20
Farlen
E ver since Connor read the meaning of soulmate to me, all I could think was it describing him. He makes everything feel so much better when he is around, kind of like what he said. I found a part that I didn’t know was missing. I couldn’t really think of any other thing but that fact. I was afraid he was going to be mad at me when I asked that. But Connor never gets mad at me. He just smiled at me. I think it was the biggest smile I’ve ever seen from him.
“Yes, sweet girl, I am one of your soulmates. You are still missing six other pieces out there in the world, and we will find them together. I know you’ve heard people say we share a match bond, and I know you had your blood tested for it, but do you know what it means?” I shake my head at him. “When the Gods blessed the supernaturals with matches, it was something rare at first. People went their entire lives, and we can live long lives without finding their matches. Scientists studied people with and without matches for a long time, and then the plague struck that nearly wiped out all the female population. No one knows where it came from, and it didn’t discriminate between human or supernatural females.”
“Once it finally died out, there were about three billion males still on the planet, and only about sixty thousand females left. The human population, not having the same restrictions as we do, could repopulate faster. Supernaturals began to panic, and they started giving more money towards the testing of the match bonds. Not long after, they figured out that something inside our very genetic makeup shows markers that match another. At first it was just called ‘the bond’ and those with more than one bond were called a ‘center’, but as more and more blood underwent the tests, even those who had been with their bond for a long time, found out that they had other bonds out there, more people whose very genetic makeup, matched their own. As soon as they met, the bond between them formed. Proof that it was, in fact, showing who their match was supposed to be. The older generation still calls it a bond, and the newer generation calls it a match. So what it all means, sweet girl, is we were always supposed to find each other, because we were always supposed to be together. I am sorry it took me so long to find you, and I wish I could have sooner.”
I don’t know my numbers well, which Connor figured out and has been helping me try to learn, but those seem like a big difference between the numbers. He’s been trying to not read my thoughts as much anymore and makes me talk to him. It’s been getting easier, but it still feels very weird to me.
“How did humans repopulate?”
His cheeks go red and he coughs.
“Sweetheart, that is something we will have to talk about at another time. Hopefully, with all of your other matches here, okay?”
I nod. Maybe it is something they all have to tell me? I trust Connor. It feels nice to trust someone. My body feels like it reacts all on its own, and moves over to Connor, giving him a big hug. He wraps his enormous arms around me, hugging me back. We stand there like that for a while. It always feels nice to be next to him like this, like he can shield me from the pain and darkness that I’ve always been in. I feel his hot breath on the top of my head again, but can’t feel what he is doing, and he lets me out of his arms.
“Alright sweet girl, let’s work on more letters. You’ve gotten a lot better at writing your name, and I want you to keep practicing it. I also set out more letters for you to practice writing together. You know the sounds all the letters make now. So once you write them all next to each other, try to tell me what it says. This is going to be our own private little school while you attend the academy.”
I sit down and work on writing my name some more. It is hard to hold the pencil as he keeps telling me to, especially when I can’t feel it, but I keep trying. I think I have my name written down better, and show him. He smiles at me and hands me more paper with some new letters on it. It takes me a while to try to write them. Some of them are the same in my name, so it is a little easier to write. When I think I have it done, I start trying to say them, not in my head because he can’t help me if I mess up part of it up.
“C-c-coooooonorr?”
“Try again, Farlen. Say it a little faster. You’re on the right track with it.”
“Cconnor, OH! Connor!”
He grabs me fast and spins me around the room. I laugh because it makes my stomach feel funny, and he sets me back down again and just looks at me.
“Do that again.”
“What?” What did I do? He doesn’t look mad, so I know I didn’t do anything wrong.
“Laugh again sweetheart, I think that is the finest sound I have ever heard in the entire world.”
“Don’t know how to.” I’m not sure how the sound escaped from me, or even where it came from. I don’t know how to make it happen again.
“It’s okay sweet girl, I think I just found my new purpose in life, I am going to make you laugh so much and so often that you’ll always know how to, there will never be a day in your life where laughter doesn’t come naturally to you.”
He takes me back over to the table and sets me down in my chair. He hands me some more letters to work on. I work on the letters for a long time, still saying out the words he has me write. Trying to say some words right is hard, but he is always there to help me if I need it. After I finish the last one, he goes into the kitchen and comes back out with some peanut butter sandwiches. We eat in silence and he hands me a cup with a lot of white stuff in it. I don’t know what it is, but I know Connor wouldn’t give me things that would hurt me, just things I might not like. I take a sip of it, it’s cool and a little heavier than water, and reminds me a bit like ice cream.
