The worst part of assisting teachers during August Summer classes wasn’t Mr. Bellamy, the heat or the fact that I didn’t have Harper to share my pain with. No, the worst part was coming home to the ‘blind’ girl messing around my house.
Amrita Rao was easy to excuse at first instance. She was blind, she was from some type of prison and most importantly of all she was supposed to give me answers. However, after a few weeks of living with her I realized that she was also a horrible roommate too. Yeah, she was blind but apparently, she could ‘sense’ the history with her ears, touch, scent and even taste. It was scary how she could do basic tasks and even sense when I entered the room. She picked out clothes in my closet that fit her and even made tea and cooked for herself sometimes. The problem was what happened after the cleaning and the clothes picking.
The kitchen counter was almost always a mess of ingredients, with tea spilled over and a wide variety of sauces and clipped off food littering the oven, the table and even the floor sometimes. What’s worse the clothes she picked up were always my favourites and she usually left clothes on the floor for me to pick up when I came back from school. And when I dared to confront her about it, she’d tell me “April, I’m sorry for being born blind.”
Now I know why Mr. Silver wanted me to find her so badly. It was because she was an asshole just like he was. If Amrita was just any other asshole, I would’ve kicked her out but no, Amrita was necessary for the little friendship bracelet on my wrist and finding out all about this little experiment I’ve been subjected to but unfortunately when I asked her about it all she told me was this.
“You have to do me a favour first?” Amrita said.
And when I asked her what favour all she told me plainly was: “We have to kill the dragon underneath the school.”
And hearing this, hearing those words come out of her mouth was the straw that broke the camel’s back on the amount of crazy shit I could deal with.
On the night she told me about her favour I walked away from her, flicking the finger in front of her face.
“There’s no such thing as dragons!” I yelled out, leaving her sitting on my favourite couch with her legs stretched out on the headrest. She just shrugged and turned up the volume on her phone.
…
That afternoon at school, Wesley, Momoko and I sat by the school field. It was hot, I could feel my clothes sticking on my body. The stone floor below felt like lava and any metal you touched was like plunging your hand into a live flame. Momoko, Wesley and I were as red as pimples ready to be popped and try as we might, the juice and water we were pumping ourselves with barely did anything against the onslaught of heat.
Neither did my anger.
“Every morning, she delays me because she wants to go shower,” I yelled. “And if I want to go out, I have to go through my clothes because god knows where she tossed them around.”
This was almost a daily occurrence. I’d meet up with Momoko and we’d get to talking and eventually the conversation would lead up to Amrita and I had no choice but to rant.
And almost always they asked “Why don’t you just kick her out?”
To which I’d say I need her for something. What that something was I couldn’t say but that was the end of that. I knew they were getting tired of my rants.
“I’m sorry,” I said, every time after I went on one of my tirades. “It’s just that she’s such a massive bitch.”
Sometimes, Harper would join us. Whenever she did, I’d look down in guilt, sometimes Momoko and Wesley joining me. Our conversations were replaced by a heavy silence. Wesley and Momoko would try and break the tension but usually all it amounted to was them hanging out with either me or Harper at different times and different places. I never tried to turn them against Harper, Momoko and Wesley knew I had my secrets but usually they weren’t that concerned about it. I understood why Harper was so mad at me. After all, it was my fault for not being honest with her. However, despite all the heavy silences I still couldn’t bring myself to talk to her or to any of them about my ‘secrets’.
Today Harper decided to join us, sitting on the bench across me, Momoko and Wesley. She greeted them and then proceeded to drink from her one litre bottle of water with crushed ice in the middle. Just glancing at the ice-cold water dripping down the cool blue surface was enough to make me thirsty. I braced myself for an awkward conversation that would bounce between me and Harper without us talking to each other but unfortunately, we were joined by a guest.
“Looks like the whole posse is assembled,” said a familiar Indian accent that made me want to crush my juice container.
Amrita walked over to us; her hair freshly tied up in a silky long ponytail. She was wearing our school uniform with a bright green skirt and sleeveless shirt which was a tiny bit big for her. She smiled at all of us before sitting down right next to me, resting her hand on my shoulder as if we were best friends which shot a surge of adrenaline up by body.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“I school here, duh,” Amrita said. “We’ve lived with each other for weeks now and you don’t know that, shame on you.”
“Well, I wouldn’t have known that,” I said. “Since you don’t attend any class.”
“And you would know I don’t attend any class because I was locked up for 8 months.” Amrita rolled her eyes. “Didn’t we go over this?”
Truth be told, we did go over it. After we rescued Amrita, Harper started to ask her questions and we found out that she and many others were locked up because if they were released, they would cause undesirable variables in Thanatos’s experiments. When Harper asked Amrita which experiment she was locked up, she avoided the question saying it was confidential information. After saying that, Harper got distracted but she looked at me with a knowing smile, letting me know she was an undesirable variable in ‘my’ experiment.
When it was finally decided that she would stay with me, I tried asking her for help but unfortunately Amrita decided to be who she is and not give me answers.
“What will I get from it?” she answered confidently, sitting on my sofa like she owned the place.
That was how we got here now where this bitch was leaching off of us, mouthing off about dragons underneath our school. I don’t know what she was doing at school of all places but if she decided to say something stupid, I was going to kick her out of my apartment tonight. I wasn’t even sure she had the powers Mr. Silver claimed she had.
“What do you want?” Harper asked, crossing her arms. Even Harper could read her bullshit from a mile away. Even though we weren’t talking I was glad we agreed on something.
“Wow straight to the point,” Amrita said, still keeping her confident smile. “Don’t you wish April was more like you and less like Skye?”
How did she know about Skye? My body started to feel cold. Harper still kept up a poker face but even she was a little thrown off by Amrita’s statement, her stony stare flickered for a second.
“You’re skating on thin ice,” I grumbled at Amrita. Amrita just smirked, raising her hands in surrender.
“I know, I know,” Amrita said. “You’re planning on kicking me out tonight.”
