I was Just Being Lied to

It’s a gloomy day for a walk.

Was what was wandering in the mind of little Ialan. Watching the moving outside from the windows of the rundown bus, the sky, land, and houses slowly turning gray as they approach the city of their destination.

The boy doesn’t want to think about anything else at the moment. Just the fact that he probably won’t want to go outside and take a troll. The sky looks like it will cry if he did. He leans in the vibrating window, just as his resting sister has been leaning on his shoulder for a while now. His older sister Marina doesn’t look a bit less sad or pale than she was these past few days. And it pains Ialan to see that she is crying even in her dreams.

Ialan feels so tired it’s like he’ll fall asleep any second. Yet he’s scared to. He knows for himself that if he sleeps now, then the moment he wakes up, he’ll remember the reason he is sitting in the bus with his sister while bringing all their clothes with them, instead of playing outside until the sun tells them to go home. The reason might not pain him as much as it pains Marina, but it still hurts for him. Although, just the fact that his sister is suffering more from it than him is more than enough to keep himself standing, both for himself, and for Marina who already fell down.

…well, but… it’s too much of a gray sky for a walk.

…

They pass by a billboard labeled “Entering City of Caotica”. Ialan subconsciously woke up. Immediately, the horrible stench of the bus and the noisy stuttering of the engine reached him again. He threw those aside and started shaking Marina.

“Sis. Sister,” while he picks up their bags. “Sister. We are almost on our stop. Please wake up and put yourself together.”

Marina groggily replied, “No… five more minutes…”

“No more five more minutes. Please.”

“Papa, shut up…” she complained.

“Paps isn’t with us right now. Please get up, or I will drag you.”

“…”

Ialan hates it when she is being difficult. “Whatever.”

The conductor shouts, “Caotica! Passengers to Caotica!”

And on the signal, Ialan stood up with their bags on his back and right hand, while he dragged Marina by the nape of her clothes with his left hand. He approaches the conductor and hands him their fee.

He sees the little boy, amazed that he can carry all those bags while pulling the girl just slightly bigger than him. “Just two kids? Don’t you have a guardian with you?”

“Unfortunately.”

“Your parents?”

“We are on our way to meet them.” A lie.

“Alright then.” Mr. conductor opens the door to them, wincing with Marina as he watches her get dragged down.

“Thank you for the hospitality,” said farewell, knowing they won’t find another who is kind as the conductor any time soon. The bus left, and they are again enveloped by loneliness.

Seeing Marina lumped on the ground and refusing to stand and cooperate, Ialan humored her and let her go. Thud. “Ow.” She grumbled.

“I know it is hard for you right now, but if you keep this up, I will leave you behind,” he said unseriously and started walking away.

“No…!” Marina quickly stood, caught up and desperately grabbed Ialan’s hand to stop him. “Don’t… don’t leave me... not even you…” she wouldn’t even hide the sadness in her voice, the begging in her eyes. While the supposedly usual her wouldn’t even show a hint and would hide it with a pout or a smile.

Ialan’s mistake was fast to dawn on him. He felt so bad he wanted a time machine to turn back time.

“I’m sorry… forgive me. I must be so tired to let those words slip,” he held sister’s hand. “Of course, I won’t leave you. Not after he did.”

He started walking, guiding his almost zombie-like sister, a broken mess.

She continued murmuring stuff, “Don’t leave me.”

“…I won’t.”

“Don’t… leave me…”

“I won’t.” And Ialan continued to reassure her.

They walked the street. Now, Ialan is back in that place, once again.

…

Evening, the siblings have nowhere to stay for the night. There is a popular way of finding a shelter, commonly used by children with no money or guardians: knocking random people’s doors and asking to do their chores for them in exchange for a room to stay in. It was an old practice. The two kids don’t know if it is still performed.

Marina was tired and it was evident, despite doing nothing all day but nap. gravity is pulling away her consciousness. Ialan knocked on a random door, “Is anybody home?”

A big bald drunk old man responded to the knocks. “What?” He was harsh.

“Have you heard of ‘neighbor choring’? We would love to have a place to stay.”

The man scratched his head. “You’d do my chores for a room to stay in, huh? So people still do that these days,” he goes back in. “Come in. Just about time my house is about to rot.”

And he was right. There were piles of laundry, dirty dishes, and trash everywhere. “My bad luck is finally working again, huh…” Ialan muttered out loud.

The man, still chugging beers, pointed at a room. “There. That's the only available room in this house. Do whatever you want.” and then disappeared to his own room.

Still pulling his sister around, Ialan navigated their way to the said room around the maze of trash. “Please at least cooperate…”

He opened the door and found it surprisingly clean and empty, having only a bed and a drawer.

