33
Farlen
T hat was a good sleep. Connor, Rhi, Xander, and Vashu were there. The three other eyes were there, too. I can’t wait until I get to see their faces, too. We were all sitting around a gigantic table, one that is like the one we have now, but different. We just sit there and eat and laugh. It was nice. I hope one day we can all do that. There is a bit of light coming through the curtains, so I need to get up and take my bath.
I stand up and have to pee badly. It’s happened a lot since yesterday. Usually I only pee two times a day. I don’t like this feeling. What happened to me? I hurry to the restroom because I really need to go. I wash my hands and then get my bath ready. I really like the bath. One day I am going to press the button Connor said will make jets come on. I don’t know what a jet is, so I haven’t tried it yet. I go to the closet and get dressed for the day, checking two times that I have my not short pants on right. These are really short. They are blue and black, and I like the way they look. I put on my bra, even though all I want to do is throw it on the ground and never see one again. I find a blue shirt that has words on it. I don’t understand two of the words on it, but I do know it says, I’m sorry, I wasn’t (a word I don’t know) I was (another word I don’t know) by your face. The blue looks like the blue on my not short pants. I put it on and go to the big table.
The big table is broken. What happened to it? Where will we all sit and eat? When the other three eyes become faces, where will we laugh at? I sit down on the ground and cry. The dream I had can’t happen now. It made me so happy. I hear someone walking up behind me and turn towards them. It’s Xander.
“Why are you crying at four thirty in the morning?” I don’t know what that means. And I don’t know how to tell him. I need Connor. I just cry some more.
“Hey, hey, Connor said if you touch your head like that, you need to tell him something in your head. Don’t cry. Let me go get him.” I can’t stop crying. I wanted all the eyes to be faces, and all of us to sit around and to laugh and eat together.
Xander knocks on a door and Rhi comes over and picks me up.
“Why are you crying, gorgeous?” I touch my head. I can’t stop crying to say it.
Rhi hugs me close. “Knocked on the wrong door, but I appreciate being woken up for this. Connors is the other door.”
“She’s crying and keeps touching her head like you said she would if she needed to say something, but can’t figure out how to say it. Zachariah has her right now, but she needs you.” Xander says quietly. Rhi is still just holding me, making shushing noises like the lady did in the hospital to the small girl.
Connors' face comes into view. He doesn’t have his glasses on and he keeps rubbing his eyes.
“Alright, I’m here, sweet girl. What’s wrong?”
The big table is broken. Where will we all eat? Where will the other three eyes sit when they have faces? How can we all sit and laugh?
“Fuck, I knew we forgot to do something last night,” Connor says. He picks me up from Rhi, and Rhi makes a funny noise. Connor doesn’t let me look at him, though. He carries me over to the couch, sits down, and has me sit on him like a chair. He gives me a big hug.
“Yes, the big table is broken Farlen, but it’s okay, we can get a new one today while you are in class, there will be a new big table for us all to sit at and eat and laugh together sweet girl.” He squeezes me again. “Now, why are you up so early? The sun is just barely coming up. Your classes don’t start for another three and a half hours.”
“I don’t know. My body just wanted to be awake.” It takes me a while to say it right, and it took me a few tries to get awake right, but I did it. Connor stops squeezing me and lets me stand up. He laughs as he looks at my shirt.
“Farlen, do you know what your shirt says today?”
“Some, not all.”
“Alright, your shirt says, I’m sorry I wasn’t listening. I was horrified by your face.”
Rhi comes over behind me and gives me a big hug from behind.
“I’ve got her guys. Why don’t you try to get some more sleep? I can never go back to sleep once I’ve been woken up.” Connor nods his head, stands up and stretches high up. He walks back to his room and shuts the door.
Xander comes over to me and reaches his hand out to me, but then stops and puts it back by his side. “I’ll see you in a few hours, snowflake.”
Why did he call me snowflake and not scary lady? Rhi gives me more squeezes.
“So, you were dreaming of us?”
I nod at him. “I always dream of you. I just never knew it was you before. Now that I know your face, you are always there. Sometimes I have dreams that make me scared, but then all of your faces and eyes are there and it’s better.”
“If you have more dreams that make you scared, come into my room and wake me up, I will come lay down with you in your bed and hold you like this while we lay there and you can go back to sleep, okay?” This feels nice, so I nod to him. I feel his hot breath on my head.
“Good girl.” My stomach tightens again when he says that. It does it when Connor says that to me, too.
“Now, what do you want to eat for breakfast?”
“Bacon! No toast! Coffee….. pineapple!”
I sit down on one of the big chairs when Rhi lets go of me and goes into the kitchen. I still am a little sad about the big table, but if we get another big table before the other eyes become faces, then we can still laugh and eat at it .
I sit there for a little while, wondering how long until I can have some bacon. One of the other doors opens in the room. Vashu walks out of his room. He isn’t wearing any clothes. He is so big, all of him is so big. HE wasn’t that big. How is he so big? Why is it so big? He is rubbing his eyes and stops. “SHIT, one second, sorry!” He turns back into the door he came out of and shuts it. Why is he so big? Is Connor and Rhi that big? Is Xander that big? The door Vashu went in opens again and he has on pants, but no shirt. He comes over to me, “Sorry little one, I didn’t know you were up or I would have had clothes on. I smelt bacon and wanted to come out to see who was cooking.”
“Smelt? What’s smelt?” He scratches his head.
“Who’s up, little one?”
“Rhi, only Rhi makes bacon.” He won’t tell me what smelt is. Connor went to sleep more so I can ask him. He goes to the kitchen and I can hear them talking softly, but I can’t hear what they are saying. There is a strange noise that sounds like popping.
