Morning rays of sunlight floated into Elijah’s eyes, as his eyelids fluttered open. His eyes shut almost immediately after, refusing to get blinded by the sun’s bright glory. He felt warm. Nice. He faced to his side and heard someone rustling… something. His senses began to wake. First the stench of the damp wood. “Damn,” Elijah muttered under his breath, still in a state of wake and sleep. “I don’t remember our home smelling this damp.” And now his taste returned to him. The taste of dust and dampness. But he didn’t particularly care. His head was lying on something soft. Something other than the usual carpet. Someone was rustling the hair on the crown of his head. And it reminded him of his mother’s touch; sweet, loving, and warm. Finally, he half-opened his right eye.
He almost jumped when he saw Agatha staring right down into his face. Elijah had half-expectantly guessed that it was his mother caressing his hair and not his sister. But he was laying on Agatha’s lap, and she was patting his head, playing with his hair. She seemed shy, unable to meet his eyesight. “I’m sorry Elijah. I’m sorry for last night.”
“I’m sorry too…” Elijah whispered with a certain trepidation. “For bringing up the past. For being curious.”
Agatha smiled warmly, a delicate dance of joy. The room began shaking suddenly, and a crepitating energy filled the room. Abruptly, sunflowers burst out of the wooden floor, each one appearing with a pop. “Wha-what?!” Elijah yelped scared.
Agatha's gentle touch soothed Elijah as she ran her fingers through his hair. “Shush shush. Aren’t they beautiful?”
Elijah, bewildered, shifted out of Agatha’s lap, his eyes wide with apprehension. “Ma-magic? It’s exactly like that time. That time when Raphael appeared. The-the air was vibrating, and then there was a popping sound. Li-like a balloon.”
Agatha slowly rose from her seated position and levelled with Elijah. Without warning, she slapped Elijah across his face, the sound of the connection echoed for ages as they stood there. It was as if the echo would continue forever. That was until Agatha spoke. “Magic. Magic. Magic. That was the one word you weren’t allowed to say.” Her behaviour seemed erratic, almost like a madman. She rolled up the cuffs of her pants and then her sleeves. “Look. Look. Look where your magic has got me. FACTORIES!” she scoffed as she took a break to cough as Elijah watched frightened. His jaw dropped at the sight of Agatha’s arms and legs. They were covered in a shade of black and blue. Bruises and cuts covered them for every inch. She glanced up at Elijah, her eyes now red, bloodshot. “FACTORIES! That’s where they took me. And look at what factories DID TO ME!” She grabbed Elijah’s head with one gnarly hand and forcibly pulled his head closer to her battered arm. “IS THIS WHAT YOU WANTED?” she screeched. “IS IT? IS IT? WELL THEN TAKE IT.”
Elijah’s pupils dilated in fear, and he took a step back only to trip on a sunflower. The entire situation made his instincts scream danger, and his body was wrapped in a cold shiver. He scrambled to his feet as Agatha approached him, inching closer and closer until she was upon him. “YOU DIDN’T APPRECIATE THE FOOD I MADE ELIJAH,” she howled. She began to scrape herself with her nails. Her nails were long now. Sharp too. Really sharp. Really sharp. Almost like they could cut something. As Elijah looked up now, he realised that she was indeed cutting herself. Cutting her face, cutting her arms, and her neck. However not a single drop of blood dropped out of her body. Every cut revealed an empty abyssal black gash, as if she were devoid of substance. Elijah’s face felt wet suddenly. And slimy. And then something hit his face. It was also… wet and slimy. It covered his entire face including his eyes and nose. Elijah dabbed at his eyes and nose quickly, trying to remove the strange substance. And that’s when he saw what was dripping on his face. It was Agatha. She was melting.
“ARGH-!!!”
"A guttural scream tore from Elijah's throat as he scrambled to his feet, trying to run away from her and away from this room of sunflowers.
CRASH
Elijah’s was suddenly standing on nothing. The floor under him shattered, giving away to the mystery of the whole situation. “WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON. WHAT THE HELL. WHAT THE HELL. WHAT THE HELL. I DON’T LIKE THIS.” His voice trembled with fear, and he frantically waved his arms and legs attempting to catch something, anything at all. “GODDAMN THIS. GODDAMN EVERYTHING. I HATE EVERYTHING. WHY THE HELL IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME. SOMEONE. SOMEONE SAVE ME. PLEASE!”
