I am so fucking sorry it took me so long to update! My internet got shut off for awhile and we didn't have the money to reconnect it until yesterday afternoon. I am going to try and get a few chapters out today, lets hope my computer works with me.
Nevaeh
"Christopher!" Nevaeh hissed through the darkness of the house.
She had lived here for years now, had memorized every detail of the small house and normally she could find her way through the darkness. She could usually find him and reach his bed even if she had to get up to get a drink of water but right now, as terrified as she was, she had no clue where she was and she was paralyzed beside the front door. It was cracked open slightly and Nevaeh could hear the cries of the voices outside, she could hear their laughing and their mocking, their threats when they saw her hair shining in the dim light of the candle she had held. She had extinguished it the moment she heard her name slip past their lips.
"Christopher!" she hissed again.
She was having flashes of being back there, in those shacks, beneath those men, beneath the Polweepkwa that dared ask for a human whore. Because that was all that she was, a whore, to anyone in District 9. But she was not a whore to Christopher or his son or the Matriarch. To Christopher…she wasn't sure what she was. To his son she was his mother. To the Matriarch she was a daughter.
"Christopher please!" she hissed, her slim body beginning to shake.
"I am here."
Nevaeh fell against him when she felt his presence beside her. She let out a small sob as he shut the door, pressing his back to it. She slid to the ground with him, between his legs and clung to him, not disgusted at all by his unused feelers at the bottom of his chest cavity. They came out and poked at her, testing her to in curiosity, as though they were separate beings. She whimpered when his claws hand came down on her shoulder, her eyes squeezing shut so tightly it made the nerves running through her temples jump.
"It's just me, Nevaeh," Christopher whispered to her.
Right, it was just Christopher. It was him holding her, him protecting her from those men. She reached up and held onto his arm, her small body still shaking. She took in a deep breath through her nose and breathed out slowly through her mouth. She gave his arm a squeeze and rested her head against his chest, listening to his slow, thumping heart beat. She reached up and ran her fingers against his exoskeleton, feeling the grooves and deep scars along it. This calmed her, studying him, even in the dark. There was always something new for her to find, all over him. There were some places he didn't let her go, some places he seemed afraid to let her go.
Her heart rate was slowing, but her eyes were still flickering through the darkness. She was scared, she was always scared. "I'm sorry Christopher," she muttered, holding onto him tightly.
He clicked, the side of his arm rubbing against her. "It is fine Nevaeh, what happened?"
She sat up slightly. "I was looking for something to drink and the door was open. I don't know why it was, but…they saw me Christopher," she whimpered. "They saw me and said they'd come for me. "I'm afraid…I'm afraid that I'm never going to be able to get over this fear Christopher."
He laid his arm across her shoulder and the tendrils of his face brushed against her temple. "You have nothing to fear Nevaeh, I will not let anything happen to you. I thought you would know this by now."
Nevaeh reached up and ran her fingers over the seams of his face. "Christopher I know that, I know you will always protect me. I just…I'm just not the same after that. I used to be strong before they got to me and now…now I'm afraid of everything. Except for you Christopher…I will never be afraid of you."
She leaned her head back against his chest and sighed, closing her eyes. She was so dependent on Christopher now. She didn't think she could function away from him after all of this. She would be worse off, they would probably put her in a mental institution. No one would be able to put up with her, she wondered how he put up with her the way he did. He simply cared for her when she had her panic attacks, he held her when she was like this.
"Nevaeh you need sleep," Christopher muttered in his alien tongue.
Nevaeh snorted and smiled, wobbling to her feet. She wrapped her hand around one of his claws and tugged him up. "Come with me…" she muttered, eyes half lidded.
She knew he could see her just as well as if she was basking in the warm rays of the sun. She knew he could see every curve that she swayed as she moved him around to get to the door. Nevaeh opened the door and peeked outside, unafraid when Christopher was so close, her hand bleeding against his. She knew if she squeezed any tighter her hand would be sliced in two. She was safe with him. There was no one, Polweepkwa or human, outside of their small shack so Nevaeh tugged him forward, out into the moonlight that bathed them completely. Nevaeh smiled up at the moon. She had always loved the moon, but not its darkness. Its darkness always meant something bad for her, but she was safe with Christopher…
She tugged him around to the back of their shack, looking around again before she moved against the fence, keeping her hand against it as they shuffled along. She wanted to take him there, to that place he never got the chance to go near, the one place that he desperately wanted to go but hadn't been near in three years. She felt him tense up through his hand but kept going, walking around the small, makeshift crosses that lined up for three rows from the fence. There were twenty three crosses, ten in two rows, three in the final. Second row, eighth cross her name was scratched haphazardly into it by Nevaeh's own hand. Nevaeh squatted down, running her fingers over the name and smiling up at Christopher.
"I come here ever morning, when they're still asleep," she looked back down at the cross. There were dying yellow flowers, which were really just weeds that had started growing against the fence. "I talk to her, of course she never answers back."
Christopher crouched down beside her, strange blue eyes sad. "It had been fifteen years…" he whispered. "Fiel…" he dug a claw through the e. "How did you know her name?"
Nevaeh shrugged. "Matriarch told me. She said she was smart."
"My mother was a genius. Her and my father were royalty, you know," Christopher looked over at Nevaeh.
She nodded. "You told me it was your father that got you all stuck here."
Christopher nodded. "We ended up here by accident, I do not remember what the problem was. He got delirious from lack of food after a few days and pressed the wrong commands in. The command module fell here and when they learned that District 9 was to be built here they immediately claimed the spot as their own."
