Mothfire - chapter 1 - Dry Desert
Dust flew in Kaleb's face as he traveled down the dirt road. He was starting to wonder if the darned workshop was worth it. He should have waited until a workshop had floated his way, but here he was. On the road. With particles of dirt in his mouth.
Yet another car zoomed by, sending more dust towards the boy, his long hair blowing in his direction. The hair-tie that was in there had long fallen out by this point. Kaleb shook his head to get the dust off his face and in the process managed to shake a handful of clumps of dirt from his hair. What he wouldn’t give for a shower and a hairbrush, and maybe for a car to stop and give him a ride, but he had learned the hard way that stuff like that did not happen without a price.
He sighed, wiping the sweat off of his forehead. His legs felt like noodles, and with that in mind, he stepped aside at the first sight of a good shade tree. He sat down, and closed his eyes, listening to the soft breeze and the ringing in his ears. After a few minutes of letting himself drift, he got up again, and waved at the first car he saw - a red Nissan GT-R, and it, surprisingly, slowed to a stop. It pulled up next to him.
The window rolled down to reveal a young man - mid 20s, blond hair, blue eyes. "You need something?" The man asked. "Do you know how long it is to the next town?" Kaleb replied with his own question.
The man paused for a moment, biting his lip. "Uh, 17 miles, I think," he finally replied, and Kaleb frowned. "Hey, do you need a ride?" He asked, and Kaleb just stared at him in surprise.
He looked around nervously, before mumbling a quick 'sure', and let himself in the car. "The name's Daniel, by the way," the man - Daniel, apparently - said, holding out a hand. Kaleb shook it. "Kaleb. Nice to meet you."
"Here's a few dollars. Go get yourself a sandwich or something," Daniel handed him some cash, before rolling up his window and driving away. Kaleb sighed. Okay, so his faith in humanity was temporarily restored, but he still didn't know how he was going to get from here to the city.
He would, however, start with Daniel's advice - getting something to eat, with this money he was so kindly handed. Actually buying something would be a nice change from begging or stealing.
Kaleb, somewhat reluctantly at first, walked into what was probably the only grocery store in the town. He clutched the money he was given, reminding himself that he had no reason to be shy walking into a store when he actually had money to buy something with. He strolled down each aisle, not entirely sure what he wanted at the moment.
“Watch where you’re going, dumbass!” Kaleb looked up to see a girl, slightly taller than him, that he had bumped into without noticing.
“S-sorry!” he mumbled, trying to scurry away, but she would have none of that.
The girl scowled and grabbed the back of his shirt. “No. You’re not leaving without facing me with a proper apology and preferably a damn good reason why you had to run into me and make me drop all my groceries!” she couldn’t have been much older than Kaleb himself, but he couldn’t help but be intimidated. Okay, he thought, she’s exaggerating this but she could probably knock out some of my teeth, so I should do as she says.
Kaleb made eye-contact with her. “I’m sorry. I haven’t slept much and I’m exhausted and I guess I just wasn’t looking where I was going.” he hardly took a breath during the explanation.
“Uh huh.” her icy blue-green eyes glared at him. She scoffed and walked away, hardly seeming like she even accepted his apology. Kaleb paid closer attention to where he walked from that point on.
He found an aisle with bottled water and juice on the shelves. Immediately he went for the water. Sure juice would probably taste better but it probably wouldn’t hydrate him as well. By the end of his spree he managed to buy the drink, some fruit and a small bag of chips. Okay maybe chips wasn’t the healthiest option but dammit he was craving salt. Now to find a way to the city...and hopefully never run into that girl again.
He found a nice place to sit down on a bench in the shade, and started nibbling at his chips. He tried to ignore the glares he could feel from passing strangers. It was nothing new.
Nadya sighed. Why'd she have to do that? He should have paid attention to where he was going, sure, but it wasn't like he was rude about it. Now that she thought about it, he looked really tired, and kinda out of it. She groaned, and covered her face with her hands. Putting away the groceries was certainly not going well for her currently.
"Uh, Annie? I think I'm going to go take a...walk," she stated as loud as possible, and heard a vague murmur of approval from the other room. She put the bag down, and walked to the doorway, putting on her boots before heading outside.
It was much colder than before, but still temperate, and the cool breeze felt good against Nadya's flushed face. She tried to focus on keeping a constant pace and the scenery around her, but of course, she kept drifting back to that boy. Annie would be mad if she found out. Annie always said she wasn't mad, but Nadya knew she was just lying to make her feel better.
