Truancy Origins (43 page)

Finally, the girl released his hand, prompting Umasi to reach up and slide both sunglasses off of his face and into his pocket. He found himself looking up at a dirty, run-down brownstone with another rusted fire escape. He glanced at his companion, who merely smiled back and began climbing the metal ladder. Umasi followed suit, thinking that they were headed for the roof. But at the third floor, the girl stepped in through a shattered window. Umasi followed and found himself in a dark room with only faint light from the broken windows to illuminate the rubble strewn about the floor. Umasi felt as though he was traveling through a cave as he followed his guide, who led him over to another window, this one with a rope ladder leading down.

His guide gracefully descended the ladder, and Umasi followed, not fully paying attention to where he was climbing. But as he hit the ground, he froze, awestruck. They now stood atop the roof of a small building wedged between two taller ones, giving the peculiar impression that he was at the bottom of a valley, with small mountains to each side. All around there were flowerpots filled with soil, and dead vines scaled the walls to either side. Umasi could see the wilted remains of plants that would bloom again in the spring. A few skeletal trees had caught some unmelted snow, which glittered in the pale sunlight.

While no flowers remained, dozens and dozens of icicles glistened instead, hanging from windowsills above, from tree branches, from every ledge imaginable. These glittering prisms were still in the process of melting, their droplets catching the light like a sparkling rain. Over to one side, a pipe had been broken, the frozen water that had once spewed from it still unmelted, leaving a frothy cascade suspended in the air.

It was a small slice of paradise in the midst of a City where too much was ugly. But Umasi couldn't stop himself, despite strenuous effort, from thinking that the most beautiful thing in the garden was the pale girl that stood beside him, outshining all the radiant white around her. With difficulty, Umasi shook himself from his stupor and gave his surroundings a closer inspection, the cold turning his cheeks red.

He realized that this garden had obviously been used as a dwelling for
some time. Rusty pots and pans were stacked among some flowerpots in one corner, and near the broken pipe Umasi could see a washcloth and a bar of soap. Before it had frozen, it had been a shower. Umasi noted that that must be why the pale vagrant had seemed so clean. A bundle of blankets in a corner indicated a bed to him, and though he wasn't sure where she slept when it rained he guessed that it would be somewhere in the cavernous building that they had passed through.

“Is this where you've lived all these years?” Umasi asked at last.

“It's as close a thing to home as I'll ever have.” The girl nodded. “You're the first person I've ever shown it to.”

“I'm honored, milady.”

The albino turned her head to look at Umasi again. She spent several long moments just looking at him, to the point that Umasi began to feel embarrassed. Then a soft breeze flitted through the brick canyon, blowing a few strands of dark hair into Umasi's eyes.

“Your hair is getting longer,” she observed.

“Yeah,” Umasi agreed, flicking the rebellious strands away with one finger. “I haven't gotten it cut in a while. It's getting a bit annoying, actually. My brother is the one who likes it long.”

“If you want, I can cut it for you.”

“You can?” Umasi asked, looking over at his companion in surprise.

“I've had to cut my own for most of my life,” she reminded him. “A simple bowl cut would work for you, I think, and that wouldn't be hard to do at all.”

“How's that work?”

“Just as it sounds. May I try it?”

“Anything you want, milady,” Umasi said, and meant it from the bottom of his heart.

She smiled at him, and Umasi thought that there was a knowing look in her eyes, as though she understood just how deeply he meant what he'd said. Then she was off, rummaging through the neatly arranged pile of old pots and pans until she found one that met her approval. It was a fairly deep pot, and slightly rusty, though it fit Umasi's head perfectly. Before placing it there, however, the girl first produced a comb and a pair of scissors, and then gently parted Umasi's hair down the middle so that it framed his face. Then the pot went on, and Umasi soon felt a snipping sensation.

The girl gently cut off all the hair that protruded from beneath the pot. The dark, severed hairs fell onto Umasi's shoulders and lap, some even sticking uncomfortably to his neck. By the time the pot was lifted and a
small, cracked mirror placed before his eyes, Umasi noted that he had a neat and precise appearance about him that he'd never had before.