Nevaeh chuckled. "Take a page Christopher. You need more rest, I really think you should stay in tomorrow and rest."
He shook his head. "You know I cannot do that."
Nevaeh rolled her eyes and then grinned, pushing herself forward, tackling him into the dirt. "I will lay on you until tomorrow night."
He snorted but made no move to push her away. "I highly doubt that."
"Try me," she giggled, resting her head on his chest.
"What the hell…"
Nevaeh and Christopher jumped apart, Nevaeh standing and pressing her back against the fence while Christopher stood in front of her, one arm out in front of her. "Abiodun…what are you doing here?" her growled, backing closer to Nevaeh.
The Polweepkwa in front of him looked around Christopher, eyeing Nevaeh's raggedy dress, accessing the way they had been laying on top of each other. He clicked and looked back at Christopher. "I came to visit Calmillo's grave and it seems like I found you two doing something disgusting."
Christopher growled. "Mind your own business, Abiodun."
"You two need to be more discrete if you plan on fucking. Don't do it around the graves, disrespects the dead," Abiodun turned around and started around the corner of the shack beside them, but not before looking over at them with hooded eyes.
Christopher sighed, looking back at Nevaeh, who was picking at her nails. "I'm sorry Christopher."
He shook his head and looked over at his mothers grave before he draped his arm over her shoulders and steered her back towards their small home. "I do not care what they think, we were doing nothing wrong. Though I can understand him believing it was something more."
Nevaeh's heart twisted for some reason, huddling closer into his side. "Still sorry about it."
Christopher sighed and opened the door to their shack, letting her slide inside before he checked the area for any eyes. Nothing. He entered their shack, and again Nevaeh was bathed in darkness. She shuffled in the darkness, waiting for help to their room. She jumped as his claws wrapped around her upper arm and gentle tugged her back against his side. She whimpered slightly and followed beside him, stumbling slightly against the rise in the floor to their room.
"C-Can I sleep with you?" Nevaeh whimpered, closing her eyes when she heard the roar of an engine and the whoops of gang members riding by. "I don't want to sleep alone."
"I will just be in the bed beside you," Christopher sighed.
"No," Nevaeh squeaked. "I want to sleep with you."
She heard him sigh through the darkness and he seemed to relent, pulling her into the direction she knew his bed was. Sleeping with him was a relief to her. It meant she didn't have to look through the darkness for him, it meant she was safe all night. It meant she wouldn't have nightmares. She slept the best there, against his back or his side. She knew it made him uncomfortable. He was still new to the whole 'human-touching-him' thing. But it was the only thing that calmed her, the only thing that made her feel safe.
She sighed against his back, curling into her ball and letting her hair cover her face. Safety…it was nice to have that. Especially here, in District 9 where usually the safest place you can be is underground with no one knowing it. Of course. Nevaeh opened her eyes, faintly seeing the outline of the seam in his back. She wondered what that Abiodun was really doing over near those graves. He never visited them. Was he spying on Nevaeh and Christopher? It only seemed logical. He was always trying to get close to Nevaeh, always trying to talk to her and she always brushed him off with a cold shoulder or ran away from him. He scared her. She didn't like the way he watched her work around the house when he waited on Christopher knew that to, knew she hated him but he kept him around. Christopher had said Abiodun was expendable, he could be sacrificed if need be.
What did that mean for her? Did he only keep her around to keep up with his son, make sure he hate and slept properly? Did he keep her around because he felt she was an obligation, not because she was a friend, or partner? What did that mean for her stay here? Would he leave her behind, sacrifice her, if need be?
0000
"Sooo why can't I go out today?" Nevaeh cocked a hip and crossed her arms.
Christopher hesitated by the doorway, looking between Nevaeh and Abiodun, who looked as though he was enjoying the show in front of him. Christopher looked down right terrified of the woman in front of him. She growled and snarled when Christopher said that she couldn't go with them. He needed to be terrified of her, she might just kill him today. She wanted to go, she had wanted to go on every trip since last year and he just wouldn't. He always came up with some kind of excuse.
Christopher looked up at her. "You just cannot."
Nevaeh snarled. "That's not fair Christopher!"
Abiodun clicked. "Take care of the child Christopher, let her come with us."
Christopher glared over at Abiodun and Nevaeh looked on, realizing something. "What's going on Christopher?"
He looked up to her, down at Oliver, then back to her before he sighed. "MNU are supposed ot be coming through, I need someone to stay here and watch the house. If they come inside, and they would if no one was here, they would surely find the module. I need you here to make sure they do not come in. Oliver will stay here as well, it will just be Abiodun and I for today."
Nevaeh swallowed and looked down for a moment before she looked up at Christopher. She folded her hands in front of herself and nodded. "Fine, fine I'll stay. Think I can get over to the matriarchs and get something new to wear?"
"Why would you dress up for them?" Christopher asked, eyes narrowing.
She wanted to chuckle. "Because I don't want them to see my breasts dear," she said in a sickeningly sweet voice.
Christopher and Abiodun tensed up at her words and she simply turned around and got the long coat from the hook in their bedroom doorway. It may have been hot as fuck outside but she didn't want them to see anything. She tied up the sash and slipped a cap onto Oliver's head.
"How bout you come with me dear?" she smiled down at the young one.
He clicked up at her. "Sure!"
Nevaeh smiled up at Christopher. "So you two go have fun playing in the trash and I'll go find clothes."
Christopher said nothing as they passed, but before the door shut behind Nevaeh and Oliver she heard Abiodun mutter. "She's fucking crazy."
