…
An hour later they’d got no further than outside the station. Mellysa was starting to wonder what was really going on, Ference seemed to know more than he was letting on, and it worried her. She trusted him, but it still worried her.
He could tell she was unsure, and wished he could tell her the whole truth, he knew what was coming, what was going to happen. It scared even him, but he knew that if he told them, they would walk away and leave, never to be seen again.
A sudden movement from Kathi made both Mellysa and Ference jump.
“What are we doing? Where are we going? Who are you?” She was practically screaming at Ference, he looked startled, but really he’d been expecting such an outburst sometime. “And why are we following you?” she added, for good measure.
“We’re trying to avoid being annihilated by that menace from the train. We’re going to Mellysa’s aunt Emma’s. I am Ference, no titles, just Ference, and I have no idea why you’re ‘following’ me” He surprised himself how calm he was being with her, she’d just blown up in his face for seemingly no reason.
She was silent at this response. Mellysa watched, concerned that one or the other of them might blow up even more at the other. She watched as tempers seemed to flare up. Realising the imminent explosion she jumped between them.
“Look, Kathi, we’re all pretty scared, okay? We’re all strangers, practically got thrown together today, just CALM DOWN, or go home, two choices”
Kathi looked at Mellysa, well, glared at her.
“They say the truth hurts, but you’ve no right to blow up like that, really”
Kathi stared at her, opening and closing her mouth a few times as if to start talking. Nothing came out. Eventually she turned around and walked away, back into the station.
Mellysa and Ference stood there for a moment, not quite sure what to do next, then they looked at each other and shrugged.
“So, Fer-” She paused to chuckle at the nickname she seemed to have given him “Where are we going to now?”
They both looked around for a map of the area, Mellysa had no idea where they actually were, even though she’d looked at the sign when they’d got off the train.
After a moment of looking she found a map and whistled low and loud.
“We’ve got a long way to go”
“We do?” Suddenly he was behind her, staring over her shoulder at the map, she found it both comforting and disturbing.
“Yeah, look, we have to get from here, all the way to there” She put one finger on one edge of the map, and the other some way towards the other edge and closer to the top.
“Such is life. Come on, we’d better get moving”
Chapter 5
As they walked along, they started talking, slowly Ference seemed to open up a little. He told her all he knew about the ‘menace’ as he’d come to call it, where he’d seen it before, and how. Most of all, he explained the scaring.
“I first saw this ‘Menace’ about ten years ago, where, would surprise you, and you probably wouldn’t believe me anyway-”
“Try me” She was about ready to believe anything. He looked around at her and smiled, something that seemed to be a rather rare occurrence.
“Another planet, a long way from here”
“You were right, it is a little farfetched”
“But you believe me?”
“To a certain degree”
“You’re the first” He stopped talking, and they walked on in silence for a while
Suddenly, he broke the silence again.
“What made you trust me?”
“I… don’t really know, you just seemed genuine enough on the train, and it didn’t feel right outside. I don’t make a habit of trusting strangers but it seemed the right thing to do” He was silent for a moment.
“So… you weren’t bothered by…” He trailed off, he’d never enjoyed talking about how he’d got the scars.
“I noticed, sure, but that was all. I don’t judge on appearances Fer”
His turn to chuckle at the nickname.
“Nobody’s been daring enough to shorten my name like that”
“My brother, Leo. He’s the only person who can call me anything but Mellysa. He calls me Mellie, rather cute, really”
After a short lapse into silence again, Mellysa spoke again.
“So… what happened? Why the scarring?”
Ference almost shrunk back into his secretive self, but found that he trusted her.
----------------------------------------
"It all started a long time ago" He looked up at the sky, it was close to midnight now, and the sky was clear, realising it was getting cold he glanced at Mellysa.
"Cold?"
"Sorry? oh, yeah, kinda" She was shivering slightly. She was surprised to find a coat being put around her shoulders.
"Don't want you freezing now, do we?"
"Hmm, no, I guess not" The gesture worried her a little, but she WAS cold, so it was appreciated.
"Now, where was I? Oh yes." He returned to staring up at the sky, hands in pockets.
"It didn't all happen at the same time, first it was just someone elses accident happening to me. To clarify all this, I'm sort of one of those people that gets sent places to fight some pretty gruesome battles, not just with people, but on other planets, other enemies. I hate talking about some of them, others just seem like holidays compared. This was one of the bad ones, but the man in front of me tripped and rolled over, so I ended up face to face with this creature. It just sort of, blew up, and knocked me back into the men behind. They patched it up, I was actually too badly hurt from that first encounter. Over the years, more blasts like that one, the slashing and hacking from other foes, it just got worse and worse. I accept what's happened happened for a reason, but I can never find that reason"
Mellysa was silent, she was trying to imagine such horrors and horrendous events. She couldn't, so she just looked up at Ference for a moment, then looked back to the ground as she walked along.
"I'm sorr-"
"No, I asked, I wanted to know, don't be sorry"
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