Lunix (Working Title)

Chapter Two - The Proposal

Home is where the heart is alright, he thought, letting out a sigh. Good thing I don’t have one. 

I do have a nose though, unfortunately. Smells like home, he thought, grimacing. 

Lunix felt at ease. He was in a cradle, he thought. He couldn’t open his eyes but sight didn’t matter. At least, not right now. At this very moment he could listen and that’s all that mattered. He could listen and he could feel, therefore he could see. He was in a cradle, he thought, but he was wrong. It didn’t rock, nothing moved. It couldn’t have been a cradle. He wasn’t moving at all. But he heard the ocean. He knew he did. A river, water, a rushing stream. He was in a basket now, he felt cloth, he felt support. But how would I fit? He thought frantically, panicking. I’m too old. I’m no longer a boy. I am a Prince. But somehow he knew even that was no longer true. He couldn’t understand why. The waves felt so close, almost washing over him. He was in a basket. 

I am born, he thought. And suddenly he could see. 

Lunix’s eyes snapped open with newborn ferocity and he wheezed with gargled effort, gasping for air. He felt overcome, drowning, gripping on to the sheets covering him with tense rigidity. 

The old man sprang out of the chair and ran towards Lunix, the clattering of dropped metal echoing throughout the small alcove in the wall.

“Easy there boy,” grunted the old man, “breathe. You’ll be alright.” He held Lunix down by the shoulders. “Why’d you start squirming you fool? I thought I told you to keep still! Breath!”

Lunix jolted upright as a thunderous breath of relatively fresh air shocked his system. 

“Feels good don’t it?” Laughed the old man. “Pure, fresh, sewer air!”

Wide-eyed and delirious, Lunix lingered onto the blankets for a moment longer before struggling to rid himself of the hovering stranger.

“Who the hell are you?” He screamed, scrambling to the far side of the cot, against the wall. “Who are you? Where are we?”

“Didn’t you hear me boy? We’re in the sewers. I like to call it home. As for who I am...” He tried to inch towards the boy with an outstretched hand. “...I’m here to help you, unfortunately.”

Lunix braced himself against the wall and kicked the cot with heavy heaving force. The makeshift bed flipped towards the old man as he steadied himself with extend arms. 

“Whoa, whoa whoa. Hold on there for a minute. Calm down boy. I was at the ceremony, the engagement. Ring a bell? Do you remember? Maybe you don’t yet, it’s okay...”

“The engagement?” Questioned Lunix, hesitant, confused. “My family, Luna...Luna!” Lunix rushed towards the man with renewed urgency. “We need to go back, help them! I need to leave, I need to be there.”

“You can’t leave, boy.”

“Why the hell not?”

“It’s pointless, you need to stay with me. There’s a lot you don’t know yet boy. A lot you need to learn. And soon.”

“Hey look here old man, I don’t need to do anything except help my family. I can’t be playing house with a lunatic! In a sewer!”

“You can’t help them, boy” sighed the old man. 

“What did you say?” Lunix whispered, before breaking into a fervor. “You know, you know what? I know who you are. Yeah, that’s right. You’re the old man. From the reception. The engagement!”