II.
Chapter two: The taste of salt
She never would have thought, not even in her wildest dreams that Mr. K would trust her so easily, or that the townsfolk will do either. It didn't just seem like another world, it truly WAS another world – no pun intended. They were all so kind and gullible– 'More like morons I would say, but oh well.' She shrugged. One would never even think that something evil could actually exist there besides some of those nasty lunch ladies in the cafeteria down the road.
'I'm telling you that woman's evil.' Jaclyn said over the takeout, pointing her fork at her brunette friend. 'She looked liked she would jump over the counter with her massive 97 kilos and butcher me alive, if I coughed once more.' She grumbled.
'Then try blowing your nose next time. Besides if she was so massive, she would squish you dead before any of the butchering can happen. I'd say that's reassuring.' She sniggered between two mouthfuls, motioning at her tiny structure. The redhead dropped her utensils and almost choked. 'Do I look suicidal to you?' She shot back as she dived under the table for her fallen fork.
'So you don't go by the no-pain, no-gain policy?' – there was a loud thud and Jaclyn peeked over the table. 'You wouldn't dare….' She glared at Rain, the visible parts of her face blushing furiously.
Other places might have been different, but this was like the paradise she had always craved for. Seemingly endless days for long walks, reading, window shopping and nights for stargazing while sipping tea on the roof - trying to make sense of what happened to the main idea that was supposed to be her life.
Still she just couldn't really enjoy it in these circumstances.
It wasn't like she wouldn't ever see them again...But being depressed to be alone most of the time, she thought to be pretty normal. Nobody waiting for her at home, nobody scolding her that she's not eat enough, or that she should start her homework and get off the computer and such. She should even have felt liberated. Still she didn't.
It was only logical to miss ones family, even more so that in the back of her mind she knew that the chance to meet again was more than a little slim.
Sure Mr. K and everyone else was trying their best to make her forget the fact that she was now "rootless" and whatnot, but that little bug in her head kept scheming plans of how to escape, how to find the infamous scientist, and how to get home.
Singing was her only escape. And since we're at the topic…Yeah well, The band.
That pack of bohemian individuals, who most of the time act like their age doesn't exceed the average of five. A big group of brothers and sister who are always there to make her laugh so uncontrollably that she trips over her own legs; to ridicule her all the worst times possible just to get it all back tenfold, and well… be as normal as such a dysfunctional family can be.
They can even be protective when it's needed. Surprisingly though, the most feared one of the gang came out to be Jaclyn, the only female amongst them- except Rain herself. The redhead used to have a non-too-friendly relationship with one of the bouncers mainly because he was repeatedly hitting on their singer.
The only thing that made out to be a problem (, and a major one at that) was that he just wouldn't get what the letters N and O combined meant coming from Rain's mouth. Or anyone else's for that matter. Hence the animosity towards him. Since that last incident, when she was even scarier than a pack of T-Rexaurs head on, the brunette knew she should never get on her bad side.
Like now, for instance.
She calmly took a large gulp of her mug and stared at the vast seaside painted orange by the dusk, while this week's loudest shriek echoed throughout the yet still calm streets of Balamb. 'I guess she found one of my little "presents". How handy can it exactly be, when someone is gifted in photo-manipulation, like me?' A devilish little smile showed up on her face and she took a few steps closer to the edge of the roof. 'Wooh. I'm sure there'll be hell to pay for this one.' She smirked into her mug pretty much satisfied. Taking a large sniff of the pleasant aroma that was wafting through the air, her thoughts turned elsewhere.
'Mrs. K otherwise Anna.' – she recited in her mind, like she was reading it from an imaginary list. A really nice person, she was the firsty one who noticed how lonely the singer was, thus she invited her to dinner with them at least a dozen times. Being a dedicated mother she sometimes even brought lunch with the excuse that 'she was just passing by'.
'Maybe that's why the notion of food and her are so closely placed in my mind.' Without noticing, the small little house where the Kiel's lived crept partly into her line of sight. 'Her roast chocobo is award-winning and I like the way she always smiles. Though it's kinda creepy at times.' She admitted to herself sheepishly as she sat down letting her legs dangle over the edge of the roof, and put her mug beside herself.
