One Awake In All The World-5
568 Words
“This is dawn?” said Candle, looking around at what was really just a brighter version of the same old fog.
“I guess it’s better than dark fog, at least,” said Stiletto.
“Not much of a silver lining if you ask me,” said Candle.
As they walked, Stiletto and Candle combed their warflowers from side to side, ready to open fire at the first hint of aggression from the Skilla.
Stiletto knew the creatures were out there, lurking all around in great numbers...but they didn’t make a sound. She heard neither the clack of a nearby claw nor a distant, screaming cry.
The hairs on the back of her neck wouldn’t stay down. She thought the silence was a lot harder to take than the cacophony of the night before.
Fortunately, Luma perked up enough to interrupt it. Her glittering skin switched from pale gray to turquoise, and her yawns became less frequent.
As she walked along between Stiletto and Candle, Luma tugged Stiletto’s hand. “What happened next?” she said. “When the policeman told the little girl her friend wasn’t nice?”
“Well,” said Stiletto. “The invisible friend told the little girl the policeman was the mean one, so the girl tried to make the policeman go away.”
“Did he?” said Luma.
“No,” said Stiletto.
“But then what?”
Stiletto heard something crack nearby.“To be continued,” she said, staring intently in the direction from which she’d heard the sound.
Instead of pleading with her, as usual, to keep telling the story, Luma turned right around to Candle.
“Did the policeman go away?” she said.
Candle smirked. He kept his eyes and warflower trained on the fog as he picked up the story.
“No,” he said. “He made the invisible friend go away instead.” With forbidden drugs and hardcore psychic acupuncture, he could’ve added, but he left that out.
“Did the policeman and the little girl make friends then?” said Luma.
“The opposite. She hated him.” Candle couldn’t resist taking his eyes off the fog long enough to glance Stiletto’s way. She looked aloof as always, but he was sure he spotted a trace of a smile on her face.
“She hated him?” said Luma.
“Not forever,” said Candle. “As time went on, they got to be friends.”
“Better friends than the invisible friend was,” said Stiletto.
Candle grinned. “Even though they didn’t always get along.”
“You can say that again,” said Stiletto.
“The next thing you know, they were partners,” said Candle.
“And no matter what happened,” said Stiletto, “the little girl was glad the policeman had found her.”
Candle was surprised. He’d caught a flash of emotion in her voice that he hadn’t noticed before.
He looked in Stiletto’s direction. She was looking down at the flash-brain screen on her left forearm, but he had the distinct feeling that she had been looking right at him just an instant before.
Suddenly then, she stopped in her tracks. “The Skilla are gone,” she said.
Candle stopped. “What do you mean, gone?”
“I mean gone,” said Stiletto. “No sign of them on flash sensors.”
Candle looked around at the murk. “Maybe they hate daylight after all.”
“It’s possible.” Stiletto didn’t sound convinced.
“Well,” said Candle, “let’s not look a gift Skilla in the mouth. How far are we from the source of the mechanical vibrations?”
“Less than a kilometer,” said Stiletto.
“Then let’s get moving.” Candle hoisted Luma off her feet and set out at a brisk jog to cover the remaining ground. Stiletto fell in beside him, watching the flash-brain screen for signs of renewed danger.
Luma wrapped her arms around Candle’s neck and held on tight. “Guess what?” she said in his ear.
“What?” said Candle.
“I know what the names are,” said Luma. “The names of the little girl and the policeman.”
“Okay,” said Candle. “What are they?”
“Nona and Pass,” said Luma, and she giggled.
Candle smiled. “Cool,” he said.
“Cool,” said Luma, and then she squeezed her arms more tightly around his neck.
- Writer