I shuffled back a little. “I… how do you…”
“Like your friend Mr. Silver said…” the pause afterwards was almost maniacal, evil. It turned my stomach into jelly, I could feel the blood drain from my face. I turned to Wesley, Momoko’s and Harper’s confused face. They weren’t supposed to know about this. “I can sense history.”
Harper looked like she was about to say something but Amrita raised her hands up to stop her. “I know what you want. What you all want. Including you, Momoko.” Amrita turned to Momoko and gave her a wink which caused her face to turn a deep red.
“And because I can sense history, I know for a fact there’s a dragon under your school,” Amrita said, tapping her feet on the cobblestone beneath us. “And dragons like shiny things, namely gold. I want that gold. And you four are going to help me.” She pointed at all of us. “Otherwise, you don’t get what you want.”
At that moment, I wanted nothing more than to strangle Amrita. The cocky smile on her face and the power she held over us did nothing to help that fact, neither did the heat but the fact that she knew about Skye and her mentioning Mr. Silver proved to me that she wasn’t a quack. She knew what she was talking about and she was my only means of getting answers. I had to help her out. It was going to be a begrudging kind of help but I had to help her out regardless.
I wasn’t so sure about Harper. She seemed to buy what Amrita was saying but there was no way in hell she was going to help me find answers, especially with all the tension in the air between us.
“What about you, Harper?” Amrita asked.
Harper paused, considering her next words carefully, crossing her arms. “I’m not going to entertain April’s B.S, you can count me out.”
“But you can’t just leave her alone, can you?” Amrita asked. “After all you still really do care about her.”
Those words were like a knife straight into Harper’s gut. She immediately lost her composure, standing up. “Fuck off.” She left us alone on the benches. Wesley tried going after her but she ignored him.
Amrita just smirked. “Ah teenagers, am I right April?” she winked at me, I just stared at her with an ice-cold expression. I felt conflicted. On one hand it was good to know Harper still cared about me in her own way. On the other hand, I didn’t want to find out about it like this.
I grabbed Amrita’s arm. “We’re going home.”
Amrita frowned. “Ouch, you can’t do that. It’s…”
“We’re going home otherwise you’re going to be homeless tonight,” I said coolly.
“I mean I can still crash over at my parents,” Amrita shrugged. “But I’ll bite.”
Wesley decided to pipe in. “What about the classes you’re supposed to teach today?”
I frowned. “I don’t care. Tell Mr. Bellamy I’m sick or something. What’s he going to do if I don’t come, expel me?”
I got up, letting go of Amrita’s wrist. “Let’s go, now.”
Amrita looked at Momoko who just reddened. “Isn’t April cute when she’s angry?”
“Amrita,” I said firmly.
“Fine I’m coming, sheesh mum.”
We took the trains back to my apartment where I was going to give Amrita the biggest grilling of her life.
…
The train ride back to my apartment was quiet. Amrita did not say anything. All she did was smirk at me, as if she knew more about me than I did. When we got home, I readied myself to give her a lecture but all she did was raise a hand.
“Hell no, I’m not going to stop,” I started. But Amrita interrupted me.
“I’m not going to take lectures from someone who’s too cowardly to talk to her friends about her problems,” Amrita said.
I wanted to object but I knew she was right. I was being a coward. But I had my…
“Your reasons are flimsy,” Amrita said. “You and Harper went through a Kaiju attack together on a bicycle and you don’t want to talk about how you’re not yourself.” Amrita shrugged. “Come on, April. Get a hold of yourself.”
All the fight had sapped from me as soon as I heard her say that. I had no ammunition, no flame to continue the argument except kicking her out of the apartment and all she said to that was that she was willing to comply.
All I had left in me was to ask a question. “How do you know all that?”
Amrita was sitting on the couch. She grabbed some popcorn I had made a while back for a movie night and stretched out her legs.
“Know what?” Amrita asked.
“Mr. Silver,” I said. “The fact that Harper cares about me and Skye.”
“I told you,” Amrita said. “I can sense history.”
“That isn’t really a good explanation.”
Amrita sighed, getting up. “How do I explain this?” she swung around the popcorn on her finger. “Humans have five senses right. Unfortunately, I was born blind but to make up for that, whatever God’s out there blessed me with this almost psychic ability to sense the past through objects. Sometimes it’s simple, like this popcorn…”
She swung it around. “By touching it I know that you were in the mood to relax so you made this popcorn and decided to watch a movie. A cheesy superhero movie you watch as comfort food. I also know you bought this sofa with furniture allowance from the Orphan Welfare committee. It was cheap so you could snag the rest of the money for rent but you were surprised to find it so comfortable which is why it’s your favourite sofa and…” Amrita got up and touched my arm. “By touching your body, I know I just reminded you why you hate when I sit on it.”
She went back and sat on the sofa. I crossed my arms, clearly upset but she just smiled at me.
“That doesn’t explain how you know about Skye,” I said. “Or the things Harper and I did or Mr. Silver.”
“I have more senses than touch, April,” Amrita said. “I can hear the history behind each word, smell the history behind your choice of perfume, taste the history in the air. That’s how I know about your ‘secrets’, I just can’t see any of it.”
When she said that, she sounded sad. I would be too, if I had such an amazing power. To be able to know the story behind anything you touch. It made me wonder why she didn’t use it for good.
As if answering my question, she got up and held my arm. “Stop being quiet, I don’t like it when people are quiet for too long. You’re wondering why I’m so mean to you.”
She smiled at me. “That’s simple. Knowing history, I know what people need, and a dose of healthy antagonism is what you need.” She paused. “Wait a second, you also want to know something?”
“I’m wondering why you’re staying with me and not your parents,” I said.
She hesitated for a moment.
“Are they abusive?” I asked concerned. “I mean…”
Amrita chuckled. “No, no they’re not. They’re very loving. I just need a little room to breathe.”
She smiled at me. “Get to organising April, we have a dragon to kill.”
