Chapter 6: Wake Up
Wake Up
"Hey, Shayna," said Emi, bumping Shayna's elbow with her own and awakening her from her daze.
Shayna jumped and looked over sleepily. "Yeah?"
"Nothin'. I was just making sure you weren't falling asleep."
Shayna just looked at her. "Thanks."
"You're welcome!" she said positively.
Shayna looked across the table at Fernan, who hadn't quite finished eating. He was pushing around some of the red sauce from the soomsch with a potato splice. He seemed bored.
Shayna looked over to Aaronne, who had was looking right at her, and probably had been since she started dozing. He looked away as soon as she noticed him.
"Why do you do that?" asked Shayna bluntly.
Aaronne looked back over at her.
Emi and Fernan were leaning in a bit now that Fernan didn't have anything to explain and Emi didn't have anything to correct. They were curious as to what Shayna was talking about. Aaronne noticed them and played dumb.
"Do what?" he asked.
"Stare at me." Shayna answered quickly.
"I don't stare at you," said Aaronne shaking his head and acting as if he had no idea what she was talking about.
Aaronne was making Shayna mad. Now he was just lying.
"Yes you do! Every time I look up at you you're looking right at me."
Aaronne made a ridiculous face. "No, I don't think so. Maybe you're the one staring at me."
Shayna's accusation and Aaronne's denial interested Fernan and Emi. They were leaning in even more now and waiting for Shayna to say something back.
"Me? No! You're the one looking at me!"
"Okay, sure I am," said Aaronne calmly, making a funny face and putting both his hands up as if in defense.
Aaronne was annoying Shayna, even more than when her father would tell her she'd have to wait for something until she was older. He wasn't even here now and she was still feeling that way. Just because Aaronne did not lead onto his gazing at her, she was infuriated. She was also angry at him for being so calm about all of it, knowing full well that he was in fact doing it.
"Liar," she said glaring at him. "But whatever," said Shayna, pouting again. She crossed her arms and leaned back, giving up on him. "I know you are."
Aaronne shrugged.
"Maybe it's because you've got sauce all over your face," added Fernan jokingly, trying unsuccessfully to lighten Shayna's mood.
Shayna gave him a bad look. He shrugged and laughed. "Hey, just saying."
Emi handed Shayna a napkin from a clear container that was sitting on the center of the table.
"It's a napkin," she said, handing it to Shayna. "You wipe your face off with it."
"Yeah, I get that," said Shayna irritably. "Sorry," she added a little apologetically, knowing Emi was just making sure she knew what it was. It must have seemed strange to her to have to tell Shayna about many of the toys in the playroom. Everything was familiar to her and she'd been around it most of her life. Shayna hadn't, which she recognized. Emi didn't mind Shayna's snapping at her. She knew enough about new orphans and had become patient enough to deal with them. She just acted as if it never had happened.
Shayna grabbed it from her and did so, still glaring at Aaronne, who was now looking anywhere but at her, which made her even angrier. She wanted to kick him, but was too tired and didn't think it would do any good.
Some time passed and eventually Miss Blitzer came in and yelled to all of the children that it was 8 o'clock and that they should promptly get ready for bed and afterwards report to their bedrooms. She said it in a nice way, though. Shayna was just glad that it wasn't Miss Dubline, whose idea of transport to the bedrooms would have most probably been to pick her up and throw her through the ceiling to hurtle towards it. Surely that was the fastest, most efficient way, even if it did break her neck.
With the thought of leaving for bed, Shayna wondered where the bedrooms actually were. She'd been envisioning them upstairs for no particular reason, but was unsure.
"Hey, Emi," prompted Shayna. "Where are the bedrooms at?"
"Ours are on the fourth floor. The boys' are on the third."
"Oh," said Shayna, glad to know that she wouldn't have to spend every night waking up to Aaronne staring at her. He didn't do it in a creepy way, but still. Shayna didn't like it much. It made her nervous. "I thought it would be something like that."
"Yeah," affirmed Emi, getting up to get going upstairs.
All four of them got up from their seats and began following the crowd that had formed. They were all trying to push through to the hallway, less boisterously and enthusiastically than before, but still energetically. After most of the children had gotten through the doorway to the hall, the four of them shuffled their way through the crowd and reached the hallway too. They followed the crowd, which was headed towards the front of the orphanage, down the hall towards the elevator.
Shayna wondered if they would be taking the elevator to the fourth floor, like she had earlier, but was unsure about how they would do it. Did the elevator expand itself to be wide enough to fit all of the children? Did they go in smaller groups? Shayna didn't really know, but ideas were popping up all over in her mind. She supposed that anything was possible there in Hemisturn, which was as foreign to Shayna as most of the words that Fernan tried to say. She didn't know what to expect, but whatever it was, she knew she'd be surprised.
They were approaching the end of the hallway, nearing the elevator. They followed the crowd down towards it, but not to it. Instead, the children were all going one by one up a staircase. Shayna actually was surprised, but not by how amazing it very much wasn't, but by how simple it was. Everything around her had thus far seemed so complex and different. The staircase seemed so old and… well, familiar. It reminded her of the two small, wooden steps on the front porch of the cabin, except longer and made of something else.
The steps were all painted black, which contrasted well with the marble floor and the grey, red, and black brick that surrounded the staircase on all four sides. The door was a bright red, which stood out but didn't seem too out of place. Standing next to it was Miss Blitzer, who despite the hour, was still smiling, yet making sure each child went up the stairs and didn't attempt to linger.
All of the children were still scurrying up the stairs and soon Shayna and the other three had reached the front of the crowd. Shayna watched as first went Aaronne, then Fernan, then Emi. Shayna didn't hesitate when it was her turn to go and mimicked Emi. Shayna went up the first flight, second, third, then fourth. She stopped when she saw that Emi had stopped and walked out to the hallway attached to the fourth flight. The wall which they passed on the way had a large black number four on it, so Shayna knew she was in the right place and not accidently on the boys' floor. She thought that Aaronne and Fernan had probably gotten off the floor before her and so didn't give them much thought. She'd had enough of them for the day. She instead focused on what Emi had begun to tell her.
