Chapter 7

Ren Young

This girl was going to be nothing but trouble. If I had known how much, I never would have climbed up to that city. Somehow, we weren't seen as I led her through the back alleys until I was familiar enough to get home. It took the rest of the day and the night, but we finally made it. I was not sure how many mornings it had been since I originally left. My parents would both be out at this hour, so I knew we would be okay there. She was quiet the whole way and kept her head down. My guess was the mob I saw was after her. Honestly, I don't know why I was even helping her. I should probably have been throwing rocks at her too. If I hadn't met her earlier, I might have. The thought kind of disturbed me.

When we got into the house, I pointed to the couch and said,

"Sit there; I'll go get some makeup and clothes."

"Makeup?" She gave me a confused look.

I left her in the room and went to look for makeup. It was a good thing my mother and her had a similar skin tone. It was also a good thing my mother didn't wear makeup often, as she would notice some missing otherwise. It took longer to find the makeup than I thought it would. It ended up being in a box labeled 'kitchen' in a box labeled 'office' that was in a hallway closet. Neither labeled box contained items that would go in the rooms indicated. Honestly, if my family were better organized, I wouldn't have even bothered looking in wrongly labeled boxes for it. I would have just gone to wherever it was supposed to be kept. I guess this made it less likely my mother would notice it was missing.

The clothes were easy to find. I pulled a set out of the back of the same closet; my mother hardly wore these, so she shouldn't notice if they were missing. When I came back, the redhead was still standing in the middle of the room. What exactly should I call her? She had some string of numbers she went by, but I didn't remember them. I couldn't call her by the name I gave her. I doubt she decided she liked it after giving it some thought. Even if she did like it, the encounter she just had would have probably changed her mind.

"You didn't want to sit?" I asked as I opened the makeup.

"Your couch is dirty," she said with a concerned look.

"Hey, actually, it's pretty clean, all things considered."

I don't know why I felt the need to defend my couch's cleanliness, but I did anyway. Considering how nice her town looked, I imagine she had higher standards of cleanliness. I put some makeup on a brush. "Close your eyes. I'm going to cover your tattoo." She looked at me like I had kicked a puppy. After a quick moment, her expression softened, and then she closed her eyes. I began to cover the tattoo. I was no expert in this, but no one would be able to notice, at least. All I had to do was make it look smooth. Any marks that remained showing could be explained away as moles or a birthmark if need be.

"Do you hate me?" she asked me while I was applying the makeup.

"If I hated you, I wouldn't bother with all of this." I guess that was an honest enough answer. I had no idea what to do with her. It was quite a moment before she responded again.

"They threw rocks at me."

"I figured."

"Why?"

"Why did your guys kick me in the back of the head?" I think that's what they did. What happened to me is all hazy now. All I know is they certainly made sure I felt like they did. She stayed quiet after my question. When I finished applying the makeup, I picked up a mirror and handed it to her. She took it and looked at her reflection. Her eyes widened, and she reached to touch her face. "Hey, don't touch it; you'll smear it!" She put her hand down.

I handed her the clothes to change into and left the room. It occurred to me I should have had her change before applying the makeup. I hadn't planned well enough in that regard. When she yelled that she was finished, I entered the room again. I hadn't picked out anything extravagant for her, a long black skirt and a faded, green ruffled blouse. She looked reasonably good in them. I suppose that might have been a part of how she was designed. I grabbed her old clothes and took them to my room. I hid them under my bed, not the best hiding spot, but it should work. Then I returned to the living room where she had finally sat down on the couch. She didn't ask why I took her clothes. I assumed she understood I went to hide them.

I exhaustedly sat down on the couch. It had been a long walk to get home, and I was tired. I wanted to sleep, but I had to go out again to meet with Andrew. It would be about time once I walked over there. I couldn't skip out on him this time either. Not when I was helping teach. I stood back up.

"I'm going to be gone for a little bit-" she shot up and walked over to me before I could finish speaking.

"I will go with you," she said rather quickly. I was surprised. I had expected that she would want to stay away from everyone. Maybe she felt confident now that her tattoo was covered. I don't know if she should feel so optimistic about it, though. Still, I gave in... We left the house and walked to the market. She was still scared, at first, and held onto my arm as we passed people. After the first few people, she became more confident and started to look at everything that we passed seriously.

"Ren, what is that?" she asked.

"A billboard for the restaurant." I had a feeling I knew where this was going.

"Oh, what is a restaurant? Oh, what is that?" Exactly like I thought.

"Kids playing baseball?"

"Oh, what is baseball? Wait, what is that?" She kept asking me questions the whole way. By the time we reached the market, she had to have known everything about this part of town. I hoped she did. Otherwise, she would keep asking questions. We walked into the market. As usual, many shops lined the inside of the courtyard with brightly colored tarps covering the tops. Around the square were additional buildings that each housed small shops of their own. People walked in every direction, stopping at places to shop. We ended up arriving earlier than we needed, so I figured we would walk over to the Stoneware's shop. It was one of the few shops on the outside of the courtyard that had some AC. We walked in, and Mrs. Stoneware greeted us.

