Irregular

Chapter 25

Jaley was angry when I told her that it would be best for her to stay back at the castle with Marah. She is safer there, and I still haven't told Marah about what's happening. Jaley can keep her distracted so that she doesn't wonder where I am. Although, knowing Jaley she might just blurt everything out to her. Well, knowing how Jaley used to be. She's very different now. She doesn't speak or complain. She's never mean or sarcastic. I haven't seen her eat anything in a while. The most active thing she has done is walk up and down those damn stairs. When I get back, we are putting an elevator in that mansion. I just hope she doesn't get upset when she finds out what the real world looks like. I'm worried about her.

Speaking of the real world, everything is burned. The woods in Kansas are no longer woods. You can see straight to the nearest civilization, which is also burned. No one seems to be alive, which leads me to assume that Dugger and Lymiex aren't coming back either. I would go search for them, but I don't want to go far. Seeing what this place looks like, I'm sure North Carolina isn't much different.

I'm not sure what I feel right now. I thought I wouldn't be so upset because I expected them to be dead. I guess part of me hoped that they wouldn't be, though. I honestly don't know what I expected to see coming here? Did I expect them to be here when I came? To run and hug me and talk about how much they missed us? I promised them I would come back for them and bring them to other world. They should've just came with us!

"They're dead, aren't they?" I ask Nalsa, who was standing behind me with two castle guards to her side.

"I'm sorry." She hugs me. I begin to silently cry. I didn't want her to see me cry, but also the castle guards. I don't know who they are, but I don't want anyone knowing that I am weak. I'm a ruler now. I can't be over emotional.

But, gosh! Dugger. All I can think about is how obsessed he was with The Outsiders. He read that book every single night. He cared about me. He was my family. And Lymiex with her reading and drawing. She read everything and anything! She was so smart and so beautiful, and now she's dead. They were both my family and they're dead.

What the hell am I going to tell Marah? How am I supposed to tell a child that everyone she loves is gone except for two? I literally have to say, "Dugger, Lymiex, Damien, and Mae are all dead and everything you loved burned in a fire caused by my angry aunt's death when my other aunt stabbed her in the face." NO!

"Do you want to go back?" Nalsa interrupts my thoughts.

"Yeah."

"WAIT!" A voice screams from a distance. I spin around to see a boy covered in dirt charging towards us, or trying to. It was more of a hop type movement.

The castle guards push Nalsa and I behind them and shove the boy down as he approached us and pointed their guns at him.

He was terrified, but I could tell he meant no harm. His face is severely burned and his left eye is swollen shut and cover in blood and dirt. He put his hands up in surrender.

"Stop." I demand the guards, and they pull their weapons back.

The boys one good eye grows wide as I step forward. "I mean no harm." He assures us.

"What is your name?" I ask.

"Lucky."

I glare at him. "Are you lying?"

"No ma'am!"

"I feel like you're lying because Lucky is a strange name?" 

"Well, what's your name?" He asks.

"Zinnia."

"No offense, ma'am, but Lucky is a weird name to you?" He giggles.

"If you're lying I will kill you."

His voice begins to shake as he began to fear us. "It's a nickname. It was given to me by doctors whenever I was 4 because I beat stage 3 cancer at such a young age. Honestly, it's ironic because I'm not so lucky anymore. My cancer came back and its worse than before, I lost my job, my girlfriend, all my money to my friend in a poker game, my only friend because he was a horrible friend for not giving me my money back in a time of need, my mom died and my dad has dementia and is in a home, my home was my car, my car burned, and I'm pretty sure my eye is gone and places are burned that I'm not even sure how they got burned because my pants seem to be fine." He inhales a deep breath, then says, "My real name is Lucas."

"Okay." I say, trying to process all the information thrown at me. "Why were you running after us?"

"There's no one else here and I'm pretty sure that I'm about to die." He smiles.

I reach my hand out to help him up, he takes it and thanks me. "So, do you want us to help you?"

"Please."

"What makes you think we aren't struggling just like you?"

"Because you smell like vanilla."

"Why are you smelling me?"

"No, well, I mean, you're right beside me!"

I turn and look at Nalsa. She nods at me, which I'm not really sure what that means, but I assume she is giving me permission to do whatever I want.

"Well, Lucky," I begin. "where we are from is very different, probably nothing you've seen before, but you can't freak out."

"Are you guys drug dealers?" He asks.

"Wha? No! Come on!" I grab his arm as we run for the portal.

Is this a good idea bringing some dying dude into our world of supernatural? Nope. Who cares though? I mean, I brought a demon with me so I can't do much worse.