She pulled up a mattress and decided to rest. I also decided to call it a night, preparing myself for the dragon research I was going to do tomorrow.
…
Or at least I was supposed to do dragon research but despite the fact that there was a girl who could sense history there was no way you could get me to believe that dragons existed.
“Why do they breathe fire?” I asked Amrita. “There’s no evolutionary purpose to breathing fire.”
“They have sensitive stomachs so they need to cook the meat.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” I said. “This book says they used to catch blue whales.”
Amrita scoffed. “They cooked them afterwards, duh.”
Even as Amrita and I took trips alongside popular dig sites I still had questions.
“How can you be sure these fossils are dragon fossils?” I asked. “The world is a billion years old there’s no way that dragons existed at the same time as humans.”
Even when we saw the weapons on the walls that ‘Ye Olde Knights of Walled City’ used to hunt down dragons all I could think about was…
“Why gold?” I asked. “Why do they horde shiny things? Do they have a functioning economy that was lost to time?”
Amrita just sighed along with my scepticism. When we got back to my apartment Amrita just stared at me blankly.
“You have a question.”
I nodded. “Yes. The journey around the city you took me too was enlightening…”
“Just say you don’t believe in dragons.” Amrita sighed. “You don’t have to be so nice about it.”
“I don’t,” I said. “But if I were to believe in them you said there was a dragon underneath our school, right?”
Amrita nodded.
“And that dragon has been there…”
“For over a hundred years.”
“What the hell was he eating?”
“It’s a she,” Amrita said. “And it ate students.”
“How did it…”
“That underground path you used to avoid the Kaiju attacks,” Amrita said. “It wasn’t complete back then. People got lost and stumbled onto the dragon’s lair.”
“Yeah, I’m going to need some evidence on that.”
Amrita groaned.
…
I was substituting in Mr. Bellamy’s maths class when Amrita barged in wearing a school uniform.
“April, I found some evidence on the dragons,” she said. I left to follow her but Mr. Bellamy called out after me.
“April Anji,” he screeched. “You will not…”
I shut the door on him. As we walked to the library, I asked Amrita about Mr. Bellamy.
“What’s his deal?”
“Divorced,” Amrita said. “Wants to feel a sense of control in his life after it.”
I felt a little down after hearing that. “I kinda feel bad for him.”
“Don’t be,” Amrita said. “Most of it was his fault.”
I nodded, we walked into the library and headed to the newspaper section.
“Where’s Wesley?” Amrita asked. “I thought I asked him to…”
“There he is,” I said, pointing at one of the tables. Wesley sat there expectantly, a pile of newspapers sitting comfortably on his side. He wasn’t in school uniform wearing a black shirt and jeans.
“You got Wesley in on this?” I asked her.
“He’s neutral on the Harper-April civil war,” Amrita said. “Besides he’s really bored cooped up at home. He won’t admit it to you but he enjoys your presence, makes his life exciting.”
We took our places next to Wesley, Amrita looking at Wesley’s neat stack of newspapers.
“Thanks Wesley,” Amrita said.
I waved at Wesley and sat next to Amrita.
“Did you find the newspapers I told you to find?”
“Yes,” Wesley said, shuffling through the papers. “The ones about missing students?”
“Yep,” Amrita said. “See.”
I went through the pile of newspapers. Some were as old as from 100 years ago, when this school was nothing more than a small community teaching centre. Each of the newspapers spoke about people going missing within the school area. Either builders or students. Some of Karl’s comrades also went missing during the riots.
“Why else could they have gone missing?” Amrita said. “If not for a dragon being underground.”
I shrugged. “I mean its underground building. Could be things collapsed on them or…”
“True,” Amrita said. “But that doesn’t explain the fact that most of the incidents are focused in this area specifically.”
I scoffed. “So… what? You’re telling me dragons live for over a century.”
Amrita let out an exasperated sigh. “Yes. The girl who can literally sense history is telling you this.”
“A living dinosaur I can believe but dragons…”
Amrita groaned. Wesley decided to chime in.
“Don’t you think you’re being a little impossible?” Wesley said.
“I just can’t wrap my head around a living breathing dragon,” I said. “There’s no way humans could’ve survived if they were winged predators that could burn people alive existed.”
Amrita sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “You know what, seeing is believing. Me and your friends are going on an expedition.”
“I guess,” I said, though even if there was a dragon it would probably be long dead by now.
“Though we’ll need a team,” Amrita said.
I frowned. “Not again.”
…
At the apartment I talked to Amrita about our team gathering business.
“There’s no way I’ll be able to gather the same team I did to rescue you,” I said. “There’s no way Harper will join us.”
“Leave Harper to me,” Amrita said. “Momoko will join because she has a massive crush on you and Wesley will obviously join because he’s having so much fun hanging around with you guys, he refuses to admit it.”
I frowned. “Can we circle back to Momoko? I mean she liked a boy…”
“Use your imagination, April, ugh,” Amrita said, rolling her eyes. “I don’t know about the other Wesleys though. Hobo is mixed on this but the priest and the one that looks like Jesus would definitely join. The hard working divorced one might join…”
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
There was one thing during my little adventures with Amrita that I had to get used to was the fact that oftentimes she knew things about us that we didn’t know about ourselves. One of the perks of sensing history I suppose. It still made me extremely uncomfortable that she knew more about me than I did her.
As if reading my mind, she smiled at me. “Don’t like feeling exposed like that, huh? Don’t you have a friend who reads minds?”
Again, another fact of my life I never divulged to her. “That’s different. I feel more…”
“Exposed,” Amrita complete, my sentence. She even knew the exact word I wanted to use. “It’s unfortunate but your past tells a more detailed story about you than your present. Thoughts are fleeting, actions aren’t.”
“Great pearl of wisdom,” I said, crossing my arms. “Doesn’t change the fact that I want to know more about you than ‘greedy’ and ‘asshole.”
