We're All Made Of Stardust

Chapter 31: Dingle-Bat

         Reira felt something trickle down her face and she could practically feel her eyes begin to droop lower. By now she was so tired of eating bread that her body was all but a dead weight. Not to mention she was stressed. There weren’t many things that made her stressed, but when there was she didn’t take it too well. Especially if she was hungry.

         She wished that everything were peaceful at the moment. The room wasn’t filled with any state of freedom and her heart was filled with an emotional level of hysteria that she could hardly contain. She dreamed of the ataraxia of moments with her family. Where she could do what she wanted to. 

         She pressed her palms up against her eyes as more tears trickled down her face. Her cheeks were freezing with the amount of water running down her skin.

         She missed her brother. And Rena. And her friends. The very same friends who probably hated her at the very moment. That thought only made things worse. She didn’t like being hated. Especially not by her friends.

         A loud and blunt bang filled her ears and she glanced up quickly, her back slowly lifting from the seat. She felt herself fill with hope that it was Hikaru, but was quickly disappointed when the person entering was anyone but. The disappointment was all to clear on her face, apparently.

         “Not happy to see me? That’s too bad. I’m so thrilled to see you, girl,” said the man; the person who Reira had basically assumed was the leader. She never got his name so she always referred to him with a nickname. Her nicknames were the opposite of his natty appearance and tense body that reminded her of the bole of a tree.

         “Ah, here again. What did you call yourself? Dingle Bat right? Yes. That’s right. The memory is coming back to me,” Reira boasted with a great span of arrogance, her previous sadness was pushed to the back of her mind.

         “Yeah. Never said that,” the man said in a deadpan tone.

         “Now, now Dingle Bat. Don’t get mouthy. I require sustenance,” Reira said a low tone. She was relishing her new word that Hikaru indirectly taught her. She felt so smart.

         Clearly Dingle Bat didn’t think so.

         “We’ve provided you with plenty of nourishment, girl,” he retorted crossly as he gave her an unamused glance. Dingle Bat was obviously too spleenful a man who couldn’t handle someone like Reira.

         “Yes but there was no sugar in any of them. I wish to negotiate the terms of me being a prisoner,” she said with a mockingly serious face.

         “You’re kidding,” he retorted and she glanced his way, her eyes show just how serious she was being.

         “I don’t joke about food,” she replied, but she ended up not being able to keep up that serious façade, so she settled for a lame simper. “Dingle Bat-kun, I’m so hungry. All I get is bread and water. It’s not fair.”