Thanks to all patient reviewers (we love you XD)
Mechanical Bruising
Chapter 4
"Bang...bang...bang"
Every ten seconds a loud bang could be heard, the sound sneaking its way through every corner and creak of the building. It seemed never-ending, just continuing above his head somewhere.
A sigh escaped his parted lips as he uncurled himself on the floor and sat up. There was certain stiffness to his back, his hands and feet numb from the soul searing cold that seemed to bite through his clothes, crawling under his skin to stay.
He was alone again, the warmth from his phoenix long gone in the night, she didn't like daylight very much really. There was a flash of sadness in his eyes, his hand rising to clutch the front of his shirt, covering his heart. He clenched his teeth hard to avoid the sob from getting out of his throat. But it seemed to be unable to make it go away.
Helplessness took hold of him, making him break down into tears, balling his eyes out into his arms. He sat rocking to and fro for ages, eternities passing him by without him noticing at all. Knuckles turned white from the tight grip his fingers had on his over-sized t-shirt. Unable to control his crying he sat there, alone in the damaged and broken apartment with the cross carved in on the door.
"M-mom...I-IM s-s-sorry!" He whispered in a thick voice, the constant sobbing making it difficult to speak. He didn't know why he was crying, it just felt, natural.
There was no strength left in him as he was dry, not a single teardrop left within his little body. He felt drained, his eyes empty as they gazed up at the roof, still he seemed to be staring at something he couldn't see.
Hunger was tearing at him, his stomach making growling noises, demanding for him to obey its call. He didn't know how long it had been since he ate. It was hard to keep track of the days, they seemed to float into each other, only being replaced and separated by the endless dark of night. He nodded to find something to eat.
Standing up his feet were shaking as never before and he stumbled over to the low whole in the door he used to get in and out. With a little effort he slipped outside, his hands and knees being ripped up by the broken glass on the floor from a broken window in the process. He looked down at his open hands, seeing the small cuts marking the pale white skin there. A little blood was trickling from the cuts, drops gathering in his palms. There was nothing to do about it, he thought and clasped his hands together.
The city of Japan was cold, the winter everlasting it seemed. Snow lay deep in the streets, reaching his bare knees, making him shudder. He felt so cold, but ignored the feeling and took a step forward. It was really hard to move with this amount of snow, but he had no choice. Hunger was driving him, the need to consume food fuelling his moves.
There were other children like him wandering the streets, and he was scared of them. They looked so scary, their faces holding a stony and emotionless expression. The other day he had bumped into a boy a couple of years older than him...and the boy had told him to fuck off and go to hell, this was his area and no one would steal anything without his permission. Kai being Kai had only nodded, panicking at having the older boy shouting at him with an angry voice.
He just hoped that boy wasn't around right now, then he at least stood some chance to get food. Making his way through the deep snow he looked up at the houses he passed by. There were lights lit in the window, and he longed to be inside one of those houses, inside in the warmth with a cup tea warming his hands. A little smile appeared on his face. Maybe some day he would be a part of a family that cared for him...But right now...
He had been walking around for hours, his feet numb with cold. Kai was trying to keep his hands warm by rubbing them against each other, but he had lost all ability to feel anything at all. At some point he started believing that he would never get warm again.
"Hey kiddo...you ok?" A male voice asked, sounding concerned. He looked up, seeing that he was standing by a small building, he sign on the front saying that they were selling hot dogs and other warm stuff.
The man whom asked him the question was a kind looking man, thick brown hair covering his head, brown beard at his chin.
Kai opened his mouth to answer, but no word would come from his throat.
"You hungry? You look like you are freezing to death, kiddo"
Kai gave a little nod, a hopeful look on his face. The man smiled and started fumbling around with something behind the desk. Kai was too small to see what he was doing though. When the man reached out his hand he held a hot dog. Kai looked at him wide-eyed, then at the food.
"Take it, kiddo...I don't want you to end up dead because of the cold...Go ahead, I wont bite you"
There were tears in his eyes as he took the hot dog from the man with trembling hands and stuffed it into his mouth eagerly. The man chuckled, smiling kindly down at him.
"I bet that makes you feel a little better...Would you like to keep me company? It can get quite lonely out here on a cold night"
Kai smiled shyly and nodded again.
"I don't fucking think so old man" a snappy voice rang from the shadows.
The man and Kai both looked to the newcomer; Kai's blood freezing in his veins. It was that older kid who'd threatened him earlier.
The boy had thick pink hair that flowed down to his shoulders and it was red at the tips; the boy's cheek had a huge bleeding scar on it but he looked as if he was doing nothing to prevent the blood that had already flowed down to stain his already filthy white t-shirt.
Kai took a step back and the man who'd offered him the food suddenly grabbed his shoulders, yanking him to his side, "The boy's staying with me"
The kid took a step towards them, spitting on the ground in front of them, "No he fucking ain't you perverted old bastard!"
Kai's mouth was open at what was happening; he'd never hear anyone around him except his grandfather swear as this kid seemed to in every sentence.
"I found him first! He wandered over to me! I've fed him, he's mine by the street laws!" the man bellowed back; his grip on Kai becoming tighter.
"Jesus you fucking old coot; just let the little shit go and I won't get Marlo onto ya; he don't like pervs; get out of my streets" the kid pulled out a gun from his pocket and Kai squeaked in fright, "Don't worry Shit it's not for you; it' for your pervy kidnapper"
Kidnapper?
This man was trying to kidnap him? He squeaked against and tried to get out of the man grasp; his skin began to burn at the man touch; violent memories of the boy who'd raped him; began to arise and he screamed; yanking his arms away from the man and tripping onto the ground.
"You little-"
BANG!
