Mathieu (White Flame Trilogy) (3 page)

“Good bye.” He didn’t even bother to close the door behind him as he took off from the porch at a run.

~*~

Mathieu knew that no one would come looking for him. They didn’t care. But that was what being an orphan got you, a lack of someone giving a care if you disappeared and nowhere to really call home.

Sitting down in frustration, Mathieu huffed and folded his legs under himself. It was a long way from the orphanage to the capital, nearly a thousand miles. It would have been a full day journey by carriage at least, if he didn’t stop to rest. Unfortunately, the orphanage didn’t have a carriage, and that meant that he had to travel on foot. He thought his legs were going to fall off.

Ateri.
That was where he’d decided he’d head. It was the only place that was big enough that he could disappear
and no one would ever find him; not that anyone was looking. Maybe that was all he’d ever wanted, though. To have the ability to disappear
and not stand out for his white hair or his purple eyes, to become just a part of the crowd; he didn’t want to be a freak anymore.

“Ahh!
This was a stupid idea!” He thudded back in the grass, looking up at the sky. The grass felt nice and cool under him and his hands twisted a few blades. The tree above him shaded his eyes from the glaring double suns and allowed him to see up to the clouds, which he wateched slid across the sky for a time before he stretched and finally rolled back to his feet. Mathieu was not one to be an idle body. Being out in the open, walking along the road on his own made him feel very alive, very free, even if the choice that had gotten him here was very stupid. And he could admit when he’d made a stupid decision, like storming out of the only place that legally had to take him in because he was having a bad day. Oh, and stealing from a witch descendant. Apparently that was pretty frowned upon, too. But today was a first. He was dependant only on himself and here there were no judgments, just him and the trees.

The weather was perfect, not too hot yet, as it would undoubtedly become. A stream was running to his right and up ahead, he could see a town. He dug around in his bag and retrieved his map, unfolding it with careful motions. The thing was old and liable to rip. The town ahead was very small and labeled “Tuckern”. Mathieu had been there before with Rebekah once. At least he thought he had. If he remembered the place correctly, it was a nothing town with a few businesses and picturesque little houses. Not a place he wanted to spend much time.

He smiled to himself, somewhat proud that he had made it all the way to another town on his own. It wasn’t long until he was upon said town. He made to enter, but he found that he couldn’t; something was bothering him. For so long, he’d been the outcast, the one who was teased.
But no more.
He was going to find the strength within himself to not cower before others anymore because he was different. That wasn’t to say he wanted to make a spectacle of himself and stand out, but there was no way he was going to be pushed around. 

Mathieu swallowed the lump in his throat and straightened up. With his head held high, he walked into the town as a confident man, not a cowardly child. The few people that were out on the street nodded at him. Some stared at first, but not in the sense of disgust. It was curiosity. He strutted past them all and entered a diner.

The inside was shiny and clean, the new smell of fresh paint still permeating the place. It was done in a tasteful cherry red and had accents of white here and there. The floor was a collection of shiny tiles. He took a seat at the glass counter, rimmed in chrome, and put his bag on the tall stool next to him. Tucking his ankles one behind the other, he hooked his foot around the leg of the stool.

“Just a moment,” called a deep voice from the back.

“Mhm.”
Mathieu hummed to himself, looking at the pictures on the wall. There was a father and a son in the pictures doing various activities: fishing, playing in snow, napping.
It was cute, but made his chest ache. It wasn’t a secret to himself that he’d wished he’d had a father in his life to do things with. But he couldn’t win them all.

A slender blond man came out from the back, smiling. “Good morning. Well, actually I guess it’s the afternoon.”

Chuckling, Mathieu leaned on the counter, balancing his chin on his hands. The guy wasn’t overly tall and he only had to look up slightly. “It’s all relative to if you have plans.”

“True. As long as it isn’t closing time, it’s a mote point. So, what can I get you?” The blond’s name tag identified him as a Geoff.

“Hm…” Mathieu considered the menu under the glass countertop, tapping his fingers against arm.
“Something fruity.
And maybe sweet…”

“If I may be so bold, the waffles are pretty good. They come with sugar and fruit on top.” Geoff pointed to the ‘Breakfast’ portion of the menu. “It is all relative, after all.”

A smile lit up both of their faces. “That sounds pretty perfect.” Mathieu’s stomach rumbled and he wrinkled his nose in embarrassment.

Waving off the awkwardness, the man behind the counter pulled out a note pad. “So, one waffle it is…what is your favorite fruit?”

“Peaches.”

“Okay.” The blond smiled broadly before disappearing back into the backroom, the double doors swinging behind him.

Mathieu spun on the stool and looked at the rest of the pictures. They interested him, captured memories that someone like him would never have. He sighed as he slid off the stool to examine the ones on the wall, eyes perceiving without judging. Some of them had a woman in them. She was very pretty with blue eyes and a heart shaped face; the blond resembled her a lot. There was a newspaper article on the wall:

Local Hotel Fire

The landmark hotel of Tuckern, Windside Inn, caught fire late in the night one night ago. It is believed the case of the blaze was electrical, but this is unconfirmed. Fifteen guests were checked into the hotel, three with small children. One family staying for the night, the Carsons’,
were
rushed out of the burning building without their daughter, Frieda. Local diner owner, Regina Mason, who happened to be on her way home from work that night, saw the fire and the screaming mother. Ignoring the warnings of others, the woman heroically entered the burning building to save the child that was not her own. She saved the child, however had
received severe damage to her lungs. Regina passed away early in the morning. The funeral service will be held at 3 p.m. on Thursday.

