19Living in the Last Sane City on Earth By Jinglefairy
Warnings/Disclaimers/that sort of thing: This story contains violence, implied sex, implied sexuality of various varieties, references to child abuse, some crude language, horror, occult themes ... basically this story has stuff in it people might find offensive. I don't know which bits might be offensive because, really, I don't find any of it offensive. It's not a story I would show to my grandmother or my other half. This story does not contain explicit sex scenes or extensive graphic violence. It is not intended to be purely titilating. Sorry. Summary: Since the Cataclysm the world has been thrown into chaos. The laws of science and magic have fused, creating a new set of laws that are as yet unfixed. Even as humankind struggles to adapt, the world settles into its new groove. Of all the cities in the new world Kallai remains a beacon of sanity amidst the madness, and even she has her lunacies. This is the story of four adolescents caught up in the flow and flux of the aftermath of the Cataclysm, and how they deal with the terrors of the world and each other.
THURSDAY
Julian came for breakfast today. I like seeing him, even though he reminds me of things I want to forget. He has a way of making things seem better, and less awful than they are. Even Rowan cheers up when he's around.
He was wearing the same shirt. I wonder if he owns anything else. Probably just more plain white shirts.
Falcon idolises him. We, being Rowan and me, think it's a father-figure thing. Julian is pretty decent for an adult person. He can be clueless, though. Sometimes he'll sit staring into space, or staring at something like a flower or a knothole in the table, as if he's seeing something the rest of us can't. Until the sound of us bickering wakes him up. Then he gives us that sad, disappointed look, and it hurts. I don't know why but I hate to disappoint him.
Rowan thinks it has something to do with our collective lack of male role models. And the way he burst through that door, all rescuing hero and righteous anger. I can't believe it's only been a week.
I was explaining how I met Falcon before, but I totally neglected to explain how I met Sheba. It was much the same, about four months before Falcon arrived, except she woke up as I said, trying to scratch out her eyes. Raven had to sedate her. I cried. And really, Sheba never got better. She was always a bit strange, a bit lost in her own thoughts. I never could understand why Rowan liked her so much. Turns out Rowan didn't, but Sheba was the only one who'd go along with her 'mad schemes'.
That's what Falcon calls them. I prefer to think of them as 'totally lunatic plans which are likely to get everyone involved killed or spending the night in a cell'.
Sheba didn't care much about consequences. Doesn't. I shouldn't talk about her in the past tense, even if no-one knows where she is now. They all suspect, of course, but no-one is saying it aloud.
Sheba probably went back to Raven.
If she did she's even crazier than we all thought.
Sheba and I never really got along. Maybe we were too close in age, maybe we just clashed, but from day one Sheba and I got on each other's nerves.
I felt like it was her fault; I was there first, after all, she should have accommodated me and tried to fit in. Of course, I'd had time to adjust, so I should have been more understanding. But life is pretty selfish at twelve years of age, and I didn't like her coming in and ruining my orderly little world.
It was probably something to do with how she broke the rules and got away with it. That infuriated me. I'd lived by those rules, abided by them, upheld them, and understood the need for such things as rules. Sheba walked all over them.
Later Rowan did much the same thing but by then it didn't matter, the damage was already done.
When Sheba showed up she was called 'Sheridan'. Right up until Rowan came it was like that, Sheridan and Colin, and me. We came up with codenames that we used to leave secret messages around the house. Colin was Falcon, Sheridan was Sheba, and I was Shrew. Falcon gave me that name. I didn't realise what he'd meant by it until I dug into the Shakespeare. I was so mad at him I threw the book at his head. It didn't hit him, of course. I was never any good at physical things.
It all changed when Rowan came. She woke up and took one look at the library card with 'Helen Sharpe' on it and said it wasn't hers, and her name was Rowan. Raven tried to reason with her but she refused to listen. So she was Rowan.
Which meant, of course, that Falcon stopped being Colin. I'd always thought of him as Falcon anyway, Colin didn't suit him. Sheba stopped being Sheridan, too.
But I stayed Fran. That is my curse, I suppose. Frances Tennant. What a boring name.
Sheba used to call me France. I hated that. Falcon tends to call me Frannie, which is annoying, but I let him get away with it. Probably because I feel guilty for all the things I didn't do for him. Rowan took care of herself, but Falcon never really recovered.
Sometimes it feels like I'm the older one.
I'm getting lost. I was going to write about Sheba, but there's not a lot to tell, really. She was annoying, and blonde, which was annoying in itself, and we drove each other nuts until Falcon showed up, and then we drove him nuts too.
The three of us. And then Rowan came.
to be continued