And suddenly he was caught by someone, their arms cushioning Elijah’s fall. The person cradled them in their arms. It was dark all around. Everything was invisible around them, except for the person cradling Elijah in their arms. “Father… is that you?” Elijah said as he glanced at the man holding him. It was strange. Everything was unseeable. Too dark to be seen. And yet this man - his father, was perfectly visible. Perfect honey-gold hair tied in a high and neat bun. A seemingly young face if not for the smile lines and the occasional wrinkles. Kind blue eyes almost as deep as the ocean. A trimmed stubble of hair covered his chin. And his moustache was ever so perfect. He seemed like he took care of himself often.
“How are you, Elijah?”
Perhaps from the built-up stress from the previous supernatural encounters, Elijah began to laugh. It was a little giggle at first, but it grew louder, more sinister until it was a cackle. “GODDAMN IT DAD!” his voice was high-strung, and he gasped as soon as he spoke. Elijah found himself panting and his chest was bursting with pain. “You left us dad. You did this to us. How can you come back after all these years and just ask how am I? Goddamn it. Nothing makes sense. NOTHING. Like where the hell even are we?” he frantically pointed around him. “Why is it so dark? How can I see you? What happened to Agatha? Where’s mom? Wait mom died. Because of you. Because she missed you so much. You know she cried every single day after you left? She cried every single day. EVERYDAY FOR 2 YEARS. And then she eventually…” he glared at his father and jumped out of his arms.
“Are you done talking now, Elijah?” Elijah stumbled backwards in shock. His father’s face was cold. Montone even. Not a single expression of happiness, sadness or anger marked his face. His brows were not raised nor declined… they were just there. And his former kind eyes now bore a sharper glare. “I did not raise you to be a pissant. You’re curious right? Just like me? Then just leave. Leave Agatha like I left you and your mother.”
“How could you say that? Mom died because of you. Because you left.”
“Really? How sure are you of that? How do you know that your mother died because I left? Maybe she was tired of caring for you.”
“That’s ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. She wasn’t like that. Even though she cried, she took care of us and loved us. Way more than I can say for you.”
Elijah’s father’s stiff lips broke into a devious smile suddenly. “Is that true Elijah?” Unexpectedly, he lunged at his son’s head and grabbed his neck, pulling him closer to him.
“YOU’RE JUST LIKE ME. DON’T DENY IT. YOU’RE JUST AS CURIOUS. AND IF IT WASN’T FOR ME LEAVING AND YOUR MOTHER DYING, YOU WOULD LEAVE JUST AS EASILY. You would follow my footsteps. You would do the same as Raphael.” Elijah froze upon hearing the name of the boy that he was looking for. “H-how do you know about Raphael, dad?”
His father grinned wider than before, almost menacingly. “Doesn’t it make sense? After all, this is a dream. And that’s why none of this makes sense.”
He pointed at Elijah with his index finger like a skewer. “Don’t you want to wake up Elijah? From this horrible mess?”
“Yeah. I can’t stand your face. Get me out of here.”
“Me? Get you out of here? Out of your own dream? I understand that I changed your diapers as a kid, but this ain’t my dream is it? Only you can break it.”
Eljah felt hot rage boiling in his blood again. “THEN GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE! I DON’T WANT TO SEE YOU ANYMORE. JUST GET OUT. MOVE. GET OUT OF MY GODDAMN FACE-”
The rest of his words were drowned out by the sudden cackling of his father. The sound engulfed the room. But Elijah didn’t stop screaming. He continued his shrieking hectically.
“I SUPPOSE SINCE YOU ASKED ME SO NICELY, I CAN ONLY HELP YOU, MY SON,” his father yelled whilst laughing hysterically. “THIS IS GOING TO HURT.”