“That’s my ma.” Geoff was standing beside him, arms crossed. “I was six.” His tone was sad, if not a little cold.

Mathieu jumped, startled. His mind had been very into reading the article, trying to imagine someone he would run into a burning building to save. No one came to mind.
“Oi!
Don’t do that to me.” He turned away from the article, looking at the blond. “Do you remember much of her?”

“My ma?
Not really. I just remember she always smelled like roses. It was nice. This was her diner.” He said. “You aren’t from around here, are you?”

He took a deep breath.
Confidence.
Riiight.
“No. I’m from…” he hesitated. What would people think if he said he was from an orphanage?
“Ateri.
I was out here visiting family.” Mathieu lied smoothly. “Hotter than hell out here, isn’t it?”

“It doesn’t get a bit warm out here, especially at the height of the day.
So Ateri, huh.
That’s a fair distance.” Geoff leaned against the wall, looking at Mathieu with the same blue eyes his mother had. “How does your family feel about you being so far away?”

He returned to the counter and sat on his stool, Geoff trailing behind him. “My family isn’t that fond of the idea, if I’m honest.” He continued to lie. He felt a bit bad about it, but he needed to work out his story out before he
met other people. “But I’m an adult, so it’s my choice to live in the city.” Mathieu looked closer at the other male. Geoff was a lot younger than he’d originally thought, closer to his own age. The boy had very straight teeth.

“Kid,” a deep voice called from the depths of the diner, “foods up.”

“Yeah, Dad.”
The blond called back. “Jeez, always something, I swear.” He gave Mathieu a joking smile before getting up and going to get the waffle. “Here ya go. Enjoy.”

“Thank you.” Mathieu politely laid the napkin across his lap, taking up the fork and digging in. The waffle was fluffy and rich, something Rebekah never managed to accomplish when making them, as well as smeared with butter. The peaches covering the top were clearly fresh, probably from just that morning. They tasted as though they had been marinated in sugar or some other sweet substance. As soon as he swallowed the first bite, he was shoving more into his mouth, not able to get enough of the taste. He wished he’d ordered another. Far too soon, it was all gone and he sighed in regret.

“That was delicious,” He said to Geoff, who was wiping down the counter, “But, I’d better get going.” He dropped a few Khrons onto the counter and stood, scooping up his bag. “Thanks a lot. Take care.”

The blond waved him off good-naturedly with a broad smile.

Mathieu was already out of the town and down the road when he realized something. Despite how short his interaction with Geoff had been, he had been mostly
relaxed. It was nice to be
himself
, to not be afraid of what someone else thought. Yawning, he stepped off the road so a carriage could go by.

As he continued walking, he found the road oddly empty. A stray carriage here or there was nothing worth nothing. For such a thriving country, the area outside of the capital was pretty empty and boring. It made Mathieu itch; he wanted energy to surround him, to distract him from the tedium. A rabbit crossing his way was the most interesting thing to happen all morning.

After a few more hours, the suns were at their peak. They beat down, making Mathieu break out in a sweat across his lower back and shoulders. Sighing, he pulled out his map again and wrinkled his nose in distaste. He was still at least another hour’s walk to the next town and he was beginning to regret not stopping in Steeta a while back.

“This sucks!” Mathieu announced to no one in particular.

Out of nowhere, a strange, creeping feeling slide up his spine. He felt…he felt like he’d been here before. But he knew for a fact that he’d never come this close to the capital in his life. He’d always lived at the orphanage. Well, he supposed at one time he had lived with his parents, but he hadn’t known where that had been. Besides, he would have been too young to remember that.

The feeling was starting to intensify, making his skin crawl and forcing bile to creep up his throat. Something horrible had happened here, the horrors lingering in the air. Mathieu vaguely wondered to himself how this area wasn’t quarantined as he leaned against a nearby tree, trying to keep his stomach under control. Phantom screams echoed in his head, a woman’s voice. It made his
stomach twist painfully, his guilt telling him he needed to save the woman being tortured. He collapsed to his knees, curling down on himself; then, he clutched his stomach, face pressed into the cold grass. Mathieu barely had time to lift his head up enough to avoid vomiting on
himself
.

After a few more minutes of the invisible screams fading in and out and emptying of his stomach’s contents twice more, he pulled himself together enough to get to his feet. His hands shook slightly, but he took steadying breaths to get his body under control. The voice in his head was screaming at him to get going, to leave this place behind. So he did, taking off running until he could no longer look over his shoulder and see the tainted area.

~*~

The next town, quite luckily, had a bus depot that would take him into the city. Apparently, this town had become quite the haven for people who worked in the city, but didn’t want to live there; he had no clue why. Mathieu paid the small fee of twenty Khrons and was rewarded with a bus ticket labeled “From Thorn - To Ateri” in thick, blocky black print.

Sitting on a worn wooden bench, waiting for the bus, he watched as people went by his seat. It was relatively quiet in the town and everyone walked with determined strides, the same serious look on their faces, clearly having somewhere to go. It made him feel like he was being lazy, not walking along with the same determined look on his face. He looked down at his ticket and ran his fingers across it. Anticipation was building in his gut; his little escape plan was quickly becoming a reality. Things had sounded good in his head, go to Ateri and start a new life,
but how exactly he was supposed to do that, he wasn’t sure.
No matter.
He thought as the bus pulled up. In just a short while, he’d be in the capital and he could figure it out from there.