Rhi comes out with Vashu behind him. “Vashu said you asked what smelt is, it’s when you breathe in through your nose and it picks up scents in the air, like how you can taste bacon, but you can smell things with your nose.” He looks at Vashu, “Come here, take a whiff and tell her what you smell on me and describe it to her.”
Vashu comes over and takes a big breath in through his nose. “He smells like coffee and chocolate.”
“Now you try Farlen, come here and take a big breath in through your nose and tell me what you smell. You know what both things are. See if you can connect them to what you know them to smell like.” Walking up to him and take a big breath in through my nose, but don’t smell anything. I focus on my words, and they make me sad when I say them.
“I don’t know what coffee or cho-co-late smells like. Can’t smell them, and can’t smell you.” I look down at my feet. “Do I smell?”
Rhi gets down on the ground on his knees, so I have to look at him and not my feet. He puts his warm hand on my naked leg.
“You smell like home, Farlen.”
I look around. “This is home.”
“No, this is a house we are staying in, home is wherever you are.” That makes my heart feel funny, like it’s being given a hug. “I’ve almost got your bacon done. Why don’t you sit back down and we can eat in here this morning?” I sit down and Rhi and Vashu go back to the kitchen. I hear Rhi shout “WHAT THE FUCK?” and then they start whispering more. I still can’t hear what they say, but they stop whispering and come out with lots of bacon and my cup of coffee. I know it’s mine because Connor and Rhi’s coffee is black. Mine is the only one that is brown.
Rhi and Vashu sit down in the other big chairs and Rhi gives me my cup and puts a lot of bacon on a plate and hands me a bowl of pineapple. I don’t know how to hold everything. They push one of the small tables in front of me and I put my stuff down on it. I eat some of my pineapple and think about how I want to ask my question. I don’t know Vashu well. He may get mad at me, but Rhi is here. Rhi will protect me. I put my plate down and look at Vashu.
“How is it so big?”
Rhi makes a strange noise and hits himself on his chest. Why is Rhi hurting himself?
“I’m okay, sorry. That question just took me by surprise, and I swallowed my food without chewing it.”
Vashu looks at me and moves his shoulders up and brings them back down.
“It gets bigger.”
Rhi puts his hand on his face.
“How?”
“Gorgeous, that is a conversation for a much later time. Especially not while we are eating.”
I look over at Rhi.
“Is yours that big? And does it get bigger too?”
Rhi makes a strange noise. Vashu laughs. He has a nice laugh.
“No, mine is not as big as his is, but yes, mine does get bigger, too.” His phone makes a rumbly noise. He pulls it out and shows it to Vashu. Vashu nods and gets up and goes to the other door in the room and knocks on it hard. Rhi goes over to Connor's door and knocks on it. I see Connor poke his head out. I look over and Vashu is talking to Xander. I don’t understand what is going on. Vashu goes into his room and comes back out with a shirt on and his shoes on. I just eat more bacon while they all talk and put on clothes. Rhi comes back over to me. He has different clothes on now too.
“Healer Daniel wants to see us. It’s something regarding you, and it’s important. So we need you to get your shoes on so we can go.”
I stand up and go over to my shoes. I bend down to get them on and I hear a lot of strange noises behind me. I look between my legs and all of them are standing behind me, looking at me. Everyone except Rhi says something. Vashu says, “Burn them.” Xander says “Keep them.” Connor says, “Fuuuuuuuuuck.” Rhi is just staring at me and his eyes are all swirly again. I get my shoes on and stand up. My phone makes a rumbly noise, so I grab it. It’s the picture of the lady that looks like Connor. I show him and he nods at me. I press the button to open the message and the strange voice says, “Hi Farlen, I’m Connors Mom, hopefully he’s told you about me by now, don’t let them make you change, you wear what you are wearing, it makes you feel pretty and they don’t get to take that away from you, no matter how uncomfortable it makes them. I can’t wait to meet you, sweetie!”
I smile at my phone. It does make me feel pretty. I like the blue. I look back at the men and they all have their hands on their face. I don’t know why they do that, but they look silly. I make a small laughing noise and all of them look at me. They all look at each other and nod their heads. They all move at once, and Connor grabs my hand. We leave the house, and the sun is starting to come up more. Connor picks me up and carries me. He brings his mouth close to my ear. “I wouldn’t dream of making you change out of that, but you cannot bend down and pick anything up today, especially while you are wearing that. ”
I don’t understand what he means, but I nod at him anyway, no bending down. We get to the small hospital and Vashu opens the door and everyone walks in. Connor is still carrying me. We go back to the part with all the beds and Healer Daniel is there and so is Instructor Payne.
“Sorry everyone, for getting you up early. After my last scan on Farlen, I also included a brain scan on her, even though I don’t think I’ve ever done one before. Never a need to, you know. Anyway, I wasn’t sure what was normal and what wasn’t, so I asked Payne if I could do a scan on him. I need all of you to take a deep breath. She has scarring all over her brain, and I haven’t been able to sleep because I can only imagine what caused the damage. I want to heal the damage to her brain now. I can’t think about anything else besides healing it. Hopefully, it will help out with a lot of other things. I don’t have specifics on what I think it will help, as I’ve never had to heal a brain before, and I want all of you aware of that. Nothing could happen, or everything could change.”
Everyone says do it. So I nod my head. Connor sets me down on a bed. I go to lay down again, but Healer Daniel stops me. “You have to stay sitting up for this one. I need to touch your head.” I nod at him and I feel his hand get hot and everyone just stares at where his hands are.