Great Heads

13: Should He Go?

As I caught my breath bending my knees, my eyes suddenly alighted on a figure by the edge of the platform near the lake. 

It was a familiar black-haired person.

With no doubt it was Kaleb, I went a bit closer to this person leaning my head forward to see him. It was actually him. 

I didn’t make the slightest noise. I stood there feeling annoyed as he had literally made me run for nothing.

 Also, seeing how Kaleb was, I wondered why he looked that way. His position said sad. The way he sat with his legs folded made him look like a child who had just been abandoned by his parents. 

I did not feel pity for him and wasn’t expecting myself to. All I wanted was to confront him and bellow out my anger. I would ask him why he chose to make me worry. I would ask him why he didn’t head back home to Pa. I would warn him never to… Never to…

I started to hear moaning noises from him. My head moved slightly forward as I tried to confirm if what I heard was correct. The sound continued. I gingerly walked a little closer and found out that what I had heard was affirmative. The noise came from him. Stranger Boy was making noises, and it wasn’t the happy kind. It startled me. I wasn’t sure if he actually had tears streaming down his eyes, but it sounded likely. 

He buried his head into his knees and the noise continued. I was out of words. I didn’t know what to say to him or how I was supposed to react to this. I was told his kind didn’t have any sort of feelings. Except the feeling of rage and pleasure that came from killing. I was perplexed. This was something new to me.

“Maybe pretence.” I thought.

I decided to snub his act and confront him anyway when I heard him say,

“I have no home.” He began his speech with a mixture of anger and a bit of a sad feeling. “I can’t go back to that bloody hell of a land. I’m in a completely strange land where I’m different from the others. I don’t belong here. These people don’t know me. They’ll never accept me for me. I don’t want here. I want home. The feeling of home. I thought I’d been found but I’m wrong. One doesn’t just find home.”

He now wiped his face and spoke in a plain angry tone.

“They will pay for this. Alec, mother, father, I shall avenge your deaths. I shall.”

He spoke, breathing angrily and unsteady. He now stood up. He turned around as if to leave, then his eyes saw me who was standing in complete ignorance of what to do. Our eyes met and what mine saw were a set of completely cold reddish-brown eyes.

He didn’t say anything. He just ignored my presence like I was some invincible nothing. He walked past me with this freezing expression that revealed how he felt inside.

Maybe yelling out at him right now wasn’t the best choice. I wasn’t scared, no. I was just cautious. He didn’t seem to be in a good mood after all.

 Also, he was a Rocainian who was capable of killing or doing something dangerous at any time he pleased. Evil was something they were all born with. He probably wasn’t worth my shouting. I should let him be. 

I wasn’t sure what that was all about but knew that the aura I felt from him was this dark sinister atmosphere and also a cold breeze which left behind goosebumps. 

Afternoon hours,

At home…

A big black pot of chicken soup boiled over the blazing fire. The aroma left my nose with a tingle of delight. I waited impatiently in great anticipation.

 Aunt Amila now let down the pot of soup as it was now ready for consumption. She had her mittens on as she opened it letting out a large amount of steam from the pot. Using a large curved wooden spoon, she dished an amount of soup, and blew on it before finally putting her lips on it to slurp the special Amila’s Chicken soup.

A smile hovered as she moaned in pleasure. 

“Perrrfect.” She said, “Come Darla. Have a taste of my special Chicken broth.”

With excitement, I scooted from my spot to go have a taste of this long-awaited delicacy.

“Delightful,” I said as the soup made contact with my taste buds. “Magnificent.”

“As always. You see, it takes a couple of burns and scars to get to this point. I have had so many beg even for just the tiniest drop of this wonderful soup. It took me some working years to master this recipe. Darla, you may not really catch many eyes with such fashion sense.” She said looking at the brown gown I wore that had big pockets at the front and a black crop hoodie top at the upper part, with distaste. “But if you master this recipe plus that beautiful face of yours, girl you will conquer. With this magic over here, I have won so many…”

She said this, shaking the upper part of her body showing how excited she felt from just talking about her special soup. She then stopped the motion and looked at me who just gave her a look.

