How to Make Life: Chapter Six

The decrepit city of Haven spread out like the branches of a dying tree. Countless of decrepit, dilapidated homes – which I actually considered more like shacks – formed a tightly-knit maze of the sick and failing. Very few people shambled about on their way either to or from work at the gray, polluted factories which were tucked tightly into exposed corners of the city. Those who were off of work were most likely hidden like the gears of a wheel in their tiny houses. After all, many repeating words were always muttered and carried on the unforgiving wind:

Don’t draw attention.

Don’t stand out and always stand up.

Don’t give them any reason to notice you.

“Them,” of course, referred to the red soldiers which marched about Haven with heads held high. I had always watched them from a distance, and I was fearfully familiar with the way in which they preyed on the weak, uncooperative, and those who decided to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Even as I walked home, careful to keep to the shadows, I spied two soldiers laugh violently while they tugged at a young girl who was perhaps just entering her teens. She was screaming and struggling, but I knew that she could not do anything against the exuded dominance of the red soldiers. One of the soldiers, a man with particularly large hands and great girth, pinned the girl down. The other weasel-like one tore off her frayed pants. I looked away and hurried on.

There was no place that I really called home. Instead, I had a place where I was able to catch a few fleeting hours of sleep and see my little sister. It was a sad little place, I lamented, but it provided protection all the same.

It was an abandoned, one-room hut hidden inconspicuously amidst a tight knot of other shacks. No one cared that my sister and I had taken over the place, and I didn’t really care that I was sleeping on the ashes of the former residents. They didn’t draw attention, and I had a place to pretend to come home to. I supposed it was a win-win situation.

I approached the familiar, termite-infested boards of the shack, and I ducked inside the dusty place with a small grin on my face. Mikeita wouldn’t be home from work yet, and I would have time to rest for a few minutes. I had left my “lab” earlier than usual; I usually didn’t leave until the sun had completely abandoned Haven and left the city in complete darkness. Yes, I would have some time to think.

Maybe I can recreate what I did with that golem with a live subject. Another rat would do just fine; they are about the same size. Maybe if I can just tweak around the wording for the instructions a bit, I can. . . .

But my thoughts trailed off abruptly when I noticed that I was not alone in the small room.

“What are you doing home so early?” Mikeita was sitting down in a corner, fidgeting with a black mask which was shaped like the eyeless face of a bird. It’s always that damn bird.

“No, the question is what are you doing home so early?” I asked, treading forward so that I was standing right in front of my sister. “You should still be at work.”

“So should you,” Mikeita retorted, narrowing her eyes slightly.

“I left early.”

“Really?” Mikeita asked with surprise. “But your asshole boss never lets you out early. What makes today so special?”

“Well, I have never missed a day of work and I always do what he says, so I guess my boss just decided that I deserved a few moments to myself.” I was lying, but I knew that my tongue was an expert at weaving tales. “Maybe today was a special day for him or something. You know, it’s incredibly rare, but some people can choose to be nice.”

“Incredibly rare,” Mikeita said. “Besides, it doesn’t make him a good person if he lets you out early one day every thirteen years of acting like his slave.”

“I suppose,” I said. “But that doesn’t really matter. What are you doing home so early?”

Mikeita was silent for a few moments, and she pushed her mask aside. She began to fiddle with the multi-colored beads she had threaded into her hair, a nervous habit of hers. She stared at me, and I could tell from the way her dark eyes shifted that she was trying to formulate some clever answer that would perhaps make me a little less angry than what might’ve been typical.

Finally, her back straightened, and she grinned widely. “Let me tell you a funny story first.”

“Kei, seriously, this is – “

“No, listen. This is a good story.” Mikeita waited until I, with a moan of annoyance, sat down in front of her and leaned forward in mock expectation. “Alright, so let’s do some pretending here.”

“Kei, honestly – “

“Shut up Iggy and listen to me. So let’s pretend that there was this guy – who was definitely not my boss – who decided to get a little, uh, friendly with this girl – not me, of course. And then let’s pretend that our heroine here decided that she had really had it with this man. So then, one day, this man found a present on his table from some anonymous source, definitely not me – I mean, the girl. And let’s say this box had a whole bunch of rats in it that attacked him when he opened it. And for some reason, God knows why, he blamed the girl for it and fired her.”

I shook my head and sighed. “Why do you do these things?”

“Oh come on, it’s not my fault. He was being a jerk,” Mikeita exclaimed. “What was I supposed to do? Continue to let him grope me?”

