably something about security- my security actually. He came out quietly and grabbed my arm pulling me up the stairs.  I tried to pry is hand off of my arm, but he had such a tight grip I couldn’t even budge his already stiff arm. I could tell he didn’t really want to see Narreed, but for whatever reason, he was.

          I felt the goose-bumps crawl up my arm, just barely reaching my neck, as we walked into the hospital. Like the night before, it was a ghost town except for the voices coming from the lounge from down the hall. It wasn’t dark, though, and the only light was coming from Narreed’s bedroom.

           I expected to find some kind of doctor waiting for us. There was none. Segreth was distracted with his own thoughts, too busy looking around to find someone, so I tore my arm from his grip and walked down the hall towards Narreed’s room. He yelled something at me like “Annabe, what the hell are you doing?” or “Annabe, wait!” Maybe both, but I didn’t care enough to listen.

           Everything seemed to go quiet when my footsteps pounded across the hall, Segreth’s voice bouncing off the walls. The lounge wasn’t flamboyant and obnoxious as I passed it, but I could hear the whispers of the nurses.

           Narreed’s room was quiet as well. I walked in suspecting him in his bed reading the same book as he was the night before. He was in neither position. His book had disappeared and so had he.        

            Segreth was nearing me by the time the light in the room flickered on so suddenly. I could hear footsteps coming into the room from another direction, but I couldn’t find the source of the footsteps. I knew it wasn’t Segreth, though. I could feel his presence behind me.

             I guess he could feel just how tense I had become, so he said, “There’s nothing to worry about. It’s just one of the doctors,”

             “Where is he coming from?” I asked, “I don’t see him…”

             “Operation Room,” he responded, “They just finished surveying and testing the boy.”  

             “His name is Narreed, Segreth.”

             “Sorry,” Segreth said not so sympathetically.

             Segreth walked towards the doctor, who came out of nowhere, and whispered something. The doctor, whose nametag said Dr. Llorsh, looked at me and back at the ground. He nodded, and they walked towards the back of the room.

             “Wait,” I said, “am I allowed to see him?”

             “I don’t think that’s a very good idea.” Segreth said.

              “No, no, she’s allowed in. After all, she is the one who started this whole matter.” The doctor flashed me a wink- totally something I was not used to seeing.

              I could tell Segreth wasn’t happy by the look on his face, but he went with it and acted like he didn’t care.

              When we walked into the operation room, my eyes had to adjust to the blinding light emanating from the fluorescents above. I could see Narreed sitting in a chair in the middle of the room. By the look on his face I could tell he was just comfortable as I was in the room- which wasn’t comfortable at all. Once he saw me, his eyes lit up. That is, until he saw who I was with.

                Four other doctors were crowded around a table on the other side of the room, whispering in hushed voices about the data the probably collected. Dr. Llorsh joined the doctors and talked to them, probably the same thing Segreth told him.

                They looked back at Narreed a couple of times before Llorsh came back to Segreth and me.

                “There are signs of radiation in is blood stream, but it’s very low,” Dr. Llorsh admitted, “and we have been asking him questions, but he won’t answer any of our questions.” He looked at me, “Do you think you would be able to get anything out of him?”

                I saw it coming; I knew he was going to ask, but not so soon. Segreth whispered in my ear, “Do it. We don’t need you going full blown emotional like you do- all the time �" but we need information.”

                I nodded, but I knew what he meant. Technically, he’s telling me not to be me, but like someone official like him.

                I sauntered my way towards Narreed, who now had his head in his head. He looked up at me, but he already knew what was coming for him.

                I put my hand on his shoulder when I got to him. I could tell he was on the edge; his shoulders were tense.

                “Are you okay?” I asked him gently.

                “They stuck needles in my arms.” He trembled.

                “You get used to it after a while,” I gave him a weak smile, but he didn’t smile back. “Narreed, it’s okay. They’re just trying to get the information they need.  Apparently something big is going on, but they haven’t told me, and I bet they haven’t told you anything.”

                “Nothing. They….just dragged me into this room.”

                “Don’t worry. Like I said, they’re just trying to get the information they need. Can you tell me anything you haven’t already told me?”

                 “Information…”

                 “Yes, I just need a little.” I remarked.

                 “I can’t go home.” he said chillingly, “I don’t want to go back home.”

                  “You don’t have to, you just need to give us…me answers.”

                  He paused for a second before saying, “I already told you. Everything is fine. I was abandoned and then they came to take me-”

                   “That’s not what I was talking about. I need to know more about what’s going on in Zilponla. Who’s running the place? Who’s been making the laws, the rules? Do you know anything about the people who left?”

                   “You sound like one of them…” Narreed choked.

                   “Don’t remind me…and please just answer me. You can already tell that I don’t like this, and I can tell you don’t like this. So, just get it over with by answering my questions.”

                   “Oltenae. Commander Oltenae is the ruler of Zilponla. He’s not someone you’d want to meet. He’s more like a tyrant than a commander, though.”

                   “That name sounds familiar,” I observed. I looked behind my shoulder to Segreth. “Can you write all of this down? Can you look up Oltenae? The name sounds so familiar, but I don’t know why…”

                  “But, Oltenae is not the one who makes the laws. He has his Commander Council to decide the laws, but they don’t really benefit us. The laws just restrict us from things you would be able to do.” Narreed continued. “If you say that there was a bombing on Zilponla, then it would make sense. There are jobs were people are cleaning up after past explosions from nuclear plants that once were there.”

                   “There were no nuclear plants in Zilponla at any time, not that I know of.” I said. I looked back and nodded to Segreth. “You know what to do.” He nodded back. “Go on, Narreed.”

                   “My mother �" the one that took me in �" had a husband that worked as a Clean-Up, but he was killed by the radiation. I guess radiation from home and the clean-up radiation was just too much for him.”

                   “But how is it that you had only a little signs of radiation in his bloodstream” Llorsh asked. “It’s very unlikely that that would happen.”

                    “He wasn’t really home too often,” Narreed continued, “He normally slept at camps where-”

                    “Camps?” I asked suddenly, “Did you say camps?” Narreed nodded. “What kind of camps? Who lives there?”

                    “I don’t know. I think my father said something about workers who’ve been living with their families and working there for a while.”

                    I nodded, thinking that there was more to that he just didn’t know or he wasn’t telling me. “Is that all you know?” Narreed nodded. “Okay. I think you’re tired. Maybe we should all rest. We’ve all had a long day, so maybe you’ll remember in the morning.” I got up from my squat position and said, “Goodnight. I’ll see you in the morning, everybody.”

                   

 

                           ********               

 

                       Once I got to the room, I closed the door, processing the information Narreed told us, but none of it really made any sense. All I really knew was that the name Oltenae sounded very familiar from somewhere, and that there were these camps people lived. He said something about workers living there, but that doesn’t really fit. His “father” was a worker, but he didn’t really just live there. Yes, he stayed there most of the time, but he didn’t live there all the time. And why w0ud only his father live there and not him and his mother? I mean, the workers that live there lived there with their families. I didn’t quite make sense, but then again, I didn’t really know the whole story yet, and I still needed more information.

                   But that’s when it hit me.

                   Those people aren’t just workers.

                   They are the original Zilponlans