Genesis

Chapter 9

Okay, so I didn't update over the weekend like I said I probably would, but I did update a day early again. This chapter has a pretty big revelation, so I had fun writing that. :)

Hope you enjoy!

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I wonder if my hearing has been somehow damaged. But, the woman says my name again. 

"Kaze, is that you?" she says. 

I am hesitant to answer her because she could be just another monster that lives out here. So, I pretend that I'm unresponsive and I can't hear her. She seems to realize that I'm not going to say anything so she just picks me up and places me in a soft bed of leaves. She continues to doctor my wounds and clean my face. 

I slip in and out of darkness and try to rest myself just in case she is planning to attack me. In the brief glimpses of her that I get, though, she seems familiar. I feel like I've seen her before, but I can't explain how. I also look around when I can. 

I am in a treehouse made of charred wood. The bed I am laying in is pressed up against the right side and there is a small peephole above me. When I look to my right I can see a small table with no chairs and a large wooden bin filled with all manner of things. The woman finishes tending to me and goes to sit in front of the bin and paw through the contents. After another quick nap, I feel somewhat refreshed and ready to ask some questions. I sit up on the bed. She gives me a hunk of meat ("rabbit jerky," she says) and I ask my first one. 

"Who are you?" I say. The woman looks up at me, apparently surprised that I can speak. 

"I am Renaya Alio," she says. "I have two sons that live in the dome with no one but each other." 

I am taken aback. Alio is my last name as well, but there are many people in the dome that have the same last names. The fact that she shares my last name and has two sons might not actually mean anything. So, I decide to question her some more about her family. 

"Who are your sons?" I ask. She smiles wistfully as if remembering her past. 

"I have two sons named Kaze and Drayk," she says. "Drayk was always the bold one. He was the one to suggest things first, try things first, and be the general daredevil. Kaze, on the other hand, was more timid. He was the silent, passionate son who wouldn't try things himself but would support his brother in almost everything. The two were so close, Kaze would follow Drayk to the ends of the earth and Drayk would be absolutely fine with it. I sometimes wonder how they are getting along without their mother and father, but at least they have each other." 

My mouth goes dry as her revelation rocks me to my core. 

My mother was a dome scientist commissioned specifically to study the land beyond the dome and determine if it could support life. 15 years ago, when I was two and Drayk was four, a group of men arrived on our doorstep. We were being babysat by one of my mom's friends at the time. The dome had just locked up for the night. The men told us that our mother had failed to be inside the dome at the appointed time and that we'd never see her again. I was too little to understand, but Drayk bawled his eyes out that night. I didn't realize that we were now all alone in the world. Our father had died of a heart issue a year earlier and now our mother was gone too. 

Eventually, after many years of living with my mother's friend, Drayk and I saved enough money to get a place of our own. I never really thought of my mother very often, as I had been told that she was a rule breaker because she wasn't in the dome on time. But, now things are different. Now, I am a rule breaker as well and my mother who I had thought to be dead is sitting just a few feet away from me. I'm not sure if I should be skeptical or hug her. So, I sit there, dumbfounded. There's no doubt my mouth is hanging open as well. My mother smiles. 

"I thought it was you," she says. "A mother never forgets her son." She pulls me into a hug and I don't protest. I sling my arms around her shoulders and squeeze with all the strength I can muster. She feels familiar and comforting, a feeling that I don't find many places. Finally, I break away. A million questions zoom through my head and tumble onto my lips. 

"How did you survive out here for so long? Have you seen any other monsters in the woods? Why didn't you go back to the dome?" I say, desperate for answers. 

My mother smiles at the first two questions, but winces at the last. She sighs and sits down on the floor. I eagerly slide off the bed to sit beside her. 

"Kaze," she begins. "There are some things about our dome that you don't know about. Things that they don't want you to know about. But, you must know them if you are to survive."

She takes a deep, shuddering breath before speaking again. 

"I think that the dome leader, the One, kicked me out of the dome on purpose."