Chapter 5: Aiden

Kylie cut a downtrodden figure as she made her way back to her hostel. Her eyes were unfocused, her body moving on muscle memory alone; for her head was filled with images of one she held dear; one who was here before but was no more. She missed her brother and best partner. She longed to see the one who ruffled her hair every time whilst cackling in gracious laughter that she was his honeybee.

“Sigh. I miss you Kylan. I wish you were here. This world is so much more difficult to understand without you here to walk it with me. You promised you would always protect me remember?” Kylie smiled forlornly as she looked into the late afternoon sky. Her eyes caught the retreating figure of the sun as it descended behind the clouds and slowly gave way to the night. Her brother was like that celestial object. He came and shone in her life, giving her eyes vision and her life hope and he disappeared just as quickly; but unlike the sun, he didn’t reappear. Her lost mind couldn’t help but fiddle through the many memories of her brother. As though screening through several movie reels many clips of their time together flashed past her eyes. And like every person who visited the cinema, Kylie chose a reel – a memory that kept repeating over and over again. If she was a cinema lover, she would have certainly fallen into the category of people who ‘always watch the same movie’. And once that clip started, it went on and on.

“You’re reading those books again?” A young Kylie raced towards her brother and acrobatically leaped over his shoulder. She twisted her body midair and landed stably – with a book in her hand.

“Sigh. Give it back Honeybee.” A young boy who shared in Kylie’s looks smiled bitterly and beckoned to her. The only difference between the two was that this boy wore a large pair of metal-rimmed glasses whilst Kylie did not. He was slightly on the scrawny side and had the air of a scholar for he smelled of many books. This boy was Kylan. At least that was what he looked like in Kylie’s memories.

“I don’t want to,” Kylie stuck out her tongue cutely, much to Kylan’s despair.

“Come on. Just give it back Honeybee,” Kylan lazily got off the large couch and approached his sister. He scratched his head and turned his face to the side; yet from the corner of his eye he was closely observing Kylie’s movements. And then he moved.

“Not so fast Mister,” Kylie giggled loudly as she leapt out of the way. Her leap took her over the large couch her brother was lying on before she came here.

“Come on Honeybee!” Kylan pleaded exasperatedly. His sluggish movements suggested that he wasn’t as athletic as his sister. In fact, that was the truth; an unfortunate truth that meant that whenever Kylie interrupted his reading time – which was often – he had to depend on her kindness to get his book back.

“What is so fun about this stuff anyway? Nothing they write here is real.” Kylie flipped through the pages of the book with a curious expression on her face. Her swift brain was able to piece its genre together with just a cursory glance. The book in her hand was a fictional one. It spoke of creatures that weren’t real and powers that were clearly fake. Her brother was fond of such books and she didn’t understand why. Why was he so fixated on the unreal instead of the real? Sure the real was difficult to navigate, but that was where they found themselves. They had no choice but to give more attention to what was true.

“Because this world is tiring,” Kylan chuckled as his eyes lit up. Seeing that Kylie was engrossed with the contents of his book he thought he had an opening. He leapt at her once again. Yet Kylie easily got out of the way.

“You have to do better than that if you want to catch me,” Kylie shook her finger disapprovingly like a disappointed mother reprimanding her underachieving son. The expression on her face was so spot on that Kylan couldn’t keep the laughter that threatened to spill out in.

“You have Mom’s expression spot on,” Kylan couldn’t help but admit. And Kylie soon bent over laughing as well.

“Here,” Kylie handed her brother’s book back to him once she was finally able to recollect herself.

“Thanks,” Kylan received the book with a pleased expression on his face. And he made sure to rub Kylie’s head whilst he was at it, a feat which wasn’t difficult for he was a head taller than his sister.

“Ugh,” Kylie rolled her eyes in feigned exasperation at her older brother’s actions. Kylan was only a year older than her, but he was much more mature that she was. Even so, he treated her very well and gave in to every one of her whims.

“Why did you come here anyway?” Kylan kept rubbing Kylie’s head like he hadn’t heard her grunt of disapproval. His sister was much faster than him. If she didn’t like his head rubs, she would never have allowed him to do it.

“Well, Mom asked me to come tell you that Uncle Sam will be coming today. She said to prepare yourself.” Kylie’s eyes brightened when she mentioned Uncle Sam, and a small squeal of excitement which she couldn’t restrain escaped her throat.

