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Chapter 4 – Kim Lugen
Luigi absently tapped at the keys of Kim's personal electronic diary. He lifted one hairy poor to scratch his ear and then tried again to guess the password. He had been doing so for the two years he had known her, but was still no closer to entering her secrets.
Sighing to himself, he gently placed the diary on her floral patterned bed. Luigi then jumped down, to land neatly on the floor with tail high in the air, before scaling her small bookshelf.
He ran his nimble fingers across the many dictionaries and thesauruses that lines up against the wall. He scowled, unable to find one that he had not tried; there was not one word that he could come across that could even begin to help him solve her little riddle.
Lim Lugen had originally given her monkey bitbeast, Luigi, a riddle, in a purpose to keep him busy while she attended school. It was not long before he realised that it was also the key to unlocking her innermost thoughts.
It was engraved in gold plate, on the front of her diary:
'What is greater than the Gods?
More evil than the Devils?
Poor people have it,
Reach people need it,
And if you eat it, you will die.'
In frustration, Luigi swung himself roughly in the direction of the food jar; Kim kept food in this personally for the monkey, normally shelled nuts, broken biscuits, or dried fruit – when she could get it. Holding the once-jam jar in his small paws, he tipped it upside down…and growled.
Closing his squinty eyes, he tried to block the shame he felt, caused by his own greed and selfishness; he knew Kim was finding it harder each day to sneak food to him, problems he knew little of. When Kim had first found him, alone and wandering the streets of Johannesburg, she had been more of a friend to him than anyone he had ever known. Since that day he had vowed to protect her – and her food stash.
Even if that meant working on a riddle, with an empty stomach. Nothing to eat…nothing.
Nothing…
Nothing?
Nothing!
That was it! The answer! Nothing!
Slinging himself back to the bed, Luigi deftly picked up the small machine, and sat on the rag-tag pillow, fingers poised above the tiny keys in suspense.
He gulped.
The moment of truth
He spoke each letter clearly as he typed them in with a shaky claw:
'N.O.T.H.I.N.G'
Luigi sat back startled as the diary spoke to him for the first time:
'Password verified, good afternoon Kim.'
These word – the same words he had heard every night she used the personal diary. They were spoken with an unmistakeably masculine voice. Every night Kim would pause for a moment. A long moment. When she wrote up her personal account, Luigi would always stay at a respectful distance from her; what she wrote was her business.
Although, even from his perch on top of the bookshelf, Luigi could sense the sorrow the girl exuded. Her back was always to him, but he could see her shoulders tremble – he dared not get involved with such human emotion however.
Sometimes it appeared as if Kim cared more for the tiny machine than her own bitbeast, Luigi, but she never said she did – nor ever denied it.
Luigi had nothing, however, only Kim herself, and she was his whole world. She was the one who had took him in, encouraged him to speak, who had made him realise that he was not just an odd outcast of a monkey, but special. She made him feel special. Otherwise he had nothing – not even a measly peanut.
Luigi now looked sideways at the tiny treasure in front of him, he did have access to her diary now. Even though he knew she might not appreciate anybody actually reading her personal accounts, she had not expressly forbidden it.
Driven by temptation, Luigi opened one account she appeared to have written recently, about three days ago in fact. Her words were bitter and cruel, and they struck a chord in Luigi's heart, and chilled him to the bone.
February 19th 2002,
Today was my birthday, my thirteenth in fact, not that anyone noticed…'
Her thirteenth? Was the human only that old? He found it hard to discern the different meanings of ages between human and bitbeast. Luigi had only just celebrated his one thousand eight hundred and first year since the day of his calling. He paused in thought, shrugged, and read on.
The teachers at school say I should stop working so hard, as I could make the other kids in my class 'feel slightly below average' – of course I know that means 'stupid', but the kids in my class are idiots; all they care about is their clothes, hair, make-up and who has whom for a girlfriend/boyfriend. Popularity sucks, it's so bleh…yeah bleh is a good word.
Popularity? Luigi had heard of the idea of class among humans; in fact it was little different from that of other primates. However, he knew Kim was clever for a human, and now at only thirteen years of age? She must be a genius.
As an intelligent one of her species, Luigi always suspected Kim to be a type of leader, or was at least heading in that way. He had always thought that that was why she was so lonely all the time, but obviously he was wrong, it was not the case.
And what on the material plane was make-up? Was it a pretend game of sorts? Were her peers leaving her out of their playtime? Boyfriend/girlfriend evidently had something to do with your connection within the family – or whatever you called a group of humans.