Amrita chuckled. “You really don’t mince words unless it has something to do with your self-hatred huh?”
She pointed at the sofa. “Sit, I’ll make you some tea.”
“You usually make such a mess,” I said. “I’ll do it instead.”
Amrita gasped, feigning offense. “That’s not something you say to a blind girl April.”
“Whatever, I’ll make it instead.”
I pushed past her into the kitchen and started making tea. I grabbed my kettle and placed the teabag in our cups. All the while Amrita sat on my favourite sofa with a smile on her face.
“You want to know about me,” Armita said. “Fine. I was born on the 17 of February to Rahul and Radha Rao, Indian immigrants to the Walled City. I was born blind but my family loved me. However, I was a very feisty baby, crying way too much when I touched a toy or a piece of clothing. At first my parents thought I was born with some kind of disability. They went to the doctors who ran some tests and found out I was fine. Little did they know that I could sense history ever since I was a child.”
“Why were you crying?” I said, as the kettle started to steam.
Amrita shrugged. “I don’t know. My memory was hazy but the history behind the objects was painful. Your friend Karl would call it labour exploitation.”
I could almost imagine him yelling labour exploitation at the top of his lungs. He was very annoying but moments like these made me miss him.
“We only learned about my powers when I learned how to speak and was able to figure out the story behind a person without even looking at them,” Amrita said. “Like my father eating the mithai without my mother knowing or telling my dad that mum had a special meal planned for an anniversary he forgot or even knowing that my uncle had the intention to divorce one of his many wives. My parents though I was some kind of goddess, it took them a while to realise I was just their baby girl.”
“Sounds awful,” I said. I remembered my times at the orphanages and hearing stories from other kids whose parents didn’t really see them as kids and more like symbolic representations of a life they could’ve had.
“It’s not what you think,” Amrita said. “My parents, they love me. Didn’t stop them from taking advantage of my powers to make them some cash thanks to some superstitious folk but they love me all the same. They respect me and my powers and I respect them. It’s just that when you know your parents as well as I do… you know their entire life story and their struggles and hopes… let’s just say their expectations can make it hard for you to breathe. You need breaks from them from time to time.”
The tea was done, I handed Amrita a cup and sat across her. Amrita beckoned at me to sit next to her. Initially I didn’t want to but she insisted and I caved in.
“You said they took advantage of your powers,” I said, stirring my tea. “Was it bad?”
Amrita shook her head. “Not really. It’s super funny the lengths people would go to have some semblance of security in their future when literally everything there was to know about them was from their past and what they did when they had a choice to change something. We made a lot of money but when I was 13, I had my first panic attack and eventually we stopped doing it.”
“What was the reason?” I asked. “For the panic attack.”
Amrita sighed, she ‘stared’ off into the distance, her sombre face reflected by the TV screen. “Remember when I told you I’m only an asshole to you because that’s what you need…”
“Is it though?” I interrupted. “I could do with someone being just a little nice…”
“Yes, it is,” Amrita said. “Now let me finish. I realised I was only talking to people as someone else, not as me, including my parents. I knew every single fact, the context behind those facts, everything. Whenever someone talks to me, I talk to them as someone who knows all of that. I don’t talk to them as me.”
“I mean,” I said, setting my tea on the coffee table. “You could start by being nice to me…”
“I’m only like this because you don’t listen,” Amrita said. “I think everybody’s an asshole to you because you don’t listen and jump full speed ahead.”
That stung a lot. I decided to ignore it and continue talking to her. “So why do you want to hunt down a dragon?”
Amrita looked at her reflection on the TV, I followed her eyes to the black shadowy reflection on the glass screen, sitting right next to mine. It was almost like our reflections were merging together.
Amrita smiled. “Simple I want money so I can get away. You know how much gold these dragon’s hoard?”
I turned to face her- her glassy eyes meeting mine. “And afterwards, we’ll find out about that little friendship bracelet of yours.”
I nodded. That was enough for me. An answer to whatever the hell was happening was all I needed.
…
The following day after classes Amrita took me down to the school basement.
We had to sneak because students weren’t allowed down there. Only the cleaning and maintenance stuff had access and we had to steal a key from some poor old lady to get down here.
“Disrespecting Mr. Bellamy won’t get me expelled but this sure will,” I whispered sharply to Amrita.
The door was old and decrepit and the door groaned in protest so loudly that I thought it was going to break on its hinges. A cloud of dust burst in our faces as I pushed the door open causing the both of us to erupt in a fit of coughs and standing in front of us were what looked like a precarious staircase leading downwards into a black void.
As we made our descent, the stairs the only source of light was my phone, reflecting moulded walls and chipped staircases. Amrita almost tripped if I hadn’t grabbed her arm.
“Need help?”
Amrita shook her head but her next few steps lacked the confidence they normally had.
As we descended, the smell of dust and rat faeces got more pungent. I could hear them scurrying in the walls. When we got downstairs, I jumped when a piece of dangling wallpaper almost slapped my face.
“This is what the janitorial staff have to deal with?” I asked, as my flashlight darted to half-empty buckets of stale paint and cleaning supplies.
“Nah they long abandoned this place,” Amrita said. “On account of this.”
I followed Amrita’s voice to a giant gaping hole in the wall. My flashlight beam darted to jagged rocks sticking out like teeth into a dark void that seemed to swallow the light. The entrance to this cave was wide, like it was going to eat me whole.
“This is going to lead us to the dragon?” I asked, taking a tentative step, tightly gripping my flashlight. The only thing that greeted me was more darkness.
“Yep,” Amrita said. “This tunnel has been a part of this land for… 600 years give or take. It only opened up recently.”
I sighed. “We’re going to need a bigger team.”
…
As per Amrita’s prediction, Momoko joined without hesitation. I proposed it during our walk to school.
“You sure?” I asked. “I mean according to Amrita we’re going down a musty cave and facing a dragon. You may have to turn into a Kaiju.”
Momoko smiled. “It’s fine. I like going wherever you go.”
