I held onto his hand as he lead me somewhere and sat me down. I heard a door shut and footsteps walking away.
Arden pushed Jan back into the shack as we all knew who it was. Minerva slowly walked to the door and turned the pole, unlocking the door. The door opened by itself, as He opened it. “Richardis, how lovely to see you here.” The sarcasm poured out of my mouth like a slobbery dog. Richardis never was one to beat around the bush. “I smell her, ok? I know she’s here. I know for a fact that she is in this dome right now.” Richardis slithered around us and stared at the dome. “Where is she?” Richardis turned and looked at us. We all stood, frozen.
“Here’s the thing, Richard, we did not allow you into our home just so you can come in here and steal our female.” Arden spoke up and stood in front of Richardis. Richardis, being one of those disgusting things out in the open, but civilized, mocked Arden and mirrored his image. “Here’s the thing, Arden, I do not listen to you, or your puny little human friends. I’m not sure what compelled you to think that I would ever listen to you.” He morphed back into his normal, form. Arden’s face went red, and it seemed like the heat filled up the dome. Arden grabbed Richardis’ arm and pulled his head to Arden’s mouth. He whispered,”Look here, don’t think I won’t take the one thing that will destroy you and shove it up your ass. I don’t care if you bring me down with you, so I think you should get the hell out of here, right now.” We all stood back, basically frozen in time. I didn’t know what to do and I don’t think that Minerva did either. Richardis moved back from his face and stared at Arden, with a smug ass smirk on his face. “I will leave you all for now, but do know, I will be back, and when I come back, I am coming for her.”
Richardis saw himself out and closed the door, all on his own. I let out my breath that I had been holding a long while. Jan had walked out from the house, looking just like she had, just before all this bullshit had started. “What’s going on?” Her innocence seemed to have floated around her. She didn’t understand what was going on, or what the hell was happening around her-- or even to her. She was completely innocent in a world where everything was completely wrong and fucked up. “Um, can you go back inside? I need to talk to the guys.” Jan nodded and walked back into the shack. “We can’t have them take her back.” Minerva spoke quickly, and quietly. I wasn’t sure what to do. Richardis was going to come back for her. “We have to teach her to stay away from them. They all know her, we all know her, and you know what happens when her name is spoken. Any lead, and spoken voice of her name, they take that chance, at all costs to get her back. I don’t want to give her a fake name.” Arden kept quiet, thinking. “Going over there really messed her up, huh?” He finally spoke. I only stared at him. When we had sent her over to the other side, we knew the risks, but really didn’t take inconsideration about how the effects would affect them. “What do we do, Auto?” Minvera asked. I couldn’t speak. I didn’t know what to say. “We’ll figure out something, even if it means breeding ASAP”, Arden winked, attempting to lighten the mood and ass some humor. “That’s actually not a bad idea...” I let slip out. Minerva gave me a dead stare and I felt her eyes burning the side of my head. “Oh, heh...” I rubbed the back of my head.
It really wasn't a bad idea. If we got her pregnant, the kids would be human, and Richardis could do nothing about it, and would let her have to go through the pregnancy, but knowing him with Jan, he might make her terminate it... Unless... She got emotionally attached to the baby. She’d beg him not to...But, then what after the baby is born? We’d have to find a way to get her back, that is if Richardis somehow got her back after during the pregnancy. Knocking me out of my thoughts, Minerva’s palm stung my face. “Son of a bitch..” I rubbed my cheek. “You two are disgusting.” Minerva strutted into the shack, with that final note. I sighed and look over at Arden. He half-heartedly smiled at me. I sighed again. I got up and walked into the shack, going to my room ,where Jan was staying. I knocked on the door frame and she was sitting on the makeshift bed, staring out the hole in the wall that was made to be a window. “Hey...” I smiled at her. She turned her head and looked to me, a small smile curved her lips. I stepped in and sat on the corner of the bed. “You remember those things you saw when we were on our way to this place?” I asked. This is it. I have to convince her. All of us do, just so she won’t go back to Richardis. She thought for a minute, nibbling on the inside of her lip. “Yeah, those things that looked creepy. Those freak things?” She tilted her head, and looked out the window. “Why?”, She asked me. “Because, you can’t go near those. They want to kill you. We are the last of normalcy, normal humans, and they want you. We don’t know why-- we haven’t figured it out yet, but we know that they want you, and go nuts when they hear your name. They did this to our last partner... They took her and tore her apart, eating her.” I looked down, “We couldn’t stop it. They just grabbed her and they swormed around her; They tore her apart...”
I could feel Jan’s stare as I kept my eyes on the wooden floor that was falling apart. “We hate them, and you have to in order to keep yourself alive.” I looked at her, staring into her eyes. She looked puzzled, conflicted with her inside thoughts, almost as if... as if she would’ve remembered something subconsciously and that is what is fighting with what I telling her. “I um..” She looked at me as she struggled with her words. “What?”
“I don’t know.” She bit the inside of her lip, “It just doesn’t feel right hating something I don’t know anything about... Just, it’s weird ok? I’m curious about them”
I sighed, I had anticipated this happening. I got up and nodded at her, with a half smile. Unexpectedly, she put her hand at the back of my neck, and pulled me in, her lips pressed against mine. I pulled back and looked at her for a second with a straight face and walked out. Minerva was on the second level, reading one of the old books that we had. It was about her millionth time reading it. I was for sure that she knew every line word for word. I looked out into the far patch of tropical plants, Arden was tending to them. He brushed past them and watered them. He saw me and gave me a nod, and began walking towards me. He put the water canister down and brushed off his hands, onto his overalls. “How’d your first time convincing her go?” He asked, with a smartass smirk on his face. He knew that it didn’t go well. “I think if we keep talking about it, she’s going to remember, and we really, really can’t have that happening. I just don’t know how to keep her from remembering all that, and when she does.” I slap myself on my forehead. “Ugh..” Arden just stood there-- Him just standing there irritated me. “Can you go do something please?” I snapped, then sighed. “I need sleep."
I walked back into the shack and went my room, Jan was still sitting there. She was staring out the makeshift window. “Hey.” I knocked on the door frame, just as I did before. She looked and smiled at me. “Hey.” She sat up and walked to me. She put her hands on my chest, and bit her lower lip, smiling. “Is everything ok Auto?,” She asked me. I let out a quick, emotionless sigh and smirked,“Yeah, everything is fine. I’m just exhausted.” She nodded, “Yeah, I guessed. You have major bags under your eyes. Get some rest. I’m going to go look around the dome.” She walked off, and I felt relaxed. Being around her made me feel tense and awkward, for the next moment she could be back to 7 years old. Her innocence is messed up and we need to fix it. I just don’t know how... I laid down on the bed and rested on my side, facing the old wooden wall. My body felt hot and my bones ached as I moved them. An overdue nap...
