Finding Contentus

Chapter 157: First

She did not run.

Instead she remained steadfast inside the neurological calamity, weathering the miscellany of killings and refusing to turn the other direction. She took them head on. Forward and straight only. Staring right at the face of her last death.

And waking up first.

Left eye first. Right eye second. Firstly nothing. Secondly everything.

Neosa took her first breath, gasping like a catfish out of water, eyes practically bulging out of their sockets. A coughing fit overtook her. Immediate pain raced towards her limbs, never slowing down for a minute, suffusing like sentient organisms designed to start venomous fires that could not be put out. She shoved a fist into her mouth and bit down hard, stifling an outcry from escaping and permeating the air.

Try as she might, she could not sit up. Muscle strength had abandoned her. It was like the weight of the world was crashing down on her at once.

That's when an immovable cold occupied her bones. It pinned her to the rocky ground, tearing the surface area of her flesh. It would not leave her alone. Neither would the shelter that she found in him. Seconds later, no less.

"Caught you." Gallons of pain bled out of Genesia's voice. Partial resignation too.

Neosa wrestled for confidence. "I woke up f-first," she stammered, splinters stuck in her throat. She brushed the top of her head with his. Neo told her to say it. Spit it out if she could. Saying it would help her believe it.

"Gene caught Neo's tongue?" He taunted blandly, coughing miserably until he could breathe with great difficulty like an elder long past his prime.

Neosa heard nothing from Genesia for a while. He might as well have gone back to sleeping. Or back to being dead.

"Review?" He requested faintly as if to rid himself of the tiny shards lodged in his larynx.

"Sho." Neosa obliged, taking stock of their monochrome surroundings. With tremendous effort, they helped each other sit up, back to back, sharing in the colonies of anguish they had offered one another in abundance and more.

Strips from the moonlit eve thronged in the pores of the unilluminated cave. The very same cave as before, when they were whisked away from home, when they met their father for the first time. Just without the rain. Just without the thunder. Just without the lightning.

And still, just without Mpho.

Sighing dejectedly, Genesia and Neosa fixed their attention on the throbbing sources of their collective pain. Shining eyes tracked across the newly decorated artwork of their flesh that hurt like they had been incised by stars. Their wounds wept as if doused in liquor with barbed markings. Scarred. Striped. Tattooed with feline boons.

Like their branded tattoos, the ornamented tiger stripes that were burnt and carved into their skin from top to bottom would remain on their bodies forever. Unlike their warrior scars that became less noticeable overtime, their tiger stripes would never fade or heal.

And they were incredibly beautiful. The twins had never seen anything so aesthetically pleasing. Like it was always meant to be. Like they were finally complete.

"We've been blessed," Neosa whispered.

Finally, my daughter, my son, you have earned your stripes.

Bitterness filled their taste buds.

"So now he decides to claim us?" Neosa almost laughed, if all the joy hadn't been snatched from her. "What a remarkable and supportive father he is."