Not That Far

Chapter 23-It Only Takes One Spark...

 

  The next morning I watched the slave drivers pack up and ship out from the top of a tree near the edge of the woods. Shay clung to a branch beside me, watching them with unblinking eyes as they folded up their tents and climbed aboard the trailers. I glanced over and studied him.

  He apparently had no memory of last night because he had woken me up by jumping on my chest repeatedly. I had wanted to knock him into next week at the time, but at least I knew he was better if he felt like using me as a trampoline before beating a hasty but tactical retreat. I had began to worry about him by the way he always complaining about being tired all the time.

  But he showed no sign of tiring as we made our way back to camp after the slave drivers started on their way. I just hoped he would be alright once we followed the caravan. He noticed me eyeing him as he walked silently on the soft for needles strewn about the forest floor.

  "What?" he finally asked, sounding a little defensive. I decided to be up front with him after seeing the way he looked at me. Like he was afraid I'd just discovered a deep, dark secret of his.

  "...You had another nightmare last night." I began, trying to sound casual. Even though I was anything but. Out of the corner of my eye I saw him freeze up.

  "...Maybe I did. Why do you care?" he glanced at me through slightly narrowed eyes.

  "...Because it was about your dad. I heard you say his name." He had been walking a little ahead of me and turned on my with a dangerous glint in his eyes before I had gotten the last word out.

  "Don't you dare-" he began viciously, but I cut him off.

  "Look, I'm gonna be straight with you Shay. I know it's really not any of my business to be asking, but if you don't get this under control you're going to get yourself shipping off to a counseling reformatory as soon as this is over!"

  "I knew it!" He cried, directing an accusing look at me. "I knew you were still trying to get rid of me!" He opened his wings to make a break for camp, but I was faster. I caught him by the back of his neck and took off. In moments we were soaring high above the ground, too high up to be clearly seen by those below.

  "I'm not trying to get rid of you!" I yelled above the wind as I looked for a place to land where we wouldn't be overheard by Zaruu. He squirmed and fought as I went into a nosedive. "I never was. I just...I don't want you to have to go through it like I did." I said as I pulled up suddenly and alighted on a high, rocky outcrop near the pass that we exited last night. He just stared at me sullenly so I went on,

  "My adoptive parents sent me to a counseling reformatory when I was seven because they were worried about me not being able to move on after my mother's death. I was like you- I'm still like you actually. I couldn't let go. But what they told me in that place only made it worse. They- they tried to make forget about her and that only made me angry so... I ran away..." I trailed off and closed my eyes as the memories surged through my mind, sufficiently suffocating me for a good ten seconds.

  "...Then what?" I opened my eyes to see Shay was sitting beside me, listening with rapt attention. All of his earlier anger at me had apparently evaporated.

  "...Then my adopted little brother comes after me. All by himself. ...He was only six at the time." I closed my eyes as I imagined Saiden at that age, still so innocent with his towhead blond hair falling in his brown eyes. "He knew exactly where I had gone. Eventually he convinced me to go home after assuring me that our parents hadn't known what methods the reformatory had taken."

  "And they never sent me to another reformatory, but almost every year since then I've gotten a talk from my adopted father about letting her go...But I can't." I shook my head as if to clear it. "I just can't get the images out of my head...I...I still have nightmares too ya know." I said to his surprise.