She recalled the first time she had dinner with them and Anna laughed so hard at her expression that she had to sit down not to fall square on her butt. A small little smile formed in the corner of her mouth. 'Hyne, how horrified I got after I found out they actually eat chocobos. She couldn't calm me down until she explained that these are genetically modified and bred for this purpose only. That sure was an epic freak out.' She covered her face with both hands to stifle the heat of shame at the memory.
'It's just really weird that I've been here for nearly 6 months and they never even once questioned why I don't remember where I'm from or if I have a family.' Her smile disappeared and was replaced with a few shallow lines of a frown. 'Of course I lied...I can't tell them the truth, can I?' She sighed loudly, throwing back a few errand strands of hair that were blown into her mouth by some lazy gush of wind. 'Maybe they just think I'm old enough to cope with it alone and get medical help if I have amnesia, or they just think it's a touchy subject for me and they just leave me alone till' I start talkin'. She wiggled her toes, annoyed with this thought. 'But I don't think that'll happen. Ever.'
She stood angrily, stomped up to her discarded sandals with half a mind to throw them from the roof – yet she simply picked them up.
'I'd just rather forget how I got to the state I've been for Hyne knows how long.' Realisation suddenly stopped her mid-stride. 'Oh swell...now I'm even talking like a Gaean. Greeeat...I think I need to get out of here before everyone gets too friendly to leave behind easily.'
The sun was shining, the weather was the finest in months - not a cloud in the sky, no strange noises to hear but a shriek from the upper floor and a loud crash, probably some china breaking on tiles.
'Not again...damn...she still has something to break?...Old bat...I had such a nice dream... .' She turned to her side trying to avoid the sun that was creeping through the faux stained glass windows to no avail. The bright green, red, blue, turquoise, purple, yellow and orange lights spread all over the room and were reflected by the mirror on the wall, making it harder to stay asleep by the minute - so she got out of the bed admitting defeat to the morning and sleepily went to the bathroom to clear up.
'Just great. I'm going to be late. Again. I hope I won't miss the bus. Today's the field trip to that fisher village I've been dying to see. Please not today...' She pleaded as she desperately rummaged through her wardrobe, trying to find something to wear. A few minutes later as the whole content of the drawer was scattered on her floor she finally decided to wear her white sleeveless, strapless dress, with the ever-so-usual biker shorts under it. After knocking over nearly all of the haphazardly placed stacks of books that littered around her room - now mixing the piles of clothes with her precious literature - she came to a halt and observed the mess she made. 'What an utter catastrophe. I'd really need to clean up today.' She talked to the otherwise empty room.
'Now where are my boots...?' She resumed running around the house searching for them, grabbing the comb in the process. After she found them, she hastily stepped tugged them on and hobbled to her mirror, to try and tame her nut-brown, long and lank hair that became hopelessly uncooperative. With her school bag skidding to a halt beside the front door after a swift kick, she skipped into the kitchen to get something to eat - and with the same momentum threw herself back into the corridor randomly cursing at clocks and empty stomachs while she threw on her dark red jeans jacket and darted outside.
'How I love to skip breakfast.' She grumbled with said stomach agreeing with a loud growl. Another sting of curses left her as soon as she turned left at the third corner, and bumped into a familiar looking person.
'Mornin' Jad!' Said the girl cheerily and tried to pry the shorter girl's fingers off her person. 'Same to you Sam. Actually you're pretty darn lucky you haven't injected any positive adjective before said daytime.' She answered moodily, trying to find her balance lest she sent them both tumbling. 'Anyways.. slept well?' Was her attempt to force her spirits higher.
'Yeah…kind of. And you?' Sam looked down at her friend, who was a few inches smaller than her and instantly knew the answer. 'What did she break this time?'
'Sounded like a whole collection of china to me.' Grumbled Jaded, as she stood up and started pulling on her dress in attempt to fix the multitude of creases, with not much effort. 'Let that be. It's not the kind of material that needs ironing anyway.'
They walked in silence, not daring to say anything in fear of starting THE argument again. First it was only a bi-weekly trend, still as time passed, it somehow became a daily occurrence. Nowadays it was most likely to be an hourly one. As if on cue, after they got on the bus and took the next to last pair of seats, Sam just couldn't hold her tongue any longer.
