Dorran

Max stood glaring at the boy while the boy smiled at Kaia and Kaia just looks so done with everything.

"Want to go somewhere now?" He smiled at her.

"She isn't going anywhere with you," Max answered as calmly as his body would allow him to.

"I'm sorry, did I ask you?" The boy is provoking Max and she could see him trying so hard to hold his temper in.

Kaia stood in front of Max, her back to the boy as she signed at him. The boy only stared at them in confusion.

"What? I'm not leaving you alone with that . . . boy."

" . . . Of course, I trust you." He sighed. "You have a little too many secrets, Kaia. I'm beginning to get worried about you."

"Fine. I'll go. But remember to call me if he even takes you anywhere secluded, ok? Promise me?"

Kaia nodded at him and tried to give him the most reassuring smile she had, he only looked at her with more suspicion. But he still walked away, glancing back every now and then.

Kaia and the boy stared at him until he disappeared around the corner.

"So where do we go to talk?" The boy smiled at her, completely oblivious to the scene he was about to cause.

Kaia rolled her eyes at him then took out her phone.

"How about your house? Are your parents at home?"

"My house? Why not yours?"

"I don't know if my father will be there or not and I wouldn't take the risk."

"Ok. Ok. Let's go to my house then. I never had a girl, or anyone, over before. This is so exciting. Let's go!" He beamed and began to walk.

Kaia wearily followed him, wondering if she made the right decision to trust him or not. She could just back out now. But … if he can really increase a person's lifespan then she'll need him.

She walked beside him and asked, "What's your name, by the way?"

The boy stopped in his tracks and hit his forehead. "I can't believe I forgot to introduce myself. Mother would be so upset if she knew."

"Like she's never upset."

"Shut up. Let's begin the introductions. Hi, we are Dorran Hershton. I am Dor and he, the other one, is Ran. I haven't introduced myself like this in so long. It feels strange."

"I thought you would have different names not a split of your given name."

"Yeah, the thing is we aren't smart enough to come up with a proper name for Ran and just decided to split the name. It works and we have no problem when people call our name because we share the same name."

"That's . . . kinda smart. Resourceful. I think that's the word? I don't know, I have like two brain cells and they're overworked right now."

"Really? See? We're smart." He gave a look of pride to his reflection as they passed a store.

"Sure." He rolled his eyes, smiling a little.

This is going to take some getting used to.

Kaia felt her back burn with the stares of the people as they passed them. Some were students while others were adults. She could even hear the murmurs and whispers coming from some of them.

She pulled the jacket closer to her body, zipping it all the way up and put the hoodie over her head. The fact that the school's jacket has a hoodie almost made her cry with happiness. She reached into her bag and wore her face mask, keeping her eyes down.

"Yo, you haven't told me your name." He bent down and looked at her from under the hoodie, giving a playful smile. This is Ran.

She quickly took out her phone and wrote it down, showing it to him.

"'My name is Kaia Marschall.' Ka-ia? K-ai-a? Kei-a? How do you, pronounce it?"

Kaia shrugged, people always just knew how to pronounce her name. But she couldn't help him with the pronunciation and really, that's the least of her worries. She is nearly suffocating from the looks the people keep giving her.

"Is the road to your house always this public?" She wrote and held the phone to him again.

"This is a little inconvenient, you don't you just let it talk?" He grumbled, earning a stare from Kaia.

"Or she can just do whatever she wants because it's what makes her most comfortable, right, Ran?" Dor came out, stopping Ran from talking any more.

"About my house. There is a more secluded shortcut but your friend said to call him if we even go anywhere remotely secluded and to be honest, he scares us a little."

"Ha! Speak for yourself."

"Stop lying, even she knows that you're scared of him. Did you see the way he glared at us when you called out to her like that? Mute girl, really? The captain of the sports team cant be our enemy, got it?"

"It's not my fault that I don't know her name. Hey, this is the second time in asking you, which is the correct way to pr- where is she?"

"There."

Kaia was crouched down in between two buildings, her head buried in her knees. Her body couldn't stop trembling. She could see everyone's face mutating and smiling at her the moment Dorran disappeared.

What's going on? This has never happened before.

The most frightening part was when she saw her mother's face in a crowd, looking at her with an intense look of dismay like she couldn't believe what she had just seen.

I'm sorry, mum. I'm so so sorry.

"Hey, what's up with you? It's the time for school kids to come out so there will be so many people. You can't just disappear like this."

"Ran. Let me take care of this. Hey, are you ok?" He bent down to her and touched her shoulder, causing her to flinch and fall back. She looked at him in fear and using her hands to cover her face.

"Sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"She didn't look like she recognises you. Why don't you try to tell her that it's you?"

"Good idea. Hey, uh... Kaia? It's me, Dor, even Ran is here. Remember us?"

Kaia slowly peeked from her hands at him, trying to make his face out, it's all an incoherent mess.

"Don't worry. We're not going to hurt you, ok? Look, we're practically harmless."

