A Revolution In Shadow And Blood

I Lived Freely

The stars are bright above us as we lay on the blanket He brought to protect us from grass stains. I'm laying on my back to look at the tiny pin pricks in the black blanket above us, while he rests his weight on his hand and looks down at me. "Have you always lived here?"

I look at him and nod my head. "Pretty much. My parents have told me that we lived near a community at one point, but I don't remember it," my eyes flick back to the stars. "Where did you grow up?"

"A town called Caborca in Mexico near the border of America," He tells me, "My father grew up in an area near Fontein, Aruba though. Before the Blood War sent him first to Mexico, where he had me, then to America."

I deliberately choose not to ask about the Blood War because that's not a subject either of us are ready to discuss. Instead, I focus on my previous question. "Did you spend more time in Keberca or America?" His lips pinch together and his shoulders shake as I frown. "What's wrong?"

He busts out laughing. "Sorry, sorry. Just...it's pronounced kuh-bor-kuh, not ke-bor-ka."

I protest, "Well your accent threw me off!" His laugh is a soft, deep sound that I haven't heard from him yet. It's so infectious that I quickly start laughing with him. He drops down next to me as our laughs turn into giggles and chuckles before fading out completely. As we lay there side by side staring up at the stars, his hand brushes against mine. Then I stop breathing for a moment as he threads his fingers through mine. I relax into him, leaning my head on his shoulder, asking, "So, where did you spend most of your childhood?"

He doesn't answer for what feels like minutes, but eventually he responds, "I didn't leave Caborca until I was sixteen, years after my father left me alone. My mother died of a stroke when I was ten, so I spent most of my time out on the streets."

I gasp quietly and squeeze his hand. I'd taken hints from him before that his childhood wasn't great, but this is something else. I never really realized how lucky I am to have both of my biological parents. I know that most kids don't have both in their lives, and that some kids are better off without, but it's never hit like this before. "I'm sorry."

"It's life," he shrugs like it's nothing, but I still move closer to him. "It wasn't all bad though. I learned a lot living freely."

He grins, and lifts his arm to point up at the sky. "Like the stars." He points at what looks like a random cluster of stars. "There's the Big Dipper. It looks like a ladle."

I tilt my head closer to his, and can make out the stars he's pointing at, and the shape they create. I smile. "I've heard of that one, but I don't think I've ever bothered to find it."

"The Big Dipper is really just what I use to find other constellations," he tells me, "Just above it is Draco, which kinda looks like a kite with a really long string."

This one takes me a minute before I figure out where the long line of stars are, with a diamond shape on one end.

"It looks like a kite at first, but really it's thought of like a snake or lizard of some kind," he points to the diamond shape. "That's the head, and the body follows the line of stars." He traces the path down and around in a typical curvy snake pattern.

He continues to explain the lore behind the constellation, and shows me more shapes in the stars while I listen intently, hanging on to every word he says.