The armoured hearts

Behind the doors

It was easy for Clea to just say that she couldn't go here, she was too young, she really couldn't go in that part of the place. Promising her that she would explain in some years, was all she needed to be satisfied. Kim was different, he was like Sophia but also like Yok, Porchay or Clea, and not explaining this could be really dangerous for him.

"P'Kim...come here." Porchay said, making him sit next to him on the bed. 

"Did I do something bad?" He asked, his face changing color. He hated to do something that could bother Porchay. 

"No... don't worry, you just can't go to that part of the place."

"That is really a weird statement." Kim said, sitting next to him, his arms crossed. He loved to do this when he wasn't understanding something. 

Porchay was glitching, not really sure about the way to talk about this to Kim. But natural life should have already given him some answers.

"P'Kim...did you ever see animals trying to reproduce themselves?" 

"Yes! It was also written that humans do this too, and they can make babies, though I don't get how...it looks like magic..." 

"Kinda." Porchay smiled. "But it's not only about babies..."

"It was written...that..." He said thinking, seeing in his mind. "That it was useless for me."

"It isn't P'Kim. I mean...for having babies you need a woman and a man and we don't want to have a baby right?" 

"We don't. Sophia is already here." Kim's face showed tenderness. 

"Exactly. But it isn't only this....P'Kim, doing this is like also showing love. Like...how to say...it gives....pleasure? I guess...I never tried...but yeah..." Porchay scratched his head.

"Is it the same pleasure as eating potatoes?" Kim asked innocently, he loved potatoes a lot. 

"No. I don't think?...but P'Kim, listen to me. Those words, you need to absolutely follow them." 

Kim nodded, sitting more straightly, getting serious. Porchay realized how the boy was often getting perfectly in the mood, mentally and physically. 

"This is something you want. You need to want it okay? You need to not follow anyone, just you. Also, no one in no way can touch you if you don't want to." 

"What are the risks?" Kim asked, really curious, innocent. 

"Bad. P'Kim, it's just that some people can try to take advantage of you. They can't, they physically can't." 

"I understand." 

"Those rooms...behind those rooms they are doing it..." Porchay bit his lips, it was hard for him to depict this. 

"They want to?" 

"Most of them...no...but people are taking advantage of it. This is why. You can't go there and can't listen to anyone walking from here." 

"Porchay...the baby..." Kim asked, he had recorded the rules but something was intriguing him. 

"Yes?" He asked surprised.

"Was I one too? Did humans do it and make me?" 

"They did P'Kim. They did..." 

"Then...do I have a mother and a father too? I never thought about it before..." 

"How were you thinking that you existed?"

"I didn't think...I was just here. I don't know. I was just doing it all...as they said." 

"I see..." Porchay smiled sadly, wondering what Kim could feel inside. 

"What do we...call it? This?" 

"It's making love." 

"Making love...I like it, it seems that love is created from it?" 

"If it's wanted, yes." 

—--

This type of talk was reassuring Porchay a lot. He thought that Kim would now be more protected from the world, knowing how to survive from this. The moment the boy was most relieved was the day he got arrested but he thought that Kim was educated enough to stay alone a little time.

Porchay saw them going inside. He saw them looking at him and he understood. He knew suddenly what was happening. He sighed. And then he was tempted to run, to just walk away, there was plenty of windows for this. However, Porchay thought first about Kim, how he was safe in their room. About Yok, about how she could lie and save the place. How he would bring problems to her and her people if he was to made a mess here. He just sighed. Put the food in the table and followed them quietly. Everything was going smoothly, they looked like they were understanding that he was cooperating until a violent pain made him fall  on the ground and lose consciousness.