"Oh, Ren, hello ho- Oh my, who is the beautiful young lady you have with you? Dear, come quick, Ren brought a girl with him!" Mr. Stoneware came running out.

"Oh my, I never thought I would see the day!" Was this such a big deal for them? The redhead was oblivious to the Stoneware's comments. She was staring at their goods. The Stoneware's owned a bakery, and, as usual, they had an assortment of cakes and other goods out for shoppers to see. She looked like she had never seen a cake before. Mrs. Stoneware walked up to her and grabbed her hand, and started shaking it excitedly.

"How do you do? You can call me Mrs. Stoneware. It's a pleasure to meet you. What's your name?" She eagerly greeted her.

I should have probably explained our relationship to the redhead, but it was already too late for that now. Most important was how she was going to introduce herself. We had not come up with a plan in advance, and I couldn't have her rattle off a string of numbers again. I opened my mouth to say something but was interrupted.

"Uh, Cynthia." She surprised me with her response. I didn't think that name would have stuck or that she would have answered so readily with it when asked.

"Oh, Cynthia. A beautiful name for a beautiful maiden." Now Mr. Stoneware was chiming in. Was he trying to sweet-talk her? He never changed. Get people happy, and they buy cakes. That's what he always told me whenever I worked at the shop.

"Cynthia dear, ignore that husband of mine. Anyway, I don't know if Ren told you much about us, but I'm like a second mother to him."

"Second mother?"

"Yes, and as his second parents, we'll tell you everything you need to know about handling him." Mr. Stoneware was chiming in again.

"Handling him?" She was clearly confused. Maybe I should have had her wait outside. This might not end well if we weren't careful.

"Oh, I know, Cynthia dear, I'll give you a free cupcake. Then we'll let you two be on your way." Mrs. Stoneware was already around the counter and wrapping up a cupcake for Cynthia.

"Cupcake?"

"Oh, dear, can't we have them stay a while longer? They might buy something." Mr. Stoneware said. Honestly, it was a good thing they were off in their own little world; otherwise, they would notice how confused she was by basic things.

"No dear," Mrs. Stoneware said sharply, "We're interrupting a date."

Mr. Stoneware didn't say anything else but instead handed the cupcake to Cynthia and pushed us out the door.

"You kids have fun!" they said in unison as the door closed.

"Date?" Cynthia was still confused about what just happened.

"Just go ahead and eat the cupcake." I didn't have the energy to explain what just happened.

"This is food?" she asked surprisingly as she pulled on the decorative liner that wrapped the cake. She looked at with wide eyes as the liner fell off with ease. It didn't look like anything too grand, just a simple chocolate cake with a couple of colors to decorate the frosting.

She hesitatingly took a bite out of the cupcake. She stopped chewing for a second and stared at the cupcake a moment before swallowing it. A smile lit up her face, and she scoffed the rest of the cupcake down in seconds. I handed her a handkerchief.

"You have some crumbs on your face." Her face glowed as bright red as her hair. She took the handkerchief and looked away to wipe her face. She was careful when wiping the right side. At least I didn't have to worry about her revealing herself in a dumb way.

"What was that- that taste?" She was still enamored by the cupcake. I suppose I would be, too, if it were the first time I'd had one.

"It looked chocolate flavored."

"Chocolate." She seemed to stare off into space and ponder the word for a minute. I guess she didn't know what chocolate was. I had no idea what they normally ate up there. Still, I hoped she wouldn't ask me to explain chocolate. I had no idea how to describe a flavor. I guess if she wanted to know, I could take her where they grow the cocoa. I had never been myself, so it wouldn't be a bad idea.

I looked over to a pedestal with a model of the town sitting on it. It served as a town map and a way to tell the time. I could see the shadow cast from the mountain moving away from the zone, much like what happened with our actual town. It was about time to meet with Andrew. We would have to discuss the chocolate later if she was still curious. "Come on, Cynthia, let's go."

I began to walk away, but she stood in place for a moment. "You okay?"

She seemed to be reacting to something. Her body was slightly shaking. She had no idea what the cupcake was. Did it have too much sugar? Was she even used to sugar? She seemed like she had just consumed some kind of drug. She smiled and took a deep breath. She began to walk over to me

"I am alright. Where are we going to next?"

I could make out the back of Andrew's bald head in the distance, even amongst the large crowd. All we had to do was go in that direction. I wasn't sure if that was a good idea. She would get lost in a crowd like this. That would be a problem. Even disguised, I didn't want to leave her alone to wander the town. Taking her hand, I started to lead her through the crowd.