Fable

Calyx ignored Bia when she collapsed into tears. We kept walking as if nothing happened. This shocked me. When someone broke down and cried, it was for a reason. Why would Calyx pretend nothing was going on? Why did we walk away?

Bia picked herself up and wiped away the few tears that had fallen like she was fine. Was she fine? I couldn’t tell. Either way, she walked right behind Ivy like she was her puppy. I didn’t want them to get too close. It didn’t seem safe. “Are you okay? Do you want to walk now?” Calyx asked me.

My legs weren’t hurting anymore, so I thought walking would be fine. “Sure. Set me down gently, though. I hate being dropped.” She placed me on the ground so my feet touched the dirt softly. I could feel everything with my toes. “Can I still hold your hand?” I asked.

She smiled. “Always.”

I slipped my hand into hers, happy to have someone next to me. I was so used to being alone. I could remember my early childhood, when I was about three or four. We were sitting around a fire singing old Romani songs. I had my head resting on Momma’s knee, but she kept shoving me away every other minute. Still, I kept going back to her because we were family and she was my protector. She was supposed to take care of me.

Momma never took care of me. She left me to starve unless I brought home money for food. “Fable, you go get dinner for us. You go do magic,” she’d croon. I always obeyed. I never asked questions. “Oh chahvi, you’re so good to me. I need you forever and ever and ever...” she’d whisper late at night while I fell asleep.
... and ever and ever and never.

I was gone. I’d left her by herself with no one to take care of her, no one to get her money or food, no one to keep her company. I left my momma for what? This? Why did I think it was ever worth it? I stubbed my toe on a rock and mumbled a swear word I’d heard our King say one day when the fire burnt him. Calyx giggled. “I want to go back,” I admitted in a small voice. “I don’t want this.”

Calyx gave me a small pat on my head with her free hand. “We all want to go back. But we can’t.”

“But… but- I miss Momma and my family. I miss everyone. I don’t want them to be gone,” I sniffled.

She stopped walking long enough to give me a hug. “It’ll be okay. Everything will be fine. You just stick with me and Bia. We’ll take care of you.” Bia walked up from behind me, leaving Ivy alone in the back. I left that topic alone.

“I won’t let you get hurt,” she said quietly. And I knew what kind of hurt she meant. Ivy’s kind of hurt.

“Good. I don’t like hurting.” I stuck my chin up in the air and sniffled again.

Bia swooped me up in her arms and carried me like a baby. “No worries. We’re doing great, kiddo.” She kissed my nose. For a second I let myself pretend I was in Momma’s arms and we were coming home after another night at the fair. But the scent of incense was replaced with bleach and Momma’s soft shawl was replaced with Bia’s cold arms. This was what I had now. I had to be fine with it.

“Take care of me, okay? And you. Take care of you. I don’t like it when you’re hurt,” I said honestly.
I could see the pain in her gray eyes. She wasn’t doing a good job of hiding. Maybe she didn’t want to hide.

“I’ll go walk with Ivy and see if her brother’s said anything yet,” Calyx mumbled. She slowed down to match Ivy’s pace. Bia pulled me closer to her chest and I laid my head on her cold skin. She’d do. She was fine. Besides, something deep inside me told me she was already family. It was like we knew each other from long, long ago. Only we’d forgotten all that and only had right now.

Ember

“ He can’t be too far off.” I told Chase, “ He isn’t usually the type to run off on us like that. His owner is a real dick- I mean... he’s really strict and all I guess. I don’t know why he ran off in the first place.”

“ Us?” Chase questioned as we pushed through the trees.

“ Uh, yeah. I’ll introduce you to them.. I guess.” I said uncertainly. Maybe it was a bad idea. Bringing in a normal kid into a group of freaks… oh well. There was something strange about him and the way I found him…

“ What’s the dogs name?” he asked.

“ Sarge. He-”

“ SAAAARGE!!!!” He wailed into the forest.

“ Don’t scare him off!”

“ Oh… Right.” He laughed nervously. “ Saaarge?” he whispered. I shook my head, a smile spreading across my lips. I pushed a branch away and saw the dog standing there, wagging his tail and waiting patiently. I held onto his collar and kept walking, Chase trailing behind.

“So uh, You like dogs huh? I thought you said you were looking for your dog, but then you just were talking about the dog’s owner in a way that said the dog wasn’t yours, so… is the dog yours or not?” words tumbled from his mouth in a constant stream.

“Uh… no. This is Jack’s dog.” I explained.

“Ohhhhh.” Chase said as if everything had become clear. We kept walking, and he didn’t say anything else. I was aware of his deep breathing, as if each step we took made him more nervous. Why? I dunno. “ Want some chocolate?” he blurted out suddenly.

I turned and looked at him. His eyes widened and his lips formed into a frown. I had to resists myself from laughing. Why was he giving me that face? It’s not like he said anything wrong. “ Sure.” I smiled, and kept walking.

“ Really? Oh- well… Okay.” He swung his bag around and fumbled around with the zipper. When he finally opened up his bag and pulled out two chocolate bars, he handed one to me happily.

