Surviving the Dark

Chapter 14 - Scars

"Xav, I'm leaving. I don't want to, but I have to. Can you please try to convince the others just to let me go?"

He shook his head vigorously.

"Why would I do that, when I'm not going to let you leave without a fight either?"

I stared blankly at him. There was something familiar about him, but I was probably just imagining it.

"Let's just get this work done. The sooner it's done, the sooner we can all put this behind us and move on." 'And I can leave to keep you safe.' I added to myself.

Xavier mumbled something under his breath but got up and went to finish what he was doing before Liv and I got there.

There wasn't much shade in this area of the nature park. The summer heat. Burning my skin. Xav must have felt it too because he kept lifting the hem of his singlet top to wipe the sweat off his face.

After a while, I started hearing a faint trickle. It was strange because the irrigation system was below the soil. I began to feel a slight trembling beneath my feet. It must have been worse over where Xavier was working because I heard him shout.

"OH SHIT!"

Then everything seemed to have slowed down. Somewhere in this area, the irrigation system must have had a blockage, and it got so bad it burst. Right, where Xavier was. I was a fair distance away, but I still felt a few droplets land on my skin. I wasn't complaining. Not completely anyway. The water felt nice and refreshing, but it also meant more work trying to fix the irrigation problem before us.

"Xav are you okay? You look like a drowned rat." I laughed at him. He was soaked to the bone.

Xav mumbled under his breath; I could only imagine things a fourteen-year-old shouldn't be saying.

He lifted his singlet over his head and proceeded to twist it around, wringing out the water. If he left it hanging over a tree, it wouldn't be long before it would be dry.

He sighed and faced what was now a puddle of water, mud, and soil.

"I wish J was here! This is his area of expertise." You could clearly see the frustration and dread in Xavier's eyes. I went to stand beside him but had to walk around the mess that was between us.

As I made my way around, Xavier was turning each and every way to survey the damage. With him doing this I ended up reaching him with his back to me.

I froze. In the exact same spot as me, there on his back were two vertical scars between his shoulder blades. They looked exactly like mine.

It must be a coincidence. Everyone gets scars.

"Ah, Xav. If you don't mind me asking, how did you get those scars?" I couldn't help but ask. My curiosity killing me.

"Huh?" He paused as if trying to remember what scars. I guess with them being on his back he wouldn't see it every day and would forget he had them.

"Oh, the ones on my back." I looked at him as if to say 'you have more?' He ignored the look and continued. "I don't honestly know. I've had them for as long as I can remember. When Lisa and Owen adopted me, I didn't even know. I was three at the time. But they never kept it a secret from me. They even tried helping me find my real parents. But I think the reason I was put up for adoption was because of the scars, well how I got them. Because they told me, I had them when they got me when I was roughly one."

I felt sorry for him. He had such a rough start to life. But I guess him not being old enough to remember was a good thing.

"It's okay, though. I had a good childhood. The Blu family treat me as I wasn't adopted. Auntie Claire and Uncle Peter are really nice too. They are actually visiting soon too!"

Those names sounded familiar to me, but when I looked up Xavier's eyes lit up like he had the most brilliant idea.

My eyes widened at the realisation of his idea.

"No Xav. I'm leaving today."

His head dropped. His hand absentmindedly going to his left wrist.

His eyes widened, and he was frantically searching for something.

"Xav, what is it?"

"Oh no! God no! It has to be here. I always have it on!"

I grabbed his shoulders turning him to face me. I had to look up, though. He may only be fourteen, but he was already taller than me.

"Xav! Deep breaths!" I saw him inhale and exhale. He did that a few times before I continued. "What are you looking for?"

"My bracelet."

"Okay. Let's clean this up and fix the irrigation system them we can look for it."

"No! You don't understand Isa. This bracelet has not left my wrist. I couldn't even take it off even if I wanted to. It's been with me as long as the scars on my back have. It's the only thing I have from my real parents."

He was starting to panic again.

"Breath Xav." Once his breathing was under control again, I asked. "What does your bracelet look like? We can look while we finish up here. It probably fell off when the irrigation blew."

He nodded then indicated to my necklace sitting at the hollow of my throat.

"It's got a stone exactly like that."

I blinked. This is all too much to be a coincidence.

It can't be true.

Can it?