“Alright, so milk goes in the maybe category.”
That was the word I wrote today. I didn’t know what it was, but now I do! Milk. I like this feeling of knowing what something is called and being able to remember what the letters look like for it. Even saying it, I can almost picture the letters that make up the sounds.
I finish my peanut butter sandwich and milk. Connor has already eaten all of his. He hands me my sunglasses. Yay, it’s one of my favorite parts of the day. We go out and walk in the sunlight. I love the feeling of it on my skin, the way it warms my body.
As soon as we step outside, I already know there’s something different. I can hear more people walking around and a lot of talking farther away. I don’t think Connor can hear them, and we keep walking anyway. As we leave the trees and get out into the big open area, there are so many people here now. I thought there were a lot of people when we went shopping, but now there’s so much more. I quickly count to ten, and then count to ten again, and count to ten eight more times, and there are still more people here than I can count. A lot of people are looking at us, some of them pointing at me. One male that was staring got hit in the back of his head by the older male behind him.
“Why hit?”
“Saw that, did you? Well, it’s not really nice to stare at people who look different from you do. And I am assuming his father didn’t hit him very hard, just enough to get his attention, so he’d stop acting so rudely.”
“I’m not nice.” It feels like my stomach fell out of me. I stare at Connor all the time, and he looks different from me. He’s nice to look at.
“What makes you say that, sweetheart?” We’ve stopped walking now, and Connor has hold of both of my hands.
“I stare at you all the time.” Even though he is trying not to hear my thoughts, I always tell him what I am thinking, even if it takes me a while to get my mouth to form the words I need to say.
“Sweetheart, I don’t mind you staring at me. Not in the least bit. I like the feeling of your eyes on me. You can stare at me anytime you want. The difference between what they are doing, and what you do, is I like your eyes on me. I can tell by the way you are trying to hide behind me that you do not like their eyes on you. They can all see it as well, and can see how uncomfortable it makes you. Which makes them not nice. Not you.”
He puts his hand under my face and tilts my head up so he can see me.
“Now I don’t want to hear you say that you are not nice again, sweet girl. Let’s continue our walk, and then we can head back to the house and work on lifting things some more.”
Even as we walk. I know Connor is mistaken. I remember thinking about those mean things about HIM. I remember wanting HIM to die, wishing HE would die, so HE would stop hurting me.
We finish our walk; I am still thinking that I am not nice. Connor takes us to the room he calls the home gym and sets me down on the chair. He hands me the weight he has been having me use and watches me as I lift it up and down. I’ve gotten a little better at it. The first day, all I could do was three times before it felt like my arm was going to rip apart. He makes me count them out every time I bring it close to my face. Which is when he figured out I didn’t know my numbers. Today I get to seven. Connor goes over and lays down where he does his weights. He lifts the bar up and I get to watch all his muscles move as he lifts it up and down. I try to count how many times he does it, and I don’t know the number for it, but I counted to ten five times. He puts the bar back where the metal pieces hold it. And sits up.
“Alright sweetness, let’s go get cleaned up, then we will have some dinner and I will read to you some more, then bedtime. You have a long day ahead of you tomorrow. Classes start in the morning and you have an assembly first thing. I will walk you to the assembly hall and wait for you to come out and walk you to your classes.”
I fall asleep again, listening to Connor's soft voice reading a book to me about a woman who saved all ten of her matches from something called a manticore.
I can feel Connor pushing on my shoulder and whispering my name. I open my eyes and stretch out my body. My scars always feel like they don’t want to move in the morning.
“Go take your bath Farlen, I’ve got food coming. It should be here in about twenty minutes, so you’re going to need to be fast if you want to eat while it’s still hot. Don’t brush your teeth after your bath today. Usually I try to wait to feed you a little while so you don’t still have toothpaste flavor in your mouth, but today we are going to eat, then brush our teeth.”
I nod to him and hurry into the restroom. I am hungry so I can be fast if it means I get to eat again. Once I’m done cleaning myself, I wrap up in the big fluffy towel and go into my clothes room. I find clothes to wear and make sure I have my pants on the right way. A few sleeps ago, I came out and my pants weren’t on right. I couldn’t figure out why they felt funny. Connor told me what I did, and I fixed it. I didn’t like how they felt, so now I always make sure my pants are right.
