“You better shut that brat up!” the man snapped at Alistar’s mother, his tone threatening. “I was nice enough to let you carry out your touching little scene, but I’m not much in the mood for hearing the annoying cries of such trash.”
The man knelt down close to them as Alistar’s mother scooped him up, so close that he thought his uncle might strike him. He smiled at his family, a smile that somehow told Alistar that he wanted his uncle to hit him. It certainly made Alistar want to. Why would somebody willingly desire to be struck? He didn’t understand the incentive, nor did he care to. What mattered right then was his father. If his father were awake, then he would have somehow got the mean man to leave, just like he’d always managed. If his father were awake…
After a few moments of stillness—a tense silence that tickled at every ear in the vicinity—the man turned his gaze to Alistar’s father. “I say, it’s about bloody time.” He then turned to Alistar, who still had silent tears streaming down his face. “Boy.” He pointed at his father. “Every time you think of your old man, remember these words that I’m about to speak. This isn’t anyone’s fault but your own. You did this, boy. It’s your fault your precious Papa’s dead.”
Alistar’s mother hurried to cover his ears, turning his head away and staring at the man with loathing. He noticed that three guards now stood behind the red-haired man. There was a short exchange of words that he could almost make out and then suddenly his hearing was returned to him. His mother’s arm was being forcefully held back by the man, her wrist trapped in a hardened vice-grip. The man had laid his hands on his mother.
“You’re the reason your father died!” he laughed raucously, forcing Alistar to face him with his other hand as the man grabbed his cheeks in a rough grip. “He died because you’re just as useless as he was!”
Me…? I’m the reason? He couldn’t understand the man’s meaning.
After his laughter subsided, the man punctuated his words by hawking and letting a sloppy glob of spit stretch down to cover his father’s face. Immediately after, he waved a hand and two guards made to haul the body off of their bed of rags. It was at that moment that Alistar snapped, breaking free of his mother’s grasp and launching himself onto his father’s unmoving body. Though he was immediately shoved away, he recovered quickly and lunged for one of the guards, kicking and screaming and resisting with all his might. Not a moment after this futile reluctance took hold of him, he felt a peculiar pain on his neck and his vision left him. It was his uncle’s shaking hand that had subdued him.
When he awoke some hours later, his mother and uncle were coiled up beside him, sleeping off their pent-up exhaustion. Someone had prodded him awake, pulling him from his stillborn dreams and back into the silent cavern. Back into his cruel reality. It seemed that there was still some time left before the trio of large, brass gongs would go off, signalling the beginning of another work day.
He shivered, hugging himself as he looked around. It was colder than usual during this sleep period. Still bogged down by fatigued confusion, it took Alistar a moment to notice the grim little shadow that hovered by his side.
It was Kaila.
What was going on? Why was Kaila waking him from his sleep when that job was usually fulfilled by his parents? She hadn’t so much as spared him a glance during the past long months, so why was she there now?
She beckoned for him to follow her. He hesitated, looking over at his family with a frown. Fresh tears stained their haggard faces despite the fact that they were asleep. A quiet, burly man with a knowledgeable look about him, Alistar had never seen his uncle shed a single tear, not once in all his life. But here in front of him, the big man lay with clear streaks drawn down his grime-smudged face. It was unsettling.
Something else seemed off, and it didn’t take long before he realized what it was. His father was gone. While he had been unconscious, they must have taken his father away to the place where Kaila’s parents had been carried off to.
Alistar’s eyes stung as warm tears quickly spread, memories of his father and of recent events rushing to the forefront of his mind. Despite his usual stubbornness, he didn’t care that Kaila was there to watch him cry. Even if it was Kaila, even after all this time, he just wanted to be left alone.
Shame struck Alistar as he looked over at his estranged friend. Kaila had lost her father, so surely she had felt the same feelings that plagued him. Not only that, but she had lost her mother as well, both of them within a week’s time. If anyone knew how he was feeling, it was Kaila. If anyone could understand him right now, it was her.
She beckoned to him again and he stood up a moment later, following her as she took off toward one of the entrances to the tunnels without a word. A couple lazy guards noticed them detaching from the sleeping area, but purposely turned their heads the other way until they had made their exit. Nobody cared to waste effort on the children of the mines, no matter what group was currently stationed there.
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Avoiding those that had gone off to relieve themselves, they had stopped just outside the boundaries of one of the abandoned sections. They remained close enough so that they were barely out of sight to any who might enter the lit area of this particular tunnel, the fading light not far from where they stood within the familiar shadows.