Without warning, a blinding white flash procured from the fingertip of his index finger and fired towards Elijah. The hot flash hit Elijah right in the chest, inches above the palpitations of his heart and melted right through his skin. Finally, Elijah’s eyelids burst open. A dark patch of hot wetness had appeared on his blanket before him. Feeling his own face, he realised that it was a collection of his sweat. He had woken up breathing and huffing deeply. Eyes wide, they darted around the room, searching for anything which might prove that he was still in a dream. Elijah blinked quickly and pinched his arm. Pain. He lifted up his t-shirt to locate the holy that his father had seared into his chest. Thankfully, it didn’t exist. He patted his chest down. Although there was no mark, the pain felt real, and even now there was a tingling sensation around the area.
His heightened senses finally relaxed slowly, and he breathed a sigh of relief. The room was dark, the crescent moon barely peeked in through the top of the window. It was a starry night. He wiped his face with the blanket as he rose from his resting place. “That definitely needs to be washed.”
“I need to do something… anything. I can’t stay here after this hell of a nightmare,” he mumbled as he paced the room. Usually, he would consult with Agatha after nightmare. But the argument yesterday had left an ill taste in his mouth, and he would rather go elsewhere.
“Where can I go? A trusted adult? Agatha is off the list. She probably hates my guts by now,” he whispered, frowning sadly. “A teacher? Dr. Ranielle’s been abducted by Raphael. A friend? Kayam. I can go to Kayam.”
He rushed towards his cabinet and pulled out a long coat. It was his father’s coat and for Elijah, it almost looked like a trench coat. After the nightmare, it felt distasteful to wear it, but the cold left him no chance. He grabbed the watch off the table and rushed out, although being careful not to make noise which would wake up Agatha. He stole a glance into her room as he walked by. She was safe and asleep. He did not spend much time dwelling on the contents of his nightmare not their argument yesterday and continued on his way. A gust of tundra-cold wind hit his face as he shut the front door behind him, and he shivered in response. He started his path as he buttoned up the coat completely.
The route to Kayam’s home was complicated and it was even more so in the dark. Luckily for Elijah, he had traversed the same journey hundreds of times. Unlike his usual exit where he would follow the river out of the enclose of trees, He had to walk through the forest itself where a clear worn-down path lay, until he reached a second river. After crossing the river, he had to travel north along pine trees. And then eventually he would reach what looked like a massive farm. However, it was only one of hundreds of farms.
All of these farms were owned by the King of the kingdom that Mienn was situated in. King Ja Senyah of the kingdom of Bordenheim. He had dedicated Mienn to agriculture. All types of resources were poured into these farms, and the farmers requests were like gold. Funnily enough, Elijah thought to himself. Not a single bit of that food is poured back into our country. Mienn was strewn over by blemishes like homelessness, poverty, and death. And yet the king had not done a single thing to provide a solution. All he had done was throw the title of baron on to the poor farmers, as he reaped their hard work.
He passed by vast farms, hearing sounds of animals as he walked by. The farms were divided according to what they grew or took care of. Each collection of farms was called a farm pod. And this farm pod was named Freita’s Farm. The large animals’ farms were at the front. Herds of cattle and bulls became the front face of the farm. The further you moved back, smaller animals would appear, like goats, then chicken. And then there were the crop farms. The delectable fruit and richer vegetables were at the front. These were not to be touched by commoners as they were delicacies to be enjoyed by nobles only. Savory fruits like apples and watermelons started the crops. And finally at the end, there were the smallest farms of the groups. Rice farms. Green farms filled with spinach and coriander. Kayam lived in one of these farms. Elijah headed to the small red cabin placed at the corner of the rice enclosure and knocked lightly on the door.
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“Kayam,” he whispered. “It’s me, Elijah. Can you come out?” He patiently waited for an answer, giving Kayam time. But Kayam didn’t respond. Not even a single shuffle was heard from inside the house. Elijah glanced at his watch. It was late. Or perhaps it was better to call it early. About 5 a.m. The sun had just appeared, kissing the horizon and spraying the sky in an orange hue. “Maybe I’ve come too late. I’ll just wait over here. I can’t sleep again.”
