Clara sat down at the small table with a sandwich in hand. The lunch hour started and she proceeded to her small table in the corner of the lunch room.
She watched the others as they sat with friends. She watched as they talked about mundane subjects. Bradely's Speech, their daily lives that had no part in the larger scheme of things.
Clara knew that their lives meant nothing. They meant nothing to the people like Bradley unless they were special. Unless they were like her and Kai. She knew that they were the ones they were interested in. The people who were different.
And that girl. Kai's friend, Eloise. She was different like them. Though she grew up with her strict parents, she was different.
Other than a smal list of people, there was no one else like them. She knew they were alone. And they were always being watched.
Clara took a bite out of the sandwich her son surprised her with this morning. It was a simple peanut butter and jelly sandwich, nothing that could really fill her up for the next half of the day, but she loved it all the same.
She looked at it and smiled. Only Louis could fuck up a sandwich this bad. She took out another bite of the lopsided, crushed sandwich.
"Excuse me? Clarissa Thompson?"
Clara turned to the voice behind her, only to find a woman who looked to be about the same age as her. She had to be German. Her hair was very blonde and her eyes were about as blue as the sky. That's what Louis said German women looked like. Blonde hair and blue eyes.
"Yes? How can I help you?"
The woman smiled and sat down in the chair across from her. "I heard that you have a son, and that you're a single parent. Am I right?"
Clara, now on high alert, gently put her sandwich down and took a look at the girl. She'd never seen her before, and she didn't know if she worked in the Conception offices with her.
She could be a Watchman, Clara told herself. But I haven't done anything wrong. Then again, neither did Louis, and now God knows where he is.
She took a deep breath and nodded. "Yes that's true."
The smile on the girl's face widened and she took a sigh of relief. "Your son is Kai, right?"
"Yes."
"Oh my. Thank you so much. My son's name is Hugo, and-"
"What do you want?" Clara hissed. "I don't know you and I don't care to answer you pointless questions. What do you want with my son? Do you want to take him from me? Or do you want me to be taken from him?"
The lady straightened up with the expression that one would have if they were slapped in the face. "No Clarissa. I...my son is like yours."
My son is like yours. Clara's heart jumped in her chest as she stared at the woman. She looked honest enough, but then how could she have found out about Kai?
Clearing her throat, Clara asked, "What do you mean?"
The woman sighed nervously and leaned closer into Clara. "My son is...different. Almost exactly like yours."
~
"So your son is exactly the same age as Kai?"
"Yes."
"He can do the same things as him?"
"Yes."
"And they go to the same school?"
"Ja. I mean yes."
"You speak another language too?"
"Yes. I speak Dutch. That is where my family is from, and...do you speak something else?"
"English. Wow we are so much alike. How old are you?"
"Thirty two."
"Me too!" Clara was simply blown away at how similar she and Sandra really were. "This is insane. Louis would've loved something like this."
"I'm sorry. Who is this?"
She blinked, and realized she had spoken his name out loud. It had been almost two years since he left, and the last thing she promised him was that she wouldn't tell anyone about him. "Not until I come back."
"He's just a friend," she said as nonchalantly as possible. "are Hugo and Kai friends?"
"I don't know. But Hugo came home one day, and said that he saw Kai and his friend, the little blonde girl. He said that they skipped out on classes and they were caught by the Watchmen. And he said Kai ran faster than he'd ever seen. I just thought he was normal until he said your little boy ran as fast as he could.
"So I wanted to know more about him so I went to the Records Building and saw that he was technically unheard of until he was around six months old, which is when he started eating solid food, am I right?"
"Yeah."
"The same was like that for Hugo. My father was friends with a prostitue there, and he paid her to keep Hugo and give birth to him when it was ready."
"We did the same thing!" Clara exclaimed. "We paid Louis' friend and she gave birth to Kai for us. We should let Kai and Hugo meet. I think they'd be great friends."
A not too uncommon smile spread across Sandra's face and she nodded in agreement. "That sounds like a wonderful plan."
~
"Kai! Kai babe I'm home!" Clara shut the door with her foot and dumpd her bags next to the door.
"Hey mom! Eloise is here. Is that okay?"
Clara sighed and smiled to herself. Those two are going to fall in love I swear. "Yeah Kai that's fine."
"Hi Ms. Clara," she heard the sweet childish voice of Eloise say.
"Hello darling." Clara walked into Kai's room, only to find the two laying on his bed together. He had a book in his hands and it looked like they were reading it together.
Looking at the two laying shoulder to shoulder, their bodies completely relaxed and at ease, she could see that the two were meant for each other.