I looked at Amrita and she gave me a knowing smirk. She was right about Momoko. I turned back to Momoko who reddened for a second before giving me a hesitant smile.
Another problem to solve. How the hell was I going to let Momoko down gently? Amrita just kept on making things worse and worse.
…
The next group of people were the Wesleys. When we got there it seemed they were all having a barbeque. With Jesus Wesley at the grill and Hobo Wesley actually making himself useful by gasp helping Jesus Wesley with the cooking. Prime Wesley, Old Man Wesley, Priest Wesley, Toddler Wesley and Hustler Wesley all sat together in a circle around a table that had a cake on it. Hustler Wesley was busy making funny faces for Baby Wesley alongside Prime and Old Man Wesley. Priest Wesley just sat there frowning at the bible. What they were celebrating I didn’t know and I only found out from Amrita once I already rang the bell and Old Man Wesley noticed me at the gate.
“Huh, it’s Wesley’s birthday?” Amrita said. “I’m surprised he didn’t tell your little group.”
I glared at Amrita. Knowing her she probably knew this the whole fucking time and now here I was going to ask Wesley to do me yet another favour.
He sent Hobo Wesley to open up the gate.
“Huh, more women to ruin my special day,” Hobo Wesley said.
“Happy… uh birthday,” I said. “I didn’t bring a gift because I didn’t know, until now.” I side-eyed Amrita who just smirked.
“You know I found out she was cheating on me on my birthday…” Hobo Wesley trailed off. I ignored him as we headed to the centre of the table where old man Welsey greeted us with a smile on his face.
“Ho Ho,” he said. “April and Wesley’s new friend. To what do we owe the pleasure?”
“More like displeasure,”
I wished them all a happy birthday. Hobo Wesley much to my surprise (he was just full of surprises today) pulled up with a chair which Amrita and I sat down on.
“Not for anything good,” I said. Before I could finish my sentence Amrita stumbled her steps, fingers on her temple. She looked like she was having a headache.
“What’s wrong?” Old Man Wesley asked. “Wesley told me about your powers. Is it something to do with that?”
Amrita winced, struggling through the pain. “Yes. There are too many unique histories with you and all the Wesleys but since you’re the same person, it’s hard to keep track but they’re all the same too. It’s giving me a headache. I need to get out of here.”
Priest Wesley guided her outside the house, giving her a bottle of water. I waited for Priest Wesley to return with Amrita but when he came back, Amrita wasn’t with him.
“She says it’s too much for her,” Priest Wesley said, as he took a seat. “And that she’s waiting for April to finish up over here.”
Immediately all eyes on the table turned to me and I felt like I was in trouble. With Amrita around I felt confident asking the Wesleys for a favour. Now, not so much.
“Um… well,” I squeaked, trying my best to meet their eyes. “I need a favour.”
Hustler Wesley was the first to speak up. “This is the third time you’ve asked us for a favour and neither of them have ended well for any of us.”
“Hey I really enjoyed the revolution,” Hobo Wesley interrupted.
“Me too,” Jesus Wesley called out from the grill.
“Yeah, you should have some fun,” Old Man Wesley said, stroking his chin. “But you almost always ask Wesley for favours without giving anything in return.”
Prime Wesley spoke up. “I mean I get fun in return.”
Hustler Wesley crossed his arms. “Fun is not even compensation for disrespect.”
Prime Wesley reddened.
“Hmm,” Old Man Wesley turned to me, almost as if he was turning a page in a book. “What is the favour this time?”
“Amrita and I are hunting down a dragon.”
“I’m in,” Old Man Wesley said before I could even finish my sentence.
“So am I,” Toddler Wesley piped in.
Hustler Wesley turned to Toddler Wesley. “No that’s dangerous for you,” he turned to Old Man Wesley. “What happened to maintaining our principles?”
“It’s a fucking dragon, dude,” Old Man Wesley said.
“It’s a fucking dragon, dude,” Toddler Wesley mimicked.
“Don’t say that,” Hustler Wesley hissed at Toddler Wesley. “You can’t be serious. After all our conversations…”
“Yo dragons,” Jesus Wesley called out. “That’s cool. Count me in.”
Hobo Wesley nodded in confirmation.
“I mean I know you guys would join…” Hustler Wesley said. “But I can’t be the only one who realises this April is trampling all over our principles right?” He turned to Hustler Wesley. “You know her better than I do, please tell me you have some sense in you…”
Prime Wesley scratched his head nervously. “I mean I always wanted to see a dragon. It sounds cool…”
Hustler Wesley sighed. “Is there anyone who’s on my side.”
Priest Wesley crossed his arms. “I do. You’re being possessed by that pagan to hunt after a beast that doesn’t exist,” he grumbled.
Hustler Wesley sighed. “Not you too. Guess I’ll join, I don’t want to be stuck with him.”
“I’ll join,” Priest Wesley said, thumping his bible close. “If not to prove to those in my flock that they are easily influenced by the whispers of these Satanic Pagans.”
He got up and stormed off into the house.
“Was he always like this?” I asked Prime Wesley.
Prime Wesley shook his head.
Old Man Wesley smiled. “He’s going through a crisis of fate.” He was almost nostalgic. “I remember when I was like that.”
“What spurned that on?” I asked.
Old Man Wesley shrugged. “He’s a good man who read the Bible. Anyways, we’re all in. Just make sure to keep the young one safe you hear?”
I nodded.
Old Man Wesley turned to me. “Now listen up April, we’re joining you on your little quest this time but next time we won’t. you’ve only ever asked us for favours and your previous decision had hurt Wesley in various ways. It’s better if you just leave us alone after this.”
I looked at Wesley who reddened, looking away from me.
“I understand,” I said. And I did. I was being a bit of a screwup, screwing up my relationships and making bad decisions. But on the plus side I wouldn’t have to worry about all of this once the mystery was solved. I could go home and forget all this ever happened. I got up. “Enjoy your birthday party.” I smiled at Prime Wesley. “Happy birthday.”