"Here. I'll show you what we have to do," said Emi, in a strange perky, but tired way.
Shayna thought she had an idea. Most nights, unless her father was reading to her and forgot, she would brush her teeth with a toothbrush and a special kind of paste her father would give to her right before bed. It would probably something resembling that, she thought.
Shayna followed Emi to a room down the hallway, towards the end, still thinking about her father. She snapped out of her daydreaming when Emi began speaking again, instructing her on what to do. Shayna was discovering that Emi rather enjoyed explaining things, which was strange to her. It wasn't bad; it was just that usually Shayna had to ask first.
They walked behind the line of girls from the staircase down the hallway, passing different bedrooms as they went by. Shayna peered inside and it seemed to her that those in the rooms closest the steps were oldest and those furthest were youngest. They reached the end of the hall quickly, which wasn't nearly as long as the hall downstairs. Emi turned to look at Shayna.
"Okay," said Emi. "Watch this, it's cool. We just got it. It's a new kind of machine."
Shayna looked up ahead in the line and focused on one girl who was standing in front of a small, square metallic box, which Shayna guessed was the machine Emi was talking about. It was attached to the wall and lined with red electricity and had in its center a smaller metallic circle, which also had the red lining. There was a small and black hole in the middle of it. The electricity made it look new and out of place in the old orphanage, like the elevator. The girl stood there in front of it for a moment longer, flashing her teeth at it. Suddenly a red beam of light shot out from the center of the circle, which nearly well startled Shayna to death.
Shayna jumped backwards, which made Emi giggle.
"What?" asked Shayna, whom a few girls were looking over at strangely. "I've never seen one before."
The other girls ignored her, giggling a little under their breath too.
"Come on," Emi laughed. "You're funny. Go before me, it won't hurt you."
Shayna got in front of Emi. Soon it was her turn with the machine. She walked up to and gave it an unnatural smile, which was awkward for Shayna.
"Like dis?' asked Shayna, mouth agape.
Emi was still giggling. "Yeah, just make sure you don't move."
Shayna tried her hardest not to move, though the machine was making her a bit edgy. It seemed to wait the perfect amount of time to make her the most nervous. Finally, after what seemed like forever, the machine shot its red laser out at Shayna's teeth. She didn't move, though she did close her eyes. In a few seconds, it was done. Shayna stepped away and allowed Emi to step up to it.
Shayna licked her teeth, feeling the outsides of them. The machine had actually cleaned them! It wasn't really a surprise; she just hadn't thought it would work so well. She didn't feel anything slimy or greasy or taste any aftertaste from dinner at all. In fact, she didn't feel anything in her mouth except for her teeth.
The machine scanned Emi quickly and soon she was with Shayna again.
"That wasn't so bad!" said Shayna. "Kinda… uh, cool, right?"
Emi nodded understandingly. "Yes, it's cool."
"Cool! What do you call that?" asked Shayna.
"I don't know," said Emi shrugging and blinking. "We always just call it the teeth-cleaner."
Shayna shrugged, thinking that at least it would be easy enough to remember.
Emi and she began to walk towards Emi's bedroom, which she'd told Shayna she could sleep in from then on.
"Are you sure I can sleep here?" asked Shayna, worried about Miss Dubline. "Are there any untaken beds?"
"Oh, it's fine," said Emi. "There are tons of empty beds here! There really aren't that many kids."
Shayna was surprised to hear her say that. She'd thought there'd been many, many kids, though that was probably due largely to the fact that she'd never seen any before. She thought about how she'd already so easily made a friend, Emi. She really hadn't done anything to become her friend, except for be introduced by Miss Blitzer. Emi had pretty much made friends with Shayna on her own accord, and Shayna had accepted it. She didn't regret it. Already she was beginning to like Emi, though she did talk a lot. Usually Shayna did too, so it wasn't a bad combination. Besides, she'd shown Shayna around and explained to her certain questions she'd had. It seemed good to Shayna that if she was going to be stuck in the orphanage then at least she had somebody to talk to. Overall, it was better with Emi than being all alone.
They approached the bedroom entrance and Shayna peered in. Inside there must've been something like twenty beds, only four of which were taken. Emi jumped onto a bed near a window. Shayna followed and got into the bed next to hers. It too was by a window, which hung over it so that Shayna could see the sky outside while lying down.
"They'll come in and have us change into pajamas soon," said Emi.
"How long?" asked Shayna.
"Just a few minutes."
"Who usually comes in to give them to us?"
"Miss Blitzer, but sometimes Miss Dubline."
"I hope it's Miss Blitzer," sighed Shayna. "She's nice." She lied back on the bed, looking out at the stars that were visible through her window.
"Me too," said Emi, doing the same.
Shayna just kept looking at the stars. She shifted from her one side to the other, trying to adjust herself to a comfortable position, when she felt the red stone she'd been totting around all night and day. She reached into her pocket and pulled it out, staring at it with as much wonder as she did the stars. What was it really? How did it work? More importantly, what did it do in the first place? The only thing Shayna knew about it was that it was powerful. REALLY powerful. Powerful enough to shoot beams of light into the sky so high up that it could be seen kilometers away. Shayna remembered the beam the stone had created. It was glowing reddish-pink when she pressed it against the nose of the reindeer.
"The reindeer!" thought Shayna. What was it about the reindeer that made the stone react in that way? Or maybe it had more to do with the stone. Shayna kept looking at, keeping it relatively down low and away from sight by her right side. It was glowing dimly a dull pink and was just a little warmer than the air inside. It was just like when Shayna had originally found it. Very interesting-looking and completely mysterious.
Shayna was curious as ever, especially now. It was because of the stone that she was at the orphanage in the first place. If she wouldn't have found it—"no!" she thought. "This is all my fault." Shayna let her tense shoulders flop. She breathed out. "If I hadn't spotted the stone, none of this would have ever happened. Papa would—."
Shayna's self-blaming thoughts were interrupted, luckily, by Emi.
