Chapter 25
Departure
By a matter of three weeks and high-tech equipment and staff, Adventine City's Train Station was up and running again already crowded with the wealthy.
During her "vacation" away from those who she wished not to ponder about,Acsan spent most of her time roaming the streets dipping into music shops and such with no apparent impulse to buy anything.
It was around 5 in the morning and Acsan's body was still begging her for sleep. It moved effortlessly, nonetheless, carrying itself through the small gathering of pedestrians who fluttered passed her laughing and whatnot.
She had a new set of headphones now, a friendly gift from Mrs. Berrison, and they treated her well.
As the calming tunes of a song from the past infiltrated her senses, she looked up into the heavens that were light gray and blushing towards the East.
The atmosphere was misty and the girl's faded gray jeans, another gift from Lady Berrison, felt moist.
Nevertheless, she walked on viewing the people, cars and buildings in a new way as they passed by her representing a different structure of existence.
She pulled a small piece of paper about of her pocket remembering something her father told her before she slammed the door on his voice. This morning he had been teasing her about her odd behavior those many nights before and Acsan knew her father would never stop blabbing about it.
Entering a shop on her left named, "The Bum's Euphoria",Acsan noticed the few eyes glancing up at her before going back to whatever they were focusing on.
To put it bluntly, Acsan was in a liquor store and her father, lazy and frustrated, had sent her on a mission to retrieve his much needed alcohol.
Approaching the front counter, the girl waited her turn patiently looking at the floor and around the store.
"Next!"
Acsan jumped at the sound of the burly store owner's voice. She took a step closer and pulled her headphones off placing Quent's beer list on the table.
The store owner glanced at the list then looked at the girl. He seemed uninterested.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah.Can you tell me if you have any of these?"
The store owner picked up the piece of paper and squinted. "You sure you're old enough to drink?"
"It's not for me. It's for my dad."
"Oh really?" The man was no impressed. "You think I'm stupid or something?"
"What?"
"You don't think I get kids like you everyday coming in here looking for booze?!" The man crumbled the list and threw it at Acsan striking her forehead.
"Get the hell out of my store!"
Feeling wrongly accused and far too insensitive to even care, Acsan left the store pulling her headphones back on and giving a middle finger salute goodbye.
It may not have been the first time she had been treated crudely but it didn't have to be that way. There was no reason for it.
"Guess Quent doesn't get his liquor." She mumbled. A taxi passed in front of her screeching to a stop.
A few heads as well as hers turned to the sound of honking and a bald-headed man poking his head outside the taxi and cussing.
Like every civilian in Adventine, the viewers turned and went back to living their daily lives while Acsan kept her eyes glued on the scene.
He stood like a depressive angel, hands daggling and clothes tattered. His hair remained a rich dark chocolate color that gathered the morning mist.
"Damn." Acsan whispered more out of surprise than admiration.
His eyes connected with hers as if he heard her voice and being a wolf, he probably did seeing as they were only yards away from each other.
Completely ignoring the rules of the road, the two teens entered the morning traffic causing cars to screech and random people to cuss, yell, or say whatever they thought of the oblivious young fools.
They met in the middle of a crosswalk, standing perfectly still.Acsan removed her headphones seeing the boy's lips move.
"I haven't seen you in a while. I was wondering if you were alive and still in the city."
Acsan exhaled and smiled at her feet before looking up. "Well-"
A loud honk interrupted her comment.
"Oh COME ON! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, GET OUT OF THE STREET!!!"
Acsan looked startled and Kiba remained unresponsive.
"MOVE IT! YOU'RE HOLDING UP TRAFFIC!"
As the two stared at the taxi driver shouting at them, Acsan made the first attempt to obey.
"Oops." Acsan mumbled grabbing Kiba's wrist. She pulled him to the sidewalk and the two watched the taxi driver race off into the distance.
"I expected you to still be here." Acsan spoke observing traffic. "Hige too."
Kiba said nothing, just watched the world awaken.
"Is he mad at me?"
"And what if he is?"
Acsan smirked softly and repeated in a gentler voice. "And what if he is?" She changed the subject.
"Hey! Where's the pack?"
"Eating, hunting, waiting. I'm not certain."
They began to walk together with no clear destination in mind.
"Waiting,huh? For what?"
"For me. That night ago, I left with the initial plan to go find you. I did, however I did not wish to bother you for the rest of the night. I planned on speaking with you the following day but it was hard to pick up your scent again."
"Hm." Acsan nodded thoughtfully. "You could of just stocked me. It would have been easier."
Kiba frowned innocently. "I'm not a stocker. I prefer to stick to my own ways of tracking without stealing one of Hige's."
Acsan smiled at the boy's living hatred. "How is he?"
"I don't know. The last I saw of him was when we fought over me leaving the apartment. I climbed out the window before he had a chance to stop me. I couldn't stand how irrational he was being."
