The Forgotten Light

15. Usain

He had to say goodbye to them and move on with his life. It was more than certain that after a whole week of absence, they would not show up again. Usain waited. God only knew that the man waited with great faith in his heart to see his charges at his door the next day, safe and sound. Days passed, however, and the neighborhood was still quiet, empty and without any hope.

He took care of Akio's body himself. One night he drove to the spot under the hill and took the boy from there, although he reckoned with the great risk. Akio, like all of his children, was worth every risk. Before the sun came out again, he buried him in a spot next to their house where small trees grew, and placed there a cross made of planks, which he had previously put together with his own hands. The boy deserved it. It was the least Usain could still do for him. He tried to be a good father to him, he wanted the boy to feel less the loss of his parents, who had died of exhaustion during the escape. He knew little about the boy, who had already retreated into himself at the age of ten. Usain was happy every time he saw him in the company of other kids, because it seemed that only with them could he reopen and forget, if only for a moment, what he had been through and what he had seen.

He had his heart breaking with despair, for he felt as if he had buried his own son. And when he thought now that he would have to do the same with Ritael and Fairlight...

He rubbed his face with his shaking hands and stopped them on his forehead to rest his tired and splitting head. He looked at the folded lanterns and knew what he had to do. But he wasn't ready for it at all.

Ritael had been with him almost from the very beginning. He found her wandering on the outskirts of a deserted town one winter morning when he was returning from Tucson to Florence. She was only five years old. She was sitting on a rock, and when she spotted him, he saw curiosity in her emerald eyes. At first she didn't trust him, making him stand a safe distance away and answering questions about who the heck he was.

Usain smiled slightly at this memory. A brave little girl. He noticed that her hands were covered with ugly scars, and he expected that over time they might start to bother her. He reached out for her hand, and once she trusted him and allowed herself to be led to her new home, she wouldn't leave the man's side, she was like his shadow. She always watched closely what he was doing, always wanted to know where he was going and why. Sometimes he had no choice but to take her with him wherever he went. Until they finally came upon Fairlight, an eight-year-old girl lost in Florence. It was only then that Ritael stopped being so interested in Usain's doings, and gave all her attention and concern to the new girl, who certainly needed it more than he did.

However, this wasn't the first time he had seen Fairlight. The growing girl, as strange as it was, was beginning to remind him more and more of the man he had befriended back in the days when rebel groups began to form. He was the one who put the remnants of humanity on their feet and showed them the way to redemption. One time, he was seen with a fair-haired girl of several years, whom he tenderly cradled in his arms. Usain only realized after watching Fairlight for a long time that the child he found in Florence was the same one he had seen several years earlier. He spent a very long time pondering on the girl's past, her background and unusual abilities that only a few people knew about. However, when he put all the scattered elements together, he grasped who little Fairlight really was and decided to keep it a secret for the time being.

And now she has disappeared without a trace, and along with her - all hope of salvation.