Emi, despite Shayna's small attempt to conceal the red stone, noticed anyways. "Hey," she said somewhat loudly. "What's tha—?"
"Shhh," shushed Shayna quietly. She looked around the room briefly, making sure nobody had noticed.
Emi started again, whispering this time. "What is that, Shayna?"
Shayna responded truthfully. "I don't know. My papa gave it to me before… you know. Before I got here today."
"Do you know what it does?"
Shayna shook her head. "No… I don't know anything about it."
Surely enough, right in the middle of conversing privately with Emi, in stormed Miss Dubline, who Shayna was more than dismayed to see. She really was not a good women to have in mind before trying to go to sleep, or at all really.
"Alright, girls!" she yelled inappropriately loudly for the hour of day. "Pajama time. Here." She lied down a crate full of pajamas. "Fresh and clean. Have at 'em! G'night!" With that she was gone. Shayna was happy that she hadn't lingered any longer and went up to the pajama crate with the other girls.
Unlike earlier, the other four girls were not like honeybirds, which Shayna was very happy about. Honeybirds were far too crazy. The girls there were much more reasonable. Some of the smaller girls even handed the larger sizes to the other girls if they'd found them by mistake, and vice versa. Shayna was asked what her size was: small, medium, or large, by a redhead who had a funny accent.
Shayna shook her head. "Oh, I don't know."
"Oh, you dunno?" she asked, surprised. "Well..." she looked around dartingly with her light brown eyes. "I'd say you're probably a small, just by lookin' around."
Shayna looked around too. All of the other three girls were actually quite a bit taller than her. She was surprised she hadn't noticed sooner. Some were even as much as half a head taller, and probably outweighed her by a lot. She looked at Emi as well. She wasn't exceptionally tall, but she was still taller than Shayna, and not nearly as skinny.
Shayna nodded, a little disappointed in her height. She looked back at the redhead, who she now noticed was actually about Shayna's height. "Well, what size are you?" she asked.
The redhead furrowed her eyebrows. "Why?" she asked.
"Well, we're about the same size," explained Shayna.
"What?!" said the redhead somewhat bewildered. "We are not! I'm much bigger than you are!"
"No, you and I—,"
"No, you and I are completely different."
Shayna backed off a little, though the redhead was clearly closer to her size than the rest of the girls.
"Alright, alright. Well, what size are you, though?" asked Shayna.
"Small," responded the redhead as if it had nothing to do with her size.
"Small," repeated Shayna. "And I'm a small too…" she looked at the redhead, waiting for a response.
"I'm thin and thin-boned," she responded.
"Thin-boned?" thought Shayna. Surely she was just making things up now.
Still, Shayna only nodded and smiled, attempting to stay on good terms and keep things simple. "Okay," she said. "Could you hand me a small please?"
With that the redhead perked right back up. "Okay! Sure." She handed the small pair of pants and pajamas to her. "My name's Lizabetha Rosa, by the way. You can call me Rosii if you like! My mum always used to call me that!"
Shayna smiled, surprised to hear she'd known her mom. She hadn't really thought much about it, but now that Rosii had brought it up, Shayna suspected that her accent hadn't just magically appeared in her speech overnight. She just had expected the children to not know their parents. It was strange that Rosii, and probably some others, knew who they were, yet were still there in the orphanage.
"Oh!" said Shayna. "Nice to meet you!" Shayna extended her right hand.
Rosii looked down at Shayna's hand. "Uh… we don't shake hands. That's for adults." She said it with a certain snobbishness, which was painfully obvious, and more so than enough for Shayna to notice—and be embarrassed by.
Shayna dropped her hand away, looking to the other girls. "Oh, right. Okay."
Emi jumped in."It's alright! No biggy. She's new, right girls?"
The other girls all nodded and smiled accordingly, having known Emi for a while. Rosii looked at her unforgivingly at first, but went with the crowd as soon as she realized what the popular opinion would be.
"Great!" said Emi in her usual and enthusiastic way. "Anyways, Shayna. Let me introduce you." She walked Shayna up to the girl closest them, who was the tallest. She had jet black hair, similar to Fernan's, but was pretty—unlike Fernan. She also had a broad body type, giving her a strong and solid appearance. "This is Errianna. Errianna, this is Shayna."
"Hello," said Errianna in a strange, high-pitched voice which didn't match her appearance at all. "How are you?"
"Good," replied Shayna. "Nice to meet you." She nearly tried handshaking again, but stopped herself, taking notice of Rosii's glare.
"You too!" replied Errianna perkily.
Emi and Shayna moved to the next girl. She was shorter and very skinny. Skinnier even than Shayna, in fact. She wore glasses and had long blonde hair and blue eyes, like Shayna. Her nose was crooked, but only slightly, which gave her an older-looking appearance.
"Shayna, this is Jhordinna," said Emi.
"Hello!" said Shayna.
"Hi," she said shyly, pushing her glasses up. They were crooked, which was not unlikely to be because of her nose.
"Good to meet you," said Shayna politely.
"Yes, you too," answered Jhordinna quickly, as if to try and get it over with quickly. She seemed uncomfortable, so Shayna stopped questioning her and moved to the last person.
It was another brunette who was about Emi's size and body shape. She wasn't large or small, tall or short. Just average. She had darker skin, though, which was an olive-brown color, and dark brown eyes.
"Hi!" she said enthusiastically, but with a yawn. She didn't wait for Emi to introduce her. "I'm Dejinny. Nice to meet you!"
"You too!" shot back Shayna. She didn't know what it was about Dejinny, but she was automatically beginning to like her. "I'm Shayna."
"I heard," commented Dejinny jokingly, pointing to the other girls.
"Right…" said Shayna grinning and nodding.
"Where are you from?" she asked.
"I'm from Nortisha," answered Shayna.
"Nortisha! That's far away!"
"Yeah," said Shayna. "Where are you from?"
"The South," replied Dejinny. "Or Den Sekrin… I don't say it that way, though, usually."
"Why not?" asked Shayna.
"It's in Sekrinsh."
"Oh… so?"