Reading on, Luigi realised that he did not understand most of what Kim seemed to be rambling on about; he might have been a super intelligent monkey for his kind, but was still a monkey all the same. He had also known little of the outside world since he had entered Kim's room – except for the tree outside her window.
There was one line that did not escape his attention:
Sara is getting worse, it is almost like she does not recognise me anymore.'
Luigi frowned at this part, he knew Sara to be the only other human that live in this house. Sara, Kim had one tried to explain, was her stepmother, but what a stepmother was Luigi still did not really know. It was a type of family humans seemed to accept, but not a concept he could get his head round; you were born with a mother and father (or called into being in his case) or the rest of the tribe took care of you.
Sara did not know of Luigi's existence, and both Luigi and Kim decided the preferred it that way. He kept well hidden; mostly in Kim's room, or on the tree outside, (he even pretended to be a stuffed animal once – not the most comfortable of experiences). While in Kim's room he often heard the older female shouting, and her words seemed a little slurred at times. Sometimes Kim had entered the room, in silence, with marks adorning her face, hands and body, but she never spoke of it. Silences could stretch for hours between Kim and Luigi during those times, and she would not be consoled.
The last in her diary, caused him the most reason to pause:
I fear for Luigi's safety…The monkey of the subject, stared at the crystalline screen with wide, round eyes. Safety? He had been told everyday by Kim to 'be careful', but many humans said that before leaving each other – it was like sacred words in their farewell.
If there was danger for him – then there had to be danger for her too.
He swallowed heavily again; how would he approach her about this? In reality he should not have been reading her diary in the first place.
Humans were odd creatures Luigi decided; they had a choice to ignore their natural instincts entirely, but mostly chose to give in to animal temptation – such as eating as much as was available to them, and stealing. Luigi knew Kim was slightly small for a human, he had often heard her complaining about her size. Maybe she was a runt of her family, perhaps that was why they had all left her, but if you had the advantage over instinct…why leave? Why not do all you could to give the new addition a good chance in life.
The sound of the front door clicking shut could be heard from downstairs, and easily reached his ear mite infested ears, and immediately Luigi felt the presence of him human mistress, Kim. He was suddenly aware of his current situation – Kim might climb the stairs any minute now, and he was still clasping her diary!
Luigi fiddled with it as if his long fingers were made of wet soap, it kept on slipping up out of his shaking hands, as he tried to find a place to put it. That was until he remembered Kim kept it under the mattress, all he had to do was slide it back into the wooden cranny, and look busy.
By the time Kim burst into the room, Luigi was ready, and looked as if butter wouldn't melt in his mouth. Kim really was short for her age, at around only five foot one. She had brown bushy hair, the colour of autumn leaves, which reached her shoulders in shaggy split ends. Her eyes were wide, ocean blue, and innocent, she had no need for glasses, but around her neck hung a magnifying glass. No one ever knew why she kept a magnifying glass, but she said it was there just in case she should need it. Her fingernails were split and fanned, out of stress and purposeful ignorance for her own image.
Kim always wore frayed blue dungarees, and a tatty white t-shirt, which had many stains splashed here and there, collected over the years, she had been unable to wash off. A denim hair band finished her attire, and she wore it with pride, even if it did make her seem younger than she did already.
'Whew, that's a first.' She exclaimed happily from her place by the doorway.
'First for what?' asked Luigi, trying to look the perfect picture of pure innocence, as he studied the 'forever friends' picture hanging next to her bedside table. 'I don't see anything first around here. No siree, nothing of the slightest first that ever came to the first dimension of the first ever made material plane. The first of course that never even happened…'
Kim raised one bushy eyebrow, frowning, something was up. 'Luigi, are you all right? You're acting a bit odd.'
Luigi down at his back legs, and then made his eyes shift around the room. 'All right? She asks the monkey, if he's all right? And I would answer yes, yes mistress, Luigi is fine, nothing going on here, but…'
'But…' Encouraged Kim, she did not like the way this was going.
Luigi saw his chance… 'But Luigi was wondering, oh yes he was, if anything is wrong with the young mistress? Luigi is worried, and would like to ask about her well being, oh yes he would.'
'Well I…' she started. She thought better of what she was about to say then tried again, 'Didn't you notice that Sara is not in the house?'
Luigi shook his head enthusiastically, 'Luigi notice nothing, Luigi see nothing. As wise monkeys say, 'see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil,' or was it 'ignorance is bliss', Luigi forget now…or maybe it was both. Anyways Luigi say…no he not notice any missing Sara today, but Luigi was wondering, oh yes he was, did Sara forget you today, maybe?'
'Sara? Why would she…?'