“How long do we plan to stay?” Ialan asked.

“Until we murder the uncle–”

“Can you please, please, take me seriously?” Ialan sighed, not understanding how Marina can still joke despite her state. “For devil’s sake…”

“...I’m sorry. To burden you…”

“And how many times have I begged you not to say that?” He gave Marina her thin mattress and pillows before taking out his. “It's my turn to take care of you. This is out of responsibility.” He set his mattress on the floor and said his goodnight before turning off the light.

There were seconds of silence before Marina lying on the bed said, “I haven't answered your question.”

“...I’ll only accept sincere answers.”

“...Do you think it's cool to take this uncle’s house for us?”

“That is not a bad idea, but this house is too big for the two of us. Do you have anything else in mind?”

Marina was quiet for a while. “...Let’s search for a part time job. we'll move once we do.”

“And where is that?”

“Wherever.”

“...I see.”

“...”, “...”

“Ialan?”

“Are you not going to sleep yet, sister?”

“Hm. I miss papa.”

“Then we could've asked him to come with us. I bet it would be easier for us, too.”

“Ugh… but the idea of moving away is to prove to him I'm grown now…”

“I don't get you. Let us just get our rest.”

“Sleep next to me.”

“You're not grown at all. Not. at. all.” He stands and grabs his mattress and pillow. His patience is thinning, but his voice remains unbothered all the time. He uncomfortably settles beside Marina. “Geez, neither of us are children anymore…”

“Shut up. a twelve-year-old is young to me.”

“But a fifteen-year-old is already a grown-up.”

“...I’m not.”

Ialan surrenders and sighs.

“...At the very least, I feel at ease with you beside me.”

He faces away from her. “If it helps you. Now sleep.” maybe it’s not as unpleasant as Ialan thought. They always slept like this when they were much smaller.

“...” Marina was still wide awake. “...I wish Don was here.”

Ah, now Ialan was reminded. Why their colorful days were painted gray. “Pretty please, just go to sleep.”

…

The following day, Ialan was told to go roam around to look for an applicable job while Marina said she’ll handle the chores, “I don’t feel like seeing people today.” In which Ialan thinks it is a bad idea. He’ll be dragging his bad luck around, which can heavily decrease their chance of finding one. Not to mention, where would there be a place who would hire a twelve-year-old?

“Fine, for the favor of sister.” The part he hates most is looking into people’s eyes. The day ended, and he didn’t even have any luck. Not that he's surprised. He went back to find about half of the mess cleaned up. “That was quick. Sister?” he found her lying on the bed, staring into nothingness again. sigh. Maybe it was too early for them to move.

“Ialan. That man hasn’t left his room. He hasn’t moved either.”

The boy looks for food from their bag to calm his crying stomach. “Maybe that is just his own pace.”

“I don’t think so. He doesn’t have much long.”

Ialan bobbed his head up. “What makes you think that?”

“Just a hunch.”

It concerns Ialan. “Is it because of the curse?”

“Ridiculous. A curse of death sentence in five years can’t give me powers to tell how long a person has left. Like I said, it’s just a hunch.”

“...If you say so.” he hands Marina a wrapped bread. It served as their dinner.

…

Days passed, but of course, there are no hiring places. The chores are all done but they don’t get paid money for it. Even with the help of Marina, they couldn't find a job. They are still unfamiliar with the place, Caotica Sur. But they are sure there's a place for them just behind their backs.

During their separate search, Marina is starting to get exhausted again, so she begins wandering around aimlessly. She and Ialan were supposed to go back by 6 pm, but she lost track of both place and time. While humming, she heard some people pass by saying, “That David boy is useless…”, “Why would the chief still hire him?”

For the first time in what felt like a good a while, Marina wore her mischievous smirk, the people’s conversation piqued her interest. She started stalking them from afar.

At the same time, Ialan was about to go home when he saw a man with a familiar cloak, and odd looking eyes. “The bad luck waned.” He said as he started following him. Through difficult alleys, he eventually ended up in a secret wonder place, passed through roads and ways no one could possibly get lost to. He gets thrilled and sprints home, wanting to tell Marina about the place he discovered.

When he got back, she wasn’t there. “Where on earth, of all times… maybe the bad luck didn’t wane after all. Bummer.” He started searching for Marina. But brought by his curiosity, after an hour of his search, his feet led him back to that place. “There are so many people. How can someone ever manage such a big gathering…?”

He walked around, still looking for a familiar pink-head, hoping she’s there. He’s sure to avoid eye-contact. one look in his eyes, and it’ll be over for him. While he was searching for Marina, she was up high on a street light searching for someone too. She got impatient and decided, “Fuck it,” stood, and shout at the top of her lungs.

