SIX, PICK UP STICKS!!!!
"I was selfish? Colle, I gave up a life of caring for my sons and having a normal life so you mother, and innocents like her, would be kept safe. She knew the consequences of being with me, and I had no control over her." Rick said, and I saw that he was angry too.
Colle may be a great fighter, but this was his father, probably the man who raised him. Colle was hard to get mad, but once he was there were only three options: 1. both parties apologized and went their separate ways. 2. Colle was apologized to and both parties went their separate ways. 3. Colle lost all control and beat the 2nd party to a pulp.
Colle was in no mood to apologize, and neither did Rick. So a fight was inevitable, and bad all around. Abe and Garett were looking from the sidelines, but a vein was throbbing in Garett's neck, and Abe's hands were balled into fists. They looked almost as angry as Colle, but this was not their fight.
"But I actually manage to stay with my family instead of let them worry about me for 20 years, or longer. Tell me, when was the last time you talked to Mariosol?" Colle asked, his voice calm and collected, but also ice cold. Who was Mariosol, and why do Rick and Colle keep saying that the brother's mother was only Colle's? They were brothers, right?
"Last month. I had to tell her that you were taking over, and that I was coming to collect her sons. That was, until I was attacked, or do you not care about that part?" Rick said. What sons? The only boys who knew about this were…..Abe, Colle, and Garett. And Colle's mother's name was Alexia. That meant…..
"You're not brothers." I said at last, and Rick finally seemed to notice me. He was glaring at me fiercely for a while, then that look shrunk down into confusion, then a twisted smile. I hated the way he looked at me, it was so….predatorily. I shivered, and Colle's arms constricted around me comfortingly.
"Abrie….I had to tell you what I did. It wasn't safe." Colle said, and I looked up at him. He met my eyes, and I saw the normal Colle shining back at me. But it wasn't the real Colle, I knew that now. I never even really knew my own boyfriend.
"Looks like you have a secret of your own, son." Rick said, and Colle tore away from my stare to glare at his father, his jaw clenched.
"Don't call me that." His words were short, and broken off at the end, as if it took a lot of energy to speak. Which it probably did, since he looked ready to barrel strait into Rick's chest. It was scary, seeing this complete stranger instead of my loving boyfriend.
"I am your father, no denying it. And tell me, does the Court know about her?" Rick asked. Colle had told me about the Court, though had left me so confused that I had gone to brainiac Abe for the answers.
* * * * *
"So…they're basically like your government, but with much more power. And we elect them every 20 years, so whoever we pick has to prove themselves worthy of the job." Abe said, and I stared at him, open-mouthed.
"20 years? That….how could someone be in office that long? It'd be way too stressful…" I said. Abe just chuckled, and that sent me glaring at him. I hated feeling like a young child being taught by one of her peers. It was horrible and embarrassing.
"You're looking at it through a human's point of view. We can handle stress better, and handle more responsibility, since we don't need a lot of sleep, like you. Our minds are different, we think differently, and our emotions are run differently." Abe explained. That had been new information to me, and I had found it incredible.
"But…does that mean Colle loves me in a different way that I love him?" I asked. I mean…if our brains were different, and our emotions were different, wouldn't that mean our version of love, or dating would be different too?
"No. Not all our emotions are run differently, and strong ones, like anger and love, are the same. We're just…built to deal with more. We have to, or the species would have died out long ago." Abe said.
"Then how do humans survive, if you guys are so much more able to deal with stress than us?" I Asked. I had been wondering how one species that had made as many mistakes throughout our history could still be functioning normally, without mass chaos.
"Because your species live your lives so blinded by the world that you have less stress to deal with, even though you think you have so much. That is why the best therapists, counselors, and psychoanalosists are people like us, because we can handle all the information in someone's mind and analyze it." He said. I smiled and looked up at him.
"Like a computer?" I asked, and Abe smiled back. We were always like this with each other, joking and relaxed. He was my older brother of sorts, and it was nice to know I could rely on him so much, especially when Colle wasn't here. But he had a boy brain still, despite all his knowledge, and Ryan and Garett were still my main confidants, since they understood my feelings so much better.
"Yes, except without the wiring and stuff. Now, back to the Court, or are you more interested in people's brains?" Abe asked. My mind was immediately filled with the image of a mass of red chunks. Gross!