The structure of every farm at Forrest’s Farms was simple. An enclose with their crops or animals, a barn, and their house. Elijah sat down on the little front porch steps and placed his head in hands. He massaged himself between his eyes, as he tried to process the occurrences of the day before. Too much has happened, and he had too little time to figure anything out. A sudden wave of tiredness washed over him. He struggled to keep his droopy eyes open, but he pried them open with his fingers. The dread of nightmare was stronger than his need of sleep, and he intended to keep it that way for as long as possible. Where was Kayam? Was Agatha still alright? Where was his father? His mind plummeted into a spiral of thoughts, and it made him feel crazy.
He jumped suddenly as someone touched his shoulder. He swirled his body around faced the perpetrator of the provocation. “Elijah? Ain’t it a surprise to see you here!” It was Kayam. Elijah felt all the pressure built up inside of him from the past day dissipate as if he was a balloon. He threw himself on to Kayam, hugging him tightly. “I haven’t seen you in god knows how long. How have you been Kayam?” Kayam pulled his friend off of him and held him by the shoulders. “Alright, alright, alright. What you been up to? Aren’t you at one of them things. Adacemy? How come you’re here?”
Kayam was slightly shorter than Elijah. He had a shock of ruffled ginger hair on his head, and there was a cloud of freckles under his eyes going over his nose. He stared at Elijah with his lizard green eyes. His face and hands were dripping with water.
“First of all, it’s called an academy. Second of all, why on earth are you wet?”
“Academy, dacademy, same old, same old,” he rolled his eyes as he spoke. “Hold on a moment. Did you turn into a rooster or something? Coz’ last time I checked you sleep like a baby till school starts. I’m wet coz’ I washed myself. Pops is out there working through the water supply in the barn. Now why don’t you tell me why you’re standing here this early in the day.”
“Kayam,” Elijah said in anticipation. “I think something weird is going on with me. And I can’t tell anyone. I can’t tell Agatha; I can’t tell my teacher. Something is very wrong, and I need your help.”
“Well, why can’t you tell your sis’? You’re the closest pod of peas I’ve seen in my life.”
“It’s peas in a pod, dumbass. We had an argument. But Kayam, I wasn’t wrong,” his eyes pleaded for understanding. “I didn’t mean no harm.”
“Woah. An armugent? Between you and Agatha? On your birthday?”
“First of all stop purposefully making mistakes,” the edges of his lips raised slightly into barely recognisable grin. “But yeah. We had an argument, there was a man with a tall hat, and Raphael, some loud screaming, magic, a voice, Dr. Ranielle, oh he’s my teacher by the way, got kidnapped and my sister got mad at me because I brought up my dad.”
“Too much, too much, too much stuff. Tell me that again. Slower now. You can’t keep yappin’ and expect me to hear everythin’.”
Kayam stepped forward and caught Elijah in his arms. “Woah, alright. This looks like trouble. What’s wrong?” He placed his hand on Elijah’s forehead and winced in pain, removing his hand quickly. “Burning? Why’s your forehead burning? What did you do this time?”
“I’ll call pops to check on you. Just wait here.”
Elijah grabbed his arm to stop him. His face, pale and sweaty looked feverish. A darkness had encroached the whiteness of his face just under his eyelids. “No. Don’t go telling Mr. Hart. He’ll tell my sister, and then she’ll go on a rant about just how stupid I am for being curious.”
“Alright Elijah. I can be as secretive as you want. But I can’t leave you be like this. I mean… Look at you! Gimme a sec a’right?”
“No. No. Listen to me. Just let me tell you everything that happened and then you do whatever you want.”
“Ya look horrible Elijah. But alright I’ll listen.”
He carried Elijah inside his cabin and laid him to rest on his bed.
“It all happened yesterday. I went for my first day of school and we had this teacher. His name was Dr. Ranielle…” Kayam listened with earnest attention. His brows furrowed deeper as Elijah spilled the contents of his hectic day. His emerald, green eyes were fixated on his friend. He didn’t interrupt a single time, although his face often was painted with a questioning look. Kayam waited patiently through Elijah’s heavy breathing as he unwrapped his story. He had to pause a few moments to tend to Elijah’s growing fever, softly wrapping his forehead with a wet towel.
“…And that’s why I’m here, -” he spoke in a raspy voice, pausing to wheeze. “I need help.” Each sentence barely passed his lips.
“A’right. I’ve heard you, and all I know is that you need to be treated right now. Off to the church. Now!”
