9

The secret

In the day's excitement, I had forgotten about my latest phobia of sleep. I was painfully reminded of it. I had barely shut my eyes when phantoms and shadows started to infest my dreams. Tom was the star of the show, accompanied by Hiwatari and a lot of people I couldn't recognize. I was jerked awake by Kai. He stood just beside the bed and tried to muffle my screams. "Do you plan to wake the whole country?" I was stunned to silence. When I regained my wits, I replied: "That will be good. If they hear me, maybe the cops will get you." I replied sarcastically. Having him around for so long had made me immune to the sudden terror he used to bring me earlier. I knew that one wrong word, and I could die the next second, but I was too tired to care. Plus, I was sure that he hadn't kept me around, just to slaughter me. On hearing my retort, he smirked. Didn't this guy ever sleep? Over these days, I had never seen him rest. It was as though he wasn't human. But my body begged to differ. I had just woken from one nightmare to another, still, my battered body was desperate for rest. Hiwatari kept staring at me in silence. Remember what I said about not being scared of him anymore? I take it back. In the small beam of moonlight that flooded into the room through an open window, Kai looked like the deadliest specter. My mind was still fuzzy with sleep, so I almost got a heart attack when I felt a cold hand rest on my shoulder. Within a second, a strong arm wrapped around me, and I felt my heartbeat skyrocketing. All sleep was washed away.

"Just like old times, isn't it Tals?" Hiwatari said in a barely audible voice. "You and me. Years have passed and the tables have turned. But I'll be right here to comfort you." The words made me shudder. I thought it was a manipulative mind game. That was until I saw the look on his face. In the last few days, I had memorized his movements and expressions. They were surprising, yet I had always been able to read them. Until now. The look he was giving me couldn't be described. There was a certain warmth in it. I felt many emotions all at once. severe panic, fear, and... Excitement?

Taking in the practical implications of my thoughts, I slapped his hand away from mine. It was easier than I had imagined. He hadn't tried to hold me down. It had been my own emotions that had lulled my senses and frozen me in the cage. I broke the trance. Kai didn't show the slightest surprise, instead, he turned towards the balcony, leaving me alone with my thoughts. The rational part in me was glad to see him leave, but a nagging almost non-existentially tiny fragment of my mind longed for him. For the security I had felt in the split second he was close to me. I reprimanded myself for that. Why was I being such an idiot? I definitely shouldn't be excepting his company. This wasn't beauty and the beast, I prompted myself. The flicker of the candle Zia had lit beneath Tom's photo, right in this room, was more than enough of a reminder.

I lay on the bed for hours. Finally, when I saw that the sun was up, I got dressed and searched for Zia. But the first thing I saw stunned me. Kai was in the garden, playing ball with little Wyatt. His tender movements and soft smile made it look as though he was his brother. But I knew that this was just as fake as the disguise he was wearing. I rushed to their side. "Joe iz tha bhest bhaller I have seen" Wyatt said in between happy giggles. He was so happy that he was clinging to Kai's jeans and tugging him to throw the ball again. The boy was too naïve to even be anywhere near Hiwatari. As for him, he just stood smiling and playing the responsible elder brother.

"Wyatt, why don't you go and call your sister? I've been searching for her." I said in a desperate attempt to distance him from Kai. But it was in vain. "She has gone to work" Wyatt chirped. "Will you also play with me?" he asked hopefully. I had to admit he was one of the cutest kids I had ever met. "NO, I and Tala have some talking to do," Kai said in a stern voice. Completely ignoring the heartbroken look Wyatt was giving him, Kai continued "and why don't you do the work Zia asked you to? She'll be happy when she comes home and finds the garden clean. By the time you are done, she'll return, and we can play together." The last part worked and Wyatt went away looking like he had negotiated the world's biggest crisis. This left me alone with Kai. His expression changed faster than a bulb being switched off. "When she returns, ask her. Don't give her time to think and don't ever underestimate her. Keep the tone friendly. The tone of a child who is just curious to know about his late father. She can relate to it faster. And do it in front of me." He ordered.

"How do you expect me to ask her? It's not like I can just ask her why I'm alive out of nowhere."

"Talk to her about me then. She'll have a lot to say." What he said next outraged me. "I would also love to hear her version of why I killed her dad. I was honestly disappointed when I missed that fiction being telecasted while I was chasing you."

"How can you! Is that all that the girl's grief means to you? Is this the value you give life?"

"Value? What value? He would have died anyway. I just made it faster and, in his state, he seemed worthless to me."

"Who gave you the right to decide what is worth and what isn't!?"

"Can't you see it? That's what all humans do. You call me a monster but isn't declaring someone more worthy of life than the other, something humans have been doing since the beginning of time? You make it sound like something only a certain sect of people do, but it is everywhere. Right from a child to an old man. Tell me what is Wyatt doing now?"

I glanced at where that little bundle of joy was happily humming and removing weeds from Zia's small garden. Kai didn't wait for a reply.

"Doesn't your rigorous law imply that all lives are equal? who has given him the right to kill those plants? And why is he doing it? You can argue that those weeds are disrupting the growth of the other desirable plants. But then, again, who are you to decide which plant is better than the other? you let the roses grow just because they are beautiful? It comes down to what you want from them. Isn't that how society works? In this so-called Ideal world, people keep what they want. They nurture the obedient ones and punish the rebels based on their chosen criteria. Why can't you see this? Or, I think a better question is, 'Why do you choose to ignore it? are you afraid of what you might find if you search too deep?"

