The Wilting Rose

Chapter 9- Jatt's memories

When I woke up I was being stared at by something with big green eyes. “Is it alive?” he was an elephant-owl, and I thought they were supposed to be intelligent, but they were obviously were not. I was alive, wasn’t I? I turned my head to look at the oaf’s companion, and a searing heat rippled through my head. Again, I saw stars. The person, for lack of a better word, he was talking to was the same thing that had lead the attack on me. I growled at him.

        He looked at me. “Yes, Choco, it’s alive.” He said impatiently. “Just please make sure it doesn’t get out of bed.” I growled at him again, then looked around to see where the hell I was. I saw a bunch of metal bars, so I was in some sort of prison. Great. I saw a couple chubby guards looking at me with concern, as well as Choco. Well, this was embarrassing. I wanted to get up, but I knew I couldn’t, so I lay there. I wanted to talk but my throat was so dry. I wanted water.

        “It wants water.” Choco said, and one of the guards gave me a sip of the cool, clear liquid. I sighed. That was much better. I wondered how Choco knew. “I’m a mind reader.” Said Choco. Well, that made sense. I made a mental note to keep thoughts about his chubbiness to a minimum.

        “Yeah, that’d be nice.” Choco said. I could feel a hint of a smile forming on my parched lips. Where am I? Why am I here? I asked Choco. His response was instantaneous.

“This is Tias headquarters. You are here because you are my prisoner. Sorry.” He looked kind of abashed, like a child caught playing with matches. I wanted to comfort him, and smack him at the same time. He looked at leader man-tiger, and leader man-tiger leapt at me again. Fortunately, Choco caught him mid-air.  “Whoa, calm down Rao!” Choco was ready to play diplomat, which was good, because I couldn’t talk.

“How would you like to wake up in a cell not knowing where the hell you were?” Yeah, I was gonna have to learn to filter my thoughts. Rao rolled his eyes, but narrowed his eyes at me. Choco rolled his eyes. “No you will not deal with it later, Rao.” I grinned. Choco was smarter than I had first credited him with.

“We’re just holding her here while Jatt runs an errand.” I was so confused. Jatt let me be beat up on purpose? He knew these jerks?

“We’re not jerks!” Choco was hurt. I felt bad. Sorry, I’m just stressed out. I told him, and he smiled. “WE should just leave her with the memories.” Rao was already out the door. “Alakas.”

Then I was in a pond. Even though I was under water, I could breathe. There was a sandy beach glowing with warmth. I clambered onto it happily, and I could see two kids building sandcastles. One was Jatt, and the other was my dad. I don’t know how I knew, I just did. Jatt was busying himself with running back and forth to the pond to get water. My dad was sculpting the moat. I smiled.

Jatt said something, and they burst out laughing. I realized with a start Solie was sitting on the beach with them. She was clearly younger, but Jatt was trying to impress her none the less. He was running a little faster when he thought she was watching and the glow of pride when the moat filled up was unmistakable.

I moved closer, and could hear them talking about something. I moved even closer, and then I could hear every word.

“Hey, I’m hungry.” My dad was looking at the ocean. “Yeah, what else is new, Scotty, you fatty?” Jatt asked, and though my father’s face turned red, he laughed with the two of them. “But ice cream would be really cool right now.” Jatt agreed. “Yup.” Solie chimed in.

“Yo! I can get us ice cream!” Jatt said a glimmer of hope in his eyes. He thought that he would be the big hero for Solie, that was obvious, and my dad must have thought so too. “For me, too? Or just for your girlfriend?” both Solie and Jatt turned bright red, but again they laughed it off. They seemed so carefree, and I wished I had gotten a chance to meet this version of him.