Darkness, Be My Friend

Chapter Nine : Conversations on Ancient History

Jack stared at herself in the mirror with a frown, gaze focused on the reflection of the skin around her right eye which now held only the faintest hint of the bruise that had been there a week before. All the other bruises and cuts she'd gained on that planet were nearly gone; the only obvious injury left were the stitches in her side. Eleven black marks standing out against her skin, they would leave a scar there but that was better than being dead; she ran a finger over them then sighed, the stitches weren't what were bothering her right then.

Silently, she pulled her night shirt over her head then turned to the side to see the way it fell over her chest; there was a definite difference there than from what she remembered. Jack's frown deepened at this and she grabbed the hem of her shirt, pulling it tighter against her chest in an attempt to make it flatten out; it didn't work very well. A familiar knot of terror twisted itself tight inside the pit of her stomach as an unpleasant memory floated to the surface of her mind; she shoved it back down, not wanting to think about it right then, but that didn't work this time around.

Jack had been nine when she went into foster care, however, the foster home she'd been put into was not a Company home but one of the independently run ones that littered the back alleys of the universe; in all actuality it hadn't really been a foster home, but she hadn't learned that until later. Her brother had left her with nothing but the clothes she had been wearing at the time; he hadn't said goodbye and she could remember crying. Her name hadn't been Jack back then, but she refused to acknowledge any other name now; Jack was the name she'd given herself, the name that was a part of her being free.

There had been other girls in the foster home, some older and some younger; it was one of the bigger ones who warned her about getting older, about what would happen when she grew up because it had happened to every girl in the home who stayed there. The older girl hadn't spared any details in her explanation; even so, it had taken Jack two and a half years to realize just what she had meant about growing up.

Shivering at the memory, Jack quickly exited the bathroom and made her way back to the small cabin she'd claimed for her own; she paused, looking across the hall at the door to the room Riddick had taken. It was closed but there was a light on in the cockpit indicating that she wasn't the only one who couldn't sleep. As silently as she could, she crept up the hall and into the galley, trying to keep her footsteps quiet as she stepped through the door; maybe this time she'd pull it off.

"Can still hear you, kid," Riddick said as soon as she had passed into the room.

Damn...

He was sitting in the pilot's chair and threw her a glance over his shoulder, looking amused; he was wearing his goggles and Jack wondered why. He could have just as easily turned off the lights; she wished he would, she liked the silver glow of his eyes. As it was, he looked like he was waiting for her to say something, more than likely in explanation for what she was doing awake.

"Couldn't sleep," Jack told him and he nodded, accepting that. He turned back to the computer screens, leaving Jack standing there, staring; she fidgeted with the hem of her shirt, trying to control the impulse to bite her lip.

"You just going to stand there?" Riddick asked, not looking back at her.

Jack smiled slightly and walked over, climbing into the co-pilot's seat, gaze falling on the computers; the screens looked similar to the ship's registration he'd showed her before, but there was something different about it. It seemed familiar, like she'd seen that very same window pulled up on a monitor someplace else; it took a second before it clicked. The file on the screen right there was the same one she'd seen the pulled up on the station computer back in the registrars office on Jericho Station; the file the authorities there had sent them so she'd be put on the next ship back to the more civilized places in the galaxy.

Holy crap...how'd he get that?

"That's my record at Jericho, isn't it?" she asked, looking at him.

"Jack B. Badd," he read off the screen, shaking his head. "Nice name."

"At least they bought it," Jack said, frowning. "I mean, if they hadn't..."

She trailed off and shuddered at thinking what might have happened if they'd dug up her real file instead of just putting on record her chosen name; she'd rather return and face the monsters on the dark planet. Riddick was staring at her, but she didn't look at him, instead she pulled her knees up to her chest, folding her arms around them; she kept her eyes on the screen.

"Jack?" he asked and she shot him a glance, but didn't respond at first. "If they hadn't what?"

"They'd of sent me back," she whispered, looking down.

"Back where?" Riddick inquired, leaning towards her. Again, Jack didn't answer; she didn't want to talk about this, she just wanted to forget about it all. He wasn't going to drop it, she could tell; a whole week had gone by with her trying to refrain from asking him too many questions and now she was the one being interrogated. "Kid, answer me."

He'd put a growling edge to his voice then and Jack forced herself to look up, hugging her knees closer; he looked a little mad. But Jack bit the inside of her lip to keep herself from speaking, shaking her head; but the memories were returning even with that refusal. There was another fear creeping into her mind too; if she told him, would he take her back there? That question was enough to make her want to bolt off and hide; Riddick seemed to have sensed that thought in her head.

"Don't move."

The command was harsh and so she stayed as still as she possibly could, but just trying to stay motionless made her tremble; she was going to cry, she could feel the tears starting to form themselves in her eyes.

Why does this happen? If I tell him or he finds out...I don't want to go back there...don't want to go back...not going back...

"Not going back," Jack said softly, not realizing that she had spoken the thought aloud.

"That what you think? That I'll send you back?" his voice cut through her thoughts; she wasn't sure what to do, afraid to nod or voice an answer to that question. Instead she just looked at him, wide-eyed, and he sighed in exasperation; he pulled off his goggles and looked her in the eye. "Christ, kid, if it's that fucking bad what the hell makes you think I'd take you back there?"

"I don't know," she whispered, feeling ashamed now. "I just...if I go back there..."

She refused to even consider biting her lip now; he'd more than said he wasn't going to take her back so she could tell him.