“No! You can’t. Remember I told you about how I heard my dad arguing with the church? There’s something wrong there. I know there is.”
“Elijah, this is serious. Your forehead’s so hot. And what do you mean? Your dad was arguing with the church? Why would anyone argue with the church? I mean they’re all nice and good people. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone arguing with em.”
“That’s the strange thing. Alright look-” He momentarily halted, falling into a fit of coughs. “Goddamn, I didn’t feel this ill earlier-”
“Let me just take you to-” Kayam hurriedly intercepted him as he attempted to lift him off the bed and on to his shoulders.
Elijah let him do so and placed his arm on his shoulder. “No. Just listen to me. My dad wasn’t someone who argued with people. He was always calm. But one day he found something. Now until yesterday, I didn’t know what that something was, but it’s voices right. It could have been the voices I heard. Or maybe the magical blue lights. And I don’t know exists or how he found it, but he did, and so did I. But he went to the church about the thing he found, and they began arguing.”
“But that’s normal. The church would find something like that Balsemephous-”
“-Blasphemous.”
“That one wasn’t on purpose. I didn’t finish school remember.”
Elijah stifled a laugh and continued. “Yes, they would find it blasphemous. But there was something about that argument. They weren’t trying to scream and argue with him, they were trying to take it from him.”
“You sure your memories not muddled? It’s been a while…”
“I’m certain. Look we can go back and forth, but I remember it alright. Agatha told me that he heard voices, but I wasn’t there when that happened. It was like dark. I can’t remember what time, but it was probably close to midnight. I just remember that my mom left to collect Agatha from a friend’s house, and dad took me to the church with him. A-and he was being so careful you know. He had something in his hands. Like a small box, only a little bigger than hist fist. He was holding it like this,” he cupped his hands over an invisible box and pressed it to his chest. “He didn’t answer any of my questions, just told me to follow along. But he rushed ahead of me when the church came into view. And by the time I caught up with him, he was already yelling at Father Biskmus. And the Father’s hands were all over the box. A-and then he just left and dragged me back home. And then he acted normal and fell asleep. And the following morning, he disappeared. And then about a week later I found him rummaging through dad’s room. I told my mom and not my sister. My mom kinda just dismissed it.”
“Alright wait, I believe you. But why did Agatha say that he left? Sounds like the church did something shady, if you asked me.”
“I don’t know. Maybe he left a note or something.”
“Alright that’s a start. How about we look for that note? And that box. You think he took it? Or you think he left it behind? Maybe he left it behind. Since the Father was searching your home.” Kayam began to sound excited, grinning ear to ear.
“I don’t know. I would think that my mom or my sister had it thrown out by now. I’ll have to… ask Agatha.”
“Well, you’re going to have to talk to her at some point.” Kayam grabbed Elijah’s shoulders. “Now this injury. In the meantime, let’s do something about it alright?”
Elijah nodded. “But not the church. You fix it.”
Kayam’s facial expression dropped into monotone expression for a moment. “Are you serious? I can’t do that, and you know it.”
“I can’t ask anyone else. Look, it’s just hurting on my knee. I just want you to take the bandages off my knee and look at the cut. Alright?”
“Is it just a cut?” he asked sceptically.
“Y-yeah. Maybe a gash would be a better way to call it.”
“There is no damn way I’m doing this right now. I’m taking you to the church.”
“Seriously? After what I told you? And I’ve always told you I hated the church.”
“Yeah, and you also hated to explain it till now.”
“I’m sorry, alright, I don’t know, I just didn’t want to talk about it much.”
Kayam breathed a heavy sigh and reached for his knee. “Alright, you’re gonna have to lift your britches for me.”
Elijah lifted up until the white fabric of the bandages appeared. Much of it was bloody by now. “Yeah, you might be right after all, that doesn’t look so good.” A wince crossed his face as he as a burning pain surged through his knee.
“AGH, Yeah, ok, ok, you got to take a look at it.”
Kayam unwound the bandages in a hurry, being careful not to touch the wound. Blood stained his hands as he unwrapped them further and further. “Elijah, it’s soaked with blood. What the hell did you do. You told me you got a slight cut.”
“I don’t know what hit my knee alright. Raphael landed on top of me.”
