Why didn’t I ever tell her it was Papa who locked me in the tree while we were hunting? Why didn’t I tell her it was Papa who filled the villagers head with disgust for me? Why didn’t I ever say one bad thing about Papa to her?
Mama loves him, that’s why. When they’re together she shines. The time he tried to force me to choose my gender was the saddest she’s ever been. Most days she wouldn’t even talk to me or look at me. Mama loves him, I couldn’t destroy that. She loves me too and she wouldn’t want me to quit fighting.
It’s a good thing Mama isn’t here to witness me shrivel. My motivation has come a little too late. Not a single limb wishes to move at the moment. My body only sees dying. But Mama’s lovely face and her easy smile keep me company through the turbulent black waters.
Warmth touches my hand, it close my eyes, and caresses my body. I gladly fall into it.
“Saved?” A voice like Mama’s speaks into my ear. “Saved? Wake up, honey.” A hand pushes my hair out of my face. Mama used to do that. “Open your eyes Saved. It’s time to get up.”
I push the hand away and turn from the voice. “Five more minutes, Mama.”
The soft caress spreads down my back. “No more minutes Saved.” Mama lifts me up until I’m sitting. I open my eyes slowly. Mama’s sitting there with her hair spun in a bun. A pen is sticking out of one side and a stirring spoon in the other. She’s been writing and cooking at the same time again.
I pull the spoon out of her head like I always do, and lick the icing. “Hmm, cake for breakfast.” Mama laughs, and I join in.”
“I love you, my child.”
“Love you too, Mama,” I say and hug her. She pulls away. She places her hands on my shoulders.
“I see how much the words of the villagers hurt you Saved. And I wish I could do something to make it better for you.” I open my mouth to say something but she puts a finger to my lips. “It’s not okay, Saved. What they do to you is not okay. I want you to know that God creates everyone for a reason.” Mama puts her hands in mine now. “I know it may be hard to see now, but one day, Saved, you will know God’s plan.” Mama runs her hand through my hair and walks to the door. “Now get up.”
We both laugh.
My heartbeat slows; I can feel it thump less and less. But Mama’s presence holds me. Her beliefs swarm like the loving intentions they are. The lights go out, the last breaths release, and I gently begin termination. As everything shuts down, words with no meaning or precedence repeat in my head, until consciousness depletes.
Chapter 4
A cool wetness awakes me. “Mama?” I call out before my eyes fully focus on the man with black hair and oval eyes. My adrenaline rushes and I shoot away from him and run into someone else. Then I realize there are at least forty people of the same lightly tan complexion as the man I awoke to; each one of them gawking at me. “Who are you?” I move back to the metal table. “What do you want?” The walls are gray and solid as the table I woke up on. Flames on sticks light the remainder of the room. Four more metal tables host the staring people. Two large sinks sit against one wall. While another wall is filled with long two door red cabinets.
Someone has dressed me in tight silver and black pants and top. I run my hands along the smooth silk like fabric.
A woman wearing a long green robe leans heavily on a sculpted wood stick. She moves lethargically towards me. “We wish only to help you child.” She lowers hers rickety bones onto my bed. “We have believed for many years that we are the only survivors of the purge. You are a sight for sore eyes.” She touches my arm without flinching. No frowns bend her features. She traces the length of my arm with her hand as if she doesn’t quite believe I am real. I can’t believe she’s touching me.
“Where are we?” I ask her.
“You are in the bunkers of what’s left of Asia,” a younger man says. I turn towards him. “The air testers found you three days ago, near death,” the man says and steps forward. “How do you breathe without assistance?” Could this be the place that sent me away?
I shrug my shoulders. “Mama says I was born in the pollution, so it doesn’t harm me.” The room stirs but I can’t understand what the others are saying. They speak in a strange tongue. “Eighteen years ago I was found in a capsized boat on the lands of what was once known as Europe. Did I come from here?”
The crowd speaks softly to one another. “No, everyone is accounted for,” the man says. I rub my head. I guess it isn’t really all that important. The simple fact that I am alive is a small miracle. Now I have a chance to fight for life, like Mama always wanted me to do.
“Thank you for helping me get well,” I say to the room. “I hope it wasn’t too much trouble.”
“It was and is no trouble at all,” the old woman says. “It’s not every day that the Universe answers our questions.” The Universe? What is the Universe? “You may stay as long as you like.” The old woman creaks to her feet. The people in the room hurry to her side. She waves them off. “Do not fuss over me; I am very capable of seeing myself out of the room.” She begins walking towards the door, and then stops. “Forgive my manners, how easy I forget that you do not know me. My name is Seer.” Really? Is she pulling my leg?
Apparently not, her face remains the same. So I walk over to her and hold out my hand. “Saved,” I say.
“Ah, of course it is. Come and see me when you are all settled in.” The woman says before departing the room. After a few curious stares the room finally clears out aside from the first man I saw. He leans against the wall intensely gazing at me. My skin begins to crawl like it does when someone is making me aware of my difference. It was kind of the woman to invite me to stay, but I don’t want a repeat existence.
“Can you show me to my boat please?” I ask him. Garden Home may not want me, but Mama does, that is going to have to be enough.
The man pushes off the wall. His white coat is open showcasing black pants and a white shirt. He stalks me as I move back. “You’re an amazing find,” he says, while cornering me. “An albino intersex human that has the ability to survive the surface poison is just insane; yet here I am, trying to sift through my medical brain for some logical explanation.”
He’s so close to my eyes that my bladder begins to tremble in fear. Does he want to eat me? “Mama’s says God created me, but Papa doesn’t think so. So I don’t know. But in Garden Home, there is a woman, Bethany, who says the atmosphere is just turned upside down. Something about oxygen thrives underground now, and the harmful gases from the core of the earth thrive up top. I don’t know anything else.”
The man looks at me, then immediately backs away. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I haven’t seen anything this bizarre in a long time. I got a little carried away.”
Bizarre, that’s a new one. Or maybe no one ever said it to my face before. “Can you show me to my boat, please?” I ask him while clenching my fist.
He holds both of his hands up in a show of surrender. “Hey, relax. I didn’t mean to insinuate anything negative. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with you. You’re healthier than the people living in Horizon.” He steps closer to me. “I’m truly sorry, Saved.” His eyes are what convince me to simmer. I release my fists. The man holds out his hand. “I’m Dr. Nu. If you still want to go after I show you around, then I’ll take you to your boat.”