I was still stunned by what Smoke said when he flicked my forehead and said,
"Calm down, it's a joke... I would never leave her." He clarified, I was overcome with emotion, but I'm not sure what emotions I was feeling. I know that one of the feelings was relief.
"It seems you've moved on anyway..." I wonder what makes him think that? Is it my face? Do I smell like another man, or maybe my eyes gave away my thoughts once again?
"I see," I said, deciding not to ask further. Smoke has changed...
"How long have you... been... conscious?" he asked
"It's been about 4 months now."
He frowned,
"I see..."
He sounds disappointed, and it feels like he has more to say, but he didn't expound, "I need to get back to her... my guest."
"Oh yeah." I had forgotten we were short on time...
"Are you going to see your mother... by the way?" I gasped,
"My mom is still alive?!" He nodded, then stood up and went towards the exit.
"She's on death row... but alive for now... see her if you want. Bye Snowe."
He then vanished into thin air, leaving nothing behind except a sweet scent. I hugged the book against my chest and escorted myself outside. I read a little, and the first sentence clarified that the rabbit chooses people at random and can only be interacted with by the user's subconscious. Random... huh?
I guess I'm lucky that it chose me.
I wonder if there's any way to communicate with this power.
For now, I should figure out if I'm going to visit my Mom.
For courage, even though I knew it wouldn't work, I took out my phone and texted Zai. Because I knew he wouldn't receive it, I told him everything, maybe too much.
I told him about the conflict boiling inside of me about visiting my mom; it was therapeutic, and to my dismay, it went through.
Why did I hit send?! Have they upgraded cell phones in the future to work from other planets?!
I examined my phone closely for the first time and noticed a feather lightly etched into the back of it... this was made on Infaniya!
How did he get this?!
My phone started ringing, and I panicked, dropping it on the ground and then hurrying down onto my knees to pick it up.
"Heeey," I said, doing my best to sound as chill as possible,
"What's wrong? You seem nervous."
Okay, so I failed to sound chill in the slightest. Plus, he read that huge text, and I was doomed to be un-chill from the start.
"I just... didn't know the text would go through," I answered while walking so no one would see me loitering around the palace.
"I didn't want to lose contact... if you decided to go home, so I made sure that wouldn't happen." He'd have to buy this from an Infaniyan shop on Earth, wouldn't that put him in danger... the law of how to handle Afarions is kill on sight.
"Your mom sounds like bi***." he blurted bluntly.
I gasped,
"Zai! You can't call her that!" I rebuked, and he laughed, even hearing it through the phone; his laugh calmed me. "We've never been close, ever since I could walk, she saw me as a rival. We only got along when my dad wasn't home... but if he stayed away too long, things were more terrible than usual," I muttered.
"Oh, I understand how parents can be... My dad... was killed right in front of me by my adoptive father. Because Lightning chose me, the king wanted to adopt me into his family. My mother watched the whole thing, and she was forced into the king's harem."
My heart ached for him. I had always felt like my upbringing was as bad as it could get, but Zai's sounds awful...
"You... remember the whole thing?" I asked
"Vividly, but... what's worse is that my Mother fell in love with the king after all that. Every day, she sits happily, eagerly waiting till it's her turn to spend the night with him. So I understand how it feels to not like your Mom...." Zai admitted.
That was heavier than I expected. Zai always seemed so upbeat, like the only thing on his mind was sunshine. I knew that life on Afaria wasn't great, but I had illusioned myself into thinking Zai and RJ were spared from all that. "Go see her," Zai stated after about 5 seconds of silence.
"But what should I say?" I mumbled shakily.
Should I tell her that I hate her... that I love her? Should I vent everything I've repressed over the years to her?
"Tell her the truth," he encouraged, "And if you feel like it, call me after."
We ended the call, and then I noticed that Sun Alpha was setting, so visiting hours at the prison are probably over for the night. I'll need to visit her in the morning. I went to my old neighborhood and found the house I once thought was home. Even though it had been so long, it was reserved for me unless a body was discovered, so the PIN code I remembered still worked. All our furniture was gone and replaced with dust. The only thing that hadn't been moved was my bed. I lay down. I wish I knew she was there earlier, I would've seen her instead of Qon Ark... My phone vibrated, so I picked it up and saw a text message from Zai,
"Hey... can we FaceTime? I miss seeing your face," My heart jumped for joy, and I sat up in my bed, combing my fingers through my hair. I then called him, this time getting to see his face on the screen.
"Hi, Snowe." He stated with a smile. He had his piercings in, and his hair was messier than usual, but even that somehow added to his allure. There was a Black wooden bedframe in the background; he must be in his room.
"I... shouldn't have left, I should have stayed with you." I gasped, surprised by what I said, but Zai just smiled and responded with,
"That's right... glad you realized it... I'll see you when you come back home."
Home...
"Yeah... I'll be home soon." I held the phone higher and pressed my knees against my chest.
"I'm not used to seeing you with White hair," he commented. I blushed lightly,
"Do you like it?" He tapped his chin and said,
"I... guess it just feels like another side of you, and I like all sides of you," he said.
I could feel my blush worsening.
"Is dark red your natural eye color?" Zai asked.
Dark red?!...
"I ... I... um..."
My cowardly instincts are coming in; I want to run, I definitely don't want him to know what's going on in my head or why my eyes have changed like this, but hanging up on Zai is not an option either, so what do I do?
"My... eyes change color sometimes," I answered. The truth has less of a chance to bite me in the butt if we talk again later, albeit a vague truth.
"Oh! They're yellow now...Why? What makes them change?" he asked curiously.
"None of your business! Stop being so nosey!" I worried that I offended him as soon as the words left my lips, but he was still smiling, and he closed his eyes, saying,
"My bad, sorry I asked...By the way, Snowe... I'm glad you called." Zai's deep voice soothed me
"You, me called, yes." I believe I just tried to form a coherent sentence. But oh God?! I sound like a cavewoman! Maybe it's because he's so far away and I have no choice but to look at his face constantly, that's making me feel nervous.
"Should we end the call now?" Zai asked,
"No!" I shouted before I had time to think, and he smiled.
"Oh, I see... your eyes are pink now..." I wanted to hide, but instead, I turned on a black-and-white filter so he couldn't tease me anymore.
"Tell me everything you did today, since we split up," Zai asked, playfulness still heavy in his voice.
I recalled the events of the day as best I could, and Zai listened with nothing but intrigue on his face. He asked questions at the appropriate moments, then when my story came to an end, he said,
"Want to know what I did?"
"Yeah, tell me," I replied.
"I stayed home, and I couldn't stop thinking of you. I cooked dinner, but I made too much food, cleaned up, and then I went for a walk. A little later, you messaged me. It's so amazing because it was like you knew that YOU were on my mind."
His words melted my heart.
If I didn't know it before, I know it for sure now that my heart has no way to resist being pulled in by him; he shatters through my defenses or finds a way around them with such ease. I was going to say I missed him too, but when I looked at my phone, he was already asleep, so I laid the phone next to me and fell asleep, too. I went to see my mom at first light; unlike Qon, she's had no visitors before me. Mom had a hard life growing up because she chose to master using glass, which required a semi-mastery of Earth and fire in combination.
The first to master this attribute is the current king of Afaria, and, understandably, most were afraid to follow in his footsteps or be related to him in any way, but my mom didn't care. This turned her into a social pariah; many murmured that she was destined to go insane, as he did. I guess they were right, she IS a murderer now, after all.