Blood Rose (Vampire/Ballerina Book 1)

Chapter 11: Displaced

KOTA

FLASHBACK  

The Ahoka family gather what they can. Furniture and appliances are left in place. The Ford wagon can only hold so much. Only sentimental items are packed into the vehicle. Dy silently cries while carrying jewelry boxes and a bag of clothes. She mean mugs Kota on her way out the front door. Her brother mopes.

This is all my fault. If I hadn't ventured through the crowd and exposed myself, we'd still be living here. I know mom and dad are thinking the same.

"Help your mother, Kota." Matto, who carries out picture frames, directs him.

Odina is in the kitchen. Her teary eyes reminisce memories within the wallpapered room. Kota too recalls the good days. He revisits the times he spent in this kitchen as a kid. He always helped his mother with baking. His chubby face covered in flour. How he snuck finger fulls of chocolate, how he stole peaches from the cobbler.

Kota even recalls him and Dy strapping on their bookbags for elementary school. The two were two peas in a pot, they always packed lunch together. Their happy giggles haunt his ears in an eerie echo. Odina sniffles and wipes her eyes. His mother turns away, grief stricken. "Uyoayelvdi, Unistsi, (Sorry, Mother)."

"No...don't be. None of this is your fault. Life is unpredictable." She cuddles him. "There comes a time when goodbyes aren't pleasant. But new beginnings are welcomed." Is this truly what she wants to say? Is my mother this calm on the inside?? Or is she hiding behind a shield to spare me? There's no way everyone isn't thinking the same.

We're a tribeless family because of what I am. We have no clan, no people. Now...we have no land. No community. Our home is forever gone after we drive away.

She breaks from the embrace. "The dishware and jars are going with us." Kota nods, making his way to pack the pieces into a cardboard box. Odina goes to unhook pictures from the wall. She muffles a sob. Mom is trying to be stronger than she is.

"My father might have a solution for the sun predicament." Matto marches to the wall phone. "There's no way he'll be safe in the car for 12 hours."

Kota stops packing the box. "12 hours? He wonders. "Where are we going?"

"Your grandad offered us shelter in Chicago." Matto dial in numbers.

"Oh..."

His father place the receiver to his ear. "We have little time to pack, please hurry."

Kota picks up his speed, moving faster than a normal human. The countertops are cleared within seconds. So are the walls. Odina shrieks, holding her chest. He regrets this choice. His mother is disturbed by his inhuman motion. 'I didn't mean to....I'm sorry."

"It's fine." She lies, composing her terror. "This is the last box. You can begin on your room."

He lifts the box and walks normally to the front door. The rez officers survey the house from their cruisers. Bly's eyes burn into Kota's with much distrust. Five cop cars line the side of the street. Neighbors sit on their porches, watching the Ahoka house. Dyani sits in the car with her head in her hands, weeping. Kota stacks the box in the trunk, then approaches the back door where she sits. "Are you alright?"

"Just get away from me!!" Her eyes shoot daggers at him. "You ruined everything!!"

The words wound his soul; he winces as an abused puppy would. He slinks away, returning inside with his shoulders slumped. His bedroom is where he goes. Kota views a closet full of clothes. His bed, then his dresser. The dresser is full of peg dolls, painted warriors, and chiefs. Horse figurines, wooden flutes, dream catchers, handmade pottery, feather headdresses.