The Summer Constellations

Chapter 1

Noatak

“All emergency rescue healers and surgeons to emergency rescue department, child with severe brain hemorrhage and in need of eight stitches in the head! May be in danger of concussion and permanent skull damage!”

A voice calls loudly from the megaphone, as I drag my tired self away from my desk. Everyone’s staring at me like they can’t believe I fell asleep at work, but it’s freaking four in the morning, for the love of the ocean spirit’s fishy fins! Holy spirits, they work us half to death at the Republic City hospital. Well, that’s life, you’re new on the job, and you get the worst work slots, and in the departments that no one wants to work in.

“Hey, I can fill in your spot for you if you want to, son. Go home and try to sleep off those dark circles under your eyes! You work in a hospital, and neglect your own health.” Snorts an elderly healer, as he pats me on the back with a weathered, lined hand. I feel indignant, that he tells me to mind my health when I’m supposed to be on-call twenty-four hours. How do they expect me to sleep? But I swallow my pride and thank the old man anyway. Everyone glares.

“What? Take it easy on that poor kid, he’s seventeen!” The old guy snaps at a curly-haired female surgeon who scoffed derisively.

I pack up my books, unfinished paperwork, empty lunchbox, and tea mug into my satchel as I put on my coat, and I feel disapproving glares drilling into the back of my head as I exit the office and head for the exit. As I pass a hallway mirror, I notice that the old healer was right; I look terrible, like I haven’t slept since the era of avatar Kuruk. I put down a mental note to get a cup of warm tea and a pillow in front of the radio as soon as I got back to my cheap, rather seedy apartment down the road. It may not be fancy, but at least it only costs about thirty yuans to rent, and has no similarities to my former home at the south pole. I shuddered. I should try to forget the past, and focus on the present. Frigid winter wind bites my face and neck the moment I stepped out the sliding glass doors. I hadn’t realized how cold it was this morning. Now, I regretted not wearing a scarf. Despite the cold, I snickered at myself. One week in republic city, and already I start feeling cold. It’s much colder in the South, but I’m already started to get used to warmer weather. Plus, I don’t have my warm, furry parka. Stop! I mentally kicked myself. No more thinking about home. Just forget Yakone, forget Tarrlok, forget mother, forget sea-prune stew…. Forget Korra….. Damn. Why am I so bad at forgetting? Every time I try not to think about the past, I get ambushed by memories. Good times, bad times….. As the powdery snow falls from the dark velvet sky and settles on my shoulders, my mind warps back to the scene of an igloo house, a woman huddled beside the stove, a scarred, aged man smiling cruelly, brandishing a short, bloodied, knife, the scarlet, metallic liquid dripping off the blade. Two teenagers, one crouched miserably in a corner, and the other sprawled on the floor at the older man’s feet, with a bloody face. Oh wait, that’s me. The knife wound on my face runs through my eyebrow. It’s healed, but there’s a white scar, and maybe it’s just me, but I feel that it still twinges a bit. After all, it’s not easy to forget when your father slashes your face with a kitchen knife, and your blood sprays across the furry wolf-pelt kitchen rug, and your younger brother is screaming like hell, and your mom is crying. I think it’s called trauma.

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Lost in thought, I almost miss the door of my apartment building, and I skid to a halt in front of the gate, and push it open. The sleepy security guard jolts awake, and nods blearily at me, and I dip my head as well. I walk slowly up the stairs, and the rotten wood boards creak beneath my weight. Turn right at second floor, third door on the left. I silently remind myself the directions to my home, and push open said door. I know that I should be finishing the undone papers from work, but the idea of rest is just too tempting, so I dump my satchel and coat on a chair and sit down on the rug beside the heater and turn on the radio.