“Kaila…” Alistar sniveled, the corners of his eyes still moist. It had been a number of months since they had last played together, let alone spoken. Her hair had grown out a bit, but otherwise her appearance remained the same.
“I’m sorry about your papa, Alie,” she said quietly, with that delicate voice of hers that usually made him want to show off. Her golden eyes were downcast. Just when he had thought that she seemed unsure, she looked up and held his gaze resolutely. “And I’m sorry I stopped playing with you.”
He clenched his fists as he fought back his tears, a few minutes passing in silence.
“I’m sorry, too,” he said forcibly, acknowledging her words with a sad nod. “Both of your parents went to sleep, Kaila. I’m sorry that I didn’t invite you to play. It’s just, Papa—my papa…!” He stifled a sob and continued. “My papa told me not to. He said to leave you be. But then a long time passed and I felt like you didn’t want to play with me anymore.”
Kaila was frowning at him through her long tangles of honey-brown hair. By the time she spoke up, her face had been painted with tears. “Of course I wanted to play. You stopped inviting me, so I thought you didn’t like me anymore!”
She latched onto Alistar in a desperate hug, overwhelmed by a rush of emotion. This was the Kaila that he knew, he thought, as he accepted her wet embrace.
The two of them wept into each other’s shoulders as they both finally understood one another’s feelings. Alistar’s father had cautioned him to keep his distance for a time, and the compliant Alistar had done just that. But days had turned into weeks with no discretion, and soon weeks into months. During this time, Kaila had stopped with her frequent visits to his family’s living space, and as a result Alistar had stopped inviting her out to play. They had misunderstood each other, and because of this simple misunderstanding they had maintained a discomforting distance, reluctant though they were.
Patching things up with Kaila slightly lessened the pain of losing his father, and suddenly Alistar was filled with guilt. He had left Kaila alone for all this time, even though she had most likely suffered from the same feelings that he now felt, perhaps even worse. And then, on the first day that he had experienced such loss, she had immediately been there for him. She loved his family as if they were her own, so she was surely sad that his father had fallen into a permanent sleep. He didn’t deserve such a friend.
Alistar’s thoughts were in complete disarray as he clung to his tear-stricken companion, her warmth reassuring him that he was not alone. He had not felt this warmth for months, not since they had last explored the tunnels side by side. So much had happened in a single day that it was hard to keep up with things.
He hadn’t been aware, but what he had needed most at the time was a friend, and Kaila was just that. What he felt now was Kaila’s warmth, the warmth of somebody close to him. Warmth he needed.
The minutes passed as they cried and cried, both unwilling to let go of the friendship they so desperately missed. Time seemed to pass at half speed, but it couldn’t have been more than ten minutes later when they decided to return.
As usual, Kaila had Alistar hold her hand, and as usual, Alistar pretended that he was troubled by it. They safely passed back into the Resident Cavern without quarrel from the guards and arrived back at their sleeping areas with eyes still damp, sharing a simple wave before turning in for some rest.
Alistar ducked down and crept in between his uncle and his mother, tucking himself comfortably at her side after he repositioned a fallen blanket over his uncle’s broad shoulders. As the minutes passed, a small smile settled onto his childish face. This didn’t last, however, as earlier distresses clawed free of his fragile mind and encouraged the nightmares that came after.
It was on that day that three things had changed for Alistar. The first was that his father had gone to sleep, a notion that he would see through soon enough. The second was that, after months of bitter confusion, he had reconfirmed his relationship with Kaila. Lastly, a profound sadness took up residence within his heart, a sadness that would come to haunt him in the days that followed without restraint or reprieve.
Almost every night for the two years that followed, Alistar would meet with his father in his dreams. He seldom dreamt of anything else. He would often awake to pangs of grief and longing, but for every tear and every frown, there were times that he would wake up with a warm smile on his face and a fond memory in his heart. He missed his father terribly, but over time he was able to accept the idea that they would never meet again, save for when he laid between his increasingly exhausted family at the end of each work day when he was often forced to relive his father’s death scene.
Through Kaila he found solace during their daytime antics. He distracted himself by playing with her in their usual fashion, exploring the caves and running about the less frequented areas of the lit sections of the mines, laughing and daring and competing with one another like only children knew how to do. It was as if their misunderstanding had never occurred.
Although his father was gone, Alistar’s mother and his uncle continued teaching him various things whenever they were able. Kaila attended every lesson, the two of them trying their hardest to retain whatever information his family was able to drill into their heads during desperate scraps of their precious rest time. Soon enough, these lessons began to disappear.