I head out to the table room and there is lots of food. I see bacon, and sitting next to it on my plate are round things. They are brown, too. There’s also a cup of light brown liquid. I sit down and try a little bite of the brown round thing. It isn’t as good as bacon, but it’s not bad. Connor calls it sausage. I like it more when I dip a little of it in the gooey part of my egg like he did. I reach out to grab the cup of light brown liquid.
“Careful with it, it is hot. Take small slow drinks of it.”
I take a small slow drink like he said, and it is very hot. I feel like I had fire poured down my throat. It’s sweet and creamy and makes my stomach nice and hot.
“I see that you are enjoying that, but I need to know, is it too creamy? Too sweet? Not sweet enough?”
“Nope, it’s good.” I like how it is.
He laughs. “Alright, so for coffee you like it with cream and two sugars.” I finish what I can eat, and Connor has already eaten most of the food at the table. He takes our plates and cups to the kitchen, then comes out, holding a bag.
“Stand up and let’s get your backpack on you. This is probably going to feel a little strange at first, and it might rub your scars on your shoulder funny, but I need to get this adjusted to fit you right.” I stand up and walk towards him. He is looking at my shirt and has a smile on his face. “Farlen dear, do you know what your shirt says?” I shake my head at him. I can hear him trying not to laugh as he says, “It says, Take a picture, it will last longer.” I don’t understand what that means, but I smile at him. He seems to like a lot of the shirts he bought me. Some clothes make him hit his head on the wall and he makes a funny noise. I don’t put those on anymore.
As I get close to him, he gently turns me around and lifts my arms up to the side. He puts something on me. I can feel the weight of it and he turns me back towards him. There are pieces of it on the front that he grabs and pulls, and I can feel the weight shift from near my butt to my back area. He nods once and pulls out his phone.
“Shit, sorry, we need to get going to the assembly hall. It starts in about twenty minutes. Your sunglasses are by the door. Let’s go.”
Connor grabs my hand and begins walking fast, faster than I have ever moved before. I don’t feel like I am moving as fast as he wants me to. He keeps getting his phone out and looking at it. After the third time he does it, he looks back at me.
“Sorry sweetheart, we don’t want you to be late.”
I don’t understand why he is saying sorry. I no sooner think that than he stops and picks me up. Then he starts to move fast. I wasn’t going to keep up with him if this was as fast as he wanted me to go. I close my eyes, because he was bouncing me around and as fast as everything was moving past us, it made me feel like I was going to be sick. It reminds me of the time Agnes carried me down the stairs, but he isn’t moving as fast as her. He goes fast through a door that is open and sets me down. Next to him is another set of doors with lots of talking coming through it.
“Alright sweet girl, I will be here waiting for you when you’re out of there, so I can take you to your first class. Go in there and find a seat. When you’re done, just come out and stand next to the wall until I find you, okay?”
I nod to him and walk into the room. If I thought there were a lot of people before, I don’t even know how to say how many people are in this room. Almost every seat in here has someone in it, and it takes my eyes a while to adjust to the size of the room. There is a part of the room that is higher up than the rest, and a lot of lights are shining down on it. It looks like it is so far away from me. I look around and see some empty chairs not far away and begin walking towards them.
As I make my way to the chairs, I see people stop what they are doing and look at me. There’s no Connor here to hide behind, so I try to hide in my hair as I am walking, keeping my eyes on my feet. I peek up every now and again to make sure I am going where I need to. When did it get so quiet in here? I look up again and it feels like everyone has gotten quiet; I look around and every face I can see is looking at me. I hide in my hair more and hurry to my chair. I sit down in it, and the people in the chairs in front of mine turn around and look at me. They are whispering to each other, but I can still hear it.
“Holy Gods, what a freak, dude. What do you think caused all those scars?”
“Fuck if I know, man, but if she survived it all, she’s probably dangerous as fuck. Turn around dumbass, we don’t want her getting pissed off at us.”
He hits the other one in the back of the head and they turn back towards the platform. All around me I hear more whispering, and more than once the word freak reaches my ears. I don’t know what the word means. Maybe Connor can tell me, or we can use it in the next word of the day?
The talking in the room gets louder and louder, as people start talking again. I still try to hide inside my hair. I don’t like this feeling. My skin has gotten so much more itchy as I sit here. Not long after the talking started, it stopped again. I look up to see if people are staring at me again, but there is a man in the higher part of the room, standing under all the lights. He has a weird metal thing on his face near his mouth. I can’t tell how tall he is from here, but he has pointed ears. He has long black hair, and is wearing fancy looking clothes. They look a lot nicer than mine.