'Thought you could get away from me you little scamp?' answered a slurred voice from behind the door. Luigi became stiff, as he sensed the danger lurking behind that voice. He immediately jumped to the ground and bounded over to his mistress.
Kim's situation was a lot worse than Luigi had ever known. Kim's only living relative, was not even a blood relative, but her alcoholic stepmother, Sara. Sara was a white South African, just as Kim's father had been, and had married him after Timothy Lugen decided, finally, that his daughter needed a mother. Kim's own mother had died in childbirth, and now she was left in the world with no siblings. Her father had died only about two years ago, he had been poisoned by one of his own experiments, or so they said.
Kim lived the life of a social outcast; she was small, not very keen on looking after her own looks, and a quiet child. This all added up to the point that she could no longer stand up against her own stepmother, all she needed was a friend, what she got was a monkey. Although, Kim was grateful, she could never have asked for a nicer miracle than her own little Luigi; he was the star in her life, and the smile on the side of her mouth.
Kim had often asked how Luigi thought they had come together, and all he told her was that, in his heart, he heard her call, and somehow they met in the middle. They were not just a girl and her monkey, they were Kim and Luigi, they were a team, and they were two halves that made a whole. They were counterpart clockwork.
And right now Luigi's counterpart was calling to him in desperation and fear. She did not need to say it – he could feel it, inside his mind, throbbing like an ache that refused to subside. He could feel that sharp twinge of anguish that started from the tip of his nose to the end of his toes, and it infuriated him no end. How dare this other creature scare her so!
He was strong, he was invincible, he was…flying across to the other side of the room by a large hand, shaped like a fly swat. Wow Luigi did not know he could fly, he thought before he hit the wall.
He heard his mistress scream for real this time, for him: 'LUIGI!' she screamed in distress. She clasped her head in panic and tried to run to his side, to aid him in anyway she could, but a heavy, strong hand held and pulled her back. 'NO! LET GO!'
'Who woulda thought that such a little runt like you could make so much noise?' questioned her cruel captor. She tugged her round so that she was facing her, a sneer lit her features as she scanned the girl, and started dragging her downstairs.
Kim's feet became tangled as she tried to keep up with the monster, she wanted to cause herself less physical damage as was possible. In her mind, she thought like lightening; she analysed her situation, before looking for pathways that led to conclusions, very few came to peaceful end. She was brought back to reality by a slap across her face, and looked into the face of the growling maniac.
'I've had just about enough of you.' Sara told her 'You've always pranced about this place like a crazed loon, just like your father!' Kim's eyes watered, not only by the pressure that was painfully being applied to her chin, but because of the insult towards her father; she wanted to yell and scream at her current intimidator, but only found, in her mind, that doing so would only cause more problems, or which she had plenty. 'Well enough of this!' Exclaimed Sara, almost triumphant. Her hair stuck out and strange angles and her face was beet red, and Kim was vaguely reminded of a porcupine that had eaten too many pickles.
Kim was starting to lose consciousness, from lack of oxygen, as the porcupine's hand was wrapped around her throat – she knew it was only meant to threaten, not kill – but even so black spots started to dance in her vision. Just as Kim thought she would pass out, she was pulled back from her reverie into the present, by the painful sensation of having her arm wrenched from its socket.
This time Kim did scream.
This time Kim was not sent back upstairs to lick her wounds, but was first punched across the nose so hard; she flew back into the seedy street outside. She cried out as she tried to get up, but was overcome by pain, and settled instead into lying in a heap. Her nose bleeding, her arm, twisted. No one would notice, no one would care. This was downtown Johannesburg, the place no one knew existed, the place and people that were forgotten.
Although, out from the corner of her eye, lying on her front, she thought she saw a girl. Kim thought herself delirious, but no longer cared; no one else did, why should she?
This time Kim did pass out.
Spartica Haughton reached down and rolled the girl gently onto her side, before placing her in the recovery position. She glanced back at her driver, Naugetii, and nodded her head in acknowledgement before he dialled for an ambulance.
A small flicker of movement caught her eye, and she turned in that direction, towards an old gnarled tree, which grew outside a small window. From the top of the branches, she watched as the small monkey climbed dexterously down to the bottom. In his hands he clasped a silver machine, with gold plated words on the front.
'It's all right. Your mistress is going to be fine, Luigi; proper help is on the way.' He knew this girl, he did not know why, he did; she was good, a friend
Luigi nodded, and approached before laying the small machine trustingly in Spartica's hands, and sat in wait for the help to arrive.
In downtown Johannesburg, an ambulance could be heard wailing only a few streets away, while a sixteen year old girl, fiddled and absently tapped at the keys of Kim's personal electronic diary.
