Merry-Go-Round First Draft: Chapter Three
Chapter Three: Living on Memories and Friends
“Spirius!!”
“Huh?” Spirius blinked. His surroundings were hazy, and his vision, blurred.
A clouded figure appeared before him, a girl about the age of 16, with black hair that ran down to her waist, and wearing a formal dress.
“What the?!” He reached out to the young woman in front of him, but like a mirage, she faded, as Spirius’ surroundings dissolved into darkness.
However, as the vision of this young woman, Spirius’ sister, who died 3 years ago, disappeared, a scenery of flames appeared in Spirius’ vision. There were vague outlines of buildings, but everything was blurry and warped. The only clear element of the dream was the ever-reaching flames. Slowly, those thoughts also evaporated into blackness.
Spirius awoke, with his teacher still lecturing the class on the history of the world. He sighed, and put his head down again. Before long, he fell asleep again, but that same dream did not appear. He awoke again, at the end of the class, in a depressed mood.
~~~~~
Spirius stared at the ground as he walked around the school during the second break of the day. As he continued his thoughtful trek, he asked himself, “Fire? What… what fire?”
The call for the third class, the class that usually brought Spirius back to his senses, was sounded. As he walked toward to the field that the third class took place, he saw Deshael, Oakley, and Lumina running the opposite direction. He turned around momentarily, but continued walking to his third class.
~~~~~
As Spirius was preparing to spar, he remembered that his normal sparring partner, Deshael had not arrived in class after running off somewhere right before. He finished preparing, stood up, and sighed as he walked to where the class was gathering for the session.
Spirius stood idly, staring at the sky. He wondered about his vision of flames, where his three friends had gone, and his sister. His house had burned down 3 years ago, supposedly burning all of his father, mother, two brothers, and sister, to death. However, their bodies were never found, but it was assured that they died in that fire. Although he reasoned that it was a memory of that incident, he was never there to survey the destruction. He never saw the fire that left him an orphan with nobody to rely on.
The pink-haired girl from the night before walked up to Spirius, and interrupted his thoughts. “You awake in there?”
“Huh?” Spirius, perplexed, replied.
“Yeah… Have you been paying attention at all?”
“I don’t think so.”
She laughed slightly, “That’s what I thought. I’m your partner.”
“Oh. Okay then. Uhh…” Spirius thought of the pendant around her neck, and coincidentally looked at the figurine hanging around the girl’s neck. However, she apparently thought that Spirius was staring at her bosom, and blushed furiously while turning away.
“Pervert!” She yelled.
“Wha… What? No… I wasn’t… I was looking at that pendant of yours…” Spirius stammered.
The girl turned back to Spirius, still blushing.
Spirius continued, as he held up his left hand, “I got this bracelet from somebody… as a gift. And, I noticed that your necklace has the same kind of figurine. Is… Did you give it to me? As a gift?”
The girl replied, “Not exactly. I was told by someone to give you that bracelet.” Then, she covered her mouth as if she had said something wrong. “Ooops… I wasn’t supposed to say that.”
Spirius said, looking at the bracelet, “What? Somebody else wanted to give it to me? Who?”
“It’s not what you think. It was… I guess… a mission.”
“A mission?”
“Argh… I really need to stop talking. I wasn’t supposed to say anything… Just forget I said anything.”
Spirius, thinking, agreed, “Okay, fine. But, one more question. I… haven’t seen you at this school ever… before yesterday. Have I just missed you every time?”
“No… I’m not a stu— … I mean… Yes, you have not noticed me all this time.”
Spirius, looking skeptical, shrugged, and asked, “Okay then. Who are you then? I’d prefer to know the names of the people I spar with.”
“Alexis. It’s nice to meet you.” She bowed slightly. Then, she smiled, “I already know who you are.”
Spirius nodded, and said, “I guessed so.”
“Spirius!!!!” A boy’s voice came from behind the two. Spirius turned around, to face the boy running up to him.
“Somebody told me that something happened to your house! I don’t know what exactly, but you should go take a look.”