“Awesome!” Kylan’s reaction was just as animated as his sister’s. “I’d get ready right away!” he exclaimed before running towards his washroom. From their reactions one could see that whoever this Uncle Sam was, he was dearly loved by the two.

“Okay! I’d go get ready too!” Kylie screamed at her brother’s retreating figure before leaving his room and bolting towards hers. And that was where the memory ended. Yet once it did, it just started from the beginning. Like a cycle this kept happening, and Kylie was lost in a trance of her own making.

Kylie stood there for several minutes. Those minutes soon became hours and those hours stretched deeply into the night. In her own mind she could see nothing but her brother. However, reality was much different.

“Hello?” a hand gently landed on Kylie’s shoulder and shook her awake. Her reverie abruptly ended and her mind returned to its sharp state. On instinct she reached out and caught the arm of the one who had awakened her. With great accuracy and speed unbefitting of a human she twisted the arm that wasn’t hers and moved behind this person.

“Ouch! Calm down please! I only wanted to help!” the gentleman who woke her up was quite startled by the unexpected burst of strength and speed. He grimaced in pain as his arm was held unnaturally behind him.

“I am sorry!” Kylie came to herself when she heard his plea and quickly released the man. Her face was genuinely apologetic and regretful.

“No worries,” the man smiled kindly whilst stretching his now sore arm. “Are you okay? You were just staring into the sky.” The man asked. Now that he stood before her, Kylie could see that he was a good two heads taller than her. He had a kind smile and beautiful black eyes that radiated wisdom and a bit of mystery. The hair upon his heard was as thick as a collie’s yet ironically his beard was neatly trimmed. He wore a large overcoat that concealed his actual clothes. He looked like he was in his twenties but he seemed much more mature than his age – whatever it was.

“I was out for that long?” Kylie mumbled to herself in surprise.

To her the dream was but for a moment. She didn’t think she had stood her for several hours!

“I’m sorry?” the man asked politely, having missed her soft whisper.

“Oh it’s nothing,” Kylie quickly waved her arms with an anxious smile on her face. How was she supposed to explain that she had been lost in her thoughts for hours to a total stranger? And it was only now that Kylie realised that it was a bit chilly. She shook slightly - and the man took notice.

“You must be freezing. Here, have my jacket.” The young man took off his jacket to reveal the thin white T-shirt he wore underneath paired with the tight denim jeans that concealed his long legs. Before Kylie could kindly reject his offer, he wrapped his jacket around her, providing her with much needed warmth.

“Thank you,” Kylie whispered with a small smile on her face. The jacket had warmed her body, but the man’s actions warmed her heart. After all, how many were willing to do this for a total stranger?

“My pleasure. You can keep it. You need it more.” The gentleman smiled and said. Then he stretched out his arm and offered Kylie his open hand for a handshake.

“My name is Aiden. What’s yours?”

“Kylie,” she said and placed her smaller hand into his giant palm.

“Nice to meet you Kylie.”

“What’s the time please?” Kylie asked.

“It’s almost ten,” Aiden replied.

“Oh no!” Kylie’s face went pale at the mention of the time.

“Is anything the matter? Can I assist in any way?’ Aiden asked worriedly.

“No please. I have to go!” Kylie rumbled before taking off. She had a ton of assignments to finish and time was against her. Added to the fact that she had a 7 am lecture the next morning, it sure was the worst situation to be in. And no one could help her with this.

“So that’s the woman you’re interested in Brother. She is indeed interesting.” Aiden smiled faintly and said whilst watching Kylie’s figure darting past the several streetlights that illuminated the campus road.

“Ouch!” Kylie grimaced as she accidentally scratched her forearm on the metal fence of her hostel. But this wasn’t the time to be delaying so she just went on without bothering to check the wound.

Under the night sky the light of the moon and several stars shone onto the fence, highlighting the area that had drawn a bit of Kylie’s blood. And it was under the gaze of such celestial witnesses that adorned the great darkened sky and no one else, that something strange happened. The part that had cut Kylie was slightly rusted. Yet under the baptism of her blood the rust slowly peeled away. And as the rust disappeared Kylie’s blood was absorbed, leaving the old metal shiny and new!

Some of her blood also fell on the soil below. It was absorbed into it and though nothing happened, the slight flickering of the soil suggested the birth of something that would be in no way ordinary.