"So where have you been staying since the fight?"
Kiba nodded towards the soaring digital clock tower, whose time was unreadable due to the low set morning clouds.
"Up there?" Acsan shielded her eyes from the hazy sunlight.
"Yes."
"Looks creepy."
"It's actually rather comfortable." Kiba turned to the girl who stared at the tower with an exaggerated look on her face.
"Kiba, you're the bravest boy I ever knew. The bravest wolf I ever knew."
The boy smiled at her comment as Acsan finally met his longing gaze. While searching his face, she waited for him to speak.
"It's not that scary once you're up there. Would you like to see?" Kiba held out his hand inches away from grasping Acsan.
"Um." She looked at the tower and then back at the wolf boy. "Sorry Kiba, I'll have to pass."
A slight tingle of disappointment poked Kiba's facial expression. "What is it?"
Searching for words, the girl replied, "I'm leaving. The train station is back up and my dad's pretty tired of the city life. He's afraid he's going to die here or something like that."
"Are you going home? Back to New Hope?"
"Yeah."
"I see." Kiba was feeling that separation feeling again and he truly hated it.
He wanted to be near her 24/7 but that couldn't happen seeing as her father already knew of his secret and would possibly try to stop him resulting in a terrible mess he would have to listen to Hige pester him about for days.
Acsan noted the barely visible sadness in Kiba's face and had the urge to touch him. The truth of the matter was she loved the wolf, even if she constantly fought the reality of it all.
Plus, the image of Kiba following the girl's scent through snow, sleet, and sandstorms did make Acsan want to get on her knees and cry with sympathy.
"When are you leaving?" Kiba shot out another question.
"Whenever my father gets those tickets from Mrs. Berrison."
"Berrison? The doctor's…wife."
"Yeah.Turns out she's not as creepy as her husband. Anyways, maybe we can try to sneak you on board." Acsan grinned poking Kiba in the ribs. She had no idea why she did that.
Ignoring the peculiarity of her own behavior, she stretched out her hand and waited for Kiba to grasp it.
"So what do you say?"
"Your father will recognize me."
"My father can barely remember his name half the time."
Kiba stared at the girl's awaiting hand and without any thought, captured it with his own.
The pair descended down the streets of Adventine City until they made it to the same café Kiba had found Acsan in that night many days ago.
The door jingled as they entered the nearly empty café. The room was warm and smelled of cinnamon with a saxophone player practicing in the corner.
Once again, by the window, Quent sat looking very annoyed with a woman Kiba guessed was Mrs. Berrison by the way Acsan looked at the lady as well.
The older couple turned to the sound of Acsan's voice. "Hey dad." She shoved her hands in her pockets.
"Hey Acsan." Quent sounded bothered. "I see yur lookin' better-hey where's my beer?"
Acsan shrugged wanting to take a seat. "The liquor store guy didn't want to give it to me."
Quent mumbled disappointed. "Aw-what-that son of a bitch! What are you? Like 20-something?"
"I'm still a teenager, Quent."
"Father." Mrs. Berrison interrupted trying to correct her.
"Tickets." The girl replied.
"They're right here." The lady flipped her hair about to pull them about of her purse when a pair of beautiful blue eyes stole her attention.
She lifted her head and smiled truly intrigued with the lean boy standing next to Acsan.
"Acsan."
"What?"
"Aren't you going to introduce me?" She was grinning now clearly attracted to Kiba who returned her a confused expression.
"Wha? Oh, this is Kiba." Acsan turned to pull the boy closer for the woman and her father to see.
"Kiba, this is my dad and -."
"I'm Mrs. Berrison pleased to meet you." The lady announced rising from her seat and taking the wolf boy's hand.
"You didn't have to interrupt me." Acsan mumbled.
As Mrs.Berrison kept Kiba busy with her rambling, Acsan approached her father who was busy finding the tickets in the lady's purse.
The teenaged girl sat next to her father watching him caring less about how wrong it was to dig through someone else's belongings.
She rested her elbow on the table, allowing her fist to support her chin. "So dad?"
"Geez, how much lipstick does one woman need?"
"Dad."
"What the hell is this?... What?" He asked his daughter still digging through the black bag.
"I was just wondering. Would it be okay if a friend of mine joined us?"
"A friend? What, did you meet him in the city?"
"Mm. Hm." She sounded bored.
"That fast?" Quent briefly looked up seeing Mrs. Berrison flirting away with Kiba.Nothing clicked. "Whatever. There's three tickets in here so it'll work."
"Wait, there's three?" Acsan lifted herself up looking over her father's shoulder examining the tickets.
"Yeah.One for you. One for me. And one your friend over there.Berrison must have been planning ahead."
"More like planning to leave with us." Acsan whispered clearly shocked.
"Wait a minute." Quent turned to look at his daughter. "You mean to tell me this is the first time those two met?"
"Yeah."
Quent frowned at this and rubbed his forehead sighing.
