By Chustang Sundust
~Part 3~
Release
Aisha lifted her eyes away to the stars, trying to force the subject
away again. Now, as it was knocking on her door, all strength and courage
had drained away. A throb of pain flickered up in heart again, as she placed
her hand against her pocket casually, hoping Jim would forget it. The Ctarl-Ctarl
sat silently, hugging her knees to her chin, as Jim stared at the pocket.
He lifted those cute blue eyes up, and her heart felt like it was breaking
again.
The blonde blinked at hearing this, rubbed his temple while lifting
up a few locks of golden hair away in the darkness of beneath the bridge.
He looked to the bulging pocket, then to Aisha, who had found the sky conveniently
interesting, then back to the pocket. Jim pursed his lips in thought,
and Aisha could feel his questioning gaze burning on the back of her neck.
Suddenly, before she could even react, he had stuck his and in the pocket
and pulled the prize out.
"Jim no don't!" she urged, unable to stop him. She couldn't tackle
him, chase him, or even give him a headlock for the human child might fall
off the cement, unlike a Ctarl. Aisha just cringed back into the
corner like a kitten and held her head in her hands, glancing through her
long fingers as he opened the blue velvet case. With clear tears finding
night air on her cheeks again, she hoped it wouldn't be too bad. Through
all her crying, she didn't notice the heavy footsteps on the bridge over
head that stopped to listen.
It opened, and it seemed like Jim had gone blind with color.
He blinked the glare from his eyes and discovered a beautiful and probably
extremely expensive metal ring. Jim had never seen metal quiet like it
before. It was covered in swirling pores of color, against a natural white
background, which changed colors every few seconds. He looked up.
"For Gene? Could you repeat what you said, cuz I don't believe
that you… you…" He came up at a loss for words, and he closed his stuttering
lips to fix the words up and stare back at the ring. "I thought Ctarl-Ctarl
married, you know, their own kind."
Aisha sniffed, rubbing the tears from her eyes, then said roughly,
"Yeah, well, there have been a few exceptions to the rules over the years."
She stopped there, wanting the subject to fade and get dull, so at least
there wouldn't be so many questions.
"Aisha, if you love Gene, then why didn't you ever tell him?
Why didn't you tell somebody at least?" Jim asked, crawling up beside her
and sitting next to the crying teen. He closed the case and leaned comfortingly
against her. Jim had never experienced heartbreak since the death Hamyou,
yet he could know what it was like for her. Aisha would have to live with
his haunting for all her life; she was in Gene's crew. "You should have
spoken up before he fell in love with Mel."
By now, Aisha was sobbing. "I tried, I really tried! But every
time he'd go out, I'd never have the gut. I'd always, always catch him
with another girl and I'd forget everything! I didn't even realize I liked
him until after the Leyline… by then I was already head over heels!" she
cried uncontrollably, letting her face fall into Jim's shoulder.
Jim sighed deeply, closing his misty blue eyes closed halfway
to dull the bright light of the ring. She must have gotten this from her
home planet. But they'd never been to planet Ctarl; Aisha had probably
been waiting weeks for this to be delivered. The eleven-year-old kid looked
again to her, now crying on his shoulder, and heaviness descended on his
heart.
"Are you ever going back to the Outlaw Star?"
"No…" she whimpered on his shoulder, sniffling uncontrollably.
"I was hoping you'd run away with me, Jimmy…"
"Aisha, be reasonable. I can't leave; the business and Gene depend
on me being there to take care of them. Now, if I left, he'd probably get
arrested or killed in a street fight without his partner. You wouldn't
want that, would you?" Jim said, trying to get her thinking straight.
"Hmm… maybe," she brooded darkly.
"Aisha!" Jim reprimanded sharply, surprised at how quickly the
Ctarl-Ctarl girl had turned. He got only a snort of anger from her, like
saying "He deserves it," and huffily stood up and looked down at her. Jim
was surprised and angry; how could she turn on a comrade, a friend, her
affection and his Aniki?! "I'm leaving," he said testily, walking on the
cement beams to climb back up.
"Wait!" Aisha cried in response, clearing her crystal blue eyes
from their tears and leaping up after him. With her long white hair, which
perched on her head in a ponytail, whipping in her face as she scrambled,
Jim just gave her a cold shoulder and pulled himself up back onto the bridge.
"Wait Jim! I didn't mean it, I swear! It's just-"
She stopped in mid-sentence, frozen in heart stopping terror
as she climbed over the bridge to convince Jim she hadn't meant it, and
as her blue eyes adjusted to the light. Jim stood, with a shadow of a triumphant
smile slowly growing on his face, against the rail and just shrugged. But
it wasn't that that stopped her. It was him.
"No way Jim! You tricked me! I thought you wouldn't tell!" she accused
in horror, trying to slide back under the bridge. But those haunting blue
eyes glued her to the spot.
"I didn't tell him anything," came the reply, with faked innocence
and a sly grin. Jim shrugged again. "He just happened to be here to hear
it all, that's all."
She was holding onto the rail, her agile feet drawn up under her while
clinging to the side, and she saw the other person on the bridge offer
a helping hand. Aisha bit her lip, closed her eyes, and blindly flung her
hand into his.
Warm. That's what first hit her, as she felt him strongly pull
her over, and Aisha's eyes shied away instantly from the nervous smile
he gave. Finding the ground a safe place for her eyes to land, far away
from his handsome face, the Ctarl-Ctarl teen muttered quickly, "Uh, thanks…
for the help… I guess you'd better be going. Hah, in fact, look at the
time! Is it time for dentist appointment already? Oh, silly me! Bubbye
now!" Aisha spun on her heels and stumbled, clawing at the ground to get
running, when suddenly she felt someone grab her by the arm.
"Just wait, Aisha. I came to see if you were okay… I guess I
heard what you said… Did you mean it?"
Her crystal blue eyes went wide with shock, and tears streamed
down from them in a blur. She suddenly held back a sob and wrenched the
arm away from him, twisting over onto her back. With her eyes narrowed
fiercely and flooding with tears, she said breathlessly, "Just go away!
GO AWAY!" Her gaze was like a spear of fire, and Gene recoiled suddenly,
discovering five long slashes down his hand. The outlaw gazed down at the
wounds, bleeding freely from her claws, then looked back at her.
Aisha felt like she was trapped. Her throat bundled up painfully,
seeing the shock and hurt lying deep in his dark blue eyes, and it was
suffocating her. The Ctarl-Ctarl blinked, feeling hurt and anger clashing,
as a disappointed frown came across Gene's face.
"I thought we could at least be friends," he said. "Maybe I was
wrong." The redhead didn't give her a second look, stuffing his hands into
his pockets, then walked on by the crying Aisha.
