Snippets

Chapter 6

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Chapter 6

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(Shaf POV)

Ugh.

Sore muscles.

Bleary eyes.

Screechingly bright lights penetrating said bleary eyes.

Ugh.

Morning.

I rolled into a sitting position on the bed, groaning as I peered into the darkest corner I could find. The darkest corner moved. Oh wait, that's a human. My eyes scrawled from the dark shirt up to the face, and morning fully registered with an entire Future in front of me. I swiped a hand across my face, grunting a bleary "Good Morning" to the darkly dressed man.

Future merely smiled, gesturing to something on the floor by my feet. My eyes having adjusted now to the bright light of mid-morning, I turned my attention to a shiny object by my feet, my mind trailing into the past and chanting the words, "He's dead" over and over in my mind, perhaps it hoped that through repetition it would come to a head with such words and figure out what they meant.

The object winked in the light as I picked it up, feeling its smooth surface. A butterfly, or what I'd been taught to call a butterfly though I'd never see one myself, lay in my hand. It had been fashioned from plastic-crystal, beautiful in the sunlight, but practically unbreakable. I stared at it, wondering what it could possibly mean to me when a note was pushed to the forefront of my vision. I plucked it from Future's fingers, curiosity driving me to look at him. His eyes were sad, but a soft smile graced his lips, and I had a hard time looking back at the note.

"The end is only a fresh beginning."

Chills ran through me as I looked up from the note once again, but Future wasn't there anymore. He was back to playing darkest corner, but I managed a trembling, "Thank you." as I tucked the note away in my dusty pants. I held the plastic-crystal carving up to the sunlight, admiring the way the light caught the almost imperceptible lavender hues that gave depth to the butterfly's appearance--almost as if it really had just crawled out of the death of its shell into a world of opportunity, throwing out its wings to catch the first breeze that came along.

I didn't know what to think anymore. I had been sad about Hawkins' death. Well, more shocked than sad. Really frankly just shocked and filled with a lot of questions. But that Future would pick up on that, and even more that he would actually act on that? I didn't expect him to have a heart, I didn't expect anyone coming from Kiza to have a heart. Yet here it was, the effects lying in my palm. Maybe he had mistaken my shock for sadness, but even still I was astounded that he would care. And to pay for plastic-crystal! To pay for something that isn't even functional in society!

I looked over at him thoughtfully, quietly putting the butterfly in the haversack he had surreptitiously provided me with at some point in the last twenty-four hours. Maybe there was more to this Future than I knew... Well of course there was, but could I weed it out of him?

Mind made up, I stood and stretched, "Anything for breakfast?" I asked, walking toward him.

He had his back turned to me, and hastily thrust something down his shirt before turning around. I cocked an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. He smiled smoothly, digging around in his own haversack and pulling out two pieces of jerky. I accepted my piece, ripping it in half and gnawing unceremoniously on the half to soften it before chewing and swallowing.

The corners of Future's mouth tightened, as if suppressing a grin as he turned and led the way to the door. With no-where else to go, what could I do but follow?