'Oh come on! He's all over you, only one look at him could tell. He's staring at you even now!' Frowned the girl while she swished her wavy, honey brown hair out of her face and looked at her friend with piercing blue eyes. A pair of deep amber looked the other way to avoid her blue orbs just to be confronted with a pair of deep brown ones.
'When will you take the hint idiot? You are hurting someone who's close to me with the stunts you're pulling off…' She cursed mentally willing him to read her mind, even though she knew it was a futile attempt.
He just looked at her questioningly, not understanding why he had made her angry yet again, and turned back to enjoying the scenery. 'Damn…is he THAT blind! Sam is acting like a silly schoolgirl whenever he's around…I don't get that guy. I mean just look at her.' She turned to Sam getting more irate by the second.
'She has a pretty face, she is thin, and got the curves in all the right places. What's even more important, her beauty isn't just skin-deep. The perfect amount of craziness is a huge factor as well.' Her face must have lost all kind of emotion, because Sam seemed like she was about to leave the topic be.
'Sam you know I'm not interested. I never liked those guys who are so full of themselves that they think I have to fall over just because I'm breathing the same air as them. ' She raised her hand so her friend would let her finish. 'Neither would I be interested, if he weren't such a flea-brained, ignorant little ork to top it all off. Or the last male that walks the surface on legs, not sliding on his own drool, like he does. I don't understand why you defend him so vehemently.' Sam huffed and opened her mouth to retort, but Jaded cut in with a mischievous little smile.
'Look, I know I told you I find snails funny but...not this much.' That did the job of shutting her up for a while, but after a few minutes of silently sitting, she snorted abruptly and grinned at the brunette. 'Seriously Jade...snails?'
They slowly reached the village and headed for the docks, as five fishing vessels were already arranged for the boat trip out on the open sea. As the bus stopped and the students filed out, the teacher went to talk with the owners then split the students up into five groups, putting seven people in each.
Jaded and the others watched amazed how the crew of the ship would work together and once out on the sea would let out the net, while others were explaining what they were doing and filling in the students about the different aquatic species they were harvesting. As much as she was interested, the salty scent of the sea was too heady for her to concentrate so she slowly let it drift quietly into a background buzz.
'Great God…don't tell me…..we're stuck with HIM of all the people…' Jaded thought bitterly as she took a sidelong glance, and a familiar shock of black hair swam in her vision she wished she rather hadn't noticed.
'Is something wrong?' Sam asked, taking a glance at her expression.
'Nope. I'm all right.' She said. 'As long as that idiot doesn't come around again, shamelessly flattering himself through his sad attempts at trying to flatter me.' She thought, as she bumped the toes of her boots absently on the strip floor.
'Just what a coincidence for Faith to put him on this here boat. Maybe I should stop wondering. He is magically always in the near vicinity wherever I am.' She gripped the railing a bit harder. 'It could also happen that he switched with someone.' She quickly replayed the faces of the other students in the group she was sorted into, and found one missing. 'How annoying. I thought I'd finally have a good time…Oh just #%+! you!' She almost cursed aloud.
'You sure you're okay?' Sam asked, concern making her scrunch up her face and curl her lips downward. 'Yeah, I'm sure.' The brunette answered flatly. Her friend flashed her a small smile and turned back to her 'trying-not-to-stare-at-him-obviously' game once again. 'Like the third millionth time so far….' Jaded sighed.
An hour later as she almost dosed off on the deck, she was roughly roused from half-sleep by a loud cry.
'Captain! A huge thunderstorm is upon our trail! We should get the kids inside!' Shouted someone from afar. Jaded couldn't make out who it was, as it became dark too quickly to do so. The waves of ice-cold water were getting high enough to crash onto the deck and made her trip on her own numb feet.
The crew was running around, pulling in the net, gathering the students and pushing them down the scuttle. Only one forgotten person remained on the deck, holding frantically onto the only thing separating her from the raging waves, the metal railing. The wind angrily pulled on her nut-brown hair, her dark red jacket, and white dress – then in a blink of an eye she vanquished to be embraced by the flailing waves.
