Every Day You are Away

Chris

One month passed, and another… The riphaths traveled at the slowest pace imaginable. I marveled at how these people were even alive. Camping every night only to do it all again the next day with no purpose why. Every day, the weather got colder and colder. The white sleep sack Ira had sent us on earth was standard issue on Zoreah; it was more icy there than even the Alps could get in December. Caleb hung around my neck in the exact same one. Every time I put him in it… I was reminded of my two-week honeymoon. All I did was calculate the time. All I did was think about Juliet. Alone for two weeks on the compound. Where was she with her stages of grief? I was still in denial. I haven't talked to my father yet, even though he and Silvanus stayed by my side. Neither left me alone for a minute. Where did they think I would go?

Before I would go crazy, I woke up one morning to take a walk before we set out for the day. For the first time, I saw water glistening in the rising sun. Instead of thinking about a shower or drinking enough to satisfy my constant thirst, I stood at the edge, sighing. Across the water, a beautiful shadow of the buildings reflected on the surface. A wall surrounded the city in the distance and spanned as far as you could look left and right. It didn't matter that we finally made it. "Yaroun," I whispered to myself. 

My promise to Juliet was to come to her as quickly as possible. It was out of the question. Her promise to me would probably never happen, either. We would never see each other again. By nature, I was a skeptic person, a half-glass, empty guy. So, trying to find a way didn't come naturally to me. Marcus found Juliet in less than three years on earth. Maybe with him by her side, they would get there eventually.

I was getting tired of being in Caleb's company the whole time and missed having a few hands to carry the burden with me. The big family. It wasn't only Juliet I missed. My father wanted to help, but I had refused him since our last conversation.

A hand rested on my shoulder. It was Ira. All I wanted to do was cry when he touched me. He did it. He caused it. My mother was dead, and he didn't even care. She was just the first girl he could get pregnant with. No one understood what I was going through.

"I'm sorry, Chris. You're grieving… But it's been months."

"How do you even know what you're talking about."

"We do mourn. Our parents. Children… Is it any different?"

I snorted; of course, this was different! My jaw quivered with unshed tears. He squeezed my shoulder, watching me fight my emotions. "Did I make a mistake? Should I have left you there? Pay every day to never meet my own son?"

I shook my head. He pulled me into his arms and held me. I was tired of being angry. Ira might not have had a choice by bringing me there, but he deliberately took Caleb from Juliet and separated us, knowing there would never be a way for us to come together. I didn't think I would ever forgive him for that.

***

Yaroon

We entered the city at the same pace. It took days for all the people in the convoy to fill all the houses and settle. Like a child, I followed my father in this strange new world with all its weird ways. Even though Ira and I were in some way royalty, we walked freely between the people. There really was no separation between the classes or poverty. Or crime. Everyone was about their business. The streets were always full of people. Everyone was talking to someone. Families with children got houses in the middle of the city. At least four adults around a child at all times. Whenever I saw one under the age of one hundred walk around, there would be four grownups. How would I ever manage the constant supervision? He wasn't lying. On Zoreah, I was a kid… Why would they let my mother go all alone?

Ira headed towards a plain-looking hut. Before he went inside, he pointed to a part of town, "There's the market."

"What am I supposed to do here?"

"Right now, you take care of Caleb. Children don't leave home for a long time, Chris. At least a hundred years."

Oh, jeez, how many times would he remind me!

"Other than that, we train. We do make sure we're able to handle an attack. We've been invaded before. Although no one has been able to deal with our… size."

I wanted to ask how they got invaded but left the topic for another day.

"So if you like, I can show you the arena," Silvanus said when we walked through a door.

I looked around. The structure was made out of dried mud and probably something to hold it all together. It was all they had. It seemed sturdy with small windows. No wood, though. Not one table or frame. "Farming?"

They nodded. "Oh yes. You interested in that?"

"How does the market work if everyone is equal?"

"Trading." Silvanus said.

"Everyone has a function or something they can trade for what someone else needs. Even if it's a skill… No one here owes anything... This house will go to another family once Caleb is grown. We would move further out of the city. Even our pubs are just open. I don't know how to explain it to you. There is nothing but time here, Chris." He pointed me to a bed, "You can put him down there. You must be tired."

"Not really."

"Come."

Caleb was still asleep. The new nursemaid, who had been following me since the goddess left, was quiet. I liked it. She put her stuff down in front of our new bed and took something from her sack. Sometimes, I had seen her busy with whatever she was making. I didn't really care at the time and followed Silvanus down the corridor.

"This is my room, and this is Silvanus's room."

I frowned. My gaze traveled from one to the other. "Any gay people here. Anatomy still the same."

They laughed, and the woman in Caleb's room laughed.

"Like I said. Here, you do what feels right. There really are no rules."

"What feels right for who?" I questioned. "No raping."

Silvanus shook his head. "No one needs to. It's for whoever wants to jump into your bed… I'm not really prime property. All the scars. So don't worry about walking in on either me or Ira with someone."