Just then, she thought she saw the familiar sight of dark, red-brown hair beneath a tree, and she ran towards it. Lo and behold, the boy from earlier sat there, eyes closed. She took a deep breath. "Um, hey," she whispered loudly.
He opened his eyes, looked up, and she flinched at the look of fear in his eyes. "O-oh, I'm not planning on...getting...revenge or anything.... I, uh, I just want to say I'm sorry," she explained quickly, and the boy mumbled something under his breath, and just nodded.
She walked over to him, and sat down. "I'm Nadya," she said, smiling weakly. He stared at her for a moment. "Kaleb," he said finally. They sat in awkward silence for a few moments, both of them not exactly sure what to say. “So, uh….you just...sitting here?” she asked.
He sighed. “Do you have a problem with that?” he asked, and she shook her head. “No, no, but...don’t you have, like, somewhere you should be?” she replied, tilting her head and absentmindedly messing with her hands. Kaleb looked away, a distant look in his eyes.
“Do you want to come to my place?” she blurted out, and immediately regretted it, with the surprised look on the other’s face. She blushed. “I-I mean, if there’s no place that you have to go right now, I’m sure Annie would be fine with it, u-uh, Annie is my guardian, like, she’s like my mom but not r-really,” she stuttered, and Kaleb laughed a tiny bit.
He shook his head, still smiling. “I’ll be fine out here, honest. I don’t need you to take care of me, and besides,” his sentence trailed off as they heard the pitter patter of rain from underneath the tree. Kaleb frowned. “Look, you don’t have anywhere else to go, right?” she asked, more like a statement, standing up and holding out her hand. He thought for a moment before grabbing the hand, using it to help himself up.
Annie smiled when she heard knocking on the door. She put down the pot she was scrubbing, went to the front of the house, and opened the door. A soaking Nadya stood there, as well as a soaked looking boy that she did not know. “Hey, Nadya, I was worried when I heard it raining. I’m glad you’re safe,” Annie cooed, and gestured for them to come in.
“This is Kaleb, and um, is it okay for him to stay here tonight?” Nadya asked nervously, and Annie thought for a moment, looking Kaleb over. He looked sleep deprived, nearly starved, and quite rugged. Not someone she’d think would hurt anyone who offered him dinner and a place to sleep. “Sure.”
As soon as he was fully inside, Kaleb collapsed on the couch in their living room, and Nadya plopped down next to him. “I was going to make Mac and cheese, you alright with that?" Annie asked, and the two of them just made simultaneous sounds of agreement.
“So, why are you here? I know you don’t live here, I know everyone,” Nadya asked once Annie was no longer in sight. “Well, there’s this magic workshop I plan on going to in Daybrook,” Kaleb replied.
She grinned. “Daybrook? I’ve been to Daybrook! I have a friend there. They’re not a girl or a boy, or at least that’s how they identify, and I always thought that was really cool, I mean, not many people are even brave enough to admit that sort of stuff. I used to live there, a few years ago, but now I live here with Annie, and,” she stopped when she noticed Kaleb staring at her. “Oh, sorry. I’m doing the thing again, right? Ugh…” she groaned, and looked away.
“No, it’s fine… Anyways, you lived in Daybrook? Everything I’ve heard about it sounds really nice, you’ll have to tell me about it,” he said, smiling a little bit. She hummed. “I’ve been wanting to go there again, but Annie’s been really busy, and I don’t wanna burden her with taking me there. It’s not like I can really go anywhere without her,” she whispered.
“I would take you, but you did just meet me, not that I would be a good caretaker anyways,” Kaleb mumbled, thinking about how he could barely even feed or clothe himself. He definitely couldn’t escort Nadya to Daybrook right? Nadya gasped. “What?” he asked, and she just stood up, and ran into the kitchen.
“Annie! Isn’t aunt Jenny coming here soon?” she asked, and Annie looked up from what she was doing, somewhat surprised. “Um, yes. She’ll be here on Monday,” Annie replied, looking somewhat confusedly at Nadya.
“Do you think she’d be willing to take me and maybe Kaleb to Daybrook?” she asked, and Annie hummed. “I’ll have to check. How about I call her after dinner, is that okay?” she asked, and Nadya nodded and ran back to the living room, where Kaleb was still just sitting, shocked.
“You might have to stay with us for a few more days,” Nadya said proudly, smiling as much as one person could. Kaleb was not sure whether to feel relieved, or frightened. Well, whatever, at least he would get free food.
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