"I can't speak it. Well, I don't know… I mean, I remember my mother speaking it to me one time when I was real little, but…"
"Oh," said Shayna. She felt sorry for Dejinny; she must've known her mother, at least for a little while before she was given up. "I'm sorry."
"Yeah…" said Dejinny, trailing off in a sort of reminiscent way.
"Why'd she bring you here?" asked Shayna.
Dejinny shook her head solemnly. "I don't know. Why'd your mother bring you here?"
"She didn't," said Shayna. "I found my own way."
"How'd you do that?"
Shayna thought a moment before answering. "It's a long story…"
"Oh, that's okay!" said Dejinny, her positive self beginning to come back to life. "You don't have to tell me."
Shayna appreciated the privacy and decided to go ahead and at least open up a little bit. "Hey, I can speak another language," she said.
"Really?!" asked Dejinny excitedly. "What is it?"
"It's called Frepi. My father and I, we speak…" Shayna hesitated for a moment. "Well, we spoke it… together, I mean. Around the cabin."
"Oh, I've never heard of it! You can speak it fluently?" inquired Dejinny.
"Yes."
"Could you say something in it?"
"Uh… sure," said Shayna, a little surprised. She'd never spoken to anybody else in Frepi before, though she remembered she'd just begun speaking Nortish with others that morning. It couldn't be that far of a stretch. "What should I say?"
"I don't know!" said Dejinny. "Say snow!"
"Sufa."
"Say…," Dejinny pondered for a moment. "Snowball!"
"Bottosufa."
Soon Dejinny was asking Shayna a mirage of questions, as was everyone else, including Emi. They were all amazed and excited at the discovery of Shayna knowing another language, with the exception of Rosii, who seemed unable to stand being out of the spotlight of things. But as Emi would put it, and did put it, knowing a second language was cool. Very cool. And so it didn't bother Shayna much. They asked and asked and asked, until finally it was very late and Miss Dubline began coming around, making sure they were ready to go to bed.
Hurriedly, completely and automatically, they all ran towards their beds and threw on their pajamas. They tossed their day clothes in the crate as they did so and crashed into their beds, praying that Miss Dubline hadn't noticed. Shayna didn't know what the consequence was for not having changed by the time Miss Dubline came around, but she guessed that there was high trouble to it. Luckily, Miss Dubline simply walked by and shut off the lights, not even bothering to say goodnight, or "G'night!", as she so eloquently put it earlier.
As soon as Shayna hit her bed she was nearly asleep. She began dozing, when she heard a whisper. It was Emi, whom Shayna worried may be creating a habit out of waking her up.
"Hey," whispered Emi.
"Yeah?" whispered Shayna.
"I just wanted to say…" she trailed off.
"What?" asked Shayna.
"Well… I don't know how to put it," said Emi.
"What?"
Emi hesitated, her face unreadable in the dark. "Just don't get too sad okay? I know how it is for newer kids. The older, the sadder."
Shayna tried to look at her through the dark. She could she Emi's outline from the starlight outside, but little more. She thought about what she was being told and about her father.
"Thanks," said Shayna, now looking to the stars. "Thank you for being so nice."
"Don't mention it!" whispered back Emi. "You can talk to me if you want."
Shayna shook her head in the dark. "No. Thanks."
Emi remained facing towards Shayna as she'd been for a moment. "Alright," she whispered. "Night!"
"Night," said Shayna. With that, Emi turned onto her back and began falling asleep. Shayna tried the same, but was unsuccessful. She was tired, but she couldn't stop thinking about her father. The loss was too fresh in her mind, and she still thought of him as if he was with her somehow. She pulled out the red stone again.
The red stone was still glowing a dull pink, though it seemed much brighter in the dark. It was still warm too, and Shayna wondered about it until she began to become dazed. She was slipping in and out of thought, making sense of some of it and absolutely none with the rest.
"What was it, really?" she thought. "Where did it come from? The reindeer? Where did the reindeer come from? How had her father and she found it—or how had it found them? Was it by chance, or on purpose? How could it be by chance?
Shayna had no answers, though the one thing she was absolutely sure of was that this peculiar, little stone, for whatever unknown reason, was extremely important. It was valuable and people wanted it. That's why Shayna was there in the orphanage. Shayna had had what they wanted, and her father wouldn't give it to them. But why wouldn't he? Was it really that important? Did he know something she didn't, or would they have simply taken it and then her father and her anyways?
For the first time, she seriously thought about Et Beautins, The-One-Who-Is-And-Will-Be. Who was he? And Emminutd, what had he known of him? If they were alive would they have had the answers that Shayna was so desperately trying to find? She thought about it for a long time, though it didn't matter. Emminutd was dead—hanged, at that. He would be nowhere to ask.
Shayna thought more and more, and decided to take a moment to pray, like her father and she had done in times of struggle. She didn't know if it would do any good, but her father and she had always made it through whatever it was that had needed prayer. Maybe it would do some good. She started by repeating a prayer that was normal for her father to say.
"Et Beautins, The-One-Who-Is-And-Will-Be. You know all. Look to me, help me. Show me the things I cannot see. Show me the path." She ended.
More and more thoughts were jumping in and out of Shayna's mind as she fell away. She searched deeply for the answers until, finally, she slept. She did so soundly and with no dreams, silently readying herself for the next of her days and the next step of her life.
