Baruni carried the boy on her shoulders, occasionally turning back to check on Rui. “You all good?” she asked. She stopped to wait for a reply. Instead, Rui bumped into the boy’s head, making him groan. “Great! Now we have lesser time than before.” Still no answer.
“What’s your story?” Baruni asked.“I’m just..a nobody,” Rui said. “My father dumped me in Abi’s care for some reason, and now I’ve disappointed them as well.” “Geez, that’s harsh.” Baruni slowed her pace, trying to match Rui’s. “Abi is the guy who butchered those humans? He doesn’t seem too nice.” “They,” Rui corrected. “They might not be the nicest person, but they did this all for me,” she said. Her eyes began to tear up, but she refused to cry. She slanted her eyelids with her fingers, looking upwards.
Baruni laughed. “It’s okay. We can just chop this kid up if you’re out of blood.” “No!” Rui yelled. “I don’t want to eat humans. They have feelings like I do,” she said. The light in her eyes returned for a brief moment, only to fade in seconds. “I just wish I could live like them, without having to hide for the rest of my life.” “I get that,” Baruni said. She smiled softly at Rui, holding her for a moment. “May the future hold something special for each one of us.”
Rui closed her eyes as if she were sending those words to a god in hope that they would listen. She couldn’t remember much of a life before Abi. Sometimes, she could feel the warmth of her mother’s touch on her cheeks. A kiss that lingered for years, making her yearn for a mother who would never return.
Soon, they came to a hut in the middle of a forest. Baruni lay the boy against the wall, making sure his head didn’t hit its edge. She knocked on the door three times. A woman’s voice asked, “who is it?” Baruni picked Rui up in her arms, turning to the forest. “Nobody you need to know about,” she said.
With one jump, they were high up in the sky. Baruni’s plum coloured hair was flowing with the wind, capturing the stars in between a few locks of her hair. She seemed so perfect to Rui. ‘How easy it must be for you,’ she thought. Her light blonde hair just made her pale skin even lighter, making her look like a ghost. Her eyes were a boring shade of brown, too. In her mind, Rui looked like one of those shady guardian spirits from folklore.
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Baruni cleared her throat. “You’re staring, you know,” she laughed. Her laugh grew louder when she saw Rui blush. “It’s okay, I know I’m gorgeous,” she said, winking. “You are, ” Rui said. The silence returned.
“How are you this strong?” Rui asked, trying to break the awkwardness around them. Baruni jokingly shot her a look, curling her mouth. “Why don’t you have a mouth on your face?” “Touche.”
Baruni landed with great force, but she let her foot take most of the impact. She gently let go of Rui. “You okay?” Rui asked. She nodded. She took a handkerchief from her pocket, bringing it close to Rui’s face. “It’ll be too obvious to them if they find your lack of, er, mouth-less-ness,” she said, laughing. Rui rolled her eyes, but she complied anyway. Baruni was right.
Once they were in the village, they walked into a place that called itself a bar. Rui didn’t know what it meant. When she looked around, men with reddened faces and slurred voices danced around clumsily. She grew worried for them, so she tugged at Baruni’s sleeve to catch her attention. “I think these men have what they call a fever!” she said. Baruni chuckled. “Yep, it’s a fever alright. The Peggy Lee kind.” Rui didn’t understand what Baruni meant, but she guessed it wasn’t as serious as it seemed.
The music stopped abruptly, which made one man yell at the owner. “Megh!” Baruni called out. The man walked up to us in a hurry, knocking over a couple of chairs on the way. “Baaru!” he yelled back as he pulled her into a tight hug. She hugged back. Rui looked to the side. Baruni grinned. She introduced them to each other. “Megh owns an inn nearby. I use our friendship for a discount,” she joked. Megh feigned disappointment, looking to the ground. “She isn’t kidding,” he said to Rui. Rui giggled, finally smiling. Baruni smiled back. Megh cleared his throat, moving past them. “It’s pretty late, so why don’t we leave?” he asked. Baruni nodded, stretching her neck. “I’m dead tired.”
Megh walked ahead, so Baruni slipped a bottle of wine into Rui’s satchel. “Stealing is bad!” Rui whispered to her. She shushed Rui, pulling her hand as she ran after Megh. Rui was out of breath by the first minute, but she continued to run. It seemed like things were turning out good.