Transparent Color's

My head moves around and I can feel a soft blanket on a hard surface rubbing against my cheek. I stretch my arm out and touch a bony body. My eyes open quickly and sitting there on the stone pathway next to me is Toby.

I push myself up and gasp, “Toby!” somewhat dramatically, and grab him in my arms, kissing the top of his head.

“Hi Maggie, I heard about you all’s encounters,” He says too calmly. I back away for a minute and think to myself, is this real or my imagination.

“Maggie what’s wrong?” I notice Maliki now sitting next to the fire.

“I don’t know if this is real”.

“Well in that case, eating some food and drinking some water won’t do you any harm.” He hands me some food and my canteen.

“Do you want me to tell you what happened after you fell asleep?”

I nod yes and he goes on, “I went back to the spot where you thought you saw Toby and followed the compass back north. I walked for about a half an hour, until I reached another stone pathway. I walked on for about twenty more minutes until I saw this little guy sitting on the ground, eyes still closed and ears plugged.” He laughs and shakes the top of Toby’s head.

“You know what the weird thing is Maggie? I was only sitting there for maybe five minutes after Maliki first left, and then you all were back again.” Toby’s shocked face is priceless; I guess a lot of his faces are. He laughs.

“Wow, how can that be?” how can it not be, this land is so confusing.

“I told you the path changes direction, but didn’t know it can change the time as well. So the two hours it took us to get to him, it really only took five minutes.”

“Hm. Yes that is weird Toby. Well at least we didn’t waste any time.” I try to say it in a joking way.

They both agree and we continue to eat. I feel they both don’t know what to say to me, so I’ll break the silence, “How much further is it to the Grand City?”

“I would say a few more days.”

“What’s the City like?”

“Well when I left all was good. The City, unlike yours, is very colorful. There are tall glass buildings that are made for offices. A lot of shops and bookstores and…”

“Bookstores?” my teeth must want to be shown, because I can’t stop smiling.

“Yes, bookstores. There are places for you to go eat out, so you don’t always have to eat at your home. There’s music and singing. I should take you to a show when we get there.” He centers in on me. But Toby cuts it in half.

“Yes! Please! That would be awesome!” a bit too excitedly.

He turns and gives Toby a nod. I can understand the feeling, at our City we had only heard of shows, with music and singing, but only the Organizers or the really wealthy were allowed to watch them. So the thought of seeing one excited me as well. Especially if you have the freedom to do it.

“How is the control there?”

Maliki looks at me again, “It was peaceful, when I left.”

“How come you keep saying ‘when I left’?”

Maliki scratches his head, “There’s evil anywhere you go Maggie.”

“So you think the City might be different now?” Please say ‘no’.

“Possibly, I know changes were supposed to be made with our new leader.”

Ugh of course. Nothing can just be simple and happy. There away has to be a prick who wants all the power and control, to mess things up! Malaki has to know more than he is putting on.

“Maliki, I want you to be completely honest, like you say you are, why did you leave?”

Maliki puts his head down and rubs his hands over his head, takes a breathe, looks back up, “Okay, There was actually thirty of us who left, but it wasn’t because we were escaping the City, but instead sent out on a mission.”

“A mission for what?”

“A mission to rescue a girl from the City in the South.” He looks right in my eyes when he says that.

“Me? But why?” I’m kind of nervous to hear the response back.

“Because your father told us too,”

“My father?!”

Instantly my eyes start to tear up and my head begins to spin. My father and mother are dead; how can this be?

“Yes, but by a letter, I’m sorry I should have said it in a different way,” He puts his hand on mine.

I wipe the tears from my eyes, “It’s alright. I always get emotional when I hear about my parents. You can continue.”

“Twenty years ago fourteen men rebelled at your City, twelve were hanged and two got away, one being your father. The other man was named Trevor. Trevor wanted to escape the City all together, but your father wanted to stay and help free the people. Plus you were born that same day. And well, Trevor grew impatient and decided to escape himself. Your father told Trevor if any thing was to ever happen to him and his wife, if he could come rescue his daughter, you. Trevor agreed and told him to send him a message.”

“How would he send him a message?”