Vizagge Novenne
(New View)
Nearly a month went by and Shayna was getting used to life at the orphanage, though she still wasn't used to her father being gone. She doubted she ever would. It made Shayna angry and confused. Why hadn't he come back yet? He'd said he would and had lied. A liar—that's all he was, she decided. That was it. There was nothing more to it. Still, Shayna couldn't help but seek for deeper meaning in all of it. A reason—any good reason—as to why her father wouldn't come to get her. The obvious reason would be that he couldn't, because he was gone—for good—but Shayna couldn't bring herself to think that he was. She also just didn't believe it. She still anticipated him, hoping every day that he would show up. Her hope was diminishing, though, and every day he wasn't there was another day she began to doubt. It didn't help when she had to go to her weekly meetings at Psychii, which was a good-for-nothing therapy session for some of the children that the orphanage Head Miss Dubline deemed as "potentially self-threatening, deeply wounded individuals. She hated going to Psychii, which Shayna was smart enough to know did her no good at all. If anything, they just made her feel worse. She wished that Miss Dubline wasn't in charge of it, because she could never open up to her—ever. She was volatile, cruel, and would sometimes completely humiliate Shayna and the other students. She thought Miss Blitzer should be in charge, though she never said so around Miss Dubline for fear of her, who Shayna was discovering had an extremely short-fuse, as she had more than suspected her first day at the orphanage. She'd only seen her yell, but she'd been warned of her doing worse things. She didn't know of them, and she didn't want to know of them. She only hoped she could get by without any conflict between Miss Dubline and herself. She didn't overly worry about her, though. There were other things to think about and do.
Like the doc! Doctor Symond Vert had shown up once a week since Shayna had been at the orphanage. She and the doc had spent a bit of time together and Shayna took up all of it to ask him a lot of questions. Through him she'd discovered what many things were, like the streets and their signs, which had meant stop. She'd learned more of coaches as well, and had seen many. They were strange. Most were still pulled by horses, but some were advanced enough to not need them at all. All of them were made of colored metal and always ringed with the relectricity, as the doc had informed her. In fact, they'd begun speaking of relectricity a lot, which she was discovering everywhere in and out of the orphanage. They'd spoken of it particularly more the last time they had met, which had been only a few days ago.
The doc had approached Shayna. He was wearing a long brown topcoat and a black top hat. His pants were black and his white mustache was trimmed, which Shayna recognized as very normal for him now that she'd been getting to know him more. He approached her at a table in the front near Miss Blitzer's desk. The doc took a moment to greet Miss Blitzer cheerily. Soon he and Shayna began talking alone.
"Hello, Shayna!" greeted the doc.
"Hello, doctor Vert!" said Shayna.
"How are classes? Are you doing well?" he inquired, twirling his mustache.
"They're good!" answered Shayna.
"Good!" said the doc. "What's your favorite?"
Shayna shook her head. "I don't know! They're all pretty good."
"That's good…" he said.
"Yeah," said Shayna. "So, doc… I was wanting to ask you, you know. Relectricity… what is it really? I see it everywhere!"
The doc smiled at that question, almost as if he'd been waiting for Shayna to ask him it all along. "Well…" he started. "Nobody really knows, except for some of the men at Scark."
"What's Scark?" asked Shayna, surprised.
"Scark is a large corporation, which manufactures relectricity. They have various rights and legal documentation which allow them to keep secret how exactly they do it. In return, they provide power to the entire city, which has made life here much simpler. You've probably seen their main building, actually! It's the Turrett Nichtd, the tall tower near central Hemisturn. It was near where we got off at The Central Station."
"Yeah, I remember! The black building," said Shayna.
"That was probably it!' said the doc.
"So…," said Shayna. "Do they have relectricity in other parts of the world too?"
"Well…" said the doc. "No. They don't, because the relectricity can only go so far. The train you and I were on—that's a stretch. It takes a lot of what the relectricity can handle to go that far. It has a limit."
"Oh," said Shayna. "What about all of the other people that live everywhere else in the world? How do they live without it?"
"Well, Shayna," started the doc. "There's quite a lot of poverty outside the city. You've never seen it, I imagine, but many people do not have any great wealth to live by, as we do here."
"What's poverty?" she asked.
"It's when a lot of people have very little money or valuables. It makes life harder for them."
"Oh," said Shayna. "Are a lot of people… um…,"
"Impoverished? Yes, many people. I can assure you, if there was a way to change that I would."
Shayna imagined her father and her in their cabin. There'd been times when they were afraid of freezing or going hungry. They'd had practically nothing, as Shayna could see now. The relectricity changed all of that. The largest worries in the world were turned into imaginary problems.
Shayna thought about all of it, and eventually she couldn't help but think of the red stone, which she'd been carrying with her everywhere, along with the letter her father had written her. They were silent for a moment before she poked at one last question.
"Hey, doc. What do you know about reindeer?"
The doc looked at her strangely, taking what she'd said in for a moment. "Reindeer? I don't know, they're part of The Holy Week! A symbol. I'm afraid that they're not real, though, Shayna, if that's what you're getting at."
Shayna looked at him and thought to argue, but decided against it, smiling at him instead. "Yeah… you're probably right," she said.
"Yes," said the doc. "But if they were real, I'm sure they'd have glowing relectricity noses, just like you said!"
Shayna laughed a little. "I didn't say they were made of relectricity! I just said they're red!"
The doc laughed heartily. "Right, Shayna. My mistake."
Their conversation went on for a bit longer in the same manner, though with less questions. Shayna pondered Scark. How were they able to create the relectricity? She had no answers, but kept the thought in her mind anyways.
Eventually, the doc had to get going back to his wife, who he would usually bring up with something like, "she'll be waiting for me, or at least I hope so!" After that he'd soon leave with, saying "Happy Festivities!" and Shayna would be left on her own again, though she still had some friends. Emi was still nice and fun to be around, and they still ate with Aaronne and Fernan, of the pair at least one of them was likeable enough, and it wasn't Aaronne.
"Aaronne!" thought Shayna. To be around him, who was just as annoying as he was reclusive… it was exhausting. She couldn't stand him, he was so quiet. Anytime she tried to say something to him he would avoid her, sometimes answering slyly or just plain ignoring her. She didn't know why. She hadn't done anything bad to him.
Shayna had been put in second grade with Emi and Fernan, which was just below the beginning grade of middle school. But not Aaronne. He had already made it into middle school with children who were a year older. Apparently, he was a smart kid, though Shayna didn't believe he was any smarter than she was. In fact, she intended to show that she was just as capable of going another level higher. She made it her personal goal at the orphanage: beat Aaronne. She didn't know why, but she had every desire to be better than him. Maybe then he would take notice of her.