I felt like my head was spinning. The resonance of those words in my skull was impossible to escape from. I was rendered speechless for a moment. My voice had betrayed me. Finally, when an ounce of it returned, I asked, "Don't you see any difference between an animal and a human…?"

"To me, they are all the same, Ivanov. All the same"

I didn't have a response to this. Relief flooded through me when I heard the backdoor slide open and Zia's voice call out, "Lunch is ready. Come fast."

We sat on the chairs in the kitchen and she served us sandwiches. As we ate, we engaged ourselves in small talk. Zia initiated the conversation. Then she told us about her first day at work since her dad died. The description wasn't pleasant. Her employers weren't exactly sympathetic as they still believed her dad to be a murderer. My ears tingled when I heard this. This was a great opportunity to steer the conversation to my past. 'Don't give her time to think and don't ever underestimate her.' That's what he had said.

"I still feel very sorry about it, Zia. Maybe someday they will find the real culprit and your dad will get justice." Says the real culprit, I thought. I would go mad if I dwelled on it.

"That will never happen. The case is closed. But my dad will be avenged. That will be when Hiwatari dies a painful death." Her tone was venomous.

"Ohh…." That was my genius reply.

"It must have been horrible right? Even more horrible if you knew Hiwatari personally as a child" it was Kai who spoke.

"Of course. I couldn't digest it when dad told me how Kai had killed all those men. It was terrifying. He had always been a sweet child and I used to love watching him and Tala play. But I wasn't surprised when he told me that Kai hadn't killed Tala."

"Why?" I asked.

"You guys were inseparable as kids. you were always together, may it be causing trouble or getting punished."

"If I was that important to Kai, why didn't any of the men in that room keep me hostage? that would have surely broken him. I was unconscious and Kai was out of his mind with fury. keeping me hostage would have had an effect."

"They were all dead Tala," she said matter of factly. My question was so stupid that it even made Hiwatari choke his drink. What was wrong with me? Zia didn't know that Boris was still alive.

After lunch, I went back to my room. I sat next to the window and thought of various ways to elicit information from her. No ideas popped up. while washing the dishes, I had tried my best to ask her. but she kept changing the topic. As I sat thinking, I suddenly heard a sweet note. Amidst all this gloom, it stood out. I tried to ignore it, but the melody was irresistible. It seemed to call out to me. I got up and began following the sound searching for its source. finally, I reached the old storeroom which Zia usually kept locked. There I saw Zia and Wyatt crowding around a boy who was playing something that looked like a makeshift Harp. KAI. I couldn't believe it.

His music was like a wave. It seemed to pour out of him. Each time he plucked the string, I felt a refreshing wave gently caress and cleanse me. I was spellbound. despite being a terrible singer, I had always kept deep regard for music. I couldn't help but stare at those long pale fingers playing with the strings. Fingers that were filled with such grace and still were capable of ending lives. When I closed my eyes, I saw a younger version of him playing guitar in a place that looked familiar to me. he looked happy and his eyes danced with boyish mischief as he called out to me. I was disappointed when Wyatt interrupted him and he stopped. while they were chatting, I looked around the room and suddenly felt a burst of inspiration. Zia had wanted to fly, go beyond earth. she couldn't make it, but I could at least paint her a glimpse of it. "Would you mind if I drew on the walls? I'll clean the room while I'm at it."

"Draw what?"

"You'll see. just consider it as thank you from me for letting us stay. Please don't say no"

"well.. no one uses this room. So I don't think it would be hard to shift the goods as you work. So the walls are all yours" she said with a smile.

I followed her out of the room to where she had a few extra cans of old paint stored. it was only when we were alone did I notice that she seemed a bit tense. "Everything all right?" I enquired. "yeah… well except for one thing."

"What is it?" She hesitated a moment before saying " You have been asking me about dad and Voltaire the whole day. At first, I thought you are just joking around. but on second thought, I think you ought to know this…. you know with Hiwatari out loose, It's always better to be prepared.

"Know what?" I asked, hoping that my voice didn't sound as shaky as it felt.

"First tell me how did you get to your dad during that incident? weren't you supposed to be unconscious?"

"I don't know. I was traumatized and my memories of that day are clouded."

"So a part of the rumor dad told me was true." I gulped. "You were in a sort of coma".

"Yes. you said a part of. What's the other half, Zia?"

I could see that the words were causing her pain. but she replied, "That's what concerns me. Dad once told me that Voltaire and his men were working on some sort of freaky project to create abominations in nature… you and Kai weren't related to any of this. but that day, they were celebrating a successful trial, when everything went wrong and the whole fiasco with Hiwatari happened. As Ian lay dying, he kept rambling formulae. The genius's entire life's work. but there wasn't a single soul around who could listen. No one except you, Tala."

I felt numb like my brain had crashed with this information. I froze when I heard Wyatt enter the room. He was followed by Kai, who had definitely been eavesdropping. Our eyes locked, and all the pieces of the puzzle fell together.

This took me a while to write and is the longest chapter I've written. I would like to mention that the main plot of this fic is NOT science fiction. That's all. please review!