Skye City: The Darkness of Emmilyn

Late Birthday

'Hi guys, this is Nelson,' I say, feeling too overwhelmed to make a grand introduction as we approach the table where food is waiting. Nelson puts down his pint glass which he retrieved from his previous table and we stand side by side, waiting for the others to make room. They are already eating voraciously, but Mother looks up from her steak and checks out my returning boyfriend.

'You mean the Nelson?' Mother says.

'Yes,' I say and Mother shuffles sideways, allowing us to squeeze into the booth. I slide my plate across the table and pick up my steaming hot cheeseburger, taking a bite and burning my mouth, then I gulp orangeade.

'Wow, this is good fortune. It's good to finally meet you, Nelson. Emmi's told me all about you,' Mother says, exaggerating out of politeness because I have struggled to say much at all about my missing boyfriend. 'Have you eaten?'

'Yeah, I'm okay for now,' Nelson says and I introduce him to the group. We are mostly unfamiliar with one another so we change that over dinner by sharing our stories and the legendary Sydney Anguson is soon overshadowed by the low key neanderthal in our presence. Ahran seems daunted by the many questions coming his way, despite his huge stature, but he patiently and politely responds to everyone.

'... I knew scientists were working on neanderthal resurrection but everyone was so focused on the dinosaurs, I guess your kind got overlooked by the media. I'm not even sure there are any other specimens out there...' Vytali pauses, gawping, then says, 'Sorry, specimen is the wrong word. I mean people like you, Ahran. You might well be the only one of your kind,'

'I do not know if any others remain. They created more of us at the lab. The others might have been sent elsewhere, but we were never told. There was only me and Chiara at the zoo,' Ahran says.

'Oh, where's Chiara now?' Vytali says, gawping again as Ahran lowers his head. This was hardly the smartest question to ask in a time when everyone is dying.

'I'm sorry,' Vytali whispers and as we fall into uncomfortable silence, he somehow decides it would be a good idea to continue: 'It's hard, eh? I've been separated from my family, my girlfriend, but by some miracle I've not lost anyone and still I'm traumatised. You've lost the only person you had...'

I am unsure emphasising that point is a good idea, but surprisingly Ahran's eyes brighten as though he has been waiting a long time to open up.

'Yes, since Chiara died, I've moved from place to place, meeting different people, never quite fitting in. I wanted to fight this war for vengeance, but then I asked myself who I'm really fighting. Chiara was not killed by human, but by beast. I wasn't fighting the people who made us suffer, I was just fighting people. It was a fight with no end in sight so I chose to remove myself. That's the best I can do, live in peace and play the human, the strange-looking scary human...'

'Well, you might not truly feel like one of us, but to me Ahran, you are one of us. It's good to have you here,' Vytali says and I sense this is the first time Ahran has heard such words spoken with sincerity.

We finish our meals and sip our drinks and chat some more and we almost act like the apocalypse is not happening, but on those occasions when something gets mentioned, we discuss the situation in a matter of fact way. There really is no point is crying and the awkwardness of the situation is rapidly disappearing. Friendships can still be made for as long as breath remains in our lungs.

Nelson finally gets around to saying what he has clearly been desperate to say. What every male probably says when they meet the world champion cage-fighter for the first time: 'And you're the real Sydney Anguson? Your fight with Davey Crusher Thompson was truly the stuff of legend.'