So, every day when school began and Shayna's teacher Miss Blitzer, who turned out to be a teacher as well as many other things at the orphanage, began to speak, Shayna listened. She worked hard, but also was among the faster of the children in the class to pick up on things. After nearly a month of schooling, it seemed to be that she had quite the knack for it. It sort of surprised her, because she wasn't sure she'd be able to keep up with children who'd been in the school for a couple years already. But as it turned out all of the reading she'd done with her father was paying off. Not to mention a certain natural ability to remember what she was taught.
One particular day, about three weeks into her schooling, Shayna was approached by Miss Blitzer. She had been holding a paper, which she promptly set down in front of Shayna, somewhat vigorously. She hadn't noticed her because she'd been working on a math paper that every student had been instructed to complete. It covered up the paper she'd been working on. She looked up to see Miss Blitzer, who was wearing her hair in a bun. She had a huge smile on her face and her eyes were set on Shayna happily.
"Look at this!" She told Shayna.
Shayna looked at it. It was a test the class had taken earlier that week, which Shayna hadn't really thought much about. On the paper was a large letter Z, which stood for Zoot and was equivalent to achieving one-hundred percent correctness, as Miss Blitzer had put it to Shayna the first week. Zoot, of course, simply meant correct and complete.
It had been a simple paper, which only consisted of a few lines of sentences that needed correcting. They were simple sentences. There was the subject and verb, which had needed to be properly changed to correspond correctly with one another. That was really all there was to it. Upon seeing her test paper Shayna was surprised at first by Miss Blitzer's excitement, which she oh, so subtly tried to mask as to try not to offend the other children.
"This is fantastic!" said Miss Blitzer only somewhat quietly. "Best in the class, Shayna. Keep it up and you might be able to move up to the next grade." She touched Shayna's shoulder and walked back over to her desk at the front of the room.
Shayna would have smiled at her promising work before, but now she was ecstatic. She hadn't really believed it would be happening that quickly. Miss Blitzer had said to keep it up! If she just continued what she was doing she'd be in third grade in no time. She was even gladder to hear it, because she knew it would help her to show Aaronne that he wasn't so smart he could ignore her whenever he liked. She would tell him as soon as she got the chance, and she did. Aaronne hadn't seemed interested at first, but had begun staring at Shayna even more that day, which Shayna thought meant he was probably jealous, or at least annoyed. Either way, she was happy.
"Thank you, thank you!" she'd said excitedly to Miss Blitzer. She jumped a little bit in her seat, but kept calm enough as to not alert the other children to her success, though she'd suspected Miss Blitzer may have already done that. Shayna liked her and was glad that there was somebody around to be happy for her. It made her feel less alone. Sometimes it even made her feel like the orphanage wasn't all that bad, which Shayna hadn't previously thought impossible.
Shayna thought about everything she'd done and learned since she'd gotten to the orphanage. She'd been taught the classes of Hemisturn History, Basic Mathematics, which she largely already knew thanks to her father, Proper Norticine, which she knew much of thanks once again to her father, and also Music. She loved Music class more than all of them. There were all sorts of instruments that Miss Blitzer would have brought in for the children to play and learn. Shayna had learned what a Eulephone, Bassista, and Orchestrato were so far, and had attempted to play them at least one time. Miss Blitzer always gave them the chance to and had explained that they would be able to pick one for next year's class at the end of the year, when they would begin to practice with it.
The Eulephone was a large horn, which Shayna had liked well enough. It was big and stocky looking, but elegant. It was made of shining brass and detailed with black and white paint. It sounded loud and powerful, which Shayna very much liked about it, but it was also very tiring to play. She was out of breath nearly every time she attempted to play any note, which was done by pushing down one of the five buttons attached to its side. She didn't know the exact mechanics of it all, but it sounded good.
On the other hand, there was the Bassista, which was what Miss Blitzer had referred to as a string instrument. It was long at its end, but wide at its base, which was the end closest to whomever was playing it. The neck of it curved slightly upwardly. It was played by plucking one or more of its seven strings with one hand and holding down certain other strings with the other. Shayna hadn't quite understood how exactly to play it. It seemed somewhat odd, and was very much tedious to learn, which Shayna didn't enjoy at all. It sounded amazing, though. Shayna loved to listen to Yeul play, the man who owned it. He'd told the class that they were all welcome to come down sometime to check out his shop, which he said was right smack dab in the middle of downtown Hemisturn. Shayna was excited to hear that, and eager to go see all of the buildings once more, especially since it was nearing the end of The Holy Week, the last day of which was The Festival. She hoped the orphanage would be able to go.
The last instrument that had been shown to Shayna was the Orchestrato, which could be played on its own, but also in an orchestrollin, or orchestra, which is where its name was derived from. It was a large instrument, which stood on four legs and looked a lot like a table, except it wasn't flat. It had large metal pipes extruding out of its top and circular keys on the front, which were what were used to play it. It sounded amazing, and could create sounds going all the way from the very high to the very low, which excited Shayna a great bit.
Shayna had begun daydreaming of playing it ever since she'd heard it played for the first time. She also couldn't stop imagining playing one in an orchestrollin. She kept picturing in her mind what it would look like, imagining the setting and the band playing. She'd been shown pictures of one orchestrollin that had played last year downtown for The Holy Week, as was annually done. She remembered the images. It was snowing and the ground was covered in a thin layer of pure white snow. The buildings all around were lit up with all of the usual hanging lights and a huge crowd had formed to hear the instruments played. Shayna remembered it clearly and had thought it looked absolutely amazing. She hoped that the orphanage would decide to go. Well, she hoped Miss Dubline would decide to go. She made all of the decisions, large and small around the orphanage. Shayna had seen other adults around besides Miss Dubline and Miss Blitzer, but she'd never been introduced to them. She supposed that they were teachers or caretakers of some kind, or both. She didn't spend much time thinking about it, though. She was much too concerned with other things, like the orchestrollin, or beating Aaronne.
Shayna was in Psychii now, listening to Miss Dubline talk about the different kinds of symptoms that occurred when experiencing deep loss and how it was important to talk openly about some of them while conversing in the room, which she'd deemed as a "sanctum of sharing." Shayna thought that was just stupid.