I shook my head again. “No, of course not, but . . . but you just can’t go making enemies like this, Kei. It’s dangerous.”

“I know that Inigo,” she said, grabbing at her mask again. “And I can take care of myself.”

“I know.” Again, a lie. “But now we have to find someone who will hire you so the soldiers don’t find out that you’re jobless.”

“Oh, you see, I think I’ve figured that little problem out. And this is probably the perfect time to mention it.”

“Mention what?”

“I was thinking that I could go work with you at the gun factory.”

I stared at my sister for a long moment, heart fluttering wildly. Did I really just hear her right? Looking at Mikeita’s large, earnest, excited eyes, I felt nothing short of panic. If she was serious about this, then I would be exposed for the monster I truly was. She would know that I had never really gone to work eighteen hours a day. In fact, I only went for a fraction of that time and spent the remainder of my day running my gruesome experiments in my house of horrors. No, she could never find out. At least not until I had successfully created life.

“That’s a horrible idea, Mikeita,” I finally said. I felt sick. I felt shaky. Was my voice really that level and composed?

Mikeita dropped her mask and stared at me with dumfounded bewilderment. “What the hell? What do you mean?”

“It’s . . . It’s too dangerous, Kei.”

Mikeita sprang to her feet and folded her arms. She looked down at me with a dangerous expression. I always knew that I was bigger than she was, but why did she have to be so much stronger? “Do you really think that I am that weak? That feeble? My God, Inigo, I can take care of myself! I am not a little girl!”

“I didn’t say you were,” I responded. I felt utterly cowed by my sister’s furious frustration. “It’s just that people die all the time at the factory.”

“People died at the textile factory, too, and I survived that,” Mikeita said. “And I also survived the canning plant, and the shoe factory, and –“

“I don’t want to lose you, Kei.” That was the truth. That was the soul-wrenching, honest truth.

Mikeita sat down again, and she took a deep breath to steady herself. “I understand that, Iggy, but that’s the only idea I have right now. Just let me work with you.”

Time for plan B. “I don’t think that my boss would hire you anyways.”

“But Mr. Torentino loves you. You’re his star slave. You’re the good slave who shows up on time and does his work and leaves early and –“

“Enough, Kei,” I pleaded. “He’s super selective in the people he chooses to bring in.”

“You mean enslave?”

“Sure. But with your record and with how many times you’ve been fired, I don’t think he would want you.” Now it was time to draw out pity. “Besides, I can’t get fired. I’ve been working so hard to keep this job and to keep us safe.”

Mikeita just snorted, and she put her mask up to her face. “Fine; I’ll think about it. Maybe I can see if I can flatter someone enough to take me in.”

“Now flattery definitely a horrible idea. For you especially,” I said with a slight smile.

My sister laughed, a bell chime which cut through the thick gloom. “Now that’s the truth. I’d probably just get into trouble again.” She then leaned forward and looked deeply at me. I hated that intensity of hers; it reminded me of the way my father would look at me when I was in trouble. “But if I can’t find anything by the end of the week, I’m going to talk to your boss whether you like it or not.”

“Fair enough.” I’m never going to let that happen. My secret will remain mine until I am ready. It’s for your own good, Kei.

“This place is rotten, isn’t it, Iggy?” Mikeita said, leaning back against the wall.

I thought specifically of the rotting corpses in my hidden basement and nodded. “It is.”

“But I want you to know that I’m glad that I still have you,” Mikeita said. “I know you’re tired, and I’m not trying to cause you grief. I do love you.”

“Yeah, I love you too, Kei.”

Mikeita smiled. Such beauty did not belong in Haven. “Do you remember that song that Mom used to sing?”

“Which one?”

“It was about some bird, I think. I like to hum it to myself though when I’m down. Here, listen.”

And Mikeita, still leaning back against the dusty, disappearing wall, let her voice ring out into the dying day. Yes, something so beautiful did not belong in this place of the dead.

Hush little flower, don’t say a word,

            Mummy’s gonna make you a hummingbird.

            And when that hummingbird won’t sing,

            Mummy’s gonna make you a diamond ring.

“There were other verses, too, but I forgot them, sorry,” Mikeita said.

But I couldn’t say anything. I was grateful that the light had faded enough to cast my face in shadow so that my sister would not witness the tears that rolled down my face, so young, but also so old. I had seen too much. Mikeita had seen too much.

I had to protect her no matter what the cost. I had to make her life better. And I knew as I stared at my sister, who was beginning to drift off into sleep in the squalor, that there was only one way to do that.

I had to bring our parents back. And I would do everything in my power to make this goal a reality.