Of Gaea (2 page)

Ari
flinched.
There was no
way to check the action. To know she was crippled and having it
rubbed in her face, were two separate things. There was no doubt
the latter was a delight for Damia.

“
Oh, I’m
sorry. Did I touch a nerve? It must be dreadfully hard to not be
able to walk, run, or swim.” She laughed and it sounded like
gleeful joy, “It’s not like you’ve ever had sex to be missing any
of that. Between us girls, I can assure you you’re not missing too
much. I think it would be great to sit down all day and have people
look at me with sympathy and pity. It must be great to be lazy all
the time.”

Ari
stared blankly at her. Damia was deliberately slinging arrows. For
what purpose Ari couldn’t fathom, but she refused to play into
Damia’s game.

“
What
about you?” Ari retained her calm exterior though her heart
stuttered erratically.

Damia
tipped her head and glanced curiously at her. “Meaning?”

“
We
shared a hospital room you know. I heard what the doctors told you.
You may look okay, but have you told your boyfriend that his
touches are meaningless? Have you told him you’ve faked every
orgasm for the last six months?” Ari didn’t smile as Damia paled,
and she didn’t recoil when the other girl lunged at her in
rage.

“
You
little snoop.
I take
back all the nice things I said. Sasha probably keeps you around
just for the sex. After all, it’s not like you can run away, can
you? You have to sit there and take anything that’s dished out.
There’s no such thing as no for you.” The strike Ari was prepared
to take never landed.

Ari recognized
the backside of the faded blue jeans that stood suddenly in front
of her, and paused a moment to appreciate the lean lines and firm
tissue that filled them.

Sasha
stood between Damia and her.
Sasha had shoved Damia away at the last moment. From the
stunned expression on Damia’s face it hadn’t been gentle,
either.

“
That’s
enough, Damia.”
His
voice was mild but there was no mistaking the order his tone. The
tense brace of his not inconsiderable over six foot muscular build,
reinforced his unspoken threat. “You’ve done enough for today. I’m
sure you can find other amusements. How is, what’s his name this
week?”

“
Lauren.” Ari provided.

“
Thank
you, Ari.” Sasha didn’t turn to face her but she could hear his
cryptic smile. “Go play with your toys, Damia. We have no time for
you.”

Ari
smiled sadly at him as he intentionally turned his back on Damia.
Damia’s face flared in indignant rage, and for a moment Ari was
prepared to shout a warning. Damia, however, stomped away, instead
of attacking. There would be recourse later Ari was sure, but
didn’t dwell too much on it.

Sasha
scanned her face as concern etched lines over his.
He was glad he had arrived in
time. Damia would have seriously hurt Ari otherwise. As strong as
his friend was, he knew that with enough words even Ari’s stoicism
would break.

Usually,
Ari never got passed the house without him. However, since the rain
was an incessant howl, he was thankful Ghita had found it in
herself to give Ari a lift to school.
From her frizzed hair and damp jeans, it was clear
Ghita hadn’t thought to offer her an umbrella as well.

Ari
studied her best friend as he silently scanned her. When she could
stand, she could reach the hollow of his collar bone. She tucked
neatly under his chin in the old days. Now perpetually seated, she
felt like a dog in some ways. Her level of vision would never be
above three feet without craning her neck.

Sasha’s
hair was as wet and curled as riotously as hers, which meant he
didn’t have an umbrella with him either.
The ombre color of his hair was nearly black at
the root and chestnut at the ends. If Ari hadn’t known better she
would have sworn it was artificial. She knew though, it naturally
faded that way. It was tousled carelessly around his tawny face in
a choppy layered style that only he could pull off. His eyes
reminded her of blue frost though they were never cold.

“
Do I
pass?” Her heart fluttered under his scrutiny forcing her to break
the silence. There were things better not thought on while he
looked at her like that. Things better not imagined.

He was
like a soldier, silent but never stony and always ready to protect
her.
The tender look on
his face was evidence of that. It was often directed at her, which
secretly pleased her. Sometimes she wished it was more than that,
but she didn’t have the courage to move passed their innocent
friendship.

He shook
his head.
“You look like
you have bruises with the dark blue color of your eyes and the dark
circles around them. You are tired and at a guess, I’d say you’re
not sleeping again.”

“
I can’t
walk Sasha.” It came out sharper than intended but if anyone had
the right to be slightly bitter, she certainly did and he would
certainly understand. He always did.

“
I can’t
run, I can’t dance.”
Her
throat closed before she could continue further. Ari closed her
eyes and inhaled slowly.

She
would not cry.
Not here.
Not now. Not in front of him.

