Chapter 4: Feral Child

"But I wanna go to shool!"

"The answer is no, just like the answer was no the last time, and it will still be no the next time you ask!"

"That's not fair; I wanna be with children my age. I just want friends! You don't think I know how to make friends? I can learn how to make friends! I can learn lots of things!"

"It'll be no good for you. You can learn plenty of things here."

"But it's boring here, mother!"

"What have I told you? Don't you call me mother, don't you ever call me that! Do you understand, Human?"

"…Yes, I understand. I'm sorry Nannarry." Roxanne, now a five year old girl by both Earth and Caelumar standards, quietly apologized to the older woman and squeezed Abraham to her chest. She had been taken to live with Nannarry by her two space saviors, Reggen and Derex, after they had decided she was the best guardian for the baby. Nannarry was the owner of a facility called the Life Center, a place completely dedicated to the open knowledge and exposure of living things for the general population's observational and educational was not unlike an earth zoo or aquarium, besides being clearly more advance and with different creatures. Animals were placed in replicas of their natural habitats and were given everything they needed to have a good wellbeing. This was also where Nannarry lived. With her vast knowledge of animal behaviors and biology, the two men were certain the woman would be able care for Earthling better than anyone. In addition, Reggen and Derex had taken all of what was contained in the information kit and interpreted, documented, cataloged, and downloaded it into multiple small disks that could be utilized by a reasonably sized handheld device, for both Roxanne and Nannarry's usage.

Nannarry lived up to the men's expectations. Roxanne was probably the healthiest little human child to ever live with her routine exercises, ideal sleeping schedule, and perfect diet designed based on the information kit that came with Roxanne in her arrival. Of course the foods of this planet were different, though strikingly similar in some aspects, but Nannarry was able to identify Caelumarian equivalents, and Roxanne was given a balance of various edibles that best benefited her development and growth. Roxanne was very bright – for her species – and had begun to speak in broken sentences in the native language of the area before the age of two. She learned quickly with the mental stimulation Nannarry provided for her.

Indeed, Nannarry was an excellent caregiver. It was only in giving affection was she lacking. Kissing, hugging, and any other form of touching of any kind was not tolerated unless necessary. Nannarry wouldn't even call Roxanne by her name. She would only ever refer to her has "Human". But above all, Roxanne was never to call Nannarry "mother". Roxanne did not understand this – why should a mother figure not want to be called mother, or mom even? But she was wise enough not to question it. Occasionally, however, it would slip, and she would be disciplined one way or another, or Nannarry would simply send her to her room. This was the current situation.

Under the piercing silver gaze of her guardian, and with the directing point of stiff blue fingers, Roxanne slipped behind her door and onto her simple, white bed that had no legs and merely jutted out of the wall. Leaning against the wall, she hugged Abraham close and rubbed his nose. This was a habit she developed over the years. She would rub his smooth nose with one finger whenever she felt bad, it seemed to sooth her. The threads that made his simple nose were starting to wear down.

"Abby, does Nanna hate me?" She asked her teddy bear sadly.

"I do not think she hates you, she only dislikes you momentarily." He replied in his child-like voice.

"I don't think she loves me though," She said, continuing to rub his nose.

"Ms. Ritchi, I do not believe that this is the case."

"But if she loved me, wouldn't she let me go to shool? Wouldn't she want me to have friends?"

"I am your friend, Ms. Ritchi."

"But I want more friends! I want friends like the kids I see out the windows when they come to see the animals. They look happy and fun to be with." She whined, letting go of Abraham and crossing her arms with a pout. Abraham took the opportunity to get off her lap and sit in front of her instead. He stared at her with his glimmering dark eyes and perpetual smile.

"But they do not see you in the windows, for the windows are one way only. They see only their own reflections. Ms. Nannarry does not allow you to be seen." The teddy answered calmly.

"I wanna be seen! I wanna make friends with the other kids like me."

"You are unalike them in many ways, Ms. Ritchi."

"I'm kinda like them too, sorta! Everyone's a lil'different. Just, ugh, just-a-cuz I'm alotta different doesn't mean I can't be friends with them! Does it? No!" She huffed, getting worked up. Her brows furrowed and her bottom lip poked out. She was also being very animated with her hands. "I really wanna go to shool, Abby."

The bear patted her knee with a paw, "Remain persistent, Ms. Ritchi. She is bound to be agreeable in the near future."

The girl nodded, only slightly reassured. "I'll ask her again tomorrow. And I'll be extra helpful with the chores and animals and stuff. And be super polite and nice." A yawn split her freckled face, and she blinked suddenly bleary blue eyes.

"You describe an excellent plan. Now I believe it is time to become dormant."

