Beyond the Thorns: A Novel

I wake up like I’m not in the town of my bad memories and stretch casually. That last night was confusing and tiring, I think as the sunlight in the windows signals the current time.

Sounds of light snoring had me turn to a knocked out Jyrasck with his limbs sprawled out, mouth open, and beige T-shirt flashing his lower torso (which would most likely have girls blush all over him). I contemplate whether or not to arouse him before I go get ready for the day.

I splash some sink water on my face to wake myself up and by the time I got to touching up, I hear a grumble come from the other room. “‘Morning Jyra,” I say in greeting.

“‘Morning…” I hear in response. Then, “last night was exhausting,” after some rustling.

“Mm, so what’s the plan now?” I ask, looking up to the large bathroom mirror, where a beheaded Jyrasck now was seen in the mirror.

“Lie low and find a way to prevent having Curio chase us down without leaving the country,” Jyra answers, finding a brush and starting on his hair, hissing to himself on the occasional snag.

It takes a good while longer for Jyrasck to finish up and stretch out some of my clothes to fit himself before we set out down the hall. “How long does it take for Non-Tested to get ready?” Mist squints her eyes at us as we walk up.

“Hello to you too,” I smirk tiredly in response.

“C’mon… I wanna go get food already,” Cana whines in her Cana fashion.

“Yeah, you two stop bickering and let’s go eat something.” Jyrasck pops me in the shoulder and walks down the stairwell, which we all end up following afterward. Mist consistently shot me rebellious teenager glances as we pursued Jyrasck and Cana to an empty table after collecting our desired foods. The girls consume their food in a quiet and oddly focused manner (which made me concerned) as Jyrasck, noticing the same, starts picking small talk at me.

“I wonder what they have here,” Cana chirrups soon after finishing. I hypothesize the eating habits are something from the Lab before answering

“Little D’melio is an under-the-radar type town. There isn’t much out of the ordinary around. The ideal place to lay low for a while.”

“Thanks a bunch, Q and A book,” Cana charms. “How come you know so much?”

“‘Cause he was raised here,” a familiar voice says from behind, scaring me.

“Cool! Thanks Ms. Lady,” Cana smiles then quickly gains a stoic face as she thinks about the answer.

“Oh- hey Kylee,” I nod politely to the ex-classmate.

Kylee beams in response, “been a while since you last got teased by Carson eh?”

“Was it bullying or making the facts seem worse than they are?” I say, poking at a pitiful egg scrap.

“Touché, but y’all had probably get goin’ before he comes outta’ his room.”

“Fair point,” I get up and pat her shoulder. “Let’s get over to the library or somethin’.”

“Oh heyy Ross,” a second voice from childhood made me cringe.

“Speak o’ the devil,” Kylee runs a hand through her dark, fluffy hair.

“Hey! The devil is this killer hangover, not me.” Carson rubs his head tiredly, "had fun at the Lab, Curio-spawn?”

“I didn’t go to Yalev for the Laboratory nor did I even enter said Lab,” I retaliated.

Curio-spawn..? I think. Curio…. Spawn..? Curio?! Ross is a Curio?! I pause at the thought, toast in my mouth as I continue to think. No way, he’s too nice. And would never dissect someone.. Right?

“I knew he looked like a Curio!” Mist hisses into my ear as I look at the two other people.

“They look like Luke, don’t you think?” I point to Mr. Man and Ms. Lady Kylee, whispering as the dark-skinned male walked off. “I mean, same skin, same-ish face, and odd looky hair.”

Did Luke have a family?

Do I have a family?

I pop the toast back into my mouth and chew a little. Wait- that’d be so cool! A sister, a brother, a twin! But what do we tell them, ‘Oh hey your brother died. Or someone that looks like you. Is Ross a Curio?’

Is Ross a Curio?

Everyone finishes up and goes to walk around Little D’melio. It looks like Yalev, but taller. Bigg buildings, everywhere! I wanna go to every single one! I dart over to a window filled with weird people*. They were all pasty and faceless and didn’t move when I waved to them. Creepy….

“Woo-” Jyrasck barks behind me, jumpscaring me.

I squint back at him playfully and whack him in the shoulder ‘cause I can’t reach his head. Why did the world bless him with such tall?

We all continue to walk around town, Ross leading the way to a big building with lots of books. My eyes light up, I wanna read all of them! I follow Ross and everyone over to a table, ha tells us to wait, but I get up and explore.

I wanna look at the books!