Acsan folded her arms shifting her posture. "If you ask me, I think the lady's got the hots for you,Quent."
"No thanks. I don't need anymore women in my life."
"Like you had any. So how are we going to get out of this?"
-
Kiba was getting annoyed and uncomfortable. Never in his life has he been near a woman so extroversive and touchy. Every exclamation that came from the woman's mouth was followed with either a lean-in or a leg squeeze and the only person he would appreciate that from was Acsan.
He glanced over to the girl, she looked much better than Mrs. Berrison, and pleaded with her silently to rescue him using those mysterious cobalt eyes of his.
Acsan shoved her hands into her back pockets. "Mrs. Berrison?"
The woman turned.
"We're ready to go but first my father and I have to go get something from the liquor store."
Berrison beamed. "Oh that's alright.I'll just stay here and keep Kiba company." She giggled leaning into him and her right hand went too far.
"Actually." The brunette spoke very soft. "I believe I should go with you two." He rose from his seat allowing the woman's hand to slide off his jeans. "You may need my help."
Quent rose from his seat as well hiding the tickets in his tattered coat. "Alright.So just stay here Maryanne, okay?"
"Oh.Alright.But do hurry back."
Acsan and Kiba were already out the door waiting for Quent to finish his hasty conversation with Maryanne.
The alcohol-deprived man stepped outside closing the café door behind him. His tired eyes met Kiba's and they both just stood there.
One nervous.
The other….
"Son, you know where we can find some good stuff, right?"
Kiba blinked taken aback. "Y-yes."
He really didn't.Acsan knew he didn't.
Quent scratched the back of his head and inhaled the morning's air before blowing it out looking at his daughter.
"He doesn't know does he?"
Kiba shook his head looking at Acsan and then off in the distance. The girl was nearly giggling at him.
"Aw geez.Well, come on you two we'll go find one somewhere." The really tired man turned and began to walk down the street mumbling, "I need a cigarette."
Kiba's eyes widen a little. He was amazed that the man did not remember him. His astonishment stopped feeling Acsan playfully poke him in the stomach.
"See. I told you he wouldn't remember you."
Her smile warmed the wolf's heart and at that moment, he truly thought everything would be okay. He watched the girl as she hustled to keep up with her father and when she noticed Kiba wasn't moving at all, she advanced towards the boy and pulled on his jacket.
"Let's go. My dad won't wait for you…trust me."
"Come on you two, we'll be late to the station.Plus; I need a beer…and a cigarette."
-
Smoke rolled through the Adventine station as train number 23 T.B. arrived right in front of its passengers.
Quent stood careless as the wealthy choked and gagged on the train's black fumes…and his fumes. While he stood in the front of the line, Acsan and Kiba were about 8 people behind standing close to one another watching civilians exit the large locomotive.
Kiba remained detached once more thinking of the departure he was about to make. He would be leaving his pack, his dreams and all his hard work for one person. Was it the right thing to do and was it for good?
The dark haired boy glanced at his partner-to-be and smiled warmly at her. She was beautiful and comparing her to paradise seemed ridiculous.
Acsan met his thoughtful gaze and smirked. "What?"
"Nothing." He watched the girl look ahead of them.
"Hey, we're moving."
They approached the train, pinkies hooked, with tickets in the other hand. After exchanging the rectangle pieces of paper with a stamp on the wrist, the couple boarded the train.
Inside, the locomotive was gorgeous with maroon velvet and gold trim gracing every section of the train. After spotting Acsan's father, the two made their way over passing a few wealthy riders that gave the teens judgmental glares.
Completely full, the conductor made one last call before shutting the doors and directing the train to pull off slowly.
Quent sat beer-less grumbling while looking through a magazine. "If there isn't any good food on this train I'll-"
"Yeah, yeah dad." Acsan had a knee pressed against her chest and was sitting next to a quiet Kiba who was looking out the window.
He watched as hundreds of fiancés, spouses, children and others waved goodbye to their loved ones on the 23 T.B.The train station looked different to him. It was happy and honest and this kind of made the wolf want to smile at the amiability of it all.
But that action never came.
Amongst the joyous and successful, were the eyes of the past. Golden and shades of reddish-brown, they stared back at Kiba missing him, disapproving of him, and hating him.
He exhaled slowly in surprise that was loud enough for only Acsan to hear.
She grabbed his hand and he turned to her loving the wispy look of her red hair.
"You alright?"
"Yes. Just-" He looked back out the window and the eyes amongst the crowd had vanished. "I've never been on a train before."
Acsan identified with his statement.
Kiba felt his heart ease again and he silently closed the blinds nevermore wanting to see the sights of Adventine City.
-
Pouty and annoyed, Mrs. Berrison stood outside Brooksville Avenue Café' looking to her left and right. She had checked her purse and it was clear to her that Acsan's beautiful blue-eyed friend was not coming back.