Dogfights

Dogfights - Blood (Chapter 11)

Rays of sunlight pierced through the cloth veil that hung over the small slit window of the apartment room. It was midday, the quietest time in the city, the murmuring of a thousand voices distant and vague. What little peace could be found in the future of steel was here, with the single mother and her only child who sat amongst the dust. The decorations were meek, the paint chipped, and the furniture small, but here the inhabitants could live without fear of the cold or the dark faces that loomed ever so closely.

The mother watched her child play with his toys, his green eyes familiar yet the strange, angular face so alien. She smiled and leaned towards her own, bathing in sunlight. The wind chime outside drifted with the breeze, sounding its clarion call. The mother was content then as she gazed at her son, her dark brown hair hanging down like long tendrils. The child looked up and smiled as the mother stroked his hair lovingly.

"Hey, baby," the mother said. "How are you?"

"Good," the son replied.

The mother pulled back and looked out the window, catching a glimpse of the tall towers of the city. She sighed and turned back

"How's school going?" she asked.

"Good. Same old stuff."

"I'm glad to hear it. Look, can we talk about something. Something important?"

The child became motionless. "Sure."

The mother smiled, but her eyes pleaded as she touched the child gently. "Honey, you've been doing so well in school. I'm so proud of you, you know that right? And I love you so much."

The child did not know what the mother wanted, but he knew that something was wrong.

"There's a government-run program that's taking in applications from kids, like yourself," the mother continued, her voice calm yet strained. "It's supposed to be very prestigious. Only a select few are chosen. With your permission, I would like to put your name onto the list. You'll be sent to a new school and meet new friends and learn exciting new things that even your teachers cannot teach you. I think this is a very good opportunity for you, to leave this place and make a better future for yourself."

The child's brows furrowed as he stared down at his toys and processed the information.

Slowly he looked back up. "Leave? What about you?"

The mother held back her tears. She knew it had to happen like this. There was no other way.

"No, I would not be able to go with you. I'm not even sure where you would be."

"Would I ever see you again?" the son asked quietly.

"I think so, Kane. I hope so."

The boom of the city erupted then. The woman rose to steady the bookshelf perched on the wall next to the kitchen. After the bellowing of the earth had ended she stared at the child, who looked back with a care unnatural of a boy his age.

"I'll do it, if you want me to," Kane said. "I don't think I'll get in though. I'm really not that smart."

The mother laughed. Kane would never forget her laugh, even at the end.

"I think you underestimate yourself," she said. "You'll realize this, before everything's said and done."

The mother stared at her child for a long moment before turning to look out of the window, her face frozen.

The city stared back.

"I will not let you take him," she whispered.

***