Slowly, his face became clear to her and she visibly relaxed.

"Sorry." She signed to him.

"Hey, it's no worries. You should have told me if you felt overwhelmed, we could have stopped somewhere else."

Kaia looked around her. Being sandwiched between two buildings isn't the most pleasant place to be, at least it's clean, kind of.

"We should just go." Kaia signed and got up, almost falling again while her head spun.

"Whoa." He held her steady. "We aren't in any hurry, just relax first ok?"

"No. I'm ok. Let's go." She took one step after another, falling back to the ground again when she saw all the people on the street.

Dorran looked at her then to the people outside. Nothing about them looked as frightening as Kaia's expression would have made him believe. But, what does he know about her? He couldn't conclude just from his own point of view.

He tried to touch her shoulder again but decided against it. What he decided to do instead is to sit by her side and wait it out, maybe she'll relax if she sees him relaxing.

But her reaction and expressions made him uneasy, she sees something he doesn't and it frightened her so much she can't even stand properly.

He remembered what his nanny used to tell him. That many incredible things have happened in this world, many things he wouldn't believe unless he saw it with his own eyes.

"So always remember to keep an open mind about everything, Dorran. Question everything but don't ever dismiss the possibility that something you don't know happening is happening."

He always questioned her sanity whenever she told him this but then Ran came and then the trinket. Now he could see people's lives and even extend one guy's lifespan for three more years. No one ever believed him when he told them. As the days passed, he could see the truth in her words more and more.

What makes him more uncomfortable is that she has the same reaction to people his nanny had before killing herself. Fear and disgust.

He glanced at Kaia, she looked at all the people that passed her with wide eyes. No matter how scared she was, she was also intrigued, even if it's only a little bit.

She also kept trying to get up, only to freeze in her spot. No one was looking at her, still, she froze like she got caught doing something wrong.

Getting irritated, Ran walked behind her and said, "It's me, Ran. Don't be scared ok?"

And he covered her eyes with his hands, Kaia tensed up for a second then slowly relaxed as Ran told her about his pet dog, Wilbert. He was even able to get a little laugh from her as he told about the time Wilbert got stuck in a jar of cookies.

The rush of people settled down in a couple of minutes and Ran finally took his hands off her eyes.

He shook his arms around, trying to get the numbness off of them as Kaia slowly picked herself up again.

"Thank you."

"It's no problem. Hey, if you are so scared of them they why do you keep looking? Just turn away. It doesn't have to be this complicated. You know?"

"I know. I'm sorry." Kaia signed at him with a faraway look in her eyes. She was terrified of those people staring at her but she also really wanted to see her mother again, so she kept her eyes peeled for her. But she didn't see her anymore.

The image of her mother's horror-filled face will now hunt her for a long time. She can still see it very clearly every time she blinked.

"Hey, stop apologising. It's ok." Ran said.

"Are you sure you're ok, Kaia?" Dor came out, checking her for any injuries.

"I'm ok."

"Good." He signed back and smiled.

Almost immediately a light is switched on in Kaia's head. She's only been signing quickly to him the entire time and he has replied to her without batting an eye.

"Wait. You can sign?"

"Yeah. I know the three main types sign languages too." He replied to her in sign, an excited smile on his lips.

"How? And why have you never told me."

"I didn't think it was important? And I learned from my nanny. She is deaf-mute and would always tell the best stories. So I learned sign language to understand her more."

"That's so cool." She beamed at him, catching him off guard. "Tell me more."

"How about I tell you when we get to my house?" He signed at her.

"Ok!" She picked her bag up and practically dragged him out. They decided to take this short cut in the end, he told her a little bit about his nanny all along the way. Ran popping in now and then to correct him and she listened intently. Soon they reached his house in no time.

Kaia felt her jaw drop to the floor when she saw the mansion he called a house.

"Come on in." He signed at her.

"This is a mansion!" She signed at him. "This is your house?!"

"My family are the Hershtons."

"So?"

"You don't know the Hershtons??"

"Should I have?"

"You know that no matter what movies and books tell you, it does not spark my interest that you have no idea of such an important family. It just makes you look ignorant." Ran said sceptically.

"Don't worry. You can keep your interest to yourself. I don't want it."

They entered the mansion and Kaia took in the marble floors and walls. An enormous chandelier hung from the ceiling and a feeling of dread came over her as she looked at the chandelier.

"Ok. Here. Let me show you the trinket." He walked to one of the sofas as Kaia kept her eyes on the chandelier.

"Here." He folded his sleeves and showed her a golden tattoo the shape of a circle with interloping circles in it.

"What ink did they use? It's sparkling like real gold."

Dorran laughed when she asked that. "It's not a tattoo. Touch it."

Reluctantly, Kaia touched it only to feel-

"It's solid."

Dorran's eyes glowed as a smile came on his face. "The trinket is embedded in my body. It's become a part of me the moment I got it."