Dripping Away

Chapter 4: Storm Children

          Abers led me to an abandoned building covered in a layer of dusty cloth. An empty house. He had pulled something out of a small closet, and he threw a blanket at my frame. It was warm and dry, and Abers didn't hesitate to pull off his wet shirt. They grey that took his eyes had only held onto the edges now, and his eyes drooped. He must've been waiting for a long time for me to come, and maybe Lekereianale told him that I was to exist eventually. Whatever happened in those eighteen months, it must've shaken this place to its core.
           Abers pulled away one of the sheets on the couches, and he sat down with papers in his hands. I sat down next to him and peered over his shoulder to read what it was. Or look at the pictures. My reading was terrible at best, but there was one picture of Abers. He was wearing a lab coat with a Six logo on his chest, eyes proud. There was no grey in them in that picture, no dark circles under his eyes as he genuinely stared into the camera with a quirky smile.
           "I don't believe you know me properly," he said while staring into the article. "My situation is similar to yours. Except I met Lekereianale in my office. She came to me, dress in a woman's skin, and she told me of the future."
           I crossed my arms. "Did she call you a star child?"
           "No." He smiled and put the paper down. "I was "Young Builder". Whatever that means. Anyway, she told me you would get electrocuted to death and your organs were going to be harvested while your husk would be tested on. She was right, and I made it my mission to save you. Lekereianale gave me the power to control and harness storms in my hands. She gave it to you, too."
            "Why?"
            "To stop the rain," he sighed. "To stop the extinction of the giants."
            There was no way we could stop the rain. Powers or not, it was a constant thing that plagued the sky, and I was't certain it could be done. Abers leaned against the worn cushions, and he held his hands up in the air like he was reaching for something. He was... comfortable. In  a world of chaos, he managed to show no worry. It was almost like the picture he was just in, where the worry had been hidden behind this mask.
             "What about that Church? They didn't have a church a year ago," I said, turning away to look at a dirty, empty frame.
             Abers crawled upwards. "That isn't important. All you need to know is that the Church is forbidden ground, and you cannot cross it."
            "And all those ads?"
            "I developed them, actually. Before I quit the Six for good, I had them installed so that people could be informed on the go." He lowed his head. "And then they wanted to dispose of the homeless to produce electricity."
            What? Abers stood up from the couch and began to walk back to another room in the house. He shouted something about not trying to turn on the lights, and then I heard some squeaking sounds. I pushed the paper article onto the floor and let the blanket caress my body as I closed my eyes in an attempt to sleep. Daylight was coming quickly along the horizon, but it was hard to see through the boarded windows. I shut my eyes tight and lulled my brain to sleep.