She nodded, rubbing her eyes. Hopping out of bed, she walked over to the wall with the door and stood on tip toes to reach the light switch. She was too tired and her mind was too busy to remember she could have just used a voice command to make the light turn off. As soon as it was dark, she felt fear rise in her chest. "Ab-Abraham..?"

At the sound his name, the bear started to glow. She sprinted across the floor and leaped back onto the bed, taking the teddy to her in a tight embrace. Roxanne kicked her way under her covers and snuggled Abraham near once more. She yawned again and shut her eyes. "…Thanks. Good night, Abby."

Abraham hugged one of her arms, "Sleep efficiently, Ms. Ritchi."

Eventually Nannarry gave into Roxanne's constant hints, requests, whines, and begs, but only after multiple headaches. When she told her she would let her go to shool, the little girl squealed and jumped around excitedly, and had to stop herself from hugging the older woman by almost squeezing the stuffing out of Abraham. The bear had a brief moment of gratitude he wasn't built with pain receptors.

Her enthusiasm was only slightly lessened when Nannarry tried to be serious with her. Nannarry told Roxanne shool would probably be very difficult for her, and would not be easy like the similarly named school from Earth. She would need to struggle to keep up with the concepts taught, and told her not to be surprised if the other children didn't except her right away. Roxanne's happiness would not be subdued, however, and was sure she would be great. Even if it took a while, she would make friends, and she would love learning things and asking questions participating.

She was wrong.

On the first day of shool, Roxanne snuck a hug around Nannarry's leg and rushed onto the shool shuttle, a large hovering transportation device that made rounds to pick up children and take them too shool. More advanced travel such as teleportation booths were reserved for more important things. The driver, who didn't really drive and was only there to supervise because the shool shuttle was almost always on autopilot set on a preprogrammed course, gave the human girl a look she couldn't read. Darting to the nearest empty seat, she glued her eyes to the window and sat Abraham next to her, suddenly too shy and over giddy to even look at the other kids. Out the window she watched Nannarry, who was also giving Roxanne a strange look. The girl thought it might be because of the hug, but was confused when Nannarry looked sad instead of angry. It was concerning, but Roxanne pushed it from her mind and stared at the seat in front of her instead. I'm not going to let Nanna's mood swings ruin this for me.

The shool-shuttle arrived to the shool within minutes, because it was nearby or because the shuttle was just fast, Roxanne couldn't tell. The blue children rushed to get off the shuttle, none noticing Roxanne in their excitement to get into the building. The human was happy to be the freckled and hairy caboose to the blue and bald train. It wasn't until after she got in line she noticed the other kids had weird metal things strapped to their backs. Where they like backpacks from earth? The bottom halves looked mechanic, and the upper halves were some kind of clear dome with….Are those fish? Oh no, was I supposed to bring a fish on my back? But why would ever I do that? She started to panic, then thought of an idea. It was simple, but better than nothing. "Abraham." She whispered. "Abraham, hang onto my back…uh, let me give you a sniggy back ride." The robo-bear hesitated only a moment before looking at the other kids and understanding. He happily obliged.

Once in class, Roxanne snuck to the back of the room and sat at a desk in the corner while the other's rushed to fill in the spots in front of her. A golden eyed man, who Roxanne could only assume was the teacher, stood before the class next to a large electronic white board. Beside him stood a large robotic torso with a dome where a head would normally be. In the dome was a fish, only it was larger than the other fish in the room. It looked like a weird cross between a popeyed goldfish and a partially developed tadpole. The man glanced over the students and paused on Roxanne. "Good morning class. Today is a special day. I don't know if you are aware, but we have a new pupil with us. I want you all to be nice and welcoming to her, because you will notice she is rather different, but I'm sure you will all learn to like her for wha-who she is." His face failed to match his words. He took a look at a flat screen in his hands and continued. "Raxain, please come up front and introduce yourself."

She gulped nervously and stood up as 20 other pairs of eyes turned towards her and widened, noticing her for the first time. Things felt like they were in slow motion as she made her way from the very back to the very front. Some of the kids couldn't hold back whispered comments and strained snickers. "Look at her hair!" "Her head is so tiny!" "Are those spots on her face?" "How can you tell it's a girl?" "What's on her back?" "She's tan!" "No, she's pink!" "Haha, now she's turning red!"

Finally she was beside the teacher facing the class. Eyes stinging with nervousness, she began. "H-hello, my name is Roxanne." She couldn't think of anything else to say, and before she had the chance to continue the popeyed-tadpole bent down with its pseudo-body and up close she spied a small antenna between its puffy eyes on its "forehead". It whispered in her ear looking conflicted, almost sad. "Excuse me miss, but where is your minion?"

"Wha-what?" What's a minion? And since when did fish talk? Nanna didn't tell me about that.

"Your minion- um, your fish- is absent? Is it terribly sick or injured? Or did it die?"