Where’s Cana going? Meh, she’ll be fine. I shrug as the blonde walks off, leaving me with Jyrasck. I start to focus on the noise in the building, oddly silent. Comforting and superr unnatural. I could hear Ross returning and Cana talking to herself, but only barely. I get up and walk over to the returning Ross.

I assume he sensed my presence as he then stopped, a bunch of books covering his eyesight. I get up on the tips of my feet and take some of the books. I hear a quiet "oh thanks" from Ross as I do.

When we set them down, the ice-blue eyes of Ross look around. “Where’s Cana?”

“I’ll go get her. She’s on the other side,” I nod off to the direction and retrieve her. When returning I overhear Jyrasck asking about the books.

“What’re these for?”

“To research the Labs. Maybe there’s a ‘Diary of Anne Frank' for the Laboratories or something. It’ll be smart to know what we’re dealing with.”

“‘You mean their behavior or how to stop the Labs altogether?”

“If we figure out why, and how they operate the Labs and what causes abnormalities, we can maybe shut them down. Then instead of Curio, we have doctors that specialize in idiosyncrasy and specified- er, I mean we can maybe start up one of those political debates or something.”

“Oki!” Cana chirps, making the boys jump, “but Mist can’t read. So we can split the books up into three.”

“Okay, Jyrasck and I will narrow off the stack while you school Mist a little,” Ross replies without eye-contact, Cana smiles smugly towards me. I give her a dejected groan in response.

It felt like eternity before Ross grabbed us up from a section with weird seats, short bookshelves, and lots of Cana distractions. Thank god for those.

We arrive at a sheerly exhausted Jyrasck nodding off on a pile of messed up books. I hold back a laugh at the scene when he looks up dully.

“I have something to do, can y’all head back to the inn and analyze these?” Ross asks, patting a stack of neatly placed books.

“Sure…” Jyrasck says weakly.

“Okie!” Cana grins.

“What’s the ‘something’?” I ask.

“Just a walk to clear my head, I’ll be back before morning,” Ross answers, tucking his notebook nicely in his underarm.

“Which way is it again?” Jyracsk inquires.

“Down the street and a while left.”

“Mkay, Cana, Mist, help me with the books will you?”

I huff in defiance and Cana picks up some tomes.

Ross is acting weird. I don’t like that.

I walk the opposing direction of the others, I look up at the sky. It’d be about six in the afternoon. Man did we stay there long. The flea market was taking its final customers as the sky was changing to a burnt orange hue. I inhale the familiar scent of Old Man Terise’s butcher shop and hold back the urge to go in and buy what I did as a kid.

‘Cause my stupid ass father thought he’d die if he left his stupid house.

I click my tongue sourly and clutch my notebook tighter. I continue to traverse the town until I arrive at a fence reading:

Uine Rakin Cemetery

I sigh deeply and enter, a chill of eerie comfort settles into me as I walk up three rows, I turn to go right when I see a young boy, just a lil’ younger than me, squatting near a grave.

Who the hell’s this kid?

I stalk up, off put by the other male’s presence.

“Sorry Mr.Tanner isn’t here to give these instead..” I heard the boy finish, jumping once he noticed me beside him.

“Did you know her?” I ask, squatting down beside him.

“Uh-uhm no, my mentor just tells me to put flowers on the grave weekly,” he says nervously.

“And who’s your mentor?” I feel the growl in my voice but keep a polite tone (I hope).

“M-Mr. Tanner, he’s the blacksmith in town though he isn’t..”

Even after eight years, the damned man still doesn’t visit his dead child huh?

“Sick.” I glare down, muttering beneath my breath. “So what’s your name?”

“Uh, Archie,” he fidgets.

“Well, pleasure to meet you Archie,” I pat his back, resisting the urge to five-star him. He fiddles up and scurries away meekly.

I sigh, the grin of joy soon wiping away from my face once I look at the grave.

Lillian Althea Smitt

Beloved Daughter & Sister

741-759

I look down at my notebook and brush my thumb against the cover.

“Hey Lillian,” I start awkwardly. “I think I made some friends,” I smile subtly, imagining her response. “I wish you could meet them. Though you’d probably fall for Jyra. He’s very tall and definitely a ladies man. And you’d try to hook me up with Mist or Cana…” I continue on and on.

“Oh,” I shuffle through my bag. “You’ll probably hate me for this,” I say as I dig a shallow hole and place a hunk of gold in it and cover it up.

“Hopefully you can buy something nice in the afterlife,” I smile gently and get up. “‘Should probably get back..” I mutter and walk off, back to the Login inn where everyone was asleep.

I lay down on the empty bed and raise my notebook above me and feel over the cursive writing of my name Lillian did so long ago.