“How do you like it?” she asked, helping him brush off some excess hair from his neck—a simple gesture that sent goose bumps down his body.

“Much better, thank you,” Umasi said. He stood up to shake the remaining hair from his shoulders.

“Good.” The girl stretched as she lay down on the bare ground. “Running from the Enforcers made me a bit tired. Take a nap.”

Umasi hesitated for a moment, then joined her on the ground as bidden. It occurred to him that his spotless clothing might get dirty, but he hadn't forgotten his days as a vagrant and knew that a little soot wouldn't do him any harm. Staring up from within the brick canyon, he realized that the sun's light had already begun to fade; it was neither light nor dark now, but a lukewarm blue. A soft hand sought his, and together the two of them lay there in perfect peace until the light finally vanished, giving way to darkness.

Only then did Umasi return to his senses, and his hand released its grip as he sat up abruptly.

“The Enforcers are probably gone by now,” Umasi said. “I wonder if we should go back.”

Then Umasi felt a tug on his sleeve, and he turned to see his companion smiling impishly at him.

“What's the rush?” she asked, pulling him back to the ground.

 

B
ackpack slung over one shoulder, Edward listlessly walked back towards the orphanage, dirty snow lining the street on either side. As he walked, he noted that the day was already dying, its bloody red light spilling all over the City. The winter days were short, but it was still unusual for most students to get out of school at sunset. Edward, however, had been encouraged to take extra elective classes by his teachers. He had obliged them, of course, though he resented the time wasted upholding his image.

None of the other orphanage students got out as late as Edward did, and so he mostly had the street to himself. Occasionally a car or another pedestrian would pass him, but by City standards this route, running right next to an abandoned district, was a lonely one. That was one of the few things that Edward liked about it. Pausing for a moment at a curb, Edward turned and looked down the street, noting the crude wooden barrier that had been erected to block it off. That way led to District 19, and Edward spared the barrier a hard glance before moving again.

District 19 was a direct neighbor to District 18, and had long been
abandoned. As far back as Edward could remember, the houses visible above the fence had been empty. Edward had never seen anyone walking the streets of that district, though he had peered over it on occasion. More than once he had been tempted to scale the fence completely and see what he might find in that forbidden place, but each time he concluded that the risks outweighed any potential gain.

As Edward idly kicked an empty soda can out of his way, he became aware of the sound of sirens. Enforcer sirens. Edward looked around cautiously, involuntarily touching his hand to the spot on his cheek where that Enforcer named Rothenberg had struck him. He would never forget that blow, he knew. In time he would dish out many more like it himself.

It took Edward more than a moment to realize that the sounds were not coming from District 18, but rather from his left, from
behind
the wooden barrier. Edward froze in confusion and excitement. Nothing ever went on in District 19, certainly nothing important enough to warrant the presence of Enforcers. Seized by a thrill of curiosity, Edward grabbed a newspaper dispenser and dragged it over to the wooden barrier. A passerby stared at him as he worked, but said nothing even as Edward pushed the dispenser against the fence. Standing on top of it, Edward was just barely able to peer over the edge, and what he saw only increased his interest.

Several blocks into the abandoned district, dozens of uniformed men and women were scrambling in and out of buildings, going from door to door and hastily searching every apartment. Enforcers, beyond a shadow of a doubt, and Edward couldn't imagine that the Enforcers would waste valuable resources on a blind sweep through the entire City. They were obviously looking for something important, something they thought might be in District 19 . . . but what? What secret could District 19 possibly hold that would justify such a search?

With a jolt, Edward noticed that on one of the buildings the Enforcers had set up a small surveillance camera to watch the fence. Edward quickly withdrew his head, wondering if it had alerted anyone. Deciding that it would be best to leave before that question was answered, Edward leapt down from the newspaper dispenser and ran off. At school he was known for being an athletic boy, and he was soon out of sight of the fence.