I headed outside the house where Amrita was waiting for me. I didn’t have to even tell her they were in, all she had to do was touch my arm.
“Great,” she frowned. “They’re all coming.”
“Doesn’t seem like a bad idea,” I said. “Why don’t you look enthusiastic?”
Amrita scoffed. “Did you not see the giant headache I just got?”
“I thought it was just you being dramatic so I deal with everything.”
Amrita frowned. “There was an element of that but honestly these Wesleys are complicated. They’re from the future and I can’t see the future only the past and these futures effect the present so there’s a lot of sensory input. It’s a bit of a mess, kinda like you.”
“Ha,” I said. “Very funny.”
“If people from the future effect you like this, how come I don’t affect you?” I asked.
“Because it’s not you anymore,” Amrita said. “You’ve changed. A lot. It’s someone else occupying this body.”
That made me pause. A feeling of great sadness washed over my body. “What happened to me? The old me who was supposed to be in this body?”
For once there seemed to be concern in Amrita’s glassy eyes. “I… I don’t know. I can only deal with the facts, the material. I can’t understand something so metaphysical.”
I spaced out after that. So many thoughts raced through my head. Thoughts I could barely grasp. Thoughts so loud they drowned out the world around me. It was only when Amrita flicked her fingers in front of me that I came back to the present.
“Hello, I didn’t hear your annoying voice, it’s scaring me.”
“Sorry,” I mumbled. “Hey you know the history of people, right? Do you know what the hell is wrong with me? Why whenever I think about the fact that my eighteen-year-old self isn’t in me that I get like this?”
Amrita pondered, tapping her chin. “Very advanced imposter syndrome. You really really don’t like yourself but hanging out with Harper and Momoko makes you happy so you feel like you’re betraying them since it’s not you in your body but somebody else. Simply put you hate the fact that they like you and not you from 6 years ago.”
I chuckled. “When you put it like that.”
We got to the train. I helped Armita on board and sat next to her.
“How do I deal with this?” I asked her. “This hating myself business. It fucking sucks.”
Amrita just turned her head to the window. I wished I knew what those glassy eyes I saw in that reflection were thinking.
“I don’t know April,” she said. For once I heard some genuineness in her voice, the sarcastic tone and irony were gone. “I can only see the past. I never know what to do about the future.”
The train chugged along, the train platformed blurred into the same copy-paste train tunnels. Amrita’s reflection on the window disappeared.
Amrita turned to me, holding my hand. She smiled at me weakly. “For once, you and I are in the same boat.”
…
We sat in silence the whole train ride home, barely talking when we got in the apartment. Amrita’s expression seemed to soften, the next few days she wasn’t as harsh at me as she was before. However, whenever I tried to approach her about what we talked about on the train her mouth clamped shut and she brushed it off which was very annoying. Now I knew how Harper must’ve felt when I kept clamping up on her.
And speaking about Harper.
“Yeah,” I said as we walked to school. “I don’t think Harper is going to join us on this little expedition, caring about me damned.”
It was the last week of Summer Vacation and Amrita and I planned to carry out this expedition on the last Friday of Summer Vacation, my teaching duties be damned.
Amrita just brushed my concerns off. “You underestimate how much she cares about you.”
“She doesn’t care about my search for answers,” I said.
All Amrita said was a vague “You’ll see” and left it at that.
I sighed. The days went by as usual, me teaching in Mr. Bellamy’s class, Momoko, Wesley and I eating lunch together with the occasional visit from Harper and maybe even Armita. Harper didn’t say anything. We just sat in silence. Then the promised day came, the Wesleys each took a break from their jobs (or unemployment) as we snuck into the school grounds after summer classes were over. Momoko joined us a bit later than the promised time but we were all there. All of us except Harper.
Amrita waited for her. The noise and smell were making Momoko uncomfortable and Toddler Wesley looked like he was about to cry.
“She’s not coming,” I said. “Can we just go?”
Amrita just smiled at me. “Wait for it.”
And we did. 10 minutes had passed, scales started forming on Momoko’s face and Hustler and Prime Wesley were trying their best to keep Toddler Wesley relaxed but he and I both saw that spider in the corner of the room.
“Can we just go?”
Amrita looked as if she were straining herself, holding her head up and frowning as if trying to hear a sound. And when she heard it, she finally smiled.
At that moment we heard the stairs creak. Toddler Wesley lost it, he started bawling. Momoko grabbed my arm. She didn’t have to. At that moment Harper descended down the stairs, dressed up in climbing equipment with a massive bag on her back. She held a huge flashlight in one hand and a coil of rope on the other.
Amrita turned to me with a grin that said ‘See I told you so’. I also couldn’t help myself from smiling. I was so glad Harper was here. A sentiment she didn’t share as she ignored me and went straight to Toddler Wesley to calm him down. Momoko still hadn’t let go of me.
“You, okay?” I asked her.
Momoko looked as if she was in a trance. I gently pushed her away, breaking her out of it.
“Oh, I am so sorry,” Momoko squeaked, pulling away from me though I could feel the shy glances she cast my way.
Amrita pats my back. “Don’t underestimate me.”
Harper turned to us. “Don’t get ahead of yourself, I’m just here because I know you wouldn’t be able to handle these clowns.”
She shrugged her body to indicate the Wesleys.
“It’s bad manners to lie,” Amrita said.
Harper lost some of her composure. “Besides none of you brought any equipment besides a freaking flashlight. Aren’t we dealing with a dragon for crying out loud?”
She turned around, facing the cave. “In my bag are a bunch of flares and flashlights in case we get lost. I’ll hand them out and we go in.”
She did that, giving us all green helmets and flares and handing all of us some heavy flashlights. She even got a helmet that fit toddler Wesley. The lights darted through the jagged caves. Amrita was the first person to take a step forward.
“Ready to get me some gold, my cretins,” she said with a grin. Nobody laughed. They just wanted to see the dragon. All of us went in, into the cave, into the heart of darkness.
