Dripping Away

Chapter 14: That Day I Left

     Ika was a smart man, but he was also too stupid to walk up when someone had entered his room while he was sleeping. He was a deep sleeper even despite the circumstances, and I envied him for that peaceful night's rest. My hands grazed his dresser, touching his jewelry and scattered bullet shells he never bothered to throw away. I wasn't afraid of the disappointment in the morning or the lecture about how I needed to stay out of his way because I was leaving. All I needed was... that.
     Mom had one thing on her person before she died, one thing of importance. A locket. It had nothing inside but a pressed four leaf clover, and Ikalanig had taken it because I was too young not to choke on a necklace then. It was all I needed.
     "I haven't asked you yet, Takatat."
     Oh. He sleep talks.
     I quickly pocketed the locket and began to walk out of the door before he would notice, and I heard him say something else.
     "No, Lostin never deserved it."
     I grimaced, picking up my book bag and discreetly walking down the stairs that no one used. If I saw anyone, I would just have to come up with a lie and it would be easy. I started, and the anything I found was the echo of my own feet as I descended the floors to the bottom. I put my hand around the doorknob, but there was a hand on my shoulder that gripped me tightly enough to where it hurt.
     "What did Mantortek offer you?" I turned my head and saw Takatat there with his face covered by a mask of black cloth.
     "Answers," I replied.
     "I cannot let you go. If you betray the Six, you will be the most wanted man. you are dangerous."
     "Then fight me like your father's life is on the line."
​​​​​​​      I felt a barrel against the back of my head, and I felt the shakiness of Takatat's hands against me. We were close. He was only two years younger than me, but he felt so much older by how he held himself. I was raised with him, and while we both were pretty much similar, he was a lot sneakier than I. A gun wasn't his thing despite how much Ikalanig protested it. the shaking stirred me, too. He was afraid to stop me. The gun landed to his side.
     "Go," he grunted. "Go and never come back. The next moment we see each other, I won't hesitate."
     I opened the door. "Goodbye."
     "I hope you find your answers."
     I hoped I did too.

     "There are five Storm Children, and they're all inhabiting Giants in them. Which means, you'd have to kill them, and you'd have to kill yourself," he said. "I refuse to have my second son die because of some cultish attempt at stopping the rain."
     "Lekereianale told me that you had one of the Giants," I admitted. "And she's been nothing but nice to me, you know."
     "She can't stop this. I have the proof. I have the analytics. Only Ranll's machines could ever accomplish the parting of the clouds."
     "Ranll's dead."
     "When you fell into his machine, we noticed that the rain stopped for sixty seconds. It would have actually worked if not for the disruption of organic matter."
     "Wait, wait, wait. This doesn't line up at all with the accusations about the missing homeless and all that shit about you guys making it rain in the first place."
     "Because it's not true," he told me plainly. "We took the homeless in and gave them a place to stay that's much better for them than out there. The rain was simply the Giant's negligence. You can only get Trelos from rain water, and you'd think they'd know that since they controlled the weather. Look, I'm telling you the truth, Lostin. You can choose to not believe in it, but I'm telling you what I've done. And Ranll? he had you in that tube because I had this feeling you were going to wake up with electricity spewing from every possible pore on your skin. I asked him to work for me, so he did and created what's going to stop the rain."
     Ika pointed at the oblong towers that seemed to be blending in with the fog and rain. I hadn't noticed them until now, but they looked like bigger versions of what Ranll made.
     "How can I believe you?" I asked. "After you guys have attempted to kill me more than once, how can I-"
     "Here."
     He handed me a piece of paper, and he was well-aware of my inability to read. Except... it wasn't words. It was a diagram of every pillar that was signed off by Ranll and the Six together, and there was a few words I could decipher. Rain. End. Cycle.
     "We plan to expand it to stop the rain everywhere, but we have to start with the city," he said. "I want you to be on my side for this."
     "What about the others? They're out there, and I know none of them are fond of the Six."
     "That's your job to convince them. I'm asking you to denounce your loyalty to the Giants and take my hand again. I'm not going to act like you need to or that this is the morally right choice. I'm asking you to make the decision. I should have asked you then, too."
     I closed my eyes and thought about what he meant. Rather, what I should do. I could believe in the Giants like I was doing, which really went along with my rebellious streak and it fit my agenda, or I could believe Ikalanig. The paper was legitimate. It also held up with the tower design out there and the placement. He really believed it would work, and he valued me alive rather than dead.
     "Then, I'll convince them," I told him. "Are they still in the sewers?"
     "We don't know where they are. Abers is a good tinkerer, so he's good at hiding and keeping things interesting."
     "Abers told me that you were sacrificing the homeless. Why would he lie?"
     "He didn't. Not really." Ikalanig finally lit a cigarette and blew the smoke out into the fog. "It was a rumor going around because we have the homeless quarantined for the Trelos virus. A lot of Six people thought that. I can take you there if you'd like."
     "No, I get it."
     It wasn't necessarily wrong, but it was a rumor. I could tell when Ikalanig was lying, and he definitely wasn't doing that right now. This was all the truth right form his face, and I had to make a decision.
    "If I say yes to you, take your side and believe your words, we have to agree on one thing," I told him.
      He blew out more smoke. "What is it?"
     "That you tell me everything that's going on from this moment forward."
     "Deal."
     We sat out in the rain and let the day pass. We talked some more, swapping subjects constantly to keep our minds off of what we had to face, and we made sure to leave it at that. I took a cigarette from him and began to take a drag before lying down in a chair. I would find them tomorrow.
     I would figure this all out.