Chapter One(not yet titled)

A Chapter by Kevin Taylor

Rem leaned back, extended his arms, straightened his legs, arched his back. His muscles still felt stiff, stiffer than they ought to.

He readjusted himself in his seat, and sighed deeply.

Out the window was a dull green world, speckled with mountains, all rushing by at quite a speed. Thick gray clouds drifted lazily across the sky, seeming to keep pace with the train.
The scene was what some may call "beautiful".

Rem turned back to his table with indifference.

His letter was gradually lengthening with each of his calculated pen-strokes, which were made with a certain sullenness on Rem's part. He paused for a moment to give it a read.

They've taken her. My sister, they've taken her from me. I don't know why, and I could care less. I don't know who, and I intend to find out.
I've failed her. I promised her, gave her my word that this would never happen again, that she'd never be taken again.
I've failed her, like my father failed me.
The one man who I vowed I would never become, I am turning into. And it's ripping me apart.
I can't think straight anymore. My mind is dull, and my memories have become foggy. Either I am thinking of her more and more, or thinking of everything else less and less. The only coherent images in my mind anymore are those of her. Kite...

Rem narrowly succeeded in stopping himself from tearing the paper in two. He sighed again, and pocketed the scrap of paper and the pen. He didn't want to see it anymore, didn't want to think anymore.

But he knew he had no such luxury. He was on this journey to find his sister, and he knew he'd have to stay alert, lest some clue as to her whereabouts go unnoticed.

Rem tried to remember the last thing he said to her, to Kite, but no memories came. His head began to hurt. All he remembered was the bright, blond, boyish little girl heading off to school, with everything in the world perfectly fine. Then class had ended, and she was nowhere to be found. Then the sun had set, and she was nowhere to be found.

That was over a month ago.

Rem felt tired, and slumped in his seat.
What else could he remember? Little else, he found. And what he did recall was hazy, indistinct.

He remembered a warm summer evening, with a clear sky and police lights illuminating a warehouse entrance. He was holding Kite, holding her tightly. Rem couldn't remember what Kite had said, but she said very little. He told her it would be okay, told her it was over now, told her she was home, told her it was safe. He meant every word of it. He told her he was sorry, a thousand times over, told her she'd never be taken again. He meant every word of this too, meant it with all his heart. But, he thought, it was still a lie.

Rem's head hurt more and more, and the sound of the train car clambering along the tracks only made matters worse. But he was tired, and he decided he'd sleep through the ride, and through the pain. There was still a ways to go.
...
"But that's not the issue here! Are you even listening to me?"

"It all comes back to party allegiance in the end. Even you have to admit that."

Rem lifted his head from his arms. He regretted his nap instantly upon awaking, stretching and rubbing his incredibly sore back.

A pair of young men now occupied the neighboring booth. They had presumably boarded while Rem slept. They were a loud, obnoxious bunch, who can't keep their opinions to themselves, and their voices to their booth, Rem thought.

"The Persistence acquired the land for economic reasons, you idiot. It had nothing to do with partisanship."

"That's a right lie! My brother works up in the capitol and he told me himself that Loffman took the land to keep the Union Party on his side."

"First of all, I doubt your brother in Steinway'd know a damn thing about the deal, it's the military that acquired it. And secondly, Consul Loffman doesn't need the party on his side, he runs the whole damn country, for god's sake."

"And the Persistence has been going downhill ever since he was elected! And besides, just because you're the bloody consul don't mean a thing if you haven't got the senate and fed council on your side. And do you know how you get that support? Party Allegiance."

Rem rubbed his eyes, then his temples.

"But if you've got the entire House in your pocket, parties don't matter anymore; Union, Labor, all trivial!"

Rem ran a hand through his black, eye length sweep of hair.

"But regardless of how much money you've got, or how much you give, politics is still, in the end, a matter of ideologies!"

Rem inhaled deeply, and narrowed his already narrow, slanted dark eyes.
"It's not about ideologies! It's about power! And what's money but little paper bits of power?"
His pale skin flushed.

"Money only goes so far? Corrupt and greedy as politicians can be, they still have to believe in something!"

The nostrils of his tapered nose flared.

"Oh, don't you lecture me about beliefs, you apolitical little atheist!

Rem stood, and slammed his fist on the table.

"Why the hell do the two of you have to talk so loud!"

Rem's shout silenced the debaters.

One of the young men stood to protest.

"Hey! You ought-- Ah..."

But upon rising, and getting a proper view of Rem from across the car's hall, he quietened.

"That uniform...?"

He directed a finger at Rem's torso, at the dark, somewhat formal military uniform he wore.

"And..."

He raised his finger upwards, towards Rem's face,and took on a scrutinizing expression, the expression of a man trying very hard to place a name to a familiar face.
Then the man took on a new look, one of resignation and defeat.

"Uh... my apologies, sir..."

All standing returned to their seats, and quietly.
...
"We are now arriving at the station, please remain seated." the intercom advised, harshly, due to the quality of it's speakers.

The two young men got up, and gathered their things. Rem drew a pile of dark cloth, his mantle, from his lap and gave his eyes a final rub.

The clacking of wheel on track lessened in tempo, till it finally came to a stop.

"Thank you, the train has come to a complete stop. It is now safe to exit."

An electronic beep sounded, and the doors grumbled open. A cold wind whipped through the car.

Rem stood up, draped his mantle about his shoulders, left his booth, and exited the train.

prev chapter