“Oh yeah, that’s another thing we have to talk about. Coz that dude? He was weird. Yeah, he was du- HOLY MOTHER OF-”
Overwhelmed by pain, Elijah winced, his eyes squeezing shut. He rested his head on the bed, trying to block out the throbbing in his knee. Panic bubbled within him as he wondered about the severity of the injury.
“GOD, DON’T MOVE SO MUCH. WHAT DID YOU DO HERE,” Kayam shouted in a concerned tone.
“Okay stop screaming dude. You’re making me scared. How serious is it? I don’t think I can look down there without feeling sick.”
“BRO, IT’S ALL BLOODY.”
“YEAH, I CAN IMAGINE, NOW STOP SCREAMING AT ME.”
“AGHHHHHH IT’S SO RED!”
“AGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”
“AGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”
“I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU MADE ME TOUCH THAT ARGHHHHHH!”
“ARGHHHHHHHHHHHH!”
“OKAY. STOP SCREAMING NOW.”
“BRO, YOU FIRST.”
“SHUT UP.”
“NO, YOU SHUT UP.”
“THE FIRST TO STOP SCREAMING IS BETTER AT HOBBLEBALL.”
Kayam had caused the incessant screaming to cease almost immediately. Elijah cautiously peeled his eye open, although it fluttered shut multiple times whilst doing so. “Alright, I know I stopped screaming a second later, but to set the record straight, I’m definitely better at Hobbleball than you.”
Kayam broke into laughter as a response. The idea of him playing even remotely better than Elijah at hobbleball was impossible. As kids, they would play every day, until Elijah’s father had left him. His friends were jealous of Elijah’s athletic ability. And so, they took advantage of his father’s disappearance to offend him, and Elijah did not take kindly to it. At first, he let it go. The second time, he was irritated. And the third and final time? Kayam had to talk to all of children’s parents and explain why they were plastered with bruises and cuts. Kayam was surprised Elijah even made it past the first insult before flying his fists towards them. After that, the friend group split into two. One of the four other friends was sympathetic to Elijah and remained in contact with him. Although the other three cut contact with both Elijah and Kayam.
“We haven’t played hobbleball in ages, right? I bet you’re better at it than me right about now,” said Elijah, with a slight twinge of jealousy present on his face. Elijah glanced at Kayam after he remained silent. His face was contorted into one of genuine unease. “Alright, tell me you didn’t find something bad. Is it infected or something?”
Kayam still didn’t reply, his eyes were wider now, his mouth slight gaping. His face was slightly blue. Elijah was suddenly alert, and his eyes perked open.
“Kayam? You’re scaring me.”
“A-alright so, there’s something in your knee.”
“Great thanks man, so why do you look so shocked.”
“It’s glowing blue…”
Elijah took a deep breath in, so as to not panic. “I’m trying to be calm here. So, you’re telling me, that blue light on your face is from my knee.”
“Y-yeah basically.”
“A-” Kayam shut Elijah’s scream off immediately, slapping his hand over his mouth. Elijah tried to resist, moving his head side to side, but Kayam’s hand followed. “Now we got to real shut up. We’re lucky that pops is in the barn right now, because he hears us and sees your knee? He’s taking you to the church. And looking at this glow, I’m starting to believe you about that magic thing.”
“Hey! You didn’t believe me before?”
“Ivvelerant. Let me wrap this up and we’ll figure something out.”
“Irrelevant, and also I might be imagining this, but I hear footsteps.” Elijah was not imagining footsteps; a heavy set of footsteps was approaching the cabin room. One that Kayam recognised to be his fathers over the years. His bog boots created a loud rhythm of ‘click-clack’ as he came closer.
“This timing is horrible,” he hissed as he frantically searched for bandages in the drawer besides the bed. He found it but as he brought it out, it fumbled out of his hands and spread across the wooden floor. “Goddamn it, this always happens when I rush.”
Elijah sat up again quickly. “Hey, just take it in your pocket, and wrap me up in the old bandages.”
“That’s disgusting. I am not going to do that.”
“Just do it. Quick. Otherwise, you’re going to have to explain why there’s blood on these bandages. And I’m starting to feel lightheaded. I might be losing too much blood. Goddamn it. Alright just, don’t wrap it, make a tourniquet, we don’t have time.”