“He didn’t, but your Uncle Ping did. I’m guessing by bird. Many people used birds to deliver messages in the ancient times.”

Uncle Ping, is that why they were executed? Were they not as horrible as I thought? I look at Toby and his eyes are wide. I wonder what he is thinking right now, if he has changed his opinion of his parents, as I have.

Maliki goes on, “In each City, except yours, there are messenger birds that fly from city to city delivering messages. Trevor each year would send a bird to your City, but the bird was always sent back empty. Until the fourth time, there was a message.”

Maliki pauses for a minute, looks around; this reminds me of Clara. He continues, “The message said that your father and mother have been killed, and that their daughter Magolin is still alive. Trevor wanted to keep true to his word, so he gathered up a plan of recuse. That’s where I and twenty-nine other men came into play.” The mat is starting to burn out, so he takes his lighter and re-flames it.

“Okay, so why were you the only one left there frozen?” Toby chimes in as Maliki was messing with the fire.

Maliki looks at Toby, “I was the only man to make it. You see, it wasn’t just our group who were headed for your city, but fifty other men had hidden orders as well. Trevor knew we would not make it on our own, so we joined their group. But then strange things started to happen. Many of the men were taken by those flying beasts, others went insane jumping off cliffs, and the rest turned on each other. At the very end it was only me and Trevor. Trevor was going insane, so he took his life to keep me safe.” Maliki looks down and thinks for a while. Toby and I stay silent.

“He was a good leader. Someone I really looked up too. I lived in the outskirts of the city. My parents were killed by a disease at the age of ten. I did for myself and lived for myself, until I met Trevor. Now 22, he helped me see more to life and let me join his mission. It took me, two weeks, and 3 days solo, to reach your City. By the time I reached the fence I was so dehydrated, I drank the last of my water six hours earlier. As I rested, I noticed some stone houses behind me, and a young girl walking against the fence; she stops. I remember clearly, the facial expression she had on her face. It was with complete shock and a little bit of horror. She doesn’t speak, I try to mutter out some words, but she quickly runs away.” Maliki looks at me.

Oh no, I remember now. That was me walking by the fence. That is where I saw those green eyes before. How could I have forgotten that? I wonder?

“Am I the reason you were frozen?”

His face goes gentle, “Most likely many people saw me, not just you. That would have been my fate either way, one man against a City,” He says kindly.

“So how did they freeze you?” Toby jumps in with enthusiasm.

Maliki looks at Toby, “Once the guards saw me they brought me to the Controller building, and from there, to Mister Minds. Mister Minds told me I was an example, and that he could have some use for me. Before the guards took me away, he looks at me coldly in the eyes and made a last comment, ‘most people don’t know how much touch is crucial for survival, I’m sure you’ll dwell on that’; he then turns and walks away. I did not know what he meant by that at the time. I was then brought to the lab room, a group of about six men, strapped me down to a table, and started injecting me with this sparkling blue substance. I felt cool throughout my whole body and then fell asleep. When I awoke I could not move. I was alive but not. They stood me outside facing a fence with practically the whole City staring at me from the other side of the fence. I then hear Mister Minds over the speaker telling the City’s people,

‘People of the City, you stand here today, to witness a parasite, a vermin from the outside land, a demon that will take your soul and send you to the pits. Look hard and wise at the statue before you, it is a representation of the darkness outside this gate. Darkness I or you do not want to face. Our City is a magnificent light, a paradise, and there is no greater.’

I stand there day after day watching the terror in the faces of all the people who walk by and look at me, except the one who first saw me, but did not seem to remember me now - - you”

Maliki looks into my eyes, “You saved me Maggie.”

I sit there frozen. I don’t know what to say, I’m not good with this type of thing. How should I respond to that? I look down for a minute, and then look back at Maliki. His eyes are no longer looking at me but now to the ground. I notice the middle button on his shirt is undone, so out of a nurturing habit I have developed with Toby, I move over in front of him and button it. He looks at me and from the way his eyes look deep into mine, I know I have given him the response he wanted.

Seventy-two hours and fifty-three minutes later, we stand on top of a hill, on the same path we have been traveling for so long, looking down at the Grand City before us.