THE AEMONS
Prologue
' I don't know what happened. All I could remember was a sea of fire, shooting in all directions and destroying almost everything that was in its way. I had Kuni with me and I had to protect her. First I hid her in a well but then I took her and tried to run away. The only sound I could hear was shouting, screaming and yelling of people. Everything was destroyed… everything. Nobody was left alive. Nothing lived. I remember falling down and-and… I think I fell unconscious… when I opened my eyes… Kuni and me were…I don't know… in some strange place with skulls and bones. I was scared. I ran away, far away from there. All I knew was that everyone and everything I knew was destroyed and burnt…my parents…my friends…my husband… I had nowhere to go. I just walked until I found civilization and decided to start a new life as a new person before one of those things found me again. I went away from there. Forever. I ended up staying in London with Kuni. I worked as a teacher in London. Everything was going well when… when…when I- ' the tape broke off in the middle. I stared at Natasha's hand, which was holding the player. I could feel tears rising up into my eyes and making everything blur. Natasha's finger gently touched my cheek. I pulled the tears back inside and wiped my eyes.
'So is that all mom left for me? ,' I asked her.
Her gray eyes were filled with tears just like mine. But she managed to hold them in. She opened her mouth to say something, but her voice was not proper. She sniffed once, closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
'I don't know,' she whispered, stroking my hair. 'But this is all I have with me. Your mum told me to give it to you on your eleventh birthday so here you are,' she said as she placed the cassette player on my palm. She closed my fingers around it and sighed. 'Whatever happens… you won't lose it. Promise me'
I bit my lower lip, looking at the player in my hand. There were empty lines playing. I pressed the stop button. 'I promise,' I said.
Natasha nodded and smiled.
'Does that mean she's still alive? ,' I asked, hope rising up to my heart.
Natasha's smile faded. She raised her eyebrows and just stroked my hair for a while. 'I-I don't know,' she said.
'Where is she? Is she okay? Please tell me! ,' I almost yelled with hope. Her expression turned dark and she looked down at the ground. She pursed her lips and a teardrop rolled down her left cheek.
'Sweetheart this-this is going to be difficult for you… right now, as no one can find her, she's been-' her voice trailed away.
'What?' I asked. I wanted to know it this moment. I wanted to know what happened to mom.
Natasha clenched her fists, and she seemed to need a lot of effort to complete the sentence. I held her fingers tight. 'Please tell me,' I said.
She finally opened her eyes. Tears rolled down her right cheek, bringing the mascara onto her fair cheeks.
'She's been declared dead by the corps,' she said. ' We're going to take care of you… and Kuni, this maybe difficult for you, but we're going to be living in different places from now. We cannot live in one place for more than two years. I am going to take care of you. I am. And we'll go anywhere but India. We can't go there even if we want to. I am going to take care of you. You'll get everything you want. Anything and everything. I am going to take care of you…. From this moment…'
I wasn't listening. I couldn't. My senses had gone numb. I held the cassette player tight in my hand. I felt like a broken mirror.
OneI stared at the sight outside the train's window. There was forest everywhere, full of long and tall trees. There was fresh green color everywhere. I pulled my hands out of my jeans' pocket and tried to lift the train window. The irritating 'screech' noise rushed into my ears as it moved up. I looked at the old man sitting on the seat opposite to mine, in the same compartment.
He was giving me a filthy look, which clearly showed that the noise bothered him. 'Sorry,' I mumbled. He muttered something and stuffed his ears with cotton balls, opened a red book with torn pages and started reading.
I just ignored him and lifted the window higher, until the cool breeze brushed the skin on my face. It felt like the nature was celebrating today. I took a deep breath and smiled.
Wait… the wind was getting strong. I decided it would be better if I closed it. I sighed and started pushing it down, when I heard a shout.
I jerked and looked and the man sitting in front of me.
Well nothing was wrong with him (except the angry bull dog face). It was just that the compartment floor was filled with old coffee colored papers, which-incidentally-belonged to his book.
'I am really sorry, please let me do it for you,' I said as I bent down and started picking up the papers, one by one. He muttered something (cursed, to be precise) and started drinking water from his bottle.
I finally finished picking up all the papers, while promising myself that I won't ever buy an old book and read it while traveling in a train just so that there was no other me in this place after twenty years.
'I am so sorry I didn't mean to-'
What was wrong with me?
He just got up with the same bulldog face, took his bags and walked out of the compartment, cursing.
'Um… your papers! ,' I called, looking at the old papers in my hand.
I kept them on his seat, doubtfully, just in case he returned.
I sighed and sat on my seat again, waiting for Nat and Sho.
What if the old man complained to the train staff and they kicked me out of the train?
'Hey Kuni! ,' Nat's voice surprised me. I looked at the compartment door and found her there, with a handful of various foods from the train trolley.
'Oh hey! ,'I exclaimed, smiling. Sho entered in after her, and both of them sat down on the seat in front of mine.
'Where's the other man who was sitting here? ,' Nat asked me, giving me a packet of sweet corn.
'I think he went to another compartment,' I said, looking outside the window.
'Oh,' Nat mumbled.
