Transparent Color's
Chapter 8

The morning light shines on my face; I can feel the warmth on my cheeks, so I open my eyes. I stretch and then look at my leg with the cut. It’s a pretty deep cut, which could use stitches but that’s not an option, so I just clean it off and squeeze the sides of the opening together and wrap it back up tight.

I finally notice my surroundings; what I see makes me feel peaceful and serene. There are large trees spread out as far as the eye can see. The trees reach up seeming to touch the sky. With reddish looking bark and red/brown leaves, they sway slightly from side to side. The ground is full of leaves and twigs I used last night for the fire. There are no bushes or any other plants in sight, only the trees. Where did these trees come from? With their height we would surely be able to see them from the City. But then again the field went further than I thought; maybe we covered a great distance from the City.

The trees almost feel alive; when I lean back on my resting spot I almost feel a slight movement of a pulse. I jerk forward off the tree to look at the bark. I touch the rough exterior and laugh at the absurd thought. I then smell the crystal clear air and forget all about it; I turn to see Toby still asleep. I’ll let him sleep a little longer, so I can get breakfast started. I use a red pill this time to see red berries appear.

I wake Toby up; he yawns then stretches before opening his eyes. When he finally opens his eyes a big smile crosses his face. Over hearing, he whispers to himself, “Wow, it’s amazing here.”

We eat our breakfast and after decide to go explore the area. Toby starts skipping ahead of me singing one of the play time songs from the City.

“Skip, skip, skipping along! Skip, skip, skipping along! Skip, skip, skipping along! Skipping along all day! Where are you skipping to, where are you skipping to, where are you skipping to, SIR! I do not know, so therefore I cannot say.”

Hmm there might be truth to that song; we certainly don’t know where we are skipping to. My mind drifts off to the City as he continues to sing. I wonder what has happened there since we’ve gone. What happened with Clara and her friend, if Anna is still cheery as ever, if Jimmy found a mate? Oh God what if the Organizers are out looking for me and Toby at this moment? Where are we supposed to go? I didn’t even once think about what we were supposed to do after leaving the City. Our food and water is limited, we have no shelter, and what if we run into wild glowing creatures again like last night. We have no weapons to protect ourselves. I should have thought this through before acting out the escape plan but everything just happened so fast. How was I supposed to think it all through? Ugh! Magolin don’t doubt yourself now! But really was the City all that bad? Have I put Toby and myself in more danger now? Geez my mind is going all over the place. I bring my hands to my head and clinch my eyes closed in hopes my mind will stop thinking.

“Maggie come here! Hurry up!” I hear a yell.

I immediately open my eyes and focus in on Toby standing about thirty yards in front of me, I go running to him.

“What Toby? Are you okay?” I bend down, grabbing his shoulders. His eyes are wide and he points to the ground to the left of him. I look down and there is the man, who once was a statue.

A little terrified at the sight of the man lying to the side of me, I don’t really know what I should do. So I replace a long twig and start poking him, when I get no reaction I put the twig down, “He must be dead, let’s keep moving.” I start to walk away but Toby doesn’t follow.

“Aren’t you going to see if he’s breathing Maggie? You can’t just poke him with a stick and conclude he is dead,” Toby says to me in such a mature manner. But he is right; I am just scared to touch the man again.

“Yes Toby, you are right, I’ll check his breathing.” I start to slowly walk over to the body on the ground, once I reach him I go down onto my knees and put my index and middle fingers on his neck to feel his pulse.

Bump, bump, bump, bump. “He has a pulse.” Toby leans in closer.

I bring my left ear to his chest and feel his weak breathing. With my eyes closed for a moment, my head slightly goes up and down with his breathing. I start to drift again but I quickly shake that feeling off and sit up.

“He’s alive but I…” I look down and notice his cracked lips. “He needs water.”

I move in front of his head and put his head up on my lap, then I take my canteen off, which is almost halfway gone now; I start pouring it on to his face and into his mouth. I hear a little groan and see his eyes flutter slightly open, then close again.

After hours of this man going in and out of sleep and me giving him more water, it is early in the afternoon before he finally awakens. He’s not fully aware yet but I see his green eyes now. I tell him that I am going to make some food. I see him staring at me as I create the fire. I take three pills out and another fish appears along with berries. His eyes pierce me. I start to feel uncomfortable with his eyes constantly watching me.

Once the food is done I grab a large leaf and place his portion on it. I bring it to him, “Do you need help?” he does not respond, all he does is stare at me, it’s really starting to irritate me.

So I ask again but with a sterner voice, “Do you need help?”

With a wince of his eyes he finally opens his mouth, “No”.

“Good.” I place the food in front of him, “So you can talk? Well I don’t know where you’re from but where I’m from its rude to stare.”

I don’t know why I feel the need to be on the defensive, I just do. Maybe it’s because I emptied the rest of my canteen of water on a complete stranger, who was once a statue. Or maybe it’s the fear of him; the fear of the unusual feeling I get around him.

He doesn’t respond so I move to the other side of the fire and start eating my portion of food. I see Toby moving closer and closer to the man, I motion for him to get back next to me but he ignores me. Kids! Once Toby is right next to him, he starts talking.

“Hello, my name is Toby and that’s Maggie.” Toby’s head kind of slants, “Weren’t you a statue?”

I see a smile creep across the man’s face, “Hello Toby.” He puts his hand out to shake Toby’s, Toby smiles and shakes it.

“My name is Maliki. For twenty years, yes I was kind of like a statue, I would say more frozen in place. I could still hear and see everything in front of me.” He gives me a little glance and then looks back at Toby.

I feel my face turning red, I think about how every morning I would stand by the fence just staring at him. I think he’s trying to make me feel embarrassed, that is why he looked at me, right? This now angers me. Ugh! I am an emotional rollercoaster!

“How were you frozen? Some people around the City say the Controller did it.” The boy is too curious. Although I have to admit I’m pretty curious myself.

“Um. Yeah it’s complicated. So why did you all leave?” He rubs his head and seems a little tense, so I pressure him more about it.

“Why is it complicated? What is the reason for him freezing you?” I say in a somewhat exaggerated way.

He looks at me with a grin, “Where I’m from when someone says it’s complicated that usually means don’t press the matter.” Before I can say something back he goes on, “So Maggie is it? I would like to thank you for nursing me back to health and sharing your food. That was very kind of you.” He looks me right in the eyes.

Taken aback by his remark, I can’t help but say confusedly “You’re welcome.” Then look down at my empty leaf. Maybe he’s not so bad.

Toby and Maliki continue talking, and I’m sitting here like a doofus looking at an empty leaf. I can’t believe how ridiculous I’m being, I’m never shy, maybe anti-social but that’s a choice. When I have something to say I say it! I clear my throat, “Maliki, are there any other towns or cities we could go to?”

He looks over at me with such care on his face, with his voice reflecting “Yes, it’s where I’m headed.”

“Oh, how far is it from here?”

“It’s a pretty long journey. It can be dangerous if you don’t know where you are going.” His eyes don’t leave mine; I feel they will never leave unless I tell them too.

“Could we go with you?”

“Yes.”