“I better stop there. You know you’re still young and light-minded. You shouldn't focus on the gents for now. Ah, you pretty little thing.” She said pinching my face the way she usually did.

“Quit calling me that,” I said feeling embarrassed and removing her hand from my cheeks. “I’m not pretty nor am I a little thing.”

“But you are pretty. Maybe you’d see that if you weren’t such a tom-boy.”

Her demeanor now changed. She didn’t speak again for some time. She now smiled at me with beautiful yet worried-looking eyes. I suspected a hidden feeling behind that grin. What was it now?

 In the calmest way ever, she spoke softly to me showing how she really felt.

She asked, “How are you, Darla? Are you coping fine?”

I didn’t really grasp her question quickly, in fact, I didn’t understand what she meant by that until she spoke further.

“The Rocainian child. Does he bother you?”

 I said an ‘oh’ as I now understood.

I didn’t give her a reply as I didn’t know how to construct one. He did bother me and at the same time didn’t. He was a silent killer. Him being a Rocainian alone was bothersome. But she meant if he actually did bother me. 

Aunty Amila now heaved a sigh as she took my silence for a yes. 

“Darla, I know your old man could be a bit of an eccentric sometimes but we got to do something about it. Don’t you agree?”

She asked with persuasive eyes. She now lowered her voice almost in a whisper but still higher than one.

“We don’t speak of that day doesn’t mean it never happened. You saw what that child did, the killing. How we were attacked by that man. Everything. Forget about hurting your Pa’s feelings, just think about the safety of everyone including yourself. What do you think Darla? Hmm? It’s traumatizing just thinking that I would’ve had my throat slit back there. Darla?” She called my name as if wanting my quick response.

“I don’t…” I said but couldn’t really get my tongue to speak further.

“I’ve already thought of reporting him to the town’s Chief. He’ll be in town tomorrow for the festival. The chief will take it from here.”

“Then what will happen after that? What will they do to him?”

“He’ll probably be sent out of Forestille for good. He’ll be made to go back to his homeland. We won’t have to worry anymore. Just like that. It may seem like a tough choice but Darla, my young one, I’ve always thought of you as my own and would consider only the best for you. What do you say? I need your decisive opinion on this. I will listen to whatever decision you come up with and respect it.”

“W-why do you need me to decide on this?” I won’t lie, I felt uncomfortable about it. It seemed like everything was on me. “You are Aunty Amila after all. You can decide to do whatever. Why ask me first?”

She spoke worriedly saying, “I didn’t want to act on my own. You’re also a part of this.” She then turned the other way and spoke with an even more worried voice, “The truth is that I really don’t want to be selfish. I also can’t deny I feel an ounce of guilt towards that boy. He’s just a young child like you are but from Rocain.”

Now facing me, “We shouldn’t take chances because of our kind nature, right?”

“You said the village’s chief will send him away?” I couldn’t hide my worried voice as I asked.

“It will be discussed by the elders but very likely. He’ll have to go back to his home.”

I was undeniably baffled by the whole situation. My mind couldn’t help but remember what Kaleb had said to himself as he sat all cuddled up on the deck right next to the lake.

His voice echoed repeatedly in my head, “I have no home.”

‘Oh good gracious.’

I shook my head as I no longer felt right. Aunty Amila now noticed and said, “Darla you don’t have to worry yourself right now.” Her voice was normal. “We’ll meet again for dinner. Enjoy the special broth I made for you and Pa.”

She now sighed with a smile on, hugged me then gave me a kiss on the head before heading to the kitchen’s exit door. She paused as she got to the door.

 She looked at me and gave me a nod as if telling me to make the right choice. She then completely left the place leaving me with a burden-like feeling.

What was I supposed to do? I only wanted peace.