Endless Evergreen

 

 

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Chapter (15): Endless Evergreen

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This can't be right. We did not arrive here just to be concealed in the dark, like double-crossing rats. I bowed to catch my breath. The three girls stood behind in the dark alley also exhausted from suddenly running that fast. I frowned deeper so that he might notice and direct his eyes properly at me, "I never agreed to this in the first place! We shouldn’t have run like that and left the car behind!" I almost spat,

 

"Keep your voice down." Adam's baby blue eyes frowned back. Nara's brown ones uncomfortably scanned the grimy walls between the convenient store and the gas station warehouse.

 

"Jad, the...these men were chasing us like crazy! And I don't know for how long I can hold this invisible field." Aseel said in between the exhales. Nara's nose scrunched at the unwanted litter here and there, "It stinks…"

 

"Also," Aseel continued, "our metrocle is a long way from here--"

 

"Can't you teleport it?" Adam suggested.

 

Aseel's eyebrows puckered upwards in confusion, "B-But I just told you I could barely keep hold of the invisible field, how can I teleport the vehicle at the exact same time?"

 

"Then unleash the field."

 

"What!? Those soldiers would instantly find us."

 

"Just until you can get the car to the other end of this alley."

 

Aseel uncertainly batted her eyelashes behind the glasses, "But--"

 

"Trust me."

 

She sighed, circling an invisible sphere in her palms, "It's easy when you sit back and talk, Adam. I won't promise it'll work, I've already used up too much stamina." He slightly opened his mouth to protest when it suddenly flashed across my mind.

 

"The pass cards.." My head jolted, "I forgot them in the pocket of the backseat." I walked past him, but Adam's hand clasped my left arm. I winced at the hurt beneath the inflamed injury.

 

"They're still near by. You can't get out of the field, you know tha--" "No, I don't know." I tried to yank my arm off his grip… still trying,   "Even if they do catch me, that woman promised she'd grant us permission to cross the borders!"

 

"She promised you nothing. Where did that story come from--"

 

"And without the pass cards, we won't pass-- Let… go!"

 

He did the opposite, easily pinning me in between the dark passage wall and his torso, "You're too troublesome and too loud." He whispered tilting his head and diving closer with no permissions, sopping up the remaining bits of my breath. My eyelids jumped up and I melted in his heat amidst the bitter cold.

 

"Okay!" Aseel exhaled turning back towards us with an encouraged smile, "It-It worked! The metrocle is right behind the--" her face turned scarlet, and my sister's eyes almost popped out. Wounded wrists locked painfully against the wall, my attempt to escape his stubborn lips were in vain, and the protests came out of my throat more like moans of delight. I wished I could vanish or instantly erase their memories.

 

 

--- --- ---

 

The silence between Adam and me had always been awkward, but after the last scene of tension, it really became awkward.

 

I wondered where he regularly recharged that flawless external confidence even though he'd stepped on other people's nerves recently. I only stole a glance at his undisturbed calm before surrendering to a weak blush. The smooth purr of the engine only made me remember the kiss more clearly.

 

--- --- ---

 

"Ah, hamdulla," Aseel breathed in relief as her feet crunched quickly in the deep snow close to the car, "We're saved."

 

"Didn't I assure you could trust me?" Adam said following behind.

 

--- --- ---

 

I took a glance at where the tears had already dried on her face leaving mushy light-colored lashes that framed the coffee-brown eyes. They stared beyond the glass at the endless evergreen trees that had been there before the fog breathed into the air and the snow fell asleep on the soil.

--- --- ---

 

I gasped, the bunch of us completely freezing in our tracks, our faces varying from horrified to puzzled. Miriam cautiously backed away and Nara buried her face on one side of my jacket. A grotesque brace of skin-color wings trembled in the blood-soaked snow.

 

"Yalla." Adam calmly said as he continued to the car door. I glanced at his back worriedly. He seemed familiar with the terror.

 

"Wait, what is that thing?"

 

"It's not healthy to look back."

 

Its face looked human with an expression of awful pain, but it had deformed, featherless bird-like limbs uneasily twitching on the frosty ground and its eyes were gaping open but they did not see us.

 

"It seem hurt badly." Aseel said.

 

 I wanted to suggest either getting help or bringing the creature to it, but my lips slightly quivered instead, and my sight was disturbed by what I'd been through so far.

 

Adam rolled his eyes with a sigh, his baby-blue focusing on Miriam. The girl slightly flinched, her feet drawing back to hide behind my figure.

 

--- --- ---

 

"You shouldn't have used her that way." I glared sideways at him after a minute of hesitation. Tension was fading away and a teeth-gritting emotion had surged instead.

 

"Used who in what way?" he was not really interested. I frowned, fully averting my eyes towards him.

