Close Nemesis

Chapter Fifty-One: Regrets and Mistakes

SHENELDA:

Namuhsolia is a world of many biomes. While the primary terrain is desert, the geography also consists of forests, lakes, bayous, farms, and mountain ranges. I've only ever lived in the farming community of Faerk in the country of Tlil, which means that I like the quiet life. Sure, as a teenager, I made the mistake of joining Nygyl and his friends on a reckless heist that resulted in our induction into the Hero Complex Management Program on Teglyo. However, I mostly enjoy the quiet life. I don't like drama. I just want peace and quiet.

So, one can imagine how I felt when Rotcetorp, TeleVisore and Lygor visited my family home bearing news of Nygyl's demise.

Now, they sit in the den of my parent's farmhouse, explaining to my parents how my life is in danger.

Honestly, I'm really grumpy. And sad. No matter how much Nygyl annoyed me, I still liked him. Maybe not enough to love him. But I don't know. Romance is confusing.

Anyway, while the 'grown ups' talk, I sit in an uncomfortable position on the red cotton sofa. I stare at the red woollen rug underneath. Turquoise camo patterns mark the rug, adding nice contrast to the dark yellow glow of the room's overhead lanterns.

"Your daughter's life is in danger," Rotcetorp explains in a broken voice. "She'll be safe with us until things cool off!"

"Absolutely not!" my mother exclaims from my left.

Her long, salmon coloured hair is split into three straying braids. The middle of her hair is shaved, causing a vertical stripe of bare skin to appear on the top of her head.

My mother also wears polished sandstone earrings and a silver necklace fitted with an assortment of colourful jewels.

My father sits on my right. His hair is a blood red, but he's really quite a charming bloke. Perhaps even outlandish. After all, what kind of Namuhsolian would carve random symbols throughout their hair? I think there's even a carving of traditional namuhsolian fork in his hair. Quite bizarre, really.

I hate it when I zone out. I think I do it to avoid conflict, but even then, I'm too busy zoning out to care.

I just wish everyone got along.

I go to check on my sister, walking away from the comfortable linen couch towards a white door leading into a small garden outside my house.

Outside, I can see the bright dust clouds ahead. They're lit up by Namuhsolia's second sun, which comes out at night. It barely illuminates the world, and only passes off as moonlight.

The plastic looking grass that grows on the concrete rimmed yard in front of me is actually a living breathing plant. Namuhsolia's flora and fauna are quite strange. That's why we have our unique hairstyles. Eons ago, we used to be called humans, who mostly had brown, black, blonde, and red hair colours. But that's all I know. I fell asleep in Chronicle class. I think we eventually got together with aliens, but I'm not smart.

I'm just happy with a simple life here on Namuhsolia.

"Shennygirl?"

I turn around to find my young sister Lauranne toddling over to me. She has dark pink hair curled on one side. The other side of her head is shaven. When I last saw Lauranne when she a couple of rotations old, I got captured after my foolish endeavour with Nygyl and his friends. Nygyl and I went to the same school: Stellar Achievement Secondary Campus. It's located on a lone dwarf planet, and we always hung with each other at the cafeteria during lunch.

It was a silly idea.

12th Day, Evlewtmon, Sol 500, 120, Namuhsolian Time

We stare out into space from the classroom window, towards the bright pink star of Opyrr. The Opyrr system is located in the Hub Zone, approximately 200 lightyears from Namuhsolia. The rocky dwarf planet on which my school campus is built upon is covered in icewebs due to its far proximity to the sun. Even without an atmosphere, this world still rotates so that there is a summer and a winter. Though, the difference is minimal. The heaters of this space station are always running, so at least my school doesn't let us freeze.