…
Our flashlights darted through the craggy cave. Pieces of rock jutted out of the ground. The cave alternated between suffocating narrow tunnels and wide spacious areas. People were getting cranky being stuck together in an unreliable cave with so many people, the worst case of this being Amrita.
She started to trip a lot and fall. A lot of her confidence was gone, replaced with a clumsiness felt like it didn’t fit. I felt bad for her. Whenever someone tried to offer her some help, she’d just brush them off, barely hiding her irritation. Not to mention the headaches she got because of the time anomalies that were the Wesleys, so much so that she stood back from the lot of them, pushing all of us away as she tripped, fell and got hurt, slowing down everybody’s pace. It got so bad that Harper had to stay back whilst everyone else moved ahead making Amrita feel even worse and more bitter. Yet despite all our effort, the girl was stubbornly dedicated to pushing on ahead without anyone’s assistance. Luckily for her, there was someone else who was even more stubborn.
As we ventured into the cave I decided to stay behind, shoving my arms underneath Amrita’s and locking them.
“Let go of me you stupid…”
“No,” I said. “You’re being stubborn and I won’t let you. That’s my job.”
“I don’t need your pity,” Amrita growled, trying to pull away. “I can handle myself just fine…”
I noticed a bruise on Amrita’s arm through the light of my helmet and pinched it. Amrita screeched in pain, pulling away.
“I can handle myself,” I said in a mocking voice. “I know you can when we’re on streets and walkways. Here in this dingy ass cave, not so much.”
Amrita sighed. “Fine.” She held out her arm, I held it.
“For a girl who knows the history of every person in this room you sure don’t know how to play along do you?” Amrita sighed. We walked together slowly through the cave, Harper staying a few steps ahead of us, to make sure we didn’t get lost or at least that was what Harper would say.
“You were right,” I whispered. “She really cares about us.”
“She cares about you,” Amrita said out loud, causing Harper to stir a little. “Me, not so much. But seeing as this is my idea she has to play along.”
We walked along in silence.
“Just ask your damn question,” Amrita said, interrupting the silence. “I can feel it in your arms.”
“How come you’re having so much trouble with this cave?” I asked. “I mean you know my apartment like the back of your hand.”
“That’s funny because I don’t know the back of my hand,” Amrita said. “But that’s because your apartment house was built for a reason, also where you put all your things. It all has a reason. This cave, not so much. I can tell you what happened to that fossil we just passed but not the reason the rocks are so easy to trip over. This cave just is.”
I didn’t even know we passed a fossil. That was…
“Amazing, I know,” Amrita said. She had a smile that looked cocky but her glassy eyes betrayed the warmth behind it. She liked the compliment.
“Your power,” I said. “It’s amazing. You could easily be a good therapist or hell even a historian, yet here you are looking for gold.”
Amrita just shrugged. “Eh what are you going to do?”
Harper paused. “There’s a fork just ahead, which way should we…”
“Right,” Amrita said. “Left just leads to a dead end.”
Harper went right and we followed her.
“There’s just one thing I don’t understand,” I said. “You said you can’t read the future yet you knew Harper would join us, how did you know that?”
“People are predictable,” Amrita said. “No matter what everybody says about themselves, people will always be predictable, especially if you have history in your fingertips.”
She twirled the fingers on her left hand jokingly. The narrow passageway we found ourselves in cleared pout into a wide-open space, in the distance I could see a feint glimmer of light that wasn’t any of our flashlights. The Wesleys had decided to rest up and so did Momoko.
“We’re almost there,” Amrita said.
“We’ll go ahead,” I said. “I want to prove you guys all wrong.”
Harper was giving Toddler Wesley some water. She looked like she wanted to say something to me but stopped herself. When we were far away from their field of view, Amrita whispered in my ear.
“She wanted to say be careful…”
The feint light glowed brighter. From the darkness of the cave, I could almost make out large mountains of what looked like yellow rocks. I had to squint to see that it was a large pile of gold.
“We’re almost there,” I said. “But I don’t see any dragon.”
Amrita paused. She let go of my arm. I turned to see her looking down sheepishly, a look that didn’t suit her.
“What’s wrong?” I asked. “We’re almost there.”
“April,” Amrita said. “People are predictable. They’re so very predictable that with just a touch I can see a walking disaster…”
I scoffed. “Come on Amrita, now’s not the time to be an…”
“Whatever you do, don’t lose them,” Amrita said. “Don’t lose the friends you’ve made. They really give a shit about you and…”
I frowned. Where was this coming from? “I know, but the bracelet comes first so can we just…”
“April,” Amrita said firmly.
“I know,” I said. “Once I get all my answers, I’ll be sure to apologise so can we just get a move on please. I want to prove you wrong.”
I held out my arm. Amrita looked as if she wanted to say something more but she gave up. The confident smirk returned and she took charge, holding my and leading me to the cave of gold.
“Fine,” Amrita said. “Let me prove to you once and for all that dragons do exist.”
And off we went, into the cavern full of gold with Amrita taking charge.
…
If there was a way to legally convert even a handful of gold into tangible currency, I’d no longer need orphan welfare. Within the massive cavern, mountains, literal Scrooge McDuck mountains of gold coins as far as the eye could see, that reached up to the cave ceiling. Within the mountains of gold there were little trinkets from a day long past, swords, goblets and jewels. I didn’t care about that and I don’t think everybody else did either. As soon as the group saw what the mountains of gold, they rushed towards it. Hustler Wesley, Hobo Wesley and even Jesus Wesley (the latter making me feel betrayed) all started counting the gold. Harper tried to keep a stoic face but who could when dealing with actual mountains of gold? Wesley seemed like he was looking for permission to dive right in, looking around with tentative eyes. The only people who stayed behind were Momoko, Priest Wesley, Toddler Wesley and much to my surprise, Amrita.
Priest Wesley scoffed. “Miserly folk.”