The man choked on his own words and fell to the ground, blood pouring from a wound in his chest.
Police sirens echoed around them and the teenager gripped Kai's arm; yanking him up violently.
Kai was crying; he could still remember what that boy had done to his body and now some old pervert had tried to kidnap him. He just wanted his mum back so she could take him away from this place and tell him it was all just a bad dream.
"Come you little shit; get running!" the boy said yanking him along as he started to run down the path; down certain alleys, jumping over the druggies and drunks, Kai tripping over nearly all of them clumsily.
When the police sirens died down The teenager stopped running and Kai felt to a heap on the grimy floor; breathing hard he looked up at the teenager who grinned; his smile coming more on his un-injured side of his cheek.
Kai had long since stopped crying and all his memories had thankfully gone.
"What's you name shit?" the teenager asked.
Kai didn't particularly like or know how he'd been nicknamed 'shit' but he found himself replying to the question, "I'm Kai"
"I'm Ziggy" the boy said still grinning; take Kai's hand and helping him up.
"You're on the wall of my new house" Kai whispered.
Ziggy's eyes widened lightly, "You live in that demolished heap of crap?"
Kai's mouth stayed shut, in all honestly even though this boy had rescued him he still was afraid of him; and the gun that rested in his left pocket.
"Hey fine you little shit, don't answer me; don't even thank me for rescuing you from that perv" he said pushing his fingers into his denim jacket that he must have stolen; it was too clean for Ziggy to have owned naturally.
"Please… don't leave" Kai whispered as he walked away, Ziggy turned back to him, "I don't want to be alone here, it's frightening"
"Aw, don't start crying shit, come on; I live in the same building as you; I just haven't been around these days; police caught me ya see" Ziggy took Kai's hands and started to pull the 10 year old along.
Kai smiled; Ziggy's hand felt warm laced with his own, he rested his head against Ziggy's arm and the teenager brushed his hair back.
Kai felt safe; just like he had with his mum; as he and Ziggy walked back to the run down house they both lived in.
It had been a nice morning today, and Tala had been stunned at how beautiful the world seemed when bathed in the sunlight, as it had been when he woke up. Stepping out of bed he had walked over to the window by himself, finally getting steady on his feet, before he climbed the window ledge with some effort. His jaw had nearly dropped as he saw the golden light creep over the hills and make its way towards the Abbey, slowly but certainly nearing. For the first time in his life he had heard the sound of birds singing outside, and it made him close his eyes to listen to the small animals in the trees. He had never seen a bird before, but vague memories floated into his mind, one of those he couldn't understand…but that made his heart beat faster.
-Flashback-
"Hey mom! Look at the eagle!" cried a younger Tala, jumping up and down on the soft, green grass. A young woman came over to him, circling her arms around his waist to lift him up. Her fiery, red hair tickled the side of his face, and he laughed and twirled it between his fingers.
"Why wont the eagle come down to us mom? I want to pet it"
The woman laughed and ruffled his hair lovingly before planting a light kiss on his forehead.
"The eagle needs to be free, baby...They don't like to be touched by humans".
"Awww...But I wanna!"
-End flashback-
At the moment he was sitting alone in his room, his back against the cold wall of stone that the whole Abbey seemed to be built in. He kept his eyes focused at the ceiling, staring without blinking even once. It was strange, he thought, that everyone else he had seen here blinked their eyes…But not him.
He had learnt the use of speak, but couldn't utter more than simple, childish lines that always made Olivia smile at him. His head seemed full of memories today, and it made him wonder about things.
Why was he here at this place? Had his mom left him?
Maybe he could ask Olivia about it when she returned. He had wanted to go and play with his two friends today, but Olivia had told him to stay in his room and be a good boy. So that's what he had done.
The door opened, and he recognized the sound of the steps as Olivia's. His face broke into a huge smile as she came over to him, and he held out his arms for her to lift him up. She sighed and took him into her arms before walking over to the bed. Sitting down she placed him on her lap, and he wrapped his arms around her. He liked her smell, it was of flowers; he could remember the sweet smell of roses from sometime long gone now.
"Olivia? Why am I here?" he asked, stumbling a little in the words as he spoke.
"This is where you live, Tala" she answered simply.
"But...I haven't always been here...have I?"
He couldn't see Olivia's slightly sad face as he asked that. Poor boy, she thought to herself. They had given him memories, those a real human boy would have...Only, he wasn't human. But she wasn't allowed to tell him these things, they were classified. Just as he was a classified project...
"Tala...Don't ask me these things, it wont do you any good to be curious", she stated and brushed away a bang of red hair from his pale face. He looked like he didn't understand what she meant, but gave a little nod and buried his face in her hair, hugging her tightly.
She was dearly fond of this child; he could have been her own son. But Boris had other plans for his cyber-clone, and she wouldn't be able to do anything about it. She had grown too soft by taking care of this boy, she thought sadly.
"Let go of me now, we're going outside to train for a while" she said a little coldly, and he let go, stepping back onto the floor again. His innocent eyes were looking up at her with a bright sparkle to them.
Tala reached out his hand for her to take...but she didn't, and walked past him, motioning for him to come along. His face fell. Had he done something wrong? Why wouldn't she take his hand, like she had done before...?
But as they walked down the corridor he forgot all about that, feeling excited about going outside his room. Maybe he would bump into his two friends, Jorgi and Rhica? He hoped so; he hadn't seen them for a while.
The sound of his meaningless repeating of the words "bupp-e-ti-bupp-e-lupp" echoed through the corridor as they walked; a happy smile on the little boy's face.
And we have another one- we have been working on this story harder than you can think, or you can know- we're up to chapter 9 now, though you won't be getting it until we post it out. Will you stay until then?
Ja Ne
Paradise
