The False People

Part 2

I'm back inside my home, still armed with my katana. I glance outside of my window, anxious about the way the Freaklings' bodies had disappeared. Their bodies just vanished into thin air. But their blood, red, and alive. This just doesn't make any sense to me. 

Usually after I killed my fair share of Freaklings in the forest of Norwardlen, me and my grandmother would grab our truck and pack as many chunks of Freaklings bodies as we could and then drive off to the magical dump where our "earthly gods" would take care of them. 

But now, we did nothing like that. The Freaklings' bodies were gone and my Grandmother and I had nothing to do, except eat in confusion, along with our little bits of self muttering. I had enough of this. "Grandmother, do you think that...we're not the only ones who have experience this...mysterious cause?"

She looks at me with a hesitant, unsure smile. But I know that she knows. My grandmother knows everything, from the far past, to the near future. She has that kind of power. "No, Dear, I know nothing of this...crisis."

My eyelids pop open wide. I pound the table with a fist of assurance. "Aha!, you do know. You said crisis, Grandmother, crisis!"

She looks away, her softly, wrinkled lips frowning slightly, then corrected with a quick, positive grin, flashing her pearly whites. 
"Grandmother..., you know you can't keep everything from me forever. I'm older now.., I'm 18."

I sit back down, stuffing my mouth with the rest of the fruitberry, chicken curry she made. She looks at me again, serious. I look back at her, curious. "Listen, child," she begins. "I never told you because, I never want you to look at me with a face of disappointment or distrust. If you promise  not to get mad, then..I'll tell you everything."

I look at her, puzzled, my lips parting a bit. "What do you mean by everything?" I ask, her stare stinging my eyes harder than the sunlight from this morning did. "Promise me, child. That you won't be mad at me."

"I promise, grandmother." I lie. And so she does. She explains, she shares, she goes deeper, and way back into the story, of us. Or at least I thought she did.

~~~

After dinner, when I am back in the safe place I call my "modern cavern", or in other cases, my bedroom. I record my Notes and Explanations, and New Information all down into my "Life" notebook. Here's what I got. In category New Information: Group of assassins killed family members; Assassins run the  horde of Freaklings; Freaklings limit the elf population, by killing the weak; My family was killed when I was three years old; Grandmother kept this information a secret, for years; I have an injured sister, that may or may not be alive; and the assassins are out to get my Grandmother.
 Category Notes: Kill my Grandmother, for keeping various secrets from me. Kill my Grandmother, for lieing to me. And kill my Grandmother, for hurting me. 
Category Explanations: Grandmother wanted to keep my young mind innocent. Grandmother wanted to keep me "safe". Grandmother couldn't bare losing me. 

When I am done jotting down, I observe my notes.
 "What a mess." I say to myself.
I lay back into my chair, my body molding into the furniture. "This better not be another lie." I say, getting up and plopping onto my bed.

So, if I peice this all together, Grandmother is saying that, I was the most famous baby of all Norwardlen's time. When my mother secretly fell in love with a man named Elderin Dorminian, who was one of the best assassins ever trained, who was also given the leader position when one of the old Greats retired. They dated, and mated, but no one knew, not until word got around that my mother was pregnant with me. "I swear, this sounds like an old tale Grandmother use to tell to me."

Why does it feel like my whole life is a lie? Am I some super realistic ghost? Am I an artificial robot? Which would explain the sheild sealed into my back, but not the flow of emotions I have speeding through me.

I grab my leather coat, my boots, a backpack filled with items, my katana, my helmet, and I connect my Atmophone to my wrist, and head out back into the forest. I'm going on a mission.  A mission to explore. A mission of interest. But before I go, Grandmother always said to say goodbye before going off deeper into the forest. You never know who may or may not be coming back. I'll be sure to call her whenever I can, so she can worry less.

 I blow a kiss to my home. I wave goodbye to all of the small and large wooden cabins surrounded by unique shades of green and brown plants, from pink to purple flowers, from blue to orange rock critters. A hot pink girl with mint green and pastel red hair pops out of one of the abandoned cabins.  She glances my way, and hides behind the large bushes. She sets a rolled up peice of cloth on the ground in front of the bushes. I walk over to the bushes, pausing cautiously with every step, and grab the peice of cloth. I take a peep over the bushes. She's still there, hiding, crouching low, awkwardly pretending that I cannot see her in my feild of view. I return my head to the cloth, and I unroll it. It looks like a map, I guess, as I view the drawn lines and X's in specific colors. The decently  drawn bumps that are probably supposed to be hills, or mountains. I shove the map into the pockets of my pants. I hear a soft exhale from behind the bushes, and the thumps and cracks decreasing through distance. I question her actions and continue to finish my goodbyes.

The Freaklings arrive just as I disappear further into the rainforest. Fading into the moisture.