           "Abers! Your rent is due! Abers!"
         There was a rapping against the door and an immediate shuffling of feet. There was the creak before Abers's voice finally woke me up, and I peaked my head to find a man covered in a large overcoat with slippers adorning his feet. He yawned, the tiredness still evident upon his features. Abers didn't hesitate to hand him an envelope.
            "Find a new job yet?" the man asked Abers nonchalantly.
           Abers leaned against the door frame. "You did not wake up from your nap to tell me that. But the answer is still no. If it comes down to it, I can tinker around this place for my rent's worth."
             "Yeah, yeah. The Six contact you since you quit?"
             "Nah." Abers lightened his hand on the doorknob. "I have a few friends that were in the Six that have, but it's not work related business. It was a pretty reasonable last day."
             The man paused, and then he pulled away. "Well, I have to get to bed. You have fun here, okay?"
            "Bye, Kasher."
              The man left with one stretch of his limbs before Abers shut the door. As he turned back into the house, he saw my eyes open, and he smiled widely. I leaned up, and he sat next to me while repeating the same stretching motion as that Kasher guy. There was only panic rising in my heart when that guy was nearly in the threshold of this house, but my shoulders fell when Abers sat down in casual stance. He flicked on a monitor that sat on this small table, and it was playing the news.
               "I'll make breakfast," he said.
              The screen displayed a woman sitting behind this large bar that had large words scrambled together in a bright display. Ew. There were more words crawling along the bottom, but I couldn't read any of it. The woman began shuffling authentic, yellowed papers while staring directly at the screen.
                "Lostin Rotsitt was stolen away from Ranll Moskin, scientist that works for the Six directly, and one would know what one would do with an organ-less body with no eyes or most its bones? The Six are saying the thief was trying to prove a point." The lady turned away from the camera before coughing lowly. "And while this happened early this morning, it would seem that the thief has not been found."
                I was my own thief. Abers came over with a bowl of square shapes in a white substance. Milk? I held the bowl in my lap, and he gave me a spoon. For a second too long, I stared at the bowl, and Abers began to eat the square shapes without a second thought. I followed his movements. The sugar hit my tongue before the texture, and it reminded me that sugar was rare among homeless. We rationed tasteless bars, and I always imagined that when we did get sugar, they gave it to the children. I ate my square sugars in silence as the news lady shifted to a different topic about something unrelated to me. Abers just stared at the monitor while milk and sugar went into his mouth. He was so mindless right now.
               "The news always sucks in the evening," Abers commented.
               I put my spoon in my bowl and set it on the side table next to the couch. "Why don't you wake up during the day then?"
                  "The Six are on my ass, too. I'm trying to make it seem as if I'm dead, but that's not going to work forever." Abers put his bowl down on the table in front of the monitor. "That's why we need to stop the rain quickly."
                 "The Six will reign regardless."
                  "No. If we stop the rain, we can wake the giants, and they can rule this place like they once did."
                   I didn't comment because it mostly sounded like nonsense. Lekereianale was the only giant I saw, and she never said that was what she wanted to do when she woke me. She said she was the last one alive, and I was certain that you couldn't bring things back from the dead.
                   "Well," Abers sighed, standing up. "I need you to practice what powers you got. We're going out, so get ready."
                   I stared at my clothes, which were still damp but smelled of fresh rainwater. I looked up at Abers, but he had already thrown clothes in my direction. He shouted to get changed while taking off his shirt and entering his room.
                  There was a lot of reasons I didn't have many clothes. Ranll made these for me a while ago, and even their worn material still managed to work. I was 6'7". Too tall, too lanky, but I gave Abers a chance by trying on his shirt. It was half of my torso, so I threw mine back on. The only thing that actually fit was his black hoodie, and it was even a little big on me. It was comfortable, too.
                  Abers came out in a different set of clothes and suddenly realized how tall I really was. He shook his head before grabbing his keys and walking out into the dark alleys of our fine city. He didn't walk too far away from the house. In fact, I could still see it, but there was no cameras or people down this alley. And already I noticed the scorch marks climbing up the bricks. This was where Abers practiced, and he had a goofy smile on his face as if he was proud of such a spot.
                 "You ready?" he asked.
                  I shrugged my shoulders, shivering at the rain seeped through. "Sure."
                 Immediately, Abers formed an electric ball, and he chucked it towards my head. I barely dodged it as it crumpled against the brick. I wanted to shout at him, but he already managed to throw another. It hit the top of my shoulder, and it felt like pins and needles. Dropping to my knees, I shrieked.
                "Use your powers to defend yourself!" Abers shouted. "Or you die!"
               I leaned upwards, feeling thunder shouting at me from the skies above. In the sky, the clouds began to swirl downward into my palms. Abers widened his eyes, and he took a step back. With a grunt, I pushed my hands forward, and the grey, brooding clouds pushed themselves into Abers's chest. My fingers were open, but I knew that if I balled my hand, the thunder cloud would electrocute his insides.
                I stepped around Abers as his face went into total panic. "I think you've lost," I growled. I pulled my hand away, and the thunder clouds disappeared into thin air. Abers's body seemed to crumple.
                "Lekereianale also told me you were dangerous," Abers exasperated. "She was right."