Chapter Six
Black Porridge
Clatter of dishes against metal jarred Rue into consciousness and she moaned openly, shifting in the squeaking mattress. The sheets were entangled about her limbs and she struggled against them, shoving the pillow from poking her eyes. “Hmmph!” she mumbled, finally winning the battle with her stubborn cloth.
Eyes adjusting slowly to the ray of warm sunshine seeping through the thin muslin curtains, Rue glanced around the empty room and everything from yesterday rushed in once more. This time however, she didn’t cry. She couldn’t. Her tear ducts were completely dry from all the sobbing last night. It was around five in the morning that she finally cried herself to a deep sleep, no dreams to comfort or haunt her. She wasn’t sure if that was a gift or a punishment for not being there for Uname.
As she quietly rose to her feet, Gray’s words from last night echoed in her hollow mind. She could not blame herself for Uname’s death but as a friend, Rue felt responsible. She should’ve told Uname to go home with her instead of seeing that sordid movie. There was a serial killer in the town, one person still missing and she’d allowed her friend to frolic about instead of letting her know the details.
Before she could find time to gather her bearings, the door burst open and two laughing children crashed in, almost throwing Rue to the ground. Stumbling to regain her balance, Rue caught sight of a dark-haired girl and her snow-haired companion. They both stood ramrod-straight now, seemingly penitent for almost knocking down their visitor.
She frowned, noting their luminous green-eyed gazes, contrasting against their bronze skin. Blinking, she glanced from one to the other. The room remained quiet as the three gaped at each other. Then Rue opened her mouth to speak when the white-haired girl finally spoke. “Eyes red with sorrow,” she said evenly, voice remarkably husky and deep for what her age inferred.
Rue merely blinked back at her, speechless.
“You not cry anymore. You are safe,” she continued, her green eyes steady on hers.
Safe from what? Rue swallowed hard and studied the children’s hollow cheeks and unwavering gazes. Who were they? She glanced around, suddenly taking note of the brick walls covered with caked mildew. She stiffened. Where was she?
“Do not worry,” the girl answered as if hearing her thoughts. “It is sanitarilized.”
“Sanitary,” the boy suddenly spoke–his voice soft, almost ethereal like his features. His green eyes studied Rue with silent scrutiny and Rue shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. For children, they seemed more confident than even her at this moment and Rue wanted to hide, to cover herself and sleep, never to get up again.
Suddenly, soft yet cold fingers wrapped around Rue’s wrist and tugged gently. Rue snapped to attention and glanced down at the girl who now smiled at her. She raised her brows in silent question.
“I am Petra and this is Yunis,” she said, her long lashed eyes blinking up at her.
Rue opened her mouth to respond but Yunis answered instead. “You are Rueben.”
She whipped her head to him, frowning now. He gave her a patient smile, resembling a parent explaining something to a slow child. “Your license,” he jerked his head to the bedstand where her purse was.
“We had to find your information to identify you,” Petra said quickly, already sensing what Rue was about to ask.
Rue blinked, stupefied. Without saying a word, this two adolescents knew exactly what she was thinking. Either her face was very expressive or these children proved more dangerous than they let on. It was then she remembered someone–a guy with dark eyes and a gentle smile. He’d brought her here. She remembered weeping against him, mourning for her friend.
“Gray is in the kitchen,” Petra intruded her thoughts with an innocent smile. “We are having black porridge.” She grinned openly, excited at the thought of the meal.
Rue sniffed, trying to get a sense of what the mystery meal could be. Black porridge–sounded questionable.
“It’s delicious,” Petra raved, already pulling at Rue’s hand to join them by the door. “Come. The Mistress is waiting to see you.” With that, she kicked open the barred door and led the way out, still holding to Rue’s hand.
Rue marveled at the strong grip of the girl’s fingers on her wrist. Somehow, this child–well, both of them were very strange in their actions, characters. Even their names were different. How did they know Gray and who was the Mistress?
A wave of children’s voices could be heard as they walked down the darkened hallway, Yunis’ white hair providing Rue with a sense of direction as he walked a few feet in front of them. Petra had stopped talking and all Rue could hear were the scattered voices–not deciphering any of the words. It was as if they were talking in a different language.
As soon as they spotted a light at the end of the hallway and Petra and Yunis quickened their pace, Rue suddenly found herself surrounded by a swarming crowd of children, packed together in one room. Children of different races, hair of rainbow colors spotting the room, beaming smiles and gesticulating limbs. All she could hear was their chattering and nothing else. Once they discovered a foreigner in their midst, the chattering faded out and their eyes shifted to hers. All the colors of the rainbow were reflected in their gazes and Rue held her breath. Violet eyes, golden eyes–even white! Where was this place and who were these people?
