12Chapter 4
"Have it your way, but you'll be real sorry, real soon," he said as he pulled out his pocketknife.
"You mean you're gonna make me real sorry with that?" I asked the thief.
"Yeah, pretty boy."
"What is with thieves calling me pretty boy? Man I'm gonna have to teach you a lesson now," I was starting to get annoyed by all of these damn thieves and their stupid nicknames.
"Here I come!" he screamed and jumped at me with his knife.
I tried to dodge, but wasn't quick enough as his knife grazed my arm, barely cutting it.
"Xander, be careful!" I heard kyleigh scream, reminding me that she was behind me.
"Just stay back kyleigh, I'll take care of him," I replied trying to make her calm down.
"Fine," she agreed.
"Don't worry about him little lady, I'd be much more worried about myself if I was you. After I beat pretty boy here, I'm going for you next," the thief was grinning in thought as he spoke.
"SHUT UP!' I screamed as I lunged for him.
But I was only fighting in a blind rage so I was being careless. He raised his knife and scraped my other arm pretty badly.
"Dammit," I muttered as the blood began to seep into my blouse.
I heard kyleigh starting to whimper behind me and I was getting more pissed off by the second.
"You want to make me sorry? Well, sorry this!" I screamed as I jumped for him.
This time I was ready for his knife to be there so I kicked it out of his hands. Then I punched him hard in the gut, knocking him out.
"You..you killed him?" she asked as she wiped her eyes.
"No, just knocked him out," I answered as I punched him in the face a few times and then against the wall.
"Xander, stop it!" she ordered.
"Huh?..Geez, I really got angry didn't I? Sorry," I said blushing a little.
"What are going to do to him now?"
"Just leave him there, I'm sure that when he wakes up, or should I say if, he'll find his rat hole later. But just to be sure nobody thinks he's dead, I'll-ump-put him in there to rest," I told her as I placed the body into a large dump bin in the alleyway.
"Wow," I heard her whisper.
"Wow what?"
"If I hadn't stopped you back there, would you have killed that man?" she looked kind of scared.
"Probably, but he's no man. Not with the way he was smiling like that at the thought of hurting you. It disgusts me to think a human being would sink as low as what that man just though about," I said with a disgusted look.
"Oh," she said and then sighed.
"What?" I was confused, 'first she was all scared of me and now she's sighing like she's disappointed at me for feeling protective of her. Wait a I really get that protective of her? I guess I did. I don't even know why, but I just get this gut feeling everytime I think about her or look at her that just says I have to protect her. Funny, and when I first met her yesterday I thought that she was just some cute tomboy who had no interest in a person like me. I need to check my standards.'
"You never answered me," I realized after my head conversation.
* * *
"It's just that I thought I had you all figured out and then I figure out that I hardly know anything about you," I answered him.
'I know it shouldn't bug me this much, but it does. Maybe I'm just a sore loser who thought she was right and when she figured out that she was wrong, she realized how much a fool she really was. Come on kyleigh, how much can you learn about a person in less than two days? I need to check my standards,' I thought to myself.
"Actually, I didn't think you were that strong or complicated at all. I mean last night at dinner you were so sweet, but when you get into a fight with a thief of a street thug or something, you turn into this cocky and angry person. I'm not sure which side I'm more confused about," I explained.
"Why would you be confused?" he asked.
"Because I'm not sure what conclusion is the truth."
"Then tell me them all and I'll tell you which ones are right and which are wrong," he tried to get me to open up.
"Okay then. Let's start with the sweet side first. I'm not a normal girl-"
"So I noticed," he retorted.
"Save your comments or I won't explain," I threatened.
He remained silent so I took it as a cue to continue.
"As I was saying, I'm not a normal girl. Most guys want nothing to do with me because of the way I dress. So I'm not sure if you think I'm an easy catch, because I'm not, or if you really just want to know me better."
"Well-"
"I'm not finished yet. Second, we come from different types of families. Yours is rich and you probably always got what you wanted when you were a kid. Mine is a religious freak one and I'm always being compared to whom I'm not ever going to be like. And then third, that cocky angry side. I'm not sure if I can trust you when you get like that. I mean you really scared me when you started beating the crap out of that guy even after you knocked him out. I can't be sure if I can count on someone who strongly believes in vengeance. So before I can really trust you, I need to know what type of person you are. If you are easily affected by little things or if you're a stubborn jackass when it comes to emotions. Just tell me now, I need to know before I can go anywhere else with you," I finally finished my speech.
"Man, you go deep don't you?"
"You just answered one of my questions," I answered.
