Sub Terra: Et Reditus

Twenty

Gus

That evening, Madame had invited us and the others who came from the Lee Craft over for dinner. It was a great time. We ate to our heart's content and laughed at each other's stories, even Danny. Dr. Caldwell and his brother in law came over too. As the night became long, only Danny, Devi and I were still left. We volunteered to help clean up.

"Madame, did you come on the Craft that my dad came from? To this village, I mean." Danny asked.

"No, no, no. I came much earlier."

"Did other people escape from what my-

"Yes, but I'm not from them. I've been here... almost forty years."

"That's... almost as long as my dad's life." Danny remarked. This meant Madame looked somewhat younger than her true age.

"Indeed. When I was still your age, Daniel, I came here on holiday. Back then, this place was so beautiful, so... vif," lively, she said, "I fell in love with this place. I came every summer after, until the Narks came,"

I wringed my fingers awkwardly.

"I was stuck, I couldn't go anywhere. Couldn't go back to France, couldn't even leave the village. So it became home. The people here are my people. Different colours," she said, pointing to her arm, "one heart. They were my family when I had no family."

The expression on her face became sorrowful.

"There was a man here I loved especially. He took care of me and made sure I was safe, for some years. We were so happy, but one day, they took him. They took him from me."

"Narks?" I asked.

"Yes, but who else? They made me empty." She said, pointing at her chest, her heart. "I was sad, for so long. It was hard for me to care of myself. But... it got better, believe me."

A smile slowly returned to her lips.

"One day, I was called by one friend here. They said they found a small boy, whose mama passed away. No one wanted to care for him, so what did I say? I said 'I'll help him'. And after that, I took care of many orphans, you know. Fifteen!" She said.

Suddenly, a piercing pain erupted from my stomach. I clutched it, and almost immediately, Madame had noticed it. A sign of her maternal instincts.

"Are you okay, my dear?" She asked, placing her hand on my back.

"I think... I need to use the bathroom."

"Ah, la toilette? Upstairs, first room on left. Aller!" Go, she said.

I walked up the earthen stairs, thinking about the fact that my decent knowledge of French had finally come into use. I knew a few languages, including my mom's native Portuguese; the Ciudad's two most commonly spoken tongues, English and Spanish; and of course, the language my school forced me to learn: French. This was the first time I used it in real life.

Oddly enough, the upper floor was pitch dark. My reasoning was that since no one was up there, Madame decided to keep the lights off. The staircase was on the left side of the house, so I took a right turn at the the top of the stairs, and using my hands I felt for the first door on the left. I turned the knob and rushed in and switched on the lights, unable to resist the call of nature any longer.

~~~

Finally relieved, I exited the bathroom, right back into the darkness. I continued to the right, where I would turn left to the stairs. I kept my hands in front of me to let myself know when to stop. I felt a wall, but instead of my body stopping, I pushed through it, knocking it down inadvertently.

I realized that this wasn't an actual wall, but one made out of Styrofoam. Something that hid a secret room. Curiosity pushed me to move on further. Feeling around for a light switch, I could see what was inside it better. It really would've been just another bedroom in the village, with the cushions and carpets, but it was who was inside that had me freaked out.

In a corner of the room, a figure sat on a cushion, wearing a grey tunic. Their black, wavy hair fell freely behind them. They wore a white blindfold around their eyes, and it seemed they hadn't noticed me. They barely seemed real, it was like seeing a ghost. I was beginning to think I was seeing things due to my lack of sleep, but a voice from behind me said otherwise.

"You've met her, huh?"

My body shook with fear. A hand patted my shoulder.

"No need to be scared, mon petit,"  my child, Madame addressed me. "It's useless to hide her when you already see her, no?"

She walked ahead of me and sat in front of the girl. She lightly tapped the girl's head, causing her to become alert.

"T'as dormi bien?"  Did you sleep well?

The girl slowly nodded. Madame leaned to one of her ears and whispered something. The girl nodded again.

"She would like to speak with you." Madame said.

"Wh-who is she, though?"

"Come, come. She'll tell you."

Madame left and I sat in her spot.

The girl raised her hands slowly and put them on my cheeks. I shot Madame a confused look, she gave me a reassuring smile that said 'let it be, let it be'.

"You emanate a soothing aura. You're kind." She said with perfect, accent-less English.

How could she tell that just by touching me?

"Th-thank you?" I said, both truthfully and with a feeling that said 'what the hell?' at the same time.

"My name is Asa." She said, cheerfully.

"I'm Gustavo." I said, using the full form of my name.

"Gus, remember how I told you about the orphans?" She told me. "She's the fifteenth. My last one."

So that explained why she was in the Madame's house, but not why her room was blocked off with a fake wall, or why she slept sitting up, or why she wore a blindfold, or why she didn't look like she was Moroccan or anywhere near it, or why her ankle was tied to a bedsheet that was fixed to a curtain rod by the window. Just what was going on? Was she a normal person?

"Gus!" A voice from downstairs yelled. It was one of Asa's adoptive siblings, Driss. He was 25, and didn't live with his mom anymore, but he stopped by a lot at the same time I would, so we'd become acquainted with each other. "Your friends are gone. I'll take you home, it's very late now."

Madame gently pulled me back, causing Asa to let go of me.

"Parti," leave, she said. "You can come back anytime. But you cannot tell anyone about Asa. Not a single person, d'accord?" Alright, she wanted to hear from me.

"Alright. You have my word."