She almost tripped on one of their feet but Petra held on to Rue’s hand as she spoke to her fellow comrades in their language. Rue could feel the heat of their gazes burning through her skin and her heart jumped incessantly. Their high foreheads, bow-shaped mouth and chiseled features were identical all around the room. The only thing that differentiated each one was the color of their skin and their eyes and hair.
“What is this, the twilight zone?” Rue whispered and the children shifted their gazes back to her, forgetting that Petra was appealing with them. “Who are you people?”
“They are the Hutyle,” a deep and familiar voice said from above and Rue and the children lifted their gazes to the balcony over Rue’s head. Someone that resembled Gray stood there–only that his cropped hair was now completely smoky-white, contrasting greatly with his dark skin. A plump, dark-skinned woman stood beside him, her violet eyes studying Rue silently as she crossed her arms about her ample chest. Both were wearing off-white cotton garments like the children.
“The what?” Rue squeaked when Petra tightened her grasp over her wrist but kept her eyes on the man above her. Even his voice sounded familiar. His eyes were a smoky gray like his hair and they too studied her, steady and reassuring but all the while intimidating.
“The Hutyle. The children of the Mistress–” he lifted a slender finger to the silent woman standing beside him. For some reason, when the Petra and this man said the word ‘Mistress,’ Rue pictured a refined, slender woman with sharp but ethereal features like Yunis, with straight posture and a gentle smile. Instead, the woman beside him had a curved back, ample hips and breasts, a hawk nose set over sagging skin and beady violet eyes covered with spectacles.
Just as Rue shifted her gaze to her, she almost fell to her feet when the woman’s winged left brow raised inquisitively as if she’d heard her thoughts. Her violet eyes narrowed in suspicion and mentally, Rue took two steps back in trepidation.
“Rue,” the man interrupted her in a gentle voice and when Rue turned back to him, there stood Gray with his dark hair and kind eyes in his place. “Welcome to the Hutyle Refuge.” Flabbergasted, Rue watched him change again to the smoky-haired man and suddenly knew where his name came from. Gray. Before she knew it, her knees crumbled beneath her and the last thing she saw was Gray’s widened eyes and then blackness.
Hushed whispers interrupted her sleep, jarring her awake and Rue groaned, rubbing her sore eyes. Everything felt stuffy around her and she sniffed laboriously at the heavy air. Her head pounded constantly and she closed her eyes again. “She is awake,” a steady, husky female voice said over her and Rue moaned softly, shifting in the soft pillow against her head.
A cool cloth pressed over her forehead and Rue stiffened at the welcoming cold before relaxing again, feeling the chill stretch alongside the planes of her head and easing the throbbing pain.
“Rue…” Gray’s voice echoed against her eardrums and Rue whimpered. A hand pushed into hers and she found herself holding on tight. “You have a fever,” he continued. “But you must eat something.”
Rue shook her head. Her throat felt dry, constricted and hot. She had no desire to eat or drink. She just wanted to sleep. In her mind, she could picture the rainbow-eyed children with their wild, silky hair of different hues. She saw Gray flashing like a monogram in front of her–he was not human, the children and their mistress weren’t human either.
“Whatever must’ve killed her could not have been human,” the woman’s voice from the supermarket echoed in Rue’s head and she whimpered loudly, now tossing. A sharp set of fangs suddenly flashed before her eyes and she clamped her teeth over her tongue, her body succumbing to the revulsions that attacked her suddenly.
A foreign voice began to speak over her, pressing the cool cloth harder over her head. Gray’s voice joined and soon a whole chant was forming about her like a cocoon, the words repeating even though Rue could not decipher them. She found her body slowing down its trembling against their chants and soon, she sagged against Gray’s arms about her, panting for air.
More than ten minutes later, once she was completely at rest and lay spent against Gray, a wooden spoon poked her closed mouth and the husky female voice commanded softly. “Eat…” It was then Rue could smell the pungent aroma wafting from the spoon. Her stomach turned violently and she wrenched her face away.
Gray’s laughter rumbled against her back and the spoon moved back to her mouth. “Rue… You have to eat.” With much hesitation, Rue finally gave in to the hunger pangs and opened her mouth, bracing herself for the most disgusting taste she could only imagine. Instead, a sweet ambrosia filled her mouth, coated her tongue and Rue chewed slowly, relishing in its goodness. “It’s black porridge,” Gray explained softly and Rue sighed, swallowing it and opening her mouth for another bite, hearing Gray’s laughter once more.
end of chapter six.
Copyright. DeeKay 2008
<< back to Index