Sasha
crouched in front of the wheelchair and took her hands in
his.
When he looked up
at her it took all of her will power to hold back the threatening
tears. He never made her feel inferior. He very rarely looked down
on her or belittled her, in any circumstance. There was so much
pain and sorrow in his eyes that Ari could almost believe he felt
the pain she was in.

“
I’m
sorry.”
He squeezed her
hands gently. “I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you when I promised you
I would. It should be me in that chair not you. I’m
sorry.”

She
squeezed his hands back in reassurance. “I wouldn’t wish this on
you, maybe on her.” Ari didn’t say her name, but from the way his
lips twitched she knew he knew of whom she spoke. Ari gave a forced
smile. “Besides, the doctors say that I could get my legs working
again. After all, I still do get that annoying tingle in them every
once in a while. It means there is still life there,
right?”

“
If
anyone can find a way, I know you can.” Sasha let go of her hands
and stood. “Come on or we’ll both be late.”

If he
hadn’t been bound by a certain set of rules, he would have told her
how to make her legs work again. He would have told her everything
he knew and helped her out of what he still felt was his mistake.
He was slowing dying inside, knowing what she needed to do but not
able to provide it to her. He had made a promise though, and he was
a man of his word, even though it caused him the agony he had to
live with.

When he
stood, Ari saw Nasya standing patiently.
Her arms were crossed but it wasn’t a threatening
pose. Her eyes were unfocused behind her glasses. She was probably
still half asleep.

Her hair
was braided tightly, as always, so Ari couldn’t tell if she had
come in through the rain or not.
She had never seen Nasya wear pants of any kind in
the almost four years they’d known each other.

Her
skirt looked kind of bohemian with its layers and flamboyant
colors.
She topped it
with a black cowl neck dress that should have looked tacky but the
layers looked right on her. They always did.

“
I’m
sorry I’m late.”
Her
voice was quiet, but whether from being tired or embarrassed it
wasn’t discernible.

Sasha
shook his head. “You’re not at all, we were just on the way to get
Ari’s books.”

Nasya
smiled. “May I join you?”

That was
something else that hadn’t changed in their years together. She
always asked if she could accompany or sit with them. Ari assumed
Nasya would just do without asking – she was after all Sasha’s
family – but in four years she never once assumed. Nasya had always
asked and for some strange reason, had always been overly formal in
her speech.

Ari
waved a hand.
“Sure,
there’s nothing exciting happening, yet.”

Nasya
shrugged, “The day has just begun. You never know what will
happen.”

“
Ready
for Advanced Chemistry?”
Sasha asked, moving to push her chair himself.

Ari
didn’t stop him.
She
could never figure out how to tell him he shouldn’t do something.
It was her greatest weakness.

D
amia watched
from the shadows
. She
had done
everything
in
her power she could to take Sasha and make him her own. He was the
most stubborn of creatures. There was nothing left in the cripple
there wasn’t a reason for him to stay with
her
. Yet, he did. It infuriated her beyond
reason.

She
would have to try
something else. If she had to sell her soul to get what she
wanted, she would. Sasha would be hers in the end.

A
ri moved
through the day
like any
other after that. Autopilot was her greatest friend. Both her
mother and Kleisthenes had insisted that normalcy would help her
heal. It hadn’t. It only made all that should have been normal
lacking and doubled her lack of willingness to get out of bed in
the morning.

Morning
classes were always the hardest to get through.
Advanced Chemistry wasn’t really important
to her. What did the periodic table matter to her?

Sasha
sat two rows in front of her, to her left in front of the
windows.
Ari studied him
as he attentively paid attention. Sasha was the perfect
student.

The
light from the window highlighted his hair and danced through the
thick wild curls. His shirt could almost be considered a muscle
shirt. The contours of his back were clear and vividly outlined by
the window. Ari traced his shoulder blades with her eyes to the
place where his neck met his shoulder. She briefly fantasized about
biting him, right there.

“Ms.
Doumas.”

The
fantasy popped and brought her back to the real world. She
shouldn’t have been fantasizing about her best friend in that
manner anyway but still to be caught at it… Ari gave her teacher a
forced smile. “Yes?”

“Perhaps you’d
like to share with the class what is so fascinating outside the
classroom rather than what I am teaching in it?”

It took
Ari a moment to realize he thought she had been looking out the
window instead of staring at Sasha. She shrugged.
“Freedom.”

Some of her
classmates snickered.

Sasha
smiled to himself as he finished his notes from the
blackboard.
He missed
Ari’s moods. Since the accident she had been flat. It was as if her
personality had been sucked away instead of just her legs being
crippled. These emotional appearances were getting further and
further apart. He could think of no crueler punishment than to
watch her slowly fade away.

“Since,
freedom is so elusive, perhaps you’d like to share with your fellow
prison mates and jailor, three of the poor metals that we are
studying this week.”