“Welcome back everyone to another semester at North West Academy! As is the tradition, every semester we welcome in newly awakened supernaturals, who are here to start their journey into understanding and mastering their magic, so they can be a functioning individual who provide for the community. Without the help of those better off than us, we would never rise from the depths the humans on Earth relegated us to live in. When the dark times hit, and we lost almost all of our female population, the community came together and we found out more about our match bonds. It is work like that, that you all will strive for when you finally leave the academy. At the start of this semester, things will go a little differently. No longer will the threat of being sent into a cell for the rest of your life, if you cannot learn to control your magic be a threat. We will make sure every one of you can master your magic so you can help support the community.” There’s a lot of loud noises from everyone when he says that. People raise their fists in the air as they shout.
“School rules will remain the same, but your instructors have final say in their rooms what they want the rules to be there. Above all, remember, females are not to be hurt, as they are our most precious treasures now. Any male caught inflicting damage on a female will be sent to see me. Of course, this is outside of combat classes, but please gentlemen, remember they are not as strong as you, and try to take it a little easier on them.”
It doesn’t sound like everyone likes this as much as the last thing he said. Some girls near me are shouting things at him, as are the men surrounding them. I try to hide more in my hair, and slide down my chair more. I don’t know why they are yelling, but I don’t want them to see me and yell at me next.
“Settle down. Now everyone may clear out except our new students. Please stay seated. There is more I would like to go over with all of you.”
A lot of people stand up and leave. Some people stare at me as they walk past. Soon the noise of footsteps is quiet, as does the talking. I look around and see that the room is now almost empty, though there are still more people in here than I can count.
“Now that it is just us, my name is Dean Augustus, and I hope you’ll come to see me as a friend. If you have any complaints or issues, please bring them to me. I want you all to feel welcome here. I am going to explain the rules now to you all, ladies, be your perfect selves, and work on mastering your magic and focus on your studies. If you find a match, please notify myself or any staff member. Your school and government file will need to be updated to reflect as such. Gentlemen, I know your urges to protect your match can be quite overpowering, but please try to keep the fighting out of the hallways, and if you seriously hurt another student or kill them, you will there will be extreme consequences. Please try to keep your disputes out of the sights of the weaker sex. I know you all will be on your best behavior but please remember, we are not sure if the match results are always right. If you feel a pull towards a lady in the school, try to talk to them, and any matches they already have, to see if there is something there. Now, for those of you who have no idea of what your powers are, you will be attending special classes with Instructor Fry. He will help guide you to your magic, and direct you to the classes you should be in. He will also be teaching you a basic history of our kind. I am sure most of you will know all of this, but there are a few students this year who are unaware of our histories. This first week of classes will be very full, as the Instructors test your strengths and weaknesses, and will set you into the class levels they believe will fit your magic and knowledge levels.”
“This academy hosts not only people in your own age range but we also teach the younglings, in other buildings, but you may have a crossover between them. If you are someone identified as having a dangerous power, or are a shifter, you will be in separate classes, as we do not want any damage to come to them.”
“For those of you who know what your power is, you already have your class schedules, and who your instructors are.”
“I hope I can make this place feel like a home to you, and you can find a big family here. Classes begin in about fifteen minutes for those of you who are unaware of your magic, so I will dismiss you all now. Remember, we are nothing without those who support us.”
He leaves the lights and everyone stands up. People stare at me as they walk past where I am sitting. There is a gap in the people walking, and I hurry into the empty space. I try to ignore all the whispering as I walk, hiding in my hair, following the sound of the footsteps back out the door I came in. Once I am through the doors, I stand against the wall, trying to make myself smaller so no one will stare at me. I see feet standing in front of me and peek up. Connor is standing there looking angry.
“Stand up, sweet girl. Let’s get you out of this hallway.” He holds his hand down to me. When he looks at me, he doesn’t look angry, but when he looks around at everyone else, he looks angry. I put my hand in his, and he pulls me up to my feet, then pulls me behind him to an open door that leads outside. As we walk, people bump into me and push me around the path. Connor makes a strange noise and gives me a hug, and carries me like that until we are outside.
