glowblack,2,300Dark Shadows/glow
Ch. 10
"You're one strange kid, Li."
"So are you," she said. "I can see why Kyra bothered to chase after you all those years."
He started to turn his head to look at her in the kitchen where she was drinking her coffee but stopped himself. He leaned back on the couch took a sip from his own cup and said, "You sure are talkative tonight."
"It's the caffiene." She smiled. He couldn't see her, but he knew she had smiled. He smiled too.
"You can turn the lights up know," he said. "I've noticed, even in your room you keep the lights dimmed."
"I like the dark." Then, thoughtfully, she said, "Kyra didn't. She didn't like the dark, but she went chasing after it because she knew that's where she'd find you."
"Are you mad at her?" he asked. "For leaving you?"
"I can't blame her," she said.
"But are you mad?"
She sighed. "I knew it would happen eventually. I accepted it long before it did." After a moment she asked, "Are you?"
"Am I what?"
"Mad at her?" she asked. "For not staying in New Mecca, I mean. Looking for you when you told her not to."
"I was," he said.
"But not anymore?"
He shook his head.
There was silence while Riddick finished his drink.
"Why am I still here?" He voice was laced with apprehension. The change caused Riddick to turn and face her. "Because I used to know Kyra? So I can tell you stories about her?"
He shook his head. " No."
She bit her lip. "I'm just a puzzle you can't solve. Sooner or later you'll get tired of trying."
His eyes narrowed with concern. "Li--"
"Nobody likes a puzzle they can't solve. Unsolvable puzzles are always thrown away."
Then abruptly she set her cup down on the counter and said, "I'm going to bed."
"You just had half a pot of coffee," he said.
She ignored him.
"Goodnight."