"Which one?" he wanted to know.
"The one about being a jackass."
"Then I think I know which answer you've chosen and before you make it your final choice of me let me tell you this. I'm human. I can get emotional and, hell, I'll admit it I've cried a few times in my life. But there are times when I fell emotions will just be in the way," it was his turn to explain.
"Correct answer to question number four," I answered.
"There was a number four?" he looked confused.
"I'm still waiting for the other two answers please," I said rather impatiently.
"Alright, for the first one, at first I had thought you were just some tomboy who hated anyone who comes from a rich family like me. Then everything happened and you spent the night at my house. I really got to know you better and I was actually happy about that. And if you think that I thought you were an 'easy catch', then why didn't I try anything when you slept over my house?" he asked.
"I never even thought about that," I realized how stupid I was to ask him that question. 'But the other ones are fine!'
"Didn't think so. For the last question, I do like to fight, but I'm not some crazy maniac who loses his mind when he does. The only way that I get sloppy is when I get very angry and even then I only go after my opponent. It's not like I'm going to turn around and just start to beat the crap out of someone I care for. And then for the second question, I may come from a rich family, but I don't get everything that I want. Sure, my mom bought me my cottage but that was because we made a promise a long time ago."
"I got all the answer I need, let's walk to my house for dinner and clean that cut, it looks pretty bad," I inquired.
"Yeah. So, do you trust me even a little now?" he asked as we started walking.
"No, not a little. I trust you a lot!" I told him.
"Good," he sounded relieved.
"And, I hope I'm not prying or anything, but."I started.
"Huh?"
"What promise had you made to your mother?" I asked.
"Oh, that. No, you're not prying. This actually goes into the getting everything I want question," he explained.
"Ears open," I told him.
"Well after I got checked again, my parents were very upset. They really wanted me to be a seer and they were disappointed in me. So after that, they moved saying that they were scared Cepion would fall first, so we moved here. Afterwards, they actually starte4d to kind of ignore me. So I just stopped trying to get their attention. I got lonelier by the day and it got to the point where I would only come out of my room for meals and stuff like that. Every night I cried myself to sleep. But then I couldn't take it anymore. When I was thirteen years old, I ran away. It was very hard at first because I had nothing, no money, no place to stay, and certainly no friends. I started to get good at stealing and learned how to live pretty good on my own in the streets. In Cepion, its city is built like a grid system and it's a really rich place. Here, the streets are tangled and easy to hide into. At first, I didn't even think that they were going to come after me, that hey had forgotten they even had a son. I met this one guy on the street and he offered to teach me to defend myself since I was so young. I took him up on his offer and he trained me hard. Every once in a while, I even forgot I had run away from that home. Slowly, months passed and I began to forget more often. Until one day, I saw my parents walking to the market. They looked horrible, like someone close to them just died in front of them. Then I realized that no matter how much pain I went through with them that I still loved them deep down inside. It got harder and harder to concentrate while he trained me until one day he told me to go home. He said it like I had just met him and I was annoying him. So I asked him why. He told me that when he was my age, he did the same thing, he had run away from home. Only he never went back. After a few years he found out that his parents had killed themselves over the grief of losing their only son. As soon as he told me that, I got scared. I didn't want my parents to be sad and I don't know what I'd do if I'd lost them. So I said goodbye and ran home. I hadn't been there in six months. My parents opened the door and looked at me as if I was a ghost. Then I said to them 'I'm sorry and I love you so much and I don't want you to be sad anymore.' They started crying as they took me inside and always kept close watches on me. For the first few nights, they even made me sleep with them. And then my mother promised me that if I stayed with her until they were ready for me to leave, she would even buy me my own house. Pretty soon things got back to what we called normal and they started comparing me to a sloth. But I didn't mind it; at least she knew that I was there when I stood next to her. So then I finished school s few years later and moved to the place I have now," he finished.
I had no idea what I could say to him after hearing that. I didn't know if I should have comforted him or if I should have just remained silent. After a few minutes of silence, I felt that he was starting to go tense.
"What's wrong?" I heard him ask.
"Oh! N-nothing! It's just..now I know how you defended yourself back there. And.I'm sorry that I ever thought you were a rich spoiled brat!" I apologized.
"It's okay. It actually happens all the time. You see, I don't like rich girls, too snooty, and I don't like street girls, too uncivilized. So everyone else just thinks that I think I'm better than them," he explained.
"Really?" I had a suspicious tone.
"Really," he answered.
"I thought you told me that you had a boring life," I pouted.
"I lied," he said with a smirk.
"I think you probably know almost everything about me," he told me.