“ Thanks.” I ripped the top of the wrapper off with my teeth, keeping one hand secured on Sarge’s collar, and took a bite. Chase gave me a quick look and then shrugged it off, taking a bite of his chocolate bar. “ So you didn’t tell me,” I said, snapping off another piece of chocolate. “ Why were you way out there in the middle of the woods?”

“ Oh.. Haha.. It’s uh… a Long story.” He stuttered.

“ I got time.”

“ Does that mean this is a long walk?” he whined.

“ No,” I laughed. “ but I bet the story isn’t as long as you say it is.” I smiled.

Bia

Fable had adjusted herself so she was sitting on my back in an almost-piggyback fashion. She was still clinging to me, tighter than ever, as if I would drop her at any moment. But maybe that’s what she knew. She said her sisters left her. Maybe everyone else had left her long before they physically moved away.

“Guess what?” she whispered in my ear.
I nearly jumped at her voice being so close to me. “What?”
She switched to talking in my head. “Ivy’s thinking about you right now.”

I tried to slow my heartbeat down and keep all thoughts of the possibilities out of my mind as Fable obviously could catch on quick. But it was nearly impossible.

“Really? Is it good? Or, bad?” I stammered.
Fable laughed. “I’m not telling. That would be rude.”

Out loud, we heard Ivy shout something triumphant.
“Omigod! I get cell phone service! We can order pizza or something!”

I stared at blondie. She had obviously fooled me into thinking she was different than the rest of the popular girls.

“Ivy, that’s impossible. We’re in the middle of a forest with no known address, wandering around in probably circles, nowhere NEAR a road. How on earth could a pizza delivery guy reach us?” Calyx paused, thinking. “But I’m hungry too. I’m sorry if that sounded mean. I didn’t mean it to be, I just- I was-”
“Cell phone! Ivy, does your brother have a cell phone?” I asked, interrupting Calyx.

Ivy stared at the flat phone in her hand for a moment before letting a smile creep across her face.

“He does! He has a cell phone! And a backpack full of chocolate bars, not that I’d eat those, but maybe he has some snacks...” Ivy trailed off. “Oh, I mean, we could text him to see where he is. Screw the food.”

She ducked her head as if she was embarrassed. I wanted to tell her it was okay, that my stomach needed me to fill it as well.

“You ate ice cream, doofus.” Fable’s voice crept into my head again.
“Get out!” I thought rather loudly.
She shot me a look and opened her mouth to speak. “I want Calyx to carry me. Your nails are digging into my legs. You’re hurting me.”

I shot ahead to catch up with Calyx who was now concentrating on marking the trees with a sharp stone she’d found on the ground. Apparently it helped her know we weren’t going in circles and were actually getting somewhere.

“She wants you,” I said quietly.

Fable jumped from my back to Calyx’s in a couple seconds. I expected Calyx to at least jump a little at the extra weight, but she didn’t even blink. It was as if she hadn’t noticed. Huh.

“You can go now,” Fable ordered in her tiny voice.
I glared at her. “You’re really annoying.”
“I know. So are you. Now leave me alone. I want Calyx,” she whined.

I fell back in step with Ivy, who was staring at the screen of her phone. A message was up on the screen, and despite my thoughts telling me to give her privacy, I peeked over Ivy’s shoulder to read it.

“go away. im with a girl,” the text read.

“Huh, I never thought your brother was the type to ditch you for a girl,” I mused. “But then again, I only knew him for a short while.”
Ivy glanced up at me. “Why’d you read my message?”
“Well, I, uh,” I stuttered.
“That’s private and personal, you know. I don’t go through all your little diaries or whatever you do in your spare time. I don’t even know you. God, just… give me some space. I can’t deal with this right now,” Ivy ranted.

My face turned crimson and I stopped walking. Diaries. As if that’s what I spent my time doing. Try avoiding the leers of my mom’s current flame or trying to sneak downstairs without running into a half-naked man in the kitchen, eating my food. When did I ever have time to write any of this down? Did I look like the type of girl to keep a diary?

I glanced down at my arms. Probably, judging from my appearance. Good job, Bia. Dressing in black skinny jeans, a gray tank top, and gray Converse. Trying to blend in with the world around you. You mix your f’ucking charcoal eyeshadow every morning with the teal, hoping you’ll fit in nicely. Right. Like people don’t notice the freak. Like they can’t see your scars and everything you’ve done.

My feet gave out under me and I let myself collapse to the ground. It was comfier than walking, anyway. My feet ached. Tears welled up in my eyes but I refused to let them fall. I was done crying over my past. I was done crying over yet another person who shrugged me off like a stray piece of confetti. The sadness turned to anger and the tears fell anyway, hot and sticky on my sweaty cheeks. I brushed them away angrily. They didn’t belong here.

“Bia’s not good,” Fable cried loudly. I could hear her from back here.
I’m fine, I wanted to say. I’m perfect. This is as close as I’ll get. Instead of opening my mouth, I picked myself up off the ground and continued walking behind a waterfall of blond hair.