I scoffed.

"But you, boy, won't have a problem with that… You got your mother's looks… And you have that whole brooding, mysterious vibe going on."

I laughed for the first time in months. They both gaped, seeing a positive emotion. They didn't want to make it awkward and showed me the kitchen and where the bathroom was.

"Hmmm! How does that work?"

"A bucket and sand is your new friend and leaves."

I shrugged, "The same as the road?"

He nodded. "We're very social here, Chris. There really is nothing else to do. I think that is the only thing you'll have a problem with."

"Books?" He shook his head. "Pen and paper?" Same gesture. I breathed in and blew out heavily. So I won't be able to study to get back to Juliet. "Alcohol?"

"Yes, but in moderation. No one gets drunk here."

Juliet would hate the place.

"Smoking? Drugs?"

They laughed, "No. To maintain peace, we can't allow it."

"Peace—the number one rule," I reminded myself.

We had sat down around a table outside—if sculpted mud could be classified as one—on a small porch facing the street. Every now and again, someone would stop by. Everyone was in human form because it was easier. Traveling with heavy loads—riphath. Living indoors—human. The laidback attitude suited me.

***

The days drifted into each other, and my depression set in. All I could do was sit and stare at the stars in the sky. Caleb's cries were the only thing to bring me out of my thoughts… Maya and I were in each other's company a lot but never spoke. I had a hard time relating to anything of it. She was breastfeeding my kid, but that was it. When I sat with my knees up and Caleb in my lap, playing with him like Juliet always did, Maya would stare at us, curious and very aware of her surroundings. Busy with her work, but her eyes would dart up at me. She thought I didn't notice her intrigue by the little things that weren't like her world. Songs. Games. Educational exercises. Maya was also sensitive to Caleb and his cries. I liked her more than the goddess.

With everyone human all the time—I had gotten used to seeing only pretty girls. Personality soon became the only thing to separate one woman from another. Looks-wise, they fell into my own made-up categories. I classified them under Russians crossed with Norwegians. Square faces, luscious lips, long noses, and wide eyes. Legs to die for, with blond hair to round off their appeal.

The girl across from me fell into the second category. Big breasts, petite body, small round face. Shorter than the Russians with dark eyes, brown hair, a small nose, and heart-shaped lips. Easy smile. Friendly like Louis.

But no one's eyes drew you in like Juliet's. No one had that resting bitch face or the dimples when they smiled. You could only see them if you worked for it. I laughed, thinking of her with her pants around her ankles in the dirt, running from a snake. That playful, goofy side. She would pull her eyes in five different directions. Stick out her tongue or love you to death in one giant breath.

There, no woman would ever love me. What a sad way of life. I had that with Sita minus the sex. It was the opposite. What were the chances? As if fate had decided connection was not for me… I would die for one real hug. After all the sex Juliet and I had the last month of our lives together, I was going to have to cave or decide to stay celibate. If I was going to sleep with someone, it would mean absolutely nothing, just like Ashleigh.

Irritatingly, Maya kept staring at me, her brow working overtime. "Ask. We haven't said one word to each other."

She smiled too quickly. "Who are you thinking about... Is it Caleb?"

Of course, she would think it was my child. I shook my head, hearing Ira and Silvanus outside, talking to everyone who walked past.

"Family?"

I shook my head.

"Then what?"

"A girl," I said finally. I didn't want to. But before I knew it, I showed interest in what was going on in someone else's life. "What are you always working on?"

Maya's eyes cast down at her hands. "Swatches."

"Birth swatches?" She gestured to my upper arm. "How does it even work? How can you make it act supernatural?"

Her eyes drifted upwards for a bit, thinking about how to explain it to me. "Every family has an emblem. A certain mark. If I work it on here and the woman's family gives me their mark, I also work it on the swatch. After that, it is out of my hands. The extra markings that make the tattoo pretty are whatever the couple asked for. It just goes with."

"So you're basically a tattoo artist without ink."

"What is ink?"

I shook my head, "It doesn't matter… But where does the power come from? Is it the tool you use?"

She examined the thing in her hand. It was thin and as long as a pen. Sharp to pierce the material. "This is passed down from generation to generation. It's made from a particular gem found only in one place on the planet."

"My mom had a swatch… I left it on earth. It wasn't a birth swatch. Ira's… emblem wasn't on there. What else do you make?"

A vertical line appeared between her eyes. She had to be much older than me. Almost Cindy's age. "Your father didn't use it to officiate your birth?"

I shook my head, "No tattoo on my ass."

"That is strange. There are no other certificates on Zoreah except who your mother and father are for inbreeding purposes. Because kids are so limited."

"How could you make one for a vampire?"

"Oh, every creature on the three planets has a family crest. We tried it. The fact that it worked was out of our control."

Ira came in, hearing what we were talking about. He gave Maya one shake of his head. I groaned, being treated like a child again. I would never again tell Juliet to stop complaining about how everyone treated her.