"It wasn't a Company home. It was registered but it wasn't regulated or anything...there were just girls there, but-"

Riddick didn't need any explanation beyond just the knowledge that the foster home she lived in wasn't Company controlled; usually that was a good thing, but not when social services was concerned. The Company allowed unregulated homes because it kept the streets clear, not caring that the kids who went to those homes were worse off than they'd have been living off the streets; and an all girl's home. He shook his head and she stopped talking, watching his reaction; he'd heard of places like that and knew what happened to the girls there when they grew old enough.

No wonder she ran away...no wonder she doesn't want to go back...

He suddenly felt guilty; at least half the women he'd ever paid for a night with had originally come from one of those homes and here this girl had been fated to that existence. He couldn't imagine her living that life and for once the voice of darkness inside him concurred; it was a strange moment of accordance, rationality and instinct in agreement, even if the darkness was still at odds about keeping her with him. It was confusing, almost the same feeling he'd gotten racing the sandcat against the looming shadow of that ringed planet; if he left her somewhere whoever found her would look up her file and send her back but if he kept her with him...

...she could get hurt...she could die...or worse...

Worse, now that was something he did not want to be thinking about; she was still staring at him, waiting for him to say something. For a moment he felt like he should do something, like say something to assure her or give the kid a hug; he pushed that aside, he wasn't exactly the type of person to dole out comfort.

"How long were you there?" Riddick asked of her instead, frowning to himself.

"Two years," Jack answered quietly; the tears he'd seen shimmering in her eyes were still there, on the brink of falling no matter how many times she tried to blink them away. "Was nine when I got dropped there."

"Nine?" he echoed, glancing at the computer screen; the photo in her Jericho file was obviously more recent. "What about before that?"

"Was with my brother," she replied and he noted the slight quaver in her voice as she said it; half sadness, half anger.

"Is he dead?" Riddick inquired; it may have been a blunt question but it got right to the point. Jack shook her head, that simple action telling him one thing; it was her brother's fault she'd been dropped at the home in the first place.

"I don't know where he is, he just left," Jack told him, fingers playing with the hem of one of her shirt sleeves. "Won't be sorry if he is dead."

And he will be if I ever see him...

It surprised him, that thought; how in one week he'd found himself taking a liking to this kid he hadn't quite figured out yet. She was smart, picking up on things quickly, already able to write a few simple programs after watching him on the computer; he had noticed that she asked only questions that pertained to the subject at hand even if she was curious about something else. He knew she wanted to ask him about his eyes and had been debating what to tell her when the question came up; there was the story he usually told whenever he got asked and then there was the truth over which he was still skeptical and so had kept silent about.

Riddick wondered if Jack would believe him but then shook his head again to get rid of that question; she'd soaked up every word he'd said in the past seven days since they'd acquired this ship, of course she would believe him. She shifted in the co-pilot's seat, unfurling her legs from her chest and stretching them out before folding them across each other, her back against the chair; she wasn't tall enough sitting up to reach the headrest, so her head was leaned back against the upper middle of the seat.

"Where're we going?"

"Well, that depends," he responded, leaning back against his own chair. "There's a couple places on the route we're on right now. Was thinking off stopping off on Dulroon."

"Dulroon?" Jack repeated, twisting the hem of her shirt and then releasing it, eyes focused on the now wrinkled fabric.

She wondered if she should tell him that she'd been there before, that she had spent nearly two years living out of the basement of a burnt down house stealing what she needed to survive; she'd even resorted to dumpster diving once or twice, though if she remembered right at least one of those times had rendered her sick. It rained a lot there too; the planet was famous for its violent weather, which was also the only reason it was populated at all. Most of the original settlers had worked on the lightning farms, gathering the high voltage flashes of electricity to charge the ion cells used in the big Company warships. The farms were still there, still working, but the colonies had expanded into one of the darker slums of the universe; looking back now, Jack was surprised she hadn't ended up dead.

"It's a fucked up place, but they don't ask too many questions," Riddick commented, nodding at the computer screen. "Was going to make some IDs just in case."

So that's why he got my Jericho record…

"Been there," she said, looking over at him. "To Dulroon, I mean."

"Really?" he asked, tilting his head to the side; he actually looked interested.

"Yeah," she responded, nodding her head only slightly. "It's where I went after…after I ran away."

She bowed her head, suddenly remembering the reason why she'd left that planet too; she'd gone into the port that day thinking that she might be able to get some money by helping unload a ship. Sometimes the smugglers did that, hired the local street rats to help move their crates and shit; it was cheaper than paying the ground staff. She hadn't had that much luck though, and so had resorted to pickpocket-ting, a skill that she had achieved an acceptable level of efficiency with; the last wallet she'd picked up had gone unnoticed like the rest.

It was looking through that particular billfold that she had found the ID card and found out just who the wallet belonged to; she hadn't exactly lied before when she'd said she didn't know where her brother was. She'd been scared then, worried that if he found her he'd send her back to the home; which was why she'd immediately found a ship to stow away on.

Got caught anyways…

"It's really rainy there."

"So I've heard," Riddick commented, a half-smile coming across his face. She saw it and smiled herself, but it was broken by a involuntary yawn; she was tired and it was just now catching up with her. "Should go to bed, kid."

"Okay," Jack agreed, standing up and yawning again. "How long until we get there?"

"About a week or two," he replied, watching as she stepped around the chair towards the door. She nodded to herself and crossed over slowly to the door, leaving him in the cockpit with the computer; she just reached the door when she heard his voice again. "G'night, Jack."