“TO EVEEERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU!! CALL YOUR CHIEF, I DEMAND HIM HE LET US IN THIS BUNCH OF YE WICKEDS!”

Ialan found her. And even he is shocked. He knows his sister is crazy and shameless, but in a place like this? Unbelievable.

“What is she thinking?!” he started rushing to her, barely getting through the thick crowd.

“What was that?”, “Who is that girl?”, “We get that every once in a while, huh.” The people murmured as Ialan tried to break through.

“Hey, it’s a human!” The boy was alerted. Someone saw his eyes. “There was a human just now! a runt!”, ‘Great. Actually magnificent’. Now he’s gathered attention too. He ducked and sprinted, taking advantage of his pitiful height. “I lost him! Quick, find the runt!”

Marina started her speech again, “None of you can reach me! I demand the presence of your chief, if you don’t want this Element Child to get furious!”

“Element Child?! That girl?”, “No way, really?”

Ialan is ticked. Why is she causing more commotion?!

Fire ablaze that tried to take her down. But Marina was quick to react and blew most of the fires using the--nay, her wind. The crowd feast their eyes… It was no bluff! That girl is a Gifted Element Child, who can control the wind!

Marina looked and saw who casted the fire on her. A fierce looking lad.

“Are you the chief?” She asked carelessly.

“That I am. And I must inform you, we don’t cause disturbance among the Batch, and I refuse to accept anyone who does.”

“At least start with your name, mister.”

“...Fuego.” he casted fire towards her. And like before, she blew it off.

“Fuego. I like it,” She effortlessly extinguishes every flame in her way. “But you shouldn’t play with fire,” She jumps from the height and comes threateningly close, “With wind to encourage it.”

The wind that killed the flames turned into breezes that revived and nurtured it, eating on everything. Fuego was overwhelmed by his own fire spreading and the crowd started panicking, casting their own spells to protect themselves. Marina observed that unease in Fuego.

“No way. You gather this many witches but you yourself are not a witch?” she mocked. “How ironic.”

Fuego tries attacking but the wind had him immobilized, left mocked by Marina. “...Who are you?” He is angry and won’t even hide it.

“You could’ve learned how to stop your own fire!” She giggled at him.

“Answer my question, wench!”

“Haha…” she prompted. “I am–”

Then and there, Ialan found her close. “Got you.”

A massive and impressive circle spell reigned around them, expanding still. All its domain touches disperses all spells previously casted. Feugo’s flames, random spells by strangers, even Marina’s strong winds. The crowd was in confusion.

“Let us go.” Ialan grabbed Marina’s wrist and started running. “We can’t waste time. Some people found out that I am human.”

“Damn, that’s stupid.” She laughs. While the whole situation is chaotic, there’s something inside Ialan that is just relieved Marina finally laughed.

“Hey, wait! Who are you, fiends?!” Fuego tries to chase.

They kept running around, the thrill and fun running through the both of them. “Fuego! I am the wind’s Marina! And this is my amazing lil brother, Ialan! The next time we meet, I hope we are registered in this Batch! if you don’t want another ruckus, that is!”

“Hurry. My chant will decay soon, and they might catch up,” finally, they entered through the maze of streets, lefts, rights, and forwards. Marina was laughing all the time as they left. “I got us a stable job~!”

Once they exited, the vibrant and blinding lights of the city roads welcomed them. But no reason to stop. “Ialan, that necroman isn’t even a witch! Can you believe that?!”

“I guess not. But you are more unbelievable.”

Marina was staring at the lights. It’s one of those nights that they stayed out so late. And their first night seeing the city’s night colors. She was enchanted. The night wasn’t as dangerous as it was in the woods. She started laughing again.

“Ialan! y’know what I was thinking?”

“I would not want to know.”

Yet she still gleefully screamed, “Don is a liar! Right?! He told us… that the three of us will be together, forever!” It pained Ialan. He looked to note her expression, but this time, she wasn’t crying. Just smiling and having fun.

“But look, now he’s dead. He’s missing out on these lights that called the three of us!” The boy took a glance as well, and seeing the lights she was mentioning, they came to a halt.

“...It is a shame, indeed.” Ialan chuckled. “It was his idea to move into this city. But now that we are here, he is not.”

Marina laughs so loud she doesn’t care about the attention she catches. “LIAR!” They started running again, back home. “A massive liar. All those promises…”

Finally, it hit Marina, because her tears went again. He’s dead. Their dear friend is dead. Seeing her cry, a lump formed in Ialan’s throat.

She sobbed, but did not stop running. “And it was all my fault…he…”

“Yeah… a liar he was, indeed,” lad agreed as he just nodded.

They ran and ran, away from what felt like their endless grief.