The room it was held in hardly seemed like a "sanctum", especially with Miss Dubline in it. It had been under some repair as well. One of the brick walls had become too old and had to be replaced with newer brick. The newer brick looked odd compared to the old, and the room was still dirty and cluttered, which didn't at all help the mood of the group or the status of the room as a sanctum. There were stacks of extra bricks against one of the walls too, which was odd-looking to Shayna. She found herself floating from the topic of the group and instead wondering about why the brick-layers had left so many extra bricks. Were they going to knock out another wall? As interesting as that really was, it was still more so than what the Psychii group—what Miss Dubline—was talking about. Shayna had never thought she would ever ponder about anything as dull as bricks, but she was. All thanks to Miss Dubline.
Only the worst orphans were in the group, Aaronne being among them. Their group was made up of the ones who frequently had breakdowns, fits, or who didn't socialize enough. Shayna could see why Aaronne would be in the group; he was so silent. But she couldn't understand why she had to go to the meetings. She hadn't really done anything wrong or been mean to anyone, except Aaronne. Even if she was sad or mad, they wouldn't have known it.
Miss Dubline was talking even louder, though it didn't matter. Shayna wasn't paying attention at all. She just acted like it, sitting in the chair furthest Miss Dubline, her arms crossed over in her lap. She leaned forward slightly, trying to become more comfortable, though unsuccessfully. These meetings were always an extremely long event for Shayna, who didn't want to talk about her feelings at all to anyone, let alone Miss Dubline.
Soon Shayna was dozing, the bricks having become as uninteresting as the group. Miss Dubline, who had just previously begun what would have become a long rant, took quick notice. "Shayna!" she yelled loudly in her stormy voice. "Are you sleeping?"
Shayna perked up quickly. "No."
"Really? It looked to me like you were sleeping."
She ended her sentence like that. Shayna felt very awkward and all of the other kids were looking at her, waiting for her to respond. Aaronne was not among them. If anything he seemed very much disinterested, although he did roll his eyes. Shayna could tell that he was just waiting for Miss Dubline to get it all over with so he could get out of there, just like she was.
Nobody spoke for a long time. Shayna let it draw on for quite a while, leaving the most uncomfortable of silences in the space between her and Miss Dubline. She didn't know what to say. She'd already refuted Miss Dubline. What more did she want?
"So, you won't admit to it," she said. "You know, that's a real issue. We should work on that together. Your etiquette needs real work."
Shayna raised an eyebrow. She didn't know what she meant. She hadn't done anything wrong.
Miss Dubline continued on. "I'm not just talking about sleeping during these sessions, though, but also at lunch! I've seen you—you eat sloppily! I think that this has all gone on long enough, don't you?"
Shayna sat silently. She was messy, but still. What was Miss Dubline getting at? What was the big issue and why did she seem so upset?
"No doubt it's due to your loss, which I am dearly sorry for!" she continued, making a very fake apologetic face. "But no worries, you can change. Isn't that great? Do you know what makes for good change?"
Shayna was confused. She had no idea what Miss Dubline was talking about, which frustrated her. She would have been angry if she wasn't so intimidated of Miss Dubline and her size. She was huge, and seemed infinitely larger to Shayna, whom she was beginning to frighten tremendously. An eerie feeling came over Shayna.
"You don't know?" asked Miss Dubline in clarification.
Shayna simply shook her head.
"Punishment," said Miss Dubline, who at that moment grinned in the slightest manner.
Everybody's ear perked at that word, though not Aaronne's. He did change though, and seemed to be looking out in front of himself, not tired anymore. He seemed to be concentrating. On what, Shayna didn't know.
"Do you know what my folks used to do back when I was a kid and didn't behave properly?" inquired Miss Dubline.
Shayna didn't say anything. She shook her head a little, gulping.
"Well, they would," said Miss Dubline, getting up and walking behind her chair. She reached for a long tannish pointer stick that was leaning against the wall in the corner of the room. "They would… take something like this and, well… Shayna, can you think of what they might have done?"
Shayna froze. She didn't say anything.
Miss Dubline was smiling openly now, her fat cheeks making a blob of her face. She looked right at Shayna, waiting for a response. "No? Here, it's simple. Let me show you." She ushered with her hand for Shayna to come closer. "Don't be shy."
Shayna didn't move. She wasn't going anywhere near Miss Dubline.
Miss Dubline looked at Shayna more sternly. "Now."
Shayna still didn't move. She was tenser than she'd ever been.
"Shayna, now!" yelled Miss Dubline.
She still didn't move. She only looked at her, terrified. Her eyes were shining blue, but pale. She could only stare.
Miss Dubline marched herself over to where Shayna was sitting. She slammed her foot down every step and seemed to Shayna to be shaking the ground. She was so big.
"Get up, you twit!" she growled, grabbing Shayna by the ear, losing it completely.
"Aaaah!" screamed Shayna. "Don't, don't!"
Miss Dubline shoved Shayna into the wall and immediately began to hit Shayna over and over with no concern for as to where. She was striking angrily and blindly, all over Shayna's body. Shayna scrunched herself into the wall, keeping herself turned away from Miss Dubline to avoid being struck in the face, and began screaming.
"Help!" she yelled, knowing Miss Dubline was beyond quitting. Surely somebody would help her. Maybe one of the other kids would at least try, though she doubted they'd succeed. She didn't care, she couldn't think, it was so painful.
Miss Dubline began yelling again. "Think you don't have to listen to ME?! Think again, little girl! You're under MY roof, MY shelter. MY RULES!" She was relentless, though she was running out of breath. She just carried on, panting heavily.
"Help!" tried Shayna again. "Somebody! Help me!"
"Shut up!" yelled Miss Dubline. "YOU SHUT U—." Her yelling suddenly stopped. Shayna heard two loud thuds against the floor. She no longer felt the whipping sting of the pointing stick against her, though her body still stung in pain. She dropped to the ground, facing the wall and crying. She didn't know what had happened. She didn't care. She only cared about it ending.
