THE LAST BORN

E I G H T

ANA

When the doors part open, I can see people swing their heads towards me. And they smile. A genuine, happy smile. The crowd parts and I never feel so shy, and confused in my life.

I wish I could hide behind his back, but he isn't the type of person who can provide comfort and security, on the contrary, he chases those feelings away from me. So I'm left alone to walk, highly self-conscious with no idea what is going on.

From the edge of my vision, I can see a woman pushing two small children to the front, those kids instantly run to me and grab my hands in their much smaller hands. They tug me forward in hurry and I have no other option but to follow them.

At the center of the room, I see they have pushed together the tables to create one massive table with a variety of foods and drinks. Jackie comes out from the crowd and smiles her warm smile at me.

"I'm glad you changed your mind," She says clasping her hand in the front. "This is your first new year's eve with us, so we want to make it special for you,"

My eyes widen at her words, I look around to see others are giving me the same warm smile Jackie gave me. Then two women came out carrying a big rectangle of food. It's mostly white but also has other colors on the top.

"This is cake," Jackie explains, "Our best food," Jackie tugs me to come closer to the cake and I nearly fall from happiness.

Welcome home.

It's written on the cake and I instantly can recognize the language. My hands shake from the surprise, I did not expect this. I look around and see a sea of faces smile warmly towards me. Their genuine feelings are touching my mind like a soft breeze of the wind. Gone is my suspicion of these people, at this second, I feel them embrace me as if I'm one of them.

"Come on, before we start crying, let's eat so we can enjoy the cake later," Jackie nudges me with her shoulder lightly and I smile at her, then I nod.

Thank you.

I lift the card.

The food is wonderful, people who are sitting around me are wonderful. They are not what I thought they are. More and more people come to me to say hi, and to apologize for the treatment I endured. Although nothing can lift the pain I had, I cannot hold these people for things they didn't know. Most of them didn't know that I was on the ship before they saw me for the first time.

The only person who never comes to me is him, and I don't expect him to, in fact, I'm glad he doesn't. I wouldn't know what would I do, or even what would I reply to him if ever come and ask for my forgiveness.

I'm terrified of him.

With that being said, I can feel him staring at me. Although he never takes a step in my direction, I can feel his eyes on me constantly. I feel a chill in my bones and my stomach contracting from fear and anticipation. What is he thinking? What is he planning?

When the cake is cut and people start to leave the room to attend the games, I stand up, and for whatever reason, I look in his direction. The two seconds our eyes meet are way too long for me to be held in place. The strong lines of his face are seemed more prominent than before. The red of his artificial light is surprisingly less intimidating compared to the way he looks at me with his human eye.

With no warmth and no welcome, he stares into me, deep into my soul trying to find my very core. I was paralyzed by his intensity and the strong emotion that seems to come from him.

He doesn't need chains or cells for me to hold me. I can feel his thought reaching to me and I never feel so afraid in my life. He holds me there briefly but I feel like I lost a hundred years of my life.

I'm only free when Jackie pulls my hand slightly, which breaks the staring contest I had with her leader.

"The games! You'll love it! Come on!" She says smiling from ear to ear.

I smile slightly and rush outside with her, feeling his eyes are still on me and with no bravery to look back.

***

"Nein! Hold your axe on your other shoulder!" A man with thick orange color of beard instructed me. He is bulky but quite short, with his head absent with any hair despite his jaw being hidden behind the thick hair.

Listening to him, I put the axe on my right shoulder and he shakes his head. "The sharp side facing up, not like... Nein! In Gottes Namen! I give up," He says shaking his head again.

I bite my lips watching him shake his head in defeat as he walks away, I know I'm terrible at this, it's just that I don't feel... comfortable with weapons.

Another man tries to fix my footing and the placement of the axe but he is still too short to help me. I'm about to drop the surprisingly heavy piece of wood before I feel a presence behind me.

"Legs wider," My blood runs cold and I grip the handle tighter. His low voice rumbles just next to my ear. With one foot he nudges my right foot to open wider. My body is too stiff he has to put his hands on my hip so he can kick harder to open my feet wider.

"Don't break your fingers," He says squeezing my fingers, I try to relax them but it slips from my grasp. With immaculate reflex, he catches the back of the axe and holds it up for me. "Firmly," He says lowly grabbing my fingers to hold onto the wood.

At this moment, there is only me, him, and my fear. The crowd who I know is surrounding us is suddenly vanished, none of them speak as their leader is standing so very close behind me, I can feel eyes watching us but the uncomfortableness is nothing compared to the fear gripping my heart.

"Elbows slightly out," He instructs again, lifting my elbows up, and out. The hand, which is covered with human skin is warm while his metal hand is cold, but both are firm and heavy on my skin. The warmth from his chest pressed on my back seeps into me and I notice the absence of any beating inside.

"Shoulders back," He says pushing his chest to my back so I have no other choice but to straighten my spine.

"Look,"

And I look at him, which is stupid of me because then I noticed that he meant to look at the target, not at him. But it's too late and I'm looking at him now. If it's possible, his eye is burning bigger with coldness. Just like before he holds me there, with no strength to look away. I'm scared beyond my imagination to be so close to him, technically, I'm in his arms, his chest plastered on my back and his hands gripping my arms.

My eyes are at the same level as his mouth and he has the advantage of looking down at me. For a moment I'm confused if he has a blue eye or green eye because it seems the amount of green is equal to the amount of blue. Then I snap myself from my stupid thought, the man most probably has been killing me a million times in his head and I'm thinking about the color of his eyes.

"Look at the target," He says again, lower, more of a whisper. His breath is warm on my face but his expression isn't.

I snap my eyes to the target and he pulls my right arm towards him, making me turn slightly back to him.

"That isn't your target," He says lowly again.

I look down and wish I died. I'm too terrified I didn't realize that I had been facing in the wrong direction.

"Lift your elbows, brace your core," He instructed, he takes a few steps backward and say, "Throw it,"

I throw the thing as hard as I can and squeal slightly when I see I almost hit on the very center.

I look back at him with a big smile and instantly drop it as soon as I see the look in his eye. For a moment I forgot, that I'm terrified of him and that he despises me.