Chapter 4
Zakyas
I can’t stop thinking of her. Her dark brown hair with the streaks of natural blonde, those bright hazel eyes, so kind and beautiful. I can’t think of anything else. I think about her soft pink lips, parted slightly, taunting me because I cannot kiss them. Heruna. She is the definition of natural beauty. Ever since we saw each other when she was rationing food, I haven’t had a thought without her face appearing in my mind.
I’m lying in my bed, thinking of what I can do to stop this heartache, this longing for her. Suddenly, I hear shouting and the firing of guns. Fire illuminates the night sky. I jump out of bed and get my family. Tarynn, mom, dad, we’re all fine. We agree that it’s safer in the confines of our house rather to go outside and be stormed by the angry mob. Tarynn peeks through the curtains; when she turns back around her face is stricken.
“I—I think there are people rebelling against Heruna,” she gasps. I freeze. Heruna? In danger? Suddenly, I feel the need to rush out and get Heruna out. When there’s fire in Surubi, it tends to end in death. I grab my jacket and am about to head out the door when my father puts his hand on my shoulder.
“Zakyas Rymaire, what do you think you’re doing? It’s a full-fledged uprising out there with fire and crazy people and you’re about to go out there? Son, I can’t let you; it’s too dangerous,” he tells me.
I don’t absorb half of what he says after this, because I’m scheming on how to sneak out and see if Heruna is okay. I nod as though I understand, and after he returns to the kitchen, I quietly head out the door. I sprint towards the building, darting and dodging through the crowd. Luckily, people are too angry and focused upon the big government building to pay any attention to me. I stop and catch my breath when I reach the back of the building; the side where no one will see me. I noted as I was running that the bottom of the building was aflame, but the back wasn’t. I knew it was impossible to scale the building, but what else could I do?
My thoughts are interrupted by someone tapping on my shoulder. I turn to see a young man standing before me.
“She likes you, you know,” he says as if the building wasn’t on fire in front of us. “You should go for it.” Here I am; with the girl I loved trapped in a burning building, and a guy I didn’t know telling me she likes me back.
“Who are you?” I ask.
“Prescott,” he answers
“What do you suggest to do about the government building?” I ask looking at the raging fire. I turn to face him again, only to find that he’s gone.
How can I get in there? How can I get Heruna out?
Suddenly, before my very eyes, Heruna comes sprinting out of the building. She runs into my arms and whimpers,
“Oh Zakyas, what’s going on here? Why did they set the building on fire?” I don’t answer. I stand there embracing her, stroking her hair, feeling relieved that she’s safe in my arms.
“Heruna,” someone calls. A young woman comes up behind her.
“Eralia, what’s going on here?” she asks, breaking away from me.
“They’re rebelling,” she says. “We have to stop them. C’mon, Heruna.”
“Who are you?” I ask.
“My name is Eralia,” she replies. “I am one of the Elites.” Before I can ask what the “Elites” are, Eralia pulls Heruna into the mass of people.
“People!” she shouts through a bull-horn another Elite handed to her. “Why are you doing this? Heruna has given you all food, stopped violence, and spared many lives. And what do you do? Attack her and set fire to her building?” Then, Eralia, Prescott, and some other young men and women I assume are also Elites disperse throughout the crowd of hectic people and point guns at them. I want to further question Prescott, but he seems pretty preoccupied.
I spot a familiar face in the crowd. I’m shocked to see that it was Ira. She had always seemed so innocent and kind; not the kind that would do this sort of thing. She catches my eye contact and holds my gaze. Her eyes enlarge in surprise, and then her face possesses a sad, almost guilty expression.
For the next hour or so, I stand out of harm’s way, and watch as the Elites incite the angry mob to flee from the scene. Four of the Elites douse the fire with a hose until the now charred building is no longer consumed by flame.
“You should get home,” Eralia says, coming up from behind me. Things had quieted down now and the only people around were Elites gathering stray arrows and other things that the gang had left behind.
“Okay, I will,” I respond sleepily. Before heading home, I walk over to Heruna, who is sitting on the road gazing at the burned building.
“Bye Zakyas,” she says, looking at me with a distressed expression in her eyes.
“Bye Heruna,” I reply. I crouch down next to her and stroke her hair. “See you tomorrow.”
When I slide open the door and tiptoe inside the house, Tarynn is sitting on the couch staring at the curtain covered window.
“Oh Zakyas,” she says, and breathes a sigh of relief, “I’m so glad you’re okay. What were you thinking? Running straight into a big fight like that?”
“Shh,” I hiss, “you’ll wake mom and dad.”
“But why’d you take that big of a risk; even after dad told you not to go?” she whispers. I sit next to her on the couch and say,
“I don’t know,” trying to be as convincing as possible.
“Just tell me,” she persists.
“The building was on fire and there were people with weapons. I needed to make sure Heru—I mean everyone was okay.” A sly smile grows on Tarynn’s previously panicked face.
“I understand now,” says with a faint laugh. “You like Heruna.”
“I do not,” I argue, face turning red. “And lower your voice,” I say louder than I intended.
“So you like Heruna,” she repeats, giggling.
“Well…well you probably like Myka or something,” I counter. Her smile fades and she falls silent. Her face reddens too.
“How did you know I liked him?” she asks, slightly irritated. Now I’m the one who’s laughing.
“I didn’t…until you told me two seconds ago,” I point out. She gives me a slap on my shoulder, and then starts laughing again.
“We better get to sleep,” she says. We walk down the hall to our rooms.
“Goodnight Tarynn,” I whisper.
“Goodnight,” she responds before closing her door.
Lying in bed later, trying to find sleep, I am soon disgusted at myself for laughing after experiencing the rebellion against Heruna. It was a big group that attacked her. They seemed capable of causing some serious destruction on Surubi.
What if they took over? What if Heruna got hurt?