“Alright sweetness, I need to get you to Instructor Fry’s class. I am sorry that he is your instructor. I’ve heard he is a grouchy son of a bitch. Hopefully, it won’t be too bad for you.” He pulls out his phone, looking for something, and then begins pulling me behind him again.
“I can’t go into your classes with you, but I will be waiting for you when your classes get out. Remember to get your schedule from Instructor Fry for your remaining classes. I will help you read them and we will figure out where you’re supposed to go next, okay?”
“Okay.”
He opens a door up and holds it open for me. I walk through it and into another pathway that has doors everywhere. He comes in behind me and pushes my shoulders to get me walking, adding pressure when I need to turn a certain way. He opens up another door that leads to a smaller room.
“Find a seat somewhere, pick somewhere that you will feel comfortable. This class is supposed to last for about an hour, so you’ll be sitting down for a while. I am going to go run a few errands, but I will be back before your class is out.” He gives me a big hug and lightly pushes me into the room, and shuts the door behind me.
There are no other people in the room, just me. There are very big windows on the wall that fill the room with so much light. I see a spot in the room where there are no windows and it is a lot darker there. I make my way up the stairs and towards the chair in the darker spot. I sit down and remember Connor telling me to use the small rectangle to record my lessons. I open up my backpack and find it. I sit it down on my desk and press the red button on it so it will start recording. I don’t know how long until the class starts, but I don’t want to have to hurry and get it going when it does.
The door opens, and people walk in. There is a girl that is tall and very nice to look at. Her skin is smooth and almost shines in the light as she walks towards some chairs and sits down. A group of men follow behind her, and set down her bag. Another reaches into her bag and pulls out some of her things and sets them down on her desk. It’s very strange to me. Connor helps me when I need it, and she doesn’t look like she needs the help. The men stop pulling things out of her bag and look around the room. One sees me and leans down to the girl and they whisper something. The girl turns back and looks at me. She has eyes that remind me of the ground after it rains. Not like any of the eyes I have ever dreamed about. Her nose wrinkles up, and she turns back around fast.
The men surrounding her sit around her in a circle, some of them pulling out their own things from their backpack. More and more people begin to enter the room, and everyone looks up at me as they walk in. No one walks up to the area I am sitting in. Everyone tries to stay two chairs below the line of chairs I am sitting in.
The door opens, and a male walks in. He walks up to the table at the front and sets things down on it. He looks at some papers on his table and turns towards the board. The male begins to write on it. I try to understand what he is writing, but he is going too fast for me. Once he is done, he turns towards us all, and I feel like all the air inside of me is gone.
He has hair as dark as the night sky. He looks very tall and has even more muscles than Connor does! What stops my air is his eyes. I have seen those eyes all of my life. They are the color of my blood, with little bits of black inside them. He looks around at everyone here, not seeing me in the darkness.
“Alright everyone, first rule in my class, you’re not allowed to sit with your match group, ladies move to the back of the class and find a fucking seat. You are here to learn, and I will not have you all over your matches every class causing disruptions. Don’t fucking look at me like that, I said MOVE.”
I jump at how he sounds. He sounds very angry. The first girl that walked into the class puts her bottom lip out and looks around at all the girls heading my way.
“You can’t make me sit back there with the freak. I will tell my Daddy about this.”
“I don’t give two rats asses what you tell your ’Daddy’ this is my classroom and my rules, move your ass or you will be out in the hallway for every lesson after this one, and you will never figure out what your powers are.”
She picks her foot up and puts it down on the ground hard and grabs her things from her desk. The guys around her stand up and grab the things from her and take them up to a chair the farthest from me. They whisper things to her and her bottom lip is still sticking out. I look around at the girls that moved up here with me. There are only five other girls in here, all of them sitting as far away from me as they can.
I look back at the man at the front. He is holding the top part of his nose. His eyes flickering around the room, and they seem to pass right over the top of me, never stopping on me. Why have I dreamed of his eyes and Connor’s eyes as long as I can remember?
“Alright, so now that that is settled, I don’t care about your fucking match groups and the bond you all are forming. You are here to learn not to dry hump each other in my class. Now I am going to do a roll call, to make sure all of you are here, when I say your name, say here, or some shit like that. Attendance at the academy is compulsory, and it will be taken in all of your classes. Failure to attend classes, bearing a note from the Healers, will result in immediate repercussions.”
I need to learn what these words mean. I don’t understand half of what he is saying, and I am happy Connor got me this small rectangle, so I can listen to them again and ask him what the words mean.