I cleared my throat. 'Um…when are we going to be in Melbourne? ,' I asked her.
'One more hour,' she answered.
'Another hour? ,' I asked, exhaling.
Nat and Sho together made my world. They were everything to me. From the time my real mother Kurel disappeared, they made me their adopted daughter. They were chosen to be my Godparents, since Nat, Sho and my mother Kurel were best friends from college. Except my real mom, I didn't know any relative, not even my own dad. I was eleven when my mother disappeared mysteriously without saying a single word to anyone.
Not just that, from the time I was given that tape on my eleventh birthday, Nat and Sho started acting weird sometimes. They were hiding something from me. I couldn't get it out of them, though I'd asked them almost a thousand times for now. And they never gave in, no matter how much I pleaded them to tell me from the past six years. So I gave up. Because I remembered the last time I really got stubborn about them telling it to me. I threatened to throw Sho's office papers into the shredding machine, and… well…let's just say there was an accident and he was nearly fired from his company.
I let out a sigh and looked out of the window.
Today evening I was going to start a not-so-new life in Melbourne.
'Stop, stop,' Sho said to the taxi driver. He nodded and in a few seconds, the taxi stopped in front of a lime colored condo just enough for a family of three.
'Alright!' I exclaimed with delight, looking at the condo outside the window. I pulled my luggage from behind and got down.
There were three trees in the garden, and all of them had golden-brownish shade, as it was almost the beginning of December.
My feet were covered with shoes made up of thick cotton and the chill was getting into my heels. I tapped my feet, unable to keep any of the two on the ground because of the coldness.
It was a two-storied lime colored Condo with a small garden.
'It's awesome!' I exclaimed as I pushed the wooden door with one hand and rushed into the garden.
Compared to the apartments in Tokyo, this was really good.
'Kuni, I have the keys!' Sho exclaimed as he threw the keys up in the air in my direction. I swung my left arm in the air and grabbed the keys.
I unlocked the door with an air of excitement, and pushed it inwards.
There was a corridor going leftwards instead of forward, painted Mustard.
Not my exact choice of color, but it was decent.
I kicked off my thick cotton shoes and rushed inside. The hall was big enough, but, of course, there was no furniture. It had the same Mustard color with a decent wooden flooring. I looked back at the corridor to find Nat and Sho entering.
'What about the furniture?' I asked.
'It'll be here in two hours,' Nat answered, examining the walls to find any single speck of dust.
Two hours? Thank God I have my notebook with me!
I opened my bags zip and pulled out the notebook.
I had seven new messages on Skype.
The first one was from an English friend I'd made in London.
' From: Alexandria6
Subject: What's up?
Heyyyyyy! How are you? How was your journey? How is AUSTRALIA? So are
you staying in Sydney? How's the weather? Did you make any new friends?
Everything's fine here and guess what? Yesterday I made my first
Octopus balls! I know you hate them but mine turned out to be AWESOME!
Anything new except the new life?
Send me a reply soon and I MEAN IT. Scary looks
I want to know about your new life.
Sayonara! :D 3 3 3 ! '
Alexandria and I were best friends until last year.
She was someone who was always beside me when I needed her.
It was a really sad parting at the London airport. She even told me she'd hide in my bag to give me a proper goodbye at the terminal. At first I thought she was joking. Until I found her pushing her leg into my red luggage.
It was amazing to see the number of tissue papers taken to wipe her tears and mine.
The other six messages were from different people, asking how was Australia, and if I could send my pictures to them.
I replied to Alex's mail first.
' To: Alexandria6
Subject: Hey Alex!
Hey Shana! Nice to see that message you sent. Australia is good. It's Melbourne. Our new home is a Condo with
A cute garden. On the whole, it's good! I haven't made any friends yet.
Happy to know you finally succeeded in making Octopus balls: P (just don't
Send me any pleeaase )
I'm waiting for my new life to take shape. I'll be starting high school soon. I'm
Not sure but I think it's Brunei high school. I hope it's good! Fingers crossed!
I'll be giving you the fresh news once in every two days… okay everyday!
Byeee! 3 3 3 ! '
'Is that Alexandria?' Nat asked, bending down and peeping into my notebook.
'Yep,' I answered.
'The one who tried to get into one of our bags?'
'Well, she just wanted to say goodbye!' I exclaimed.
'The cops didn't think so'
'Forget it, Nat,' I sighed. I started replying to the e-mails, until I got bored.
There was a slight sound of a running truck from outside. Nat walked to the door with a big smile on her face. 'The furniture's here!' she exclaimed, with an old dance step from an Elvis Presley song. I could feel Goosebumps behind my neck.
'Please Nat don't do that ever again!' I exclaimed, folding the notebook.
'Whatever,' she sang with another creepy step.
Sho just grinned and looked at me, mouthing 'I know how you feel.'
'Thanks, Sho,' I mumbled and got up, sighing. ' So my room is upstairs, right?' I asked, looking at the wooden staircase with a line of twisted teak wood railing, on the right side of the hall.
'Yes…!' Nat sang moving her waist side to side, swinging her hands like a dying goldfish.
I hurried up the stairs before she could creep me out further.