The Iron Hallway

Chapter 18

A wrinkle appeared on the girl's brow, one I'd never seen there before. It appeared incongruous with her features. "Lemme get this straight." she said, "Are you callin' me childish?" 

I nodded. "Yes! You're honestly pretty childish, and you clearly haven't lived long enough or seen enough to—" 

"Well, you've got some nerve to say somethin' stupid like that!" Hannah shouted, rising abruptly to her feet. "You have no clue what you're talkin' 'bout!" 

"I'm merely stating what I've observed." I replied as calmly as I could. Honestly, seeing Hannah angry was pretty disconcerting. "It seems to me, life's handed you everything you could possibly want in a neat little package. That's why you're so shallow-mindedly happy all the time." 

"And 'dis is comin' from the sheltered Ferangian author who's probably never worked an honest day o' work in his life! You have no idea what I've been through!" Hannah shouted, balling her fists as she did so. 

I opened my mouth to reply, but a kick from Keira quickly persuaded me that silence was preferable. 

"What have you been through, Hannah?" Keira asked kindly, glancing at me judgmentally a second later. 

"Well, for starters, I was only thirteen years old when momma and papa killed themselves right in front of me!" the usually optimistic girl exclaimed, her angry countenance suddenly tinted with a touch of sadness. 

"Oh dear..." Keira and I exclaimed in unison. Khemera merely gasped. 

"Why...why would they...do that?" Keira inquired further, keeping her vocal tone gentle and eyes soft. 

"Heaven forbid I ever know!" Hannah replied, "Probably somethin' to do with drugs or maybe even somethin' worse, I have no clue! All I know, is I never knew papa had a pistol 'til he shot himself with it. And the only meat my vegetarian momma ever cut with that kitchen knife was her own flesh!" 

I flinched at Hannah's words. I thoroughly regretted my previous insensitivity, but my throat had run dry, effectively preventing me from voicing that sentiment. I opened my mouth to attempt it, but nothing came out, drawing only a glare from Hannah. 

"So, I'm assuming you had...family take you in?" Keira asked. 

Hannah shook her head. "Nah, I didn't have nothin' but myself at dat point. All mah other relatives lived too far away. So I just roamed the streets by mahself for a bit, scroungin' up barely enough to fill mah tummy, but I was depressed, y'know." 

"Naturally." I managed to reply with a struggle, although somehow, the empathy I'd meant to convey got lost somewhere in the dryness of my throat and made me come across as sarcastic. 

"Shut your freakin' mouth, Baird!" Hannah yelled, grabbing a wooden game board from off the coffee table and hurling it at me in a rage. 

My eyes widened, and I darted my hands out to catch the board. I caught it by a corner, which cut into my hands, but at least it hadn't hit my head like Hannah had intended. 

Keira managed to inject even more sympathy into her gaze. "I'm sorry to hear that, Hannah. But how'd you get to be...the way you are, now? Because I admit, you're a breath of fresh air from the depressing world around us." 

"Well..." she began thoughtfully, the wrinkles in her brow abating, "like I said, I was depressed, and I nearly forgot how to smile. But then I realized the futility of it all. Because, as I realized, momma and papa only took themselves out because they were dissatisfied, and depressed with life. And I realized...mah depression could only lead me down the same road, sooner or later."