Minutes later, he reached the orphanage unhindered, though the images of what he had seen still filled his mind as he greeted the matrons politely and entered his private dormitory. He felt excited as he had not been for a long time. He had stumbled upon something secret, something important. What had merely been a whim before now had a newfound urgency. There was more to District 19 than had previously met his eyes, and as Edward sat down on his bed, deep in thought, he resolved to cross over that fence as
soon as it was safe to do so. If there was indeed something important hiding within District 19, Edward vowed that he would be the one to find it.

 

N
ight had fallen, and with it the stars had come out, clearly visible from the hidden garden. Lying on his back, Umasi enjoyed the gentle rustling of the wind, the twinkling of the stars up above, and most of all, the conversation he was now having with his companion. It was not casual, for they discussed deep secrets that had never been shared before, but the words flowed so naturally that they hardly thought about what they said. It was as if they were spinning bonds with threads of words, and those bonds, not the words, were what Umasi cherished.

“ . . . so back when I was in school I used to get bullied all the time,” he said. “They would make fun of my name . . . . I never liked my name, my brother's is much better. Anyway, he was the one who would always protect me, Zen was. He was my only friend, or as close to one as I had. I was always an outcast in school.”

“I was an outcast from birth,” the albino said. “My parents, I think, knew what my fate would be, but they raised me anyway until the time came. Maybe they hoped I would get in, I don't remember anymore. The Educators evaluated my ‘condition' and decided that I couldn't possibly learn like a normal student. I was expelled by default . . . never had a chance.”

“That was wrong of them.”

She said nothing, but merely kept looking up at the sky, the glittering stars reflected in her blue eyes.

“I've been wondering, though,” Umasi continued, “your parents . . . they gave you a name, right?”

“Yes.”

“Why don't you use it?”

“They gave me a name in the hope that I would be able to live a normal life,” she explained. “That hope was futile. I have no number. I have no name. To this City I may as well have not existed, and I am content that way.”

“It matters to me that you exist,” Umasi said. “Did you really never talk to anyone else?”

“Occasionally,” she replied. “Obviously, I tried to avoid people. The only ones I ever approached were starved or crazy, and usually thought I was a monster or an angel. It's hard to say which frightened them more. A few attacked me. That's how I began experimenting with the chain.”

“I remember how isolated I felt sometimes, and that was back when I had a brother, a father, countless people that I was in contact with every day,” Umasi said. “The only reason I wasn't violent was because I was a
coward. But you're completely at peace, even when shunned by the entire City. Why is that?”

She was silent for several long moments, and Umasi turned his head to look at her. She was even more striking in the starlight than she had been in daylight. Her skin and hair seemed to possess a pale magical luminance of their own.

“I think it was because I always clung to words,” she said at last. “I rarely had anyone to talk to, but I had the papers and books that I salvaged. They were anchors to humanity when I couldn't be seen. I also had a dog once . . . before the Enforcers cracked down on strays. Without them I might've ended up like the worst vagrants of this City.”

She gestured up at the empty and abandoned apartment that they had to travel through to reach the garden, and Umasi understood that that must be where she kept her treasures. It made sense to him, and it explained why she spoke with such literacy compared with other vagrants he had encountered.

“Someday we should visit a bookstore,” Umasi suggested. “I never read much besides what my teachers told me to.”

The albino hesitated in answering, and for the first time Umasi saw a troubled look on her face. That more than anything worried him, and suddenly he felt afraid of what her next words might be.

“I won't be staying with you forever, you know.”

He'd been expecting that, but Umasi's heart still sank. A few clouds, black against the night sky, slowly floated in to obscure the stars. Umasi wondered why he was so surprised; he had known from the start that the nameless girl was an independent spirit at heart, that it was extraordinary she had stayed as long as she had. But even so, he had become used to her calming presence, her musical voice, her fragrant smell, her gentle touch . . . Umasi cringed. The thought of separation was suddenly unbearable.