Elysian House: Edge of the World (3)

Chapter 20: Ghost

Del

"Del, wake up!"

My eyes popped open in a flash and I turned quickly in my seat, to the small human girl next to me. "What is it?" I asked, as I wiped at my eyes furiously.

Winter spoke without turning to look at either one of us, on the other side of Alis. "We have arrived."

I turned to look out the window of the plane, and watched as the wheels slowly touched the ground with a thunk and we were sliding smoothly down the runway. 

"Great," I say with a small sigh. The last place I honestly wanted to be was here, I'd rather be back in San Francisco. Back with Skylar, and coming clean with everything about my past, and about why it was so damn hard to just let it go and love her.

But I doubt she'd even care at this point. She must be fed up with waiting for me, waiting for years for me to come around. Part of me even now wants nothing more than to just stick to the customs ingrained in my brain from my tribe, and simply go solo for the rest of my life. That seems a lot easier than pursuing anybody.

When the light turns green, everyone begins unclipping their seatbelts and stepping into the aisle, one by one. Alis led the way in front of me, before reaching up to the compartment above our heads to lift her backpack out and onto her shoulders.

Winter didn't even bother, and I wondered for a moment if she brought anything with her at all.

I helped Alis out, remembering she was much shorter than I was used to, even shorter than Skylar was and that was saying something. 

We walked down the aisle and stepped off the plane, one by one, until we were all out in the sunlight. Winter slips on a pair of sunglasses that were sitting on her head, while I pulled a hood over to shield myself from the devastating light of the sun.

Alis breathed in a breath of air and sighed happily. "Beautiful, isn't it?" She turns back to the two Vampires, who both probably looked like a couple of downers to the rest of the humans. "Oh. Right. Sorry."

"Let's go," Winter said, walking ahead the both of us, barely even glancing at any other person she walked by. 

"Welcome to Manaus City," I say to Alis, as I squint off to the distance. I knew of the place, but my tribe leader at the time would never allow us to speak with the people here. To her, we were the superior bunch.

"It's beautiful," Alis said, eyes shining with admiration. "Have you been here before?"

"South America?" I ask, and chuckle a little at the question. "Of course. I used to live here, actually."

"In Manaus City?" Alis asked, eyes lighting up with interest.

"No, not the city. I am an Amazon. My tribe was from here, in the Amazon rain forest. A long time ago." 

Alis grins widely. "Ooh! Maybe we should go visit your tribe, say hello to them!" 

I shake my head quickly. I didn't want to be reminded of them, let alone see them. "No, no. That's not... I can't."

"Why?"

"It's complicated." Complicated was an understatement. I still recall the day I left my tribe. I didn't say goodbye to anyone, I simply left with Skylar and Nova the moment I got the chance to get away from that place. I remember I was sad, yet happy. I didn't want to be reminded of what I had seen. What I had witnessed was the head of my tribe was a corrupted woman. Part of me regretted that I left, that I willingly had done what she had wanted from me. From having me mate with a male in the city to provide for my tribe, from giving him up because of his sex, and from making my friend feel as though she were not good enough for our tribe.