She blinked and took a chance. Pointing to the bear on her back, she answered. "Abraham is my minion."

The fish's brain seemed to flat line and his mouth gapped, revealing tiny needle teeth. The teacher tapped its metallic shoulder. "That's quite enough, Chappers. Let Raxain get back to her seat and pass the computer pads out to the pupils so we may start class." Chappers shook his fishy body and straightened his robotic one, "Hrm- yes, right, of course, Sir."

Roxanne ignored the teacher's mispronunciation a second time and went back to her desk in the empty row of desks in the back of the room. As she sat down and Chappers passed out electronics, the girl in front of her turned around and looked at her with brown-violet eyes. The minion on her back, a small, grey-purple, sea dragon looking eel, mimicked the action. "You're not Scirian," she stated, it wasn't a question.

"Nope, I'm Human." She replied, trying to sound friendly. Maybe this would be her first friend. She smiled at the thought. "My name is Roxanne and I – "

"–Yeah, I've already gathered that." The girl interrupted. "I'm Vivinie. You should think about changing your name to something less boyish. It sounds like Roxon. You should change it to something girly like Raxana, or Rononie. Or Xanady. Or something else that's better than Roxanne."

…Or maybe this wouldn't be her first friend. She frowned. "I like my name. Its mine and I think I'll keep it."

Vivinie shrugged, "Whatever, don't say I didn't try to help. Oh, and your minion is ugly."

She scowled at Vivinie's eel as it stuck its tongue out at her and Abraham. But she held back a retort. Not everyone in the room could be so unkind….or maybe they could.

Roxanne learned quickly it wasn't likely anyone would be kind to you if you had differently colored skin, hair, a small skull and a fake mammalian minion. That first day of class had begun with advanced calculus. The 5 year old earthling didn't comprehend a word the teacher had said. She didn't get how a number could be added to letter to make a line on a graph, or what kind a roots could possibly come out of a calculator if it wasn't even a plant. She felt very stupid, especially when she'd thought herself smart that morning for knowing addition already. And even worst was when she had raised her hand to tell the teacher, Mr. Cadan, she didn't understand. The entire class had turned to look back at her incredulously.

"Well," Mr. Cadan spoke slowly with forced patience. "Tell me something you do understand, Raxain."

Her brows furrowed at the failure at her name, "I understand addition." This was followed by giggles from the other pupils. She blushed but kept her head high.

"Tell me then, what does 12, 546 plus 5,679 equal?"

"Um…those numbers are too big." More giggles.

"224 plus 113?" Mr. Cadan tried again, smiling now.

She answered with silence which was filled with growing chuckles.

"23 plus 10?"

"Oh! I know that! It's, it's….um, it's…"

A boy from upfront groaned "33! 23 plus 10 equals 33!"

Roxanne was outrage, "Hey! Hey that was my question! I just had to think about it!" Now the room was roaring with laughter, another boy chimed in, "Haha! You shouldn't have to think about it!" That was the first and last question Roxanne asked.

Things only seemed to get worst from that point on. She gained multiple nicknames after a while: Hairy, Freckles, Freak, Pinky, Flat Head, just "It", and more. Vivinie talked to her more than anyone and quickly became her least favorite person. Vivinie came up with the nickname "Poxy Roxy", declaring the spots on Roxanne's face were from a disease that gave you pox you could catch if you got to close. Roxanne tried to fight back with the nickname "Vinie Meany", but it didn't seem to do much damage. So she tried physical damage instead.

Oh yes, if Roxanne couldn't speak with her words she could definitely speak volumes with her fists. She practiced "talking" this way more than once, but then decided it wasn't worth it. If only it didn't get her into trouble. Had Roxanne not been so bent on proving herself as a good pupil and person, she'd have broken many kid's faces. Vivinie's twice by now.

By now her blonde baby hair had become shoulder length caramel waves. Another weird thing about the human child, her hair changed color and texture over time. After a particularly abusive day of shool, Roxanne came home and, in a desperate attempt to fit in, shaved her entire caramel head until she was almost perfectly bald. This, however, only encouraged more insults towards her tiny cranium. She didn't go back to shool until her hair had grown back straighter than before, but she did go back. She wouldn't be completely defeated. She was determined to learn something other than insulting phrases and self control from the place of learning.

One day she made the mistake of telling someone she lived at the Life Center. Everyone found her home unbelievably fitting. She was more like animal in her appearance, intelligence, and behavior than a Scirian, so it would make sense she lived somewhere like a Life Center where wild creatures were abundant. She was dubbed the Feral Child by both children and adults hence forth.

Embracing her differences and titles, the Feral Child grew her hair long, wore her spots proud, practiced animal noises, and sat with her head down in the back of the class where she would happily be ignored until recess or when shool let out. This was how things were for Roxy Poxy the Feral Child.