A minute or two passed as she cried. The other children were staring at her blankly, unsure of how to react. Shayna noticed that Rosii was among them for the first time. She must've also been part of the Psychii session, though Shayna wasn't sure how she hadn't noticed her then. She was crying, as some others were, though none of them moved. One child was standing.
After Shayna was done crying she turned around, putting her back against the wall. The first thing she noticed was Miss Dubline, who was lying face first against the ground, unconscious. The next thing she noticed was Aaronne staring down at Miss Dubline. He stood there, tears streaming down his eyes. Next to Dubline, on Aaronne's left side, was a brick.
Shayna's mouth was open wide in surprise. She didn't know what to do—what to say. After a few moments the only thing she could think to do was mouth, quietly and simply, "Thank you."
Aaronne was still tense. His hands were shaking uncontrollably. Shayna got up and walked over to him, pressing her face into his shirt. She began crying again. He wouldn't take his eyes off Miss Dubline. "Yeah," he nodded.
Shayna and he stood by Miss Dubline for a long time. She didn't want to think about what would happen when she woke up. Shayna cried for a long while longer, wondering why she deserved any of it. She wanted to go back home, she wanted her father—the cabin. She wanted Nortisha and to be away from the orphanage. It had turned from a new, mysterious place to something awful, full of hate and pain. Why did she have to feel that way? Why was she so alone?
But she wasn't alone, even if she did feel so. She looked up towards Aaronne, whom she'd thought annoying and full of himself. Quiet and dull. He hadn't been anything special, just a pain. The one thing that had been standing in the way of her being somewhat happy in the orphanage. She'd looked at him with angry eyes, trying to make him jealous of her success, but now she could only look at him with sad, regretful eyes. They were pale blue and shining in her tears. They were still looking up to Aaronne. He was blonde, but he wasn't that peculiar blonde child who stared anymore. He was Aaronne, quiet and thoughtful. And deep. He wasn't as she'd thought at all. Shayna just hadn't been able to see.
After a while, Shayna began to speak again. Many of the children around them were sniffling now, Rosii not included, finally getting over their cries. Others were just staring at the ground, incapable of saying or doing anything.
Shayna and Aaronne were in the same position they had been. She was clinging onto Aaronne and he was standing plainly, now looking towards the wall, his hands to his side. His face wasn't red anymore, his hands weren't shaking, and his eyes were dry. He was calm.
Shayna was the first to speak. "Why?"
Aaronne looked at the wall a moment longer, then down to Shayna. "Why what?"
"Why help me?"
Aaronne looked up for a moment at the wall again and then back down to her. "Why not?"
"What if it hadn't worked?" asked Shayna.
Aaronne nodded his head back towards the direction of the other children. "Being here is better than being there."
Shayna looked to the other children. They just sat there sniffling, wishing they weren't there. Shayna didn't blame them, but also didn't blame Aaronne for wanting to do what he did.
Shayna nodded and pressed her head into his shirt. "You're strong."
Aaronne shook his head. "No. No, I'm not strong."
Shayna was surprised to hear him deny her. "Yes, you are. Look what you did!" They both looked over to Miss Dubline.
"I was lucky," he replied. "A hundred different things could have been wrong and it wouldn't have worked."
Shayna shook her head. "No," she said. "You were supposed to save me."
Aaronne looked at her strangely. "How could you know that?"
Shayna shook her head once again and shrugged a little. She was quiet. "I don't know… I just do, okay?"
Aaronne didn't say anything for a moment and then shook his head again. "No… what if we had been in a different room? What if there had been no bricks? What if I'd been too afraid? What if I hadn't—?"
"—But you did. It was Et Beautins!" she said suddenly. "The-One-Who-Is-And-Will-Be. The one I prayed to my first night here! It must have been. I prayed to him for help. To help me see what I couldn't! And now I see you!"
At that Aaronne looked away again, as far away from Shayna as he could. He sighed and didn't say anything. He only shook his head again.
"Don't you believe me?"
"What—that you prayed?" said Aaronne aggressively, backing away from Shayna. She followed him, holding on to his shirt.
"No, not that!" said Shayna, upset by Aaronne's sudden frustration. "It was Et Beautins. Don't you believe that?" Shayna looked up to him, hoping for anything. She wanted him to believe it. She needed him to so that she could. If he didn't then how was she to know if any of it was true? Her father had told her of Et Beautins only so often, and they only ever prayed during times of uncertainty, like when a large storm would come by or when her father couldn't find any game and was left to fear for starvation. Shayna had had faith in her father then—and certainty. He had always known what to do and how to act. He always figured things out no matter what. But now she had no certainty, and Aaronne could give it to her. Why wouldn't he just give it to her?
Aaronne looked away. "Shayna, let go of me. I don't know what you're talking about."
"No!" said Shayna becoming upset and beginning to cry again. "You said it yourself—it could have all went wrong, but it didn't! There's a reason, there has to be! You must know that."
Aaronne had begun shaking his head even before she'd finished speaking. "I don't know anything."
Shayna punched Aaronne. Once, twice, three times. Aaronne didn't do anything. He just stood there. Shayna hurt so much. The pain that had been so prominent before was beginning to return worse than ever. She couldn't stop crying now. It was just like when she first left her cabin in Nortisha. Again she felt so alone and helpless. She was giving up. She didn't care about anything anymore and she couldn't think about anything. Her body ached with loss, but it just didn't matter. It was going to hurt, she was going to cry. That was it. Aaronne must be right. He'd been lucky and she'd been saved, but for no real reason. Just because.
Aaronne stood there motionless and still looking away. He slowly put his arms around Shayna and embraced her, staring again towards the wall.
Nobody stirred until far past the normal end time of the Psychii session. The shock and awe had been far too much, and far too horrific. Finally, the door to the room opened and in entered Miss Blitzer, who immediately noticed that something was wrong. She scanned the room, noticing the crying children, a look of terrific concern on her face.
"What happ—Aaahhh!!!" she screamed loudly, noticing Miss Dubline.
Shayna and Aaronne looked towards her, their eyes tearful. They both wondered what would await for them next.
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