"Alright, the Court. So…they make the laws?" I asked, and Abe nodded. "Like what?"
"Um…never kill a fellow Alunai, never kill a human, don't interfere with the future, don't draw attention to yourself, just to name a few. Why are you so interested in our laws and systems?" Abe asked suddenly. I shrugged my shoulders, not sure myself.
"Probably because I want to feel closer to Colle, and the rest of you crazies. So, do many humans know about you?" I asked. Abe winced.
"Well….humans aren't supposed to know. It's one of the laws you see, but it's very old. But everyone is supposed to stick with it, because our cover is the only thing keeping the world from going into mass hysteria." Abe said.
"Oh. So…what is the consequence?" I asked, before I could get my motor mouth in check. Abe winced again, and I knew it would be bad.
"Well….no one's sure. No human has ever been told, except for you." He said.
"Why is that?" I asked. Abe was smiling now, but his face was still taut with worry. Was the law that bad?
"Because you're special. Now go to sleep." Abe said, and I rolled my eyes at him. It was so childish, but I didn't care.
"But…I'm not tired." I said.
"But the faster you get to sleep the faster Colle will be back." He said. I knew it wasn't true, no human could manipulate the forces of time, but it still made me suddenly anxious to be asleep. Plus, the sooner I fell asleep the sooner I'd get to dream.
* * * * *
"I….she's special." Colle said. His jaw seemed tighter, and I knew this was a very bad situation. Would Rick tell the Court about me?
"Special, huh? She looks like a slut." Rick said, and my face turned bright red again. Of course, my attire. The black shirt could be a bit looser, and the mini skirt could be a bit longer, but I definitely did not look like some whore off some street corner.
"I am not some slut!" I said, my embarrassment turning to anger in the blink of an eye. I wasn't even sure how it happened.
I was now inches from Rick's face, my fingers curled tightly into fists. Since Colle had been so numb, breaking free of his hold had been easy. Before my actions caught up to me, and before any of the boys could stop me, my fist collided with Rick's nose. I heard a loud crunch and smiled in approval.
That seemed to shock the boys out of their stupor, because Abe went to check on Rick while Garett and Colle pulled me away, toward the back bedroom. I was now aware of my actions, and my face must have been redder than a fire truck.
"Oh, I'm so sorry! He…I'm just so sensitive about people calling me a slut and….and I hated the way he was talking about me like I wasn't there and…." I was now crying, and Colle pulled me against his chest. I buried my head in his shoulder and just stood there as he crooned to me in some language I didn't understand.
"She should get dressed." Garett said, then was gone. His voice had been that of a stranger, just a blank monotone. It scared me, as all of this did. How much did I not know of Colle's real life, the one outside our pitiful human one?
"Come on baby, it'll be alright." Colle said, then exited the room after his brother, leaving me alone. I washed the tears off my face in the bathroom, then changed into a simple pair of jeans and a t-shirt. I looked like crap. My eyes were still watery and red, my nose and cheeks were red, and my hair was in a mess. Today was just not my day.
"Sorry." I muttered to Rick when I returned to the living room. Everything was still tense, but now we were sitting down. Abe and Garett were on the couch, Colle in one of the armchairs, Rick in another. I went to sit by Colle's feet, but he pulled me onto his lap, taking my hand. Rick's eyes narrowed at the contact. He stood up and walked over to us until he was standing right in front of us, then crouched down so our heads were the same height.
"So, she's your girlfriend?" Rick asked, even though the answer was staring at him in the face. Did I damage his eyes along with his nose? Wow, now he was really starting to bug me. No wonder Colle hated him so much; he was judgmental, idiotic, and just pain mean.
"Yes, she is my girlfriend." Colle said, sighing heavily. Apparently he thought the same thing about him. Good, something we agreed on, though we usually agreed on everything.
"Then introduce us, son, or were you raised without learning proper manners?" Rick said, and Colle immediately stiffened at the implication.
"My mother raised me fine without your help. Abrianna, this is Richard. Rick, this is Abrianna." Colle said, and I nodded politely at Rick. I didn't trust myself to reach my hand out to her, knowing that I'd be put in temptation's way to punch him again. I mean, he was being a jerk, and a moron.
"Nice to meet you, Abrianna. And might I say that you have an amazing left hook." He said, holding out a hand to me. So, he did have a death wish then. Well, the least I could do was try, right?