That was odd. So odd in fact that I almost forgot my desire to jump into a mountain of gold and swim into it. I turned to face her.
“Isn’t this what you wanted?” I asked her.
Amrita shook her head. I shrugged. I ignored how odd it felt, after all, it was time to swim in gold, baby!
I jumped into the piles of gold, running my hands through the shifting mountain of it. I decided to climb the unsteady surface, up a rocky mountain of gold all the way to the top. I stumbled on some old swords and what looked like a treasure chest but eventually I made it to the top.
All I could see were piles and piles of golds, stretching out as far as I could see like great mountains in the distance. I had no idea how big this cavern was but the gold lit it all up. I wondered which ancient civilization could even collect this much gold. It had to be worth more than even a trillion. I called out to Amrita from atop my high perch.
“See, Amrita!” I yelled. “All that gold but no dragons!”
It was a little odd that the cavern was hot. When I grabbed a piece of gold it was like grabbing a hot potato. I didn’t know if it was the heat or a trick of my eyes but I saw the piles of gold shifting.
I squinted. “Did it just move?”
I focused and sure enough, I saw gold twist and turn like a calm riverbed. Almost as if it were moving.
I slid down the pile of gold. “Amrita, what’s going on?”
Amrita just smirked. “Here he comes.”
The ground rumbled beneath us and the mounds of gold started to shift and turn like a typhoon swallowing itself whole. The rest of the group started to flee, except for Momoko who stood glued to the spot as scales started to wrap around her body like armour. Pretty soon the gold started to cascade like a waterfall as a serpent-like creature rose from the depths, coins and trinkets and jewellery spilling from it’s lithe and slender green body.
I couldn’t even mouth words, I was just in shock. All I could do was turn to Amrita and see a look of glee on her face that made her look like a child who got away with something bad.
I couldn’t even hear her say ‘I told you so’ over the chorus of gold coins raining down from the dragon’s massive 13 metre body.
As it rose from it’s seal of gold it let out a roar of fire that squeezed the air around me, making my heart feel like it was in my throat. Gold fell down it’s scaled, serpentine back as its blood red snake eyes glared right at us. And then it spread its massive wings and flew, each flap of its wings feeling like a gale.
I couldn’t even react as it started raining down a volley of fire upon us. Momoko pushed me aside, turning into a massive Kaiju and punching the dragon into a mound of gold causing it collapse. Amrita grabbed my arm, rushing through the cave with a massive grin on her face, laughing like a child as she followed the sound of Harper’s voice.
…
We ran into the tunnels, out of breath and in my case absolutely shocked. Harper had led us to the tunnels and within the chaos we all separated into different tunnels. It was just me and Amrita who using the wind lead us through the tunnels. Harper had also left behind some red flares which let me guide our way through when Amrita faltered.
Speaking of Amrita, she could not shut up. Speaking an excited mix of Hindi and English she talked about the dragon.
“Did you hear it roar?” she exclaimed. “And the sound of its wings. I could feel the heat even though he was fighting Momoko.”
Despite all her excitement I couldn’t help but ask “What about the gold? Didn’t you want to live independently, without your parents?”
Amrita just brushed the question aside. “Did you know everybody who saw him had a different name for him? Smaug, Leviathan, Bahamut, your communist friends probably called him Capitalism.”
And hearing Amrita talk about it I realised I was seeing she didn’t really care about the money. She cared about the history. Amrita may have not had any idea who she was, but I could see her clearly. A girl who loved history, who loved people, who loved stories.
And then I felt the all-familiar tingle. I looked down and saw a bright orange friendship bead in the shape of a book.
“Tell me how he looked,” Amrita said with a smile, holding my arm. “Oh my gosh tell me tell me.”
“Well, he was big,” I said.
“Duh.”
Her passion was so infectious I couldn’t help myself from smiling. “He was this big and green. His wings were massive and Momoko turned into a Kaiju to beat the shit out of him.”
We heard the roars of the beast’s echo through the tunnel and the loud cascade of gold and heavy blows being inflicted on each other.
“You think we can go see them?” Amrita asked.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
Amrita looked disappointed. “Oh well you’d probably be burned to a crisp.”
Amrita’s grin was a permanent fixture on her face until she realised…
“Oh yeah,” she mumbled. “I have to hold up my end of the bargain.”
She stood in front of me. “I need to tell you where the bracelet comes from.”
I held out my left hand. Amrita touched my wrist and held my bracelet.
“Don’t forget you also have to leave my apartment,” I said.
“Oh, come on, didn’t my charm grow on you?”
“I sure do love having my life choices insulted,” I said, rolling my eyes.
She touched my bracelet and immediately after, the grin on her face was wiped clean.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, feeling nervous.
“The bracelet,” she said. “It’s all from Thanatos. It was made out of your essence and the essence of Mr. Silver but the beads…”
Amrita grabbed my arm. Her voice was shaking. “We have to get out of here. Fast.”
“Why?” I said, glancing around only to see rocks and crags and darkness. Anxiety started to crawl through my stomach. “What’s wrong?”
“Somebody captures our essences,” Amrita said. “Into those beads. That someone is with us right now.”
My body stiffened. I could feel the cold shiver of fear spread through my body.
“She’s always been there,” Amrita said. “Always been following us. Since the start of the experiment. She…”
Before Amrita could even finish her sentence, she disappeared. In her place was an orange friendship bead.
“That’s enough…”
I turned to see a girl with short blonde hair in a Thanatos military outfit.
Before I could even react, I felt the world shrink around me until all I could see was a boot the size of a mountain through a yellow haze. I tried screaming, tried yelling anything but nothing came out.
The blonde girl picked me up, her blue eyes a galaxy with a black hole in the centre.
“You found out a little too much this time April Anji,” she said with a disappointed sigh. “Time for a reset.”
I tried shouting, screaming out for Harper, for Amrita, for anyone but nothing came. It was like I was trapped in a vacuum with only my fear to keep me company.
To be continued…