"When are you two going to start dating," she asked in a playful tone.
"Mom!' Kai screeched, sitting up straight in his bed. "I'd never date Eloise. She's like my best friend I could never date her."
"Yeah Ms. Clara," said Eloise, joining him. "Kai's too disgusting for dating."
"I am not disgusting!"
"Yes you are! You farted while we were reading. And you thought I didn't notice."
"I didn't fart!"
"Yes you did! Yes you did! I heard it! And it smelled like crap so ha! Kai's disgusting Ms. Clara. You should teach him how to act in front of a lady."
Clara laughed at the bickering between the two, and at her son's reddening face. She left the two to argue over their childish things.
She went to her room and fell on her bed. Ugh. My life. She always felt depressed when she came into this room, and it was for one reason: Louis.
She had not seen him for two years. Two years of not being with the boy she loved. She seemed to miss him more and more with each passing day. The only tangable memory she had of him was the jacket he left for her the day he left. And the sent he left on it had long been washed out. All it was now was a peice of fabric stitched together.
She missed everything about him. His smartass comments, cocky adittude, the way he could go from serious to playful in a split second. She missed reading to him, the way Kai read to Eloise. She missed playing with his dark hair as she read the words on the pages for him.
She missed the advise he'd give her. No matter what it was, he always seemed to have the answer. There are an infinate number of times where she wished she could just go to Louis' home and ask him something, or times where she'd mess up on an embryo, and she'd just think to herself, Louis would know what I did wrong. Louis would know the answer.
Sleeping alone for her was the worst part. It had been eleven years for her. Eleven years of sleeping next to the same person. That feeling, of his heart beating next hers. His slow and steady breath. The way he wrapped his arms around her as they moved closer and closer together.
She didn't like her room, and she didn't like her home. Kitan. She hated the place where she was born. She hated the place where she grew up. Where she met her best friend, had her son, fell in love, and nearly had all of it taken away.
She simply hated this place she was forced to call home. And she couldn't do anything about it.
She wanted to run away. Take everything a run away. Like one of those teenage dreams. Just take a toothbrush and some money and run. Find whatever your heart is searching for and take it. Keep it to yourself. Don't let anyone take it from you.
She knew what her heart was searching for. She knew what her heart was longing for. She wanted to runaway, find Louis. She wished she could've gone with him. She knew that he wouldn't want her to, but she wanted to be with him. She wanted him to be there with him.
And that was the worst part. She didn't know if it was capable for him to be there with her anymore. She didn't know if he was...if he was alive. She tried not to think about it, but it was always there in the back of her mind. What if Louis was dead?
Clara grunted, trying to shake the thoughts from her head as she slipped into her casual clothes and putting on his jacket. She went back to Kai's room, only to find the two friends reading again. Kai was doing his best to teach Eloise all the English he knew, and he wasn't doing a very good job either. He barely knew a lot of it himself.
Clara sighed and knocked on the door. The two looked up and waved. "Hey mom."
"Hey Kai. Can I talk to you?" the boy nodded and hopped off his bed and jogged over to his mother. "Hey I have a question for you."
"Yeah? What is it?"
"Do you know a boy named Hugo?"
Kai nodded and folded his hands behind his back. "Yeah. He's like me, isn't he? He's different like me, right?"
Clara slowly nodded and cleared her throat. "Yeah. He is. I talked with his mother today. She said that she'd like you two to be friends."
"We already are mom. We just aren't friends like Eloise and I. But we're friends."
"Why did you tell me about him before?"
Kai shrugged and ran his fingers through his chestnut hair. "I don't know. I just never thought about it I guess."
"Kai..."
"What mom? I'm sorry. I just don't really know him like how I know Eloise. We're just not friends like that."
Clara sighed and shook her head. "Well he's coming over tomorrow so you two can play-"
"Mom. I'm ten years old now. I don't play."
"What difference does it make?"
Kai grunted and threw his head back as if he'd said it a million times. "Play is for babies, mom."
Clara smiled. It always amused her how Kai thought he was an adult now that he had reached ten years old. She ruffled his hiar and kissed his forehead. "Alright if you say so. Eloise!"
"Yes ma'am?"
"Are you staying over?"
She heard an excited gasp and two tiny feet hit the floor. The young blonde rushed out and stood next to her friend. "May I please?"
"Of course you can darling. Now, how about he have dessert first, and work backwards from there?"
The kids cheered and jumped up and down in excitement. Clara laughed with them, silently thanking Louis for telling her how to love her son again.