Skin Crawl

Witness

Too many people in my house; too many bodies, too little space. I laid awake, my toes tickled by Pia's restless feet whenever she shifted in the bed she shared with Omari now that Dr. Cory was sleeping in hers. Vianca's breath tickled Cho's neck as they slept side by side on the floor of my kitchen. I wondered if they always sleep this way. It bothered me that I couldn't tell if they were a couple. Cho didn't act like they were, but whenever Vianca touched him, an unmistakable fondness flowed through me.

I slept in a hammock on the porch in order to avoid the convergence of bodies, but it wasn't enough distance for me to get much rest. Morning would come soon. Then Dr. Cory would awaken, immediately hobble her way onto the porch to ask me how soon someone might die so that her important work could commence. Anxious to avoid that conversation, I left at first light.

Following the narrow trail out of the village, I arrived at the Witnesses' purification house, empty since the previous day. Inside its walls, I lay myself down and finally slept, grateful that I couldn't feel the touch of the animals that swarmed through the jungle surrounding me.

The first thing I heard upon waking was the rhythmic tap-tap-tapping of heavy rain. My sister crouched next to my mat, her small hand a feather weight on my shoulder. Laying my arm across my eyes, I let my mind wander back from sleep's oblivion. "What is it?"

"Neema's daughter has taken ill. The Rot, probably. Mother said I should get you."

"Mother, huh?" I sat up and stretched my limbs. "Did you tell her you're not supposed to walk through the jungle by yourself?"

Pia giggled. "That's why I brought Cho with me."

Sure enough, Cho was waiting outside, his back pressed to the outer wall so that the roof's overhang would shield him the Rain's relentless onslaught.

"Look who's still here. I guess me burning a hole in my hand didn't have the effect I'd intended it to." Grabbing a giant plyu leaf, I held it over both of us. Pia, who loved the Rain, ran off down the trail in the direction of the village.

An angry purple bruise from last night's encounter with Davin shone on his upper cheek. "Dr. Cory's not about to leave until there's been a Witnessing."

"Let's just hope it's not her own." I motioned him forward and we set out after Pia. "Vianca-you said there's nothing wrong with her. Is it really normal for people to look like that where she's from?"

"Almost half the population of her colony does, yes. The Colony founders were from a region on Earth which held to the superstition that albinos are imbued with magical properties. Poachers hunted them, harvesting their body parts to be made into medicine thought to cure any ailment you can imagine. Your people originated from a neighboring country, coincidentally."

A shiver ran through me. I wondered if my village's ancestors had hunted Vianca's.

"It wasn't safe for albinos there, so when they were granted asylum status by the Coalition, they jumped at the chance to apply for a colony."