Timeless and Bliss #wattys2016

Chapter 35

Chapter 35

Waking up the following morning wasn't any easier like I had thought. If anything it was more of a challenge. And the warm water streaming from the shower that I assumed would help, only made my muscles and bruises ache more. A majority of the ink had washed away with the exception of a few faint lines.

There wasn't any sign of Malakai so I took the stairs up to the fourth floor. I scanned the area for him and he wasn't there either. A.J and Addax waved me down and I took a seat with them. I knew Malakai could take of himself, it didn't stop from wondering if he was okay.

"Hey are you okay? You seem kind of spaced out." A.J had noticed. I wanted to ask about her brother. I didn't want them to think I relied solely on Malakai or give them the wrong impression. He had been by my side since I came here so of course I was worried about him. I had grown accustomed to his perky personality.

"Where's Malakai?" I finally asked.

A.J didn't put too much thought into the question. With a shrug she said, "I have no idea. I haven't seen him since yesterday. Why?"

I didn't have a solid reason for wanting to know his whereabouts other than I cared about him. "We had plans to go into the city today and if he bails on me he'll suffer," I joked. A.J and Addax perked up when I said that.

"Can we go?" They both begged and pleaded. As far as I knew the city was a safe place to be. It was an astounding place that lit up at night. Amity had turned it around since the last rebellion.

"Yeah sure." I saw no reason why they couldn't join us. They seemed like they would be fun when released into the wild, or in this case the city.

For the rest of the time we talked about what the city was like and rumors we had heard. Addax and A.J claimed it had been months since they're last trip. Malakai on the other hand, made trips frequently and would often deny A.J's request to tag along.

"He's so secretive," A.J spoke about Malakai. "They both are. There was huge dispute between Atrix and Malakai when our father was murdered. They were in their teenage years, about seventeen, I was just nine years old. I had no understanding of anything that took place. Our father was killed first and then the rebellion happened a few years later, I understood at that point. That was nearly seven years ago and neither one of them ever spoke about the incident.

We've come so far and so quickly in these short years and our technology is more than advance. We all worked hard here to make sure we wouldn't have as many causalities as last time. We wanted to come out on top and so far we have. Malakai and Atrix never made much progress with one another. They kind of just shut each other out."

"Do you think it has to do with Atrix taking over once your father died?" Addax asked.

"Maybe. I honestly don't have the slightest clue. I mean as far as I know it never affected Malakai much. He seemed content with our Father's decision. Malakai could have easily hid the jealousy," At this point A.J seemed down. I never realized how much we had in common.

"Ever since you came along Malakai's changed. He's opened up to you, he's never done that with me or anyone. I'm so grateful he found someone as wonderful at you." A.J gave me a faint smile.

"He's an amazing person," I placed my hand on hers to show my understanding. "What about Atrix?"

She sighed at his name, "Atrix is kind of a lost cause. Malakai seemed to have moved on. Atrix is still stuck in the past. He cares about all of us. What Atrix is incapable of is caring for people individually and letting others in, including me." She was the second person to say that. If both siblings said it then it must have been true.