She felt the cold and wet railing slip under her finger and thought this can't be happening. With every ounce of power left in her, she tried to stand up and get to the scuttle where the crew brought everyone else. The blood in her ears was thundering and she wanted to scream, scream loud enough to rival the storm, yet she couldn't even manage a strangled yelp. 'How could this be?'
'I was always the person that was overlooked, not noticed and such. It only hurt me the first time it came out in the open, when I asked one of my classmates for the homework after I've been ill, and she asked since when I've been at home.' Everything became so slippery, so hard to hold on. 'That hurt. Very much indeed. I haven't been there for more than a week and no one notices...' The wind whipped her ice cold, wet hair on her body and in her face making her go numb all over. 'But after that I got used to it and it slowly stopped bothering me in any way.'
'If I was like thin air than nobody can hurt me as well as nobody can see me and judge me. It's good that way. Air is something you'll never see, but you can't live without. Well that's what I thought anyway.' The wind became so harsh, it was increasingly difficult to breathe, no matter where she tried to turn her face. 'But if even Sam doesn't notice that I'm missing, then what the hell am I doing here anyway...?' All the directions started to melt into each other as her hands became as numb as the rest of herself, unable to hold onto the railing any longer. She smiled to herself bitterly, as the floor slipped from under her feet, her hands slipped from the railings, and she felt her body fall.
The worst of it was that at that stage she didn't even care. Her battered soul welcomed the ice cold water stinging her skin, the taste of salt in her mouth, all of the air leaving her lungs. To her it felt like all of this didn't matter anymore. Everyone just didn't seem to know she exists. 'Water, cold, so cold... so...salty.' Were her last coherent thoughts as she was sinking deeper and deeper in the dark depths.
At the same moment millions of light years and millions of parallel universes farther - two women awoke from the terrible nightmare of a drowning girl only to be comforted by their knights and be ushered back to sleep a little while later. But they soon realized that this was only the beginning of their weird dreams to come and haunt them. Neither did know, how this will change everything they have come to know about themselves, and how many more responsibilities they still have - above the ones that they already know of.
The chill was starting to reach her heart again so she snapped herself back to reality. Back onto the roof with her lukewarm tea and the millions of stars twinkling above.
'That is how everything started.' She recalled reaching for her mug absently.
'I wish I could just undo that last bit of action, yielding to the fact that no one cares about me. I never really made an effort for anyone to do otherwise and that was my big mistake.' She pulled up one leg and flexed her toes against the concrete. 'What I don't really get is how everything after that turned out like this?' She rested her chin on her knee, and tried to ignore the itchy feeling travelling up and down her nape. Her paranoia always worsened at night, even though she succeeded in giving up the habit of darting her eyes all over the place. Tonight her jitters seemed to act up again.
'I mean…I did die out there so how can I be here in this body that isn't mine at all?' She angrily pulled at a tuft of hair, rubbed it between her fingers and smelled it. 'Nothing like me at all.' She noted getting annoyed at the itch. 'Some serious questions I need answers to and real fast, or I think I'll just go mad with thinking too much.' Her hands firmly clutched her shin, to keep them from scratching her neck or randomly throwing something behind her with full force.
'Another two months and I have enough money to get out of here and get some answers in Eshtar. Maybe even a way back to my old life.' In the blink of an eye she whipped around in a crouch, ready to hurl one of her sandals while quickly observing every little non-existent nook and cranny on the perfectly flat roof. The itching suddenly stopped. It was all so ridiculous that she knew she was slowly loosing her marbles. With dropping the half of her tattered sandals that she clutched, all power seemed to leave her. Her graceless tumble ended her in her previous position with even less peace of mind.
'Now that every memory came back to me- slowly, but I could select what was real and what I've just dreamt.' She looked ahead weakly for a few moments. 'I wish I could go back to the way it was. Not a worry on my mind, free to roam around whenever, doing nothing, or just talking with Sam would always make my day. And I miss my little bro' trying hard to act like he was the older one, failing miserably….' The sudden appearance of heat from another living body near her was terrifying at first, and it would get worse every time it happened. Today tough, she decided she won't let herself freeze up. Determination seeped through her veins and warmed her through.
'Yes…I want it all back. And I'll do whatever it takes to get back to the way it was before I ended up here.' As soon as she stood again with sandals and mug in hand, the presence disappeared before she could turn around and confront it.