 

"G-Guys, please." Aseel weakly said, her eyes worriedly shifting between the mirror above her head and the hazy road.

 

"You know what I'm talking about!"

 

"Maybe some music will lighten the mood." A perky immature voice suggested.

 

"Good thinking, Nara." Aseel slightly smiled in relief winding the radio tuning switch.

 

--- --- ---

 

 Pleading whimpers shivered in Miriam's throat as her feet were uprooted from their place and her fragile shoulders were shook.

 

"It's in pain, can you see that?" Adam whispered loudly above her shoulder as he stood behind her.

 

"What are you doing?" I narrowed my eyes.

 

Miriam's eyes wanted to look away but Adam would not let her leave the sight, "Won't you cry for me, Miriam?" his tone was calm but not friendly.

 

"Adam, she does not understand." Aseel reminded. As if he needed a reminder…

 

She tried to turn around, her pleading coffee-brown eyes reaching mine behind her shoulder. Her tongue could not speak but her body entirely implied a: No, "Weren't you the ones who pitied this thing?" Adam reminded back. The girl's chest heaved before the mutated creature slightly twitching, "Only a mermaid's tears can end its suffering."

 

"She's not a mermaid anymore." I said. The sound of Miriam's quickening breath became visible and her pupils dilated above the pale features. "You're frightening her!" I shot angrily. Adam turned fully around to face me. He probably didn't give a s**t if he'd upset any of us. She simply wouldn't drop a tear. Miriam sprinted towards me once her limp shoulders had been released from Adam's palms, bumping into my chest, where she buried her face and pale golden hair. Adam approached upon hearing a weak snivel, turning her face away from my chest with two fingers wringed around her chin, carefully letting the tiny tear on her pale skin sling on his thumb.

 

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"Reports say that these five children lack adult supervision and possibly armed with illegal Shawada. The military force formerly guarding the border post are victims of the--" Aseel winded the tuning switch again. A male voice spoke through a device similar to a transmitter.

 

 "All Units A, M, and Q are requested to head to the Underside District immediately. The suspects were described to be four minor Guardians, armed, dangerous and out of cont--" Nara mindfully turned the radio off, and we fell into Miriam's silence. An anxious female sigh came from the driver's seat, "This is not good."

 

"It's average." Adam replied, "You can't pursue a cause without facing an opponent or two."

 

Average…? My eyebrows twitched, having reached limits of my patience, "An opponent or two…? Are you f*****g aware of what you just said?" He opened his mouth to answer but I stole away the privilege, "We are being chased by military units--D-Didn't you just hear the radio?"  I worriedly pressed my head between my two palms, "We are officially wanted criminals. This wouldn't have happened if we just waited for their Captain's return."

 

Silence. It only infuriated me more, "You know, You…" I continued, "You really need to learn to listen--" "And you need to learn to control these naïve human emotions."

 

I turned my half-open eyes away to the lifting fog ahead. There was a castle-like tower peaking through the mist. Human emotions? So he was like an E.T from a neighboring constellation? "Yeah, what the f**k is that supposed to mean?" I mumbled to myself.

 

"What's up with the cussing?" Nara dryly commented, "It doesn't make you look cool." She heard me?

 

Adam was interrupted before he could think of a cool remark again. The car wheels screeched against the gravel as Aseel pulled over to the right.

 

"That's it." Aseel calmly said signaling with open palms, her voice jumping to a higher sharper tenor, "That. Is. IT! Your bickering was funny in the beginning. But now it's become ridiculous. It is no ones fault we are being chased. Your constant fighting is distracting me and I don't even know where we're going anymore!" She rested her head against the steering wheel with a sigh, "The Underside district is a dangerous wasteland and if we don't find the lodge before nightfall…" her voice slightly wobbled, "we'll all have to--"

 

"Hey, what's that over there?" Nara pointed at the mist.

 

I narrowed my eyes at the glass window, "You mean the Disney Castle thing over--" "Castle!?" Aseel exclaimed, her back shooting up straight, "Th-That's not a castle!" she breathed out in relief, "It's Madam Kamar's lodge!" My head suddenly sloped backwards as the car roared in a vroom, "Ya Allah, you just keep saving me." Aseel's foot squashed the clutch sharing her neurotic overreaction and I held on to the seat belt for my short life.

Author's Note

Chapter 15 has been posted. Reviews? Comments?

Reviews

[Time Crosser]

Love the action and the development of the storyline, i just wish that the characters had become more familier withthe situations they incounter by now.

[Coyote Poetry]

A very strong chapter. I like the feel of real life and the common problems. I like the discussion on using the girl's power. I like the new's announcing their escape. Thank you for excellent chapter.
Coyote