The rest of the way to my house we walked in silence.
* * *
'I can't believe I just told her that whole story,' I mean, I've told people that I ran away from home once, but that was the whole story! Maybe, maybe it's just that I've gotten comfortable around her. That was quick! Oh, well. It's no use worrying about it after I told it to her,' I started thinking the rest of the way to kyleigh's house.
"We're here," she announced.
"Okay," I answered.
We walked inside the familiar house and into the living room. She headed for the kitchen and I followed. She found a note sitting on the table and took a minute to read it.
"Well, looks like Lea and Kyle will be back in about a half an hour from the evening ceremony," she explained, "Let's clean that cut," she said as she winced.
"It's not really that bad," I said.
She got some sterilizer and cloths to clean and cover the wound.
"This is going to hurt," she said as she poured the liquid onto my arm. It fizzed and drained into the sink.
"Ow! most definitely hurts," I said in pain.
"Sorry," she apologized while wrapping the wound.
"No, it's okay, but I wanted to ask you something," I said while watching her finish wrapping it.
"What?"
"Why do you call your parents by their first names?" I asked.
"Huh? Guess I've just always done that, even when I was little. I never thought about it. What do you call your parents then?"
"Well, before I ran away, nothing, but afterwards, mom and dad," I answered.
"Oh. Well you have your names and I have mine. That's that. Let's go sit in the living room and wait for them," she ended that discussion.
"Alright," I agreed.
We walked into the beige room that had almost nothing but pictures up there. I noticed that most of them were of vatorians and seers, but there were a few of her parents. The last time I had seen them, they were in the temple of course, but kyleigh had passed out. They are very strange people. As I looked around at all of the pictures in the room, I felt kyleigh go tense next to me as my eyes wandered onto a picture of an ordinary girl. She had a light complexion like kyleigh's mother and her father's midnight blue eyes, but with short, straight, dark brown hair.
"Who is this? A cousin or something?" I asked curiously.
"No, she's related to me, but she's not my cousin," she answered sadly.
"Oh, then is she like and aunt or something?"
"Come into the hallway really quick. I guess I can tell you since you told me about you running away and everything," she whispered as she walked down the hall on the right.
To the right, I knew was her room and straight back I could see a bathroom. On the left, I guessed was her parent's room, but in between kyleigh's room and the bathroom there was another door that I hadn't noticed the last time I came here.
" does that door lead to?" I asked.
"That girl you saw in that picture was my sister. She was five years older than me," she sounded like she was about to cry.
"Was?" I was almost too afraid to ask.
"I wasn't born yet when it happened, but she was five years old. Her name was Sarah Lily Connor."
We walked into a pink painted room with a twin bed and toys everywhere. There was also dust on everything. It looked like a little girl's room.
"My parents had taken her to the market with them one day. They were all so happy together," she explained as I looked around and found a teddy bear covered in dust.
I brushed it off and the collar on its neck said 'kyleigh' on it.
"That was here favorite name. If you think about it, it's my parent's names put together. She had told them that she loved them so much that her favorite name was theirs put together. And so she named her favorite stuffed teddy kyleigh," she said as tears came to her eyes.
"But that's your-"
"Yes, I know. They named me that because of her," she whispered.
"What happened to her?" I asked.
"She disappeared. When they took her to the market. They looked everywhere for her because they hadn't left her anywhere, they just looked away for five minutes. They still don't know if she was kidnapped or if she just ran away," she said as her voice started cracking.
"My life is hell because of that, my parents pray at the temple for her safe return and leave me home all the time by myself. Sometimes I wish that I had met her and that she was still here, but other times..other times I wish she hadn't happened! I know I'm a horrible person for saying something like that but I do love my parents and they suffer so much everyday and that makes me suffer too," she said as a tear slid down her cheek,"oh, all of this dust in this room is making my eyes water."
Before I knew what I was doing, she was in my arms crying like there was no tomorrow.
"Don't worry, I'm here. I'm not sure what I can do, but I want to take away all of your pain," I whispered to her crying form.
A/n: heeh So how did everyone like this chappie? I know, I know it's kinda a sad one but I had to for you to be able to understand my characters! And Don't worry, I do have a mushy part planned next chappie! Now for the reviewer near you! ;)
Lauren334: I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! You are my support! I can't wait until I see you again! Thank you for all of the reviews..it means a lot to me! And don't worry, I love my pie too *wink wink*
BlackandSilverDreamer: You are an amazing writer and I'm glad that you enjoy both my poetry and my fiction! Thank you so much! And don't forget to update soon! ;)
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