Everything & Nothing

don't let me drown - iv

|nathaniel reyes|

"zarina, these are the coolest drifters you'll ever meet," i said, sweeping my arm in the direction of my friends. going clockwise, I rambled out their names in succession, "you already know stefanie. here's jamie staller, brandon paxton, and elijah king. am i..." i paused, thinking, "missing someone?"

"mako," elijah reminded me. "she's in the other room... sleeping."

i recognized that worried look on his face, the one mask he wore only when mako was having her... uh, episodes. "well," i said, turning to zarina. "you can meet her when she's awake."

aamir came forward with a half-eaten falafel and offered it to zarina. "sorry, this is all we have at the moment." facing me, he said, "we've gotta go scrounging tomorrow."

"hmm," i murmured, too busy staring at zarina, who was suspiciously inspecting the falafel, turning it this way and that in her hands. "don't worry, it's not poisoned. and we may be drifters, but we know the basics of hygiene."

she didn't respond verbally, instead took a small bite of the food. after some seconds of experimental chewing, she took another bite, and this time it was larger. her chewing became hungrier and faster. clearly, she was starving and the falafel was good respite. through a mouthful of lettuce, tomatoes, potato wedge, and green chutney, she said, "thank you."

"you're welcome," aamir and i said in unison, earning strange looks from everybody else.

after zarina was done eating, i had brandon convince stefanie into sharing her spare clothes whilst zarina's own dried. stefanie gave into to brandon's imploration—like always—and handed over her purple shirt and cargo pants. in a rather clipped tone, she said, "the bathroom in room three-o-two, third floor, it works."

zarina smiled faintly at stefanie, replying with a gentle, "thank you."

later, i showed zarina around our sanctuary—the once classy and regal hotel alexandra. although not much of its beauty remained, this place had been our safest and most stable home for the past three years; and we were proud of it. hence, my inclination to play guide to our newest member and show her the perks of living amongst us.

i know she had said she'd only stay for tonight, but for some reason, i was determined to change her mind and make her a part of our little youth-drifters' clan. like, our wise prophet aamir al-abbas always said, 'we drifters gotta stick together.' all we had left in this world was each other, and being a destitute for the last six years, i was well aware of the one fact; there was strength in numbers. there'd always be someone to watch your back and help you when nobody else in the entire population would.

zarina seemed to like the place, as much as i could tell from the way she stared in awe at the high ceiling of the reception hall, ran her fingers along the peeling walls, occasionally stopped to look a bit more closely at the vases and velvet furnishings. i kept telling her what had been what during the place's hoteling days, and what we called certain areas in our drifter-lingo. she was a good listener, nodding and raising her brows and responding in 'ohs' and 'ahs'. when we were making our way back to the main room, she turned to me and said, "it's a very nice place you have here."

"yeah, it is," i replied. i found out that i liked zarina's voice. it was soft and sweet with a slightly husky undertone; it accentuated her innocent demeanor, just like the sprinkle of freckles across her oval face and small nose did. i definitely wanted her to continue staying with us.

aamir showed her to one of the three bedrooms that the suite had, telling her that she could take the bed, if she wanted, or she could sleep on the extra mattress on the floor in the corner. we let her have the room all to herself; because it was spare, and also because i deemed it would be better to give her some privacy. i knew what it was like to not trust anyone, and zarina's mistrust showed clear in her eyes.

i will gain her confidence in me and my drifter-family, i decided as much.