Boys Against - Part 6 (608 hits)
Category: Quotes & StoriesRating: 2 on 11 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Yes (View user info) at 2005-03-29 11:49:49 EST
Part 1: http://www.ubersite.com/m/62471
Part 2: http://www.ubersite.com/m/62540
Part 3: http://www.ubersite.com/m/62640
Part 4: http://www.ubersite.com/m/62707
Part 5: http://www.ubersite.com/m/62865
Boys Against (Part 6 of 6)
*I counted three hundred seventeen years. A long time. A very long time.*
When Mik opened his eyes, he saw that beyond the lanterns hanging above the table were stars arranged in unfamiliar constellations. Was that sky above him, or a high and beautifully decorated ceiling?
He sat up and was so startled to see Pell standing beside the table that he kicked to his feet. He grimaced his embarrassment and sat on the edge of the table, letting his feet swing slightly as Pell stood by him.
"You're not eleven."
"I guess not," was all Mik could think to say.
Pell smiled and took a breath to hold it in his mouth and pooch out his cheeks. He let it out and watched Mik as if waiting for a response.
"I didn't lie," Mik told him. "I just forgot."
"What happened to the girls?" Pell asked. "There were girls once."
"Someone told me—his name was Tai, I think—that we drove them out. Or not drove them out, but they left because we didn't play right with them."
"Where are they now?"
"I don't know."
Pell turned and pulled himself up to sit beside the larger boy. For a long time, they were quiet, but Mik could feel Pell readying himself to speak.
"I came back from the sea because I realized Mura was not my sister. I have a sister."
"Pell."
"Her name is Maggie. I must have been from one end of our world to the other, and it is great, but it is too small because Maggie is not here."
"And what if your sister is still in the Other Place?"
"Then I will go back there."
Mik shook his head. "No one has ever gone back. The boys who go too far and lose that something we have that keeps us young and lets us forget if we want to... they grow. They become Bush Nazis. They're crazy like hurt animals, and we have to kill them when we find them."
"How many Nazis do you think there are?"
"I don't know."
"If boys go, some of them must stay gone," Pell said. "The girls went somewhere. Maybe Maggie was one of them."
They were silent for a space until Pell spoke again. "Goz says that if I sleep here the books will tell me something. It might not be what I want to know, but maybe I can use it to find her."
Mik was silent for a long time, gathering his thoughts. Finally, he took a breath and said, "Pell, did you ever think that maybe we are not just ourselves? That maybe we're the selves some other people were meant to be? Wanted to be? That we fight and we play and we hunt and we explore not for ourselves, but for them?"
Pell leaned forward and let his mouth hang open. Now Mik wanted to hit him, or at least shake him very hard. He closed his eyes and leaned back, pressing his palms against the warm surface of the table. He concentrated on the feel of the wood, afraid that if he looked at Pell, he would commit an act of overwhelming violence.
He imagined punching Pell hard in the solar plexus and leaping from the table, running backwards as he armed his sling. Pell was fast, but not fast enough to avoid catching one of Mik's stones right between the eyes.
Eyes still shut, Mik said, "In the Other Place I am dead, but here I am Nokhami, and I am not afraid of anything."
"Is that why you stopped keeping the time?" Pell asked, and the sound of his voice filled Mik with shame. He could never hurt Pell. "Is that why you let yourself forget?"
Mik, feeling weak, as if from the passage of some dark spirit, finally opened his eyes. Pell had taken no notice of his rage, and for that, he was grateful. "Yes."
"Then you have everything you want," Pell said, "and I am not the greatest of us; you are."
"Pell."
"You're crying."
Mik nodded, but he couldn't feel his face. "Am I?"
He swung his legs up onto the table and scooted over to let Pell lie beside him. Together they stared up at the stars. Mik saw a serpent menacing a man.
"You don't have to stay," Pell told him.
"I know."
When next Pell spoke, his voice was small and weighted down with sleep. "When this world is too small for you, you can come after me, you know."
"I know."
Pell's breathing grew slow and even. Mik's eyes burned, but he did not close them. Instead he gazed at a constellation of a girl holding a slingshot until, much later, he fell asleep.
When he awakened, Pell was gone.
End
User Reviews
Submitted by rollerboognish (user info) at 2005-03-31 14:40:05 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
haha, congrats on the brain teaser again. you should write a new post so i can +2 that instead.
Submitted by rollerboognish (user info) at 2005-03-30 17:33:09 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
congrats on the brain teaser.
Submitted by Dannie (user info) at 2005-03-30 16:59:47 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2005-03-30 16:22:59 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by DonovanMD (user info) at 2005-03-29 18:17:54 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Sorry, someone beat you ro the 3 riddles. But Ill toss you a +2 on this one and a low rated post as runner up anyway.
Submitted by PukingDog (user info) at 2005-03-29 17:57:30 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Well done.
Submitted by FATMANTPK (user info) at 2005-03-29 15:13:01 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by loki (user info) at 2005-03-29 12:43:50 (#)
Ranking: 2
oh no hell no you can't just end it
damn you
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I agree, but it seems like the stories that leave you longing for closure are the ones we love the most and can re-read (or watch) over and over
Submitted by Yes (user info) at 2005-03-29 14:48:09 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
yup, it's the end... well the end of our story anyway, the Nokhami will always be there.
Submitted by kaos-king (user info) at 2005-03-29 14:04:48 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by munkeypants (user info) at 2005-03-29 13:23:17 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
awwwww... it's over?
Submitted by loki (user info) at 2005-03-29 12:43:50 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
oh no hell no you can't just end it
damn you