“A what?!?! I told you I don’t understand difficult words.”
“Tie the bandages around the cut tightly. Just do that.”
Kayam stopped talking and followed Elijah’s instructions with the dirty bandages, although he grimaced whilst doing so, and threw the clean bandages into his pocket. He took the wet towel that he used from earlier and wiped up his shin and pulled down the cuffs of his britches.
As he did so, the door snapped open and an enormous man waddled in, crouching under the door frame as he passed in. His blue eyes were worried with ancient lines forming below them. He was ginger too, although you wouldn’t be able to tell if not for his eyebrows and his moustache which was so long that it curled at the edges. His head was shaved clean, and a tattoo was spread across his temple. He loved that tattoo. He had gotten it when he married Kayam’s now deceased mother. It was a matching tattoo with her. Elijah had never gotten a close look at the tattoo, but it looked ling a single bird wing. He knew that his wife also had the same tattoo on temple, although you could never see it due to her black hair. He only found out about it later when Kayam told him.
“Elijah!” Mr. Hart boomed. He was an extremely muscular man, and his pectorals moved with his speech. “How are ya? Ya been keepin’ well? Ya sis’ been well?”
“Hello Mr. Hart. I’m fine. So is Agatha.”
“Ain’t that amazin.’ Now I’ll tell ya somethin’,” he pinched his nose as if he caught the smell of something. “If that ain’t the smell o’ blood. What was ye doin’ here?”
Kayam began to shuffle uncomfortably, unable to speak on the spot, his eyes darted towards the contents of the room. “Elij-”
“It’s a project, Mr. Hart!” Elijah quickly interjected in case Kayam said something else. “This new academy got us learning some weird stuff.”
“A’ight, but yer gonna hafta take this outside. I ain’t gonna question ‘em scholars at the adacemy.” He comically made the same pronunciation errors as his son. Or perhaps it was more accurate to say that Kayam made the same errors as him. Thankfully, he was gullible enough to believe in his makeshift story.
Elijah gestured, and was about to correct him, before he noticed Kayam shaking his head from the corner of his eye.
“Alright, Mr. Hart, thank you so much for letting me in. We’ll go now.”
He limped out of the room and Kayam followed. They heard him mutter as they shut the door. Something along the lines of ‘I swear I saw som’ blue light.’ Almost as if prompted by it, they rushed out, Elijah now leaning on Kayam’s shoulders.
“Alright, I’m taking you to the barn right now. And we’re gonna fix this thing.”
Elijah’s face was ghostly white now, and it was growing paler by the second. Finally, they reached the barn, and Kayam propped him against a sack of seeds. “Stay with me now. I’m just going to check your knee. It’s gonna hurt alright? There should be some tweezers around here.” Surely enough, he pulled out a shining pair of tweezers and reached into his cut. “Alright bite into something, your dad’s coat anything.”
“What? ARGH-” Elijah suddenly screamed as Kayam delved into his cut with the cold metal of the tweezers. He bit down on his dad’s coat, suddenly feeling alive. His eyes were filled to the brim with tears due to the pain. His toes curled as Kayam moved around inside his knee and his head bobbed back and forth, trying not to succumb to the shock of pain. Elijah didn’t know what death felt like, but he was sure it was something close to this. Kayam was now guiding the tweezers with purpose. He had found the source of the searing pain in Elijah’s knee. Time seemed to be moving in slow motion, each passing second transforming into an hour of pain. Finally, Kayam seemed to have had caught something and he pulled it out carefully.
“ALRIGHT I TOOK IT OUT. YOU’RE FINE NOW-” Elijah didn’t hear much of the rest. His body began to shut down and his eyelids felt heavy. In the corner of his eye, he could see Kayam holding something in the tweezers. An ethereal glowing blue was bursting from it, but by now it was blurry to Elijah. His eyes shut down, and he succumbed to a growing darkness.
Kayam was shouting something at him, although much of it was unintelligible to the fading Elijah. With the last of his strength, he reached towards Kayam’s direction and threw his middle finger at him. “Dude, you’re the worst best friend ever.”