Without saying a word or hesitating, Spirius ran at full speed away out of the school. He ran along the path that he had strolled slowly along every day. Every time he would stop at the tree with pink flowers. Not this time, however. His mind wandered as he ran, back to the vision of fire. He feared that the incident that occurred 3 years ago had repeated itself. He doubted it, but as he approached his house, he could feel the heat emanate from in front of him, becoming warmer slowly.
He stood still, unable to speak or move. The incident of three years ago had happened again. His house had burned down.
“Wha…” Spirius stammered, as Deshael, Oakley, and Lumina waited by the still-standing gate. When they saw Spirius, they walked toward him, hoping that he would take the blow to his life well. Unexpectedly, Spirius said, almost smiling, “Somebody’s a day late.”
~~~~~
The crowd that surrounded the now-pile of wood diminished, leaving only Spirius, Deshael, Oakley, Lumina, and Alexis, who had chased after Spirius after he ran off. Spirius looked at the rubble of his house, and picked up a large, piece of wood that lay far from the rest of the ruins. He found another piece, about the same size, and they both were uncharred, except where they were broken, on one side. “Twice…” He said aloud, audible to the rest of his friends that were standing by him.
Deshael commented, “Twice? What about it?”
Spirius answered, “Three years and one day ago…” He paused, and Oakley asked, “What happened?”
“This same thing happened.” Spirius looked to the ground, depressed, as visible expressions appeared on Lumina’s face. However, Alexis had a comforting smile, and said, “Well, you’re still here… with us, right? Be thankful for that.”
Spirius replied, solemnly, “But… Somebody is trying to kill me, the same way they killed my family.” He held the two boards in front of him, and put them together as best he could. The only part missing was a circle of wood, a very small circle, about 4 inches in diameter. This edge was blackened and charred, in contrast to the rest of the board, which was not fire-damaged at all, in contrast to the rest of the house, which was a pile of black ash.
“Know what something like this means?” He asked.
Alexis replied, “Fireball. Fire sorcery. Somebody destroyed your house.”
Deshael asked, confused, “Then, why wasn’t the board itself incinerated like the others?”
Alexis answered, “When you chop wood in half, the ends fly outwards. When this fireball hit the wood, it pierced the wood, thrusting the ends away from the rest of the house. This board flew from the rest of the house just before the fireball exploded.”
Deshael nodded, and asked, “Then how can something so small… destroy a house like Spirius’?”
Alexis continued, “A fireball’s hugely concentrated energy will cause it to not only fly at tremendous speed, but explode violently. Even a sphere as small as that hole in the boards can incinerate a house such as this…”
Deshael commented in awe, “How do you know that?”
Alexis smiled, and raised her hand, palm facing up. She closed her eyes, and a fireball appeared in her hands, radiating extreme heat. She quickly made it disappear, but Spirius noticed that when she created the fireball, her pendant, with its pink jewel, shone brightly.
“Whoa.” Deshael said.
“Continuing on… Somebody is trying to kill me. They tried on my birthday three years ago. I wasn’t home, and when I came back, my house was destroyed. Now, three years and one day later, they try again. I don’t know if it’s a terrible act at a birthday present… but I’m not enjoying it.” Spirius sighed.
Alexis put her hand on his shoulder, attempting to comfort him. “Either way, we’re all glad they didn’t succeed.”
“Yeah… Thanks.” Spirius smiled.
Deshael rolled his eyes, then added in, “Now that you know we care… What are you going to do tonight? And tomorrow, and so on?”
“Uhm… What can I do? I’ll… I’ll sleep on the grass, I guess. I’m never cold…”
Alexis looked at him, disbelievingly. She spoke up, smiling, “You’re kidding me, right? I won’t let you sleep outside because of this! Who here can let Spirius take a room in their house?”
Deshael asked, “You asked… Can’t you?”
Alexis shook her head, “Nope. At least not for tonight. I have some relatives coming over tonight.”
Spirius butted in, “Hey! I don’t need a house to sleep in! I’m fine!”
Oakley then spoke up, “We’ve already agreed that we’re not letting you do this to yourself. Stop being so stubborn. Although… I can’t spare a room either. Deshael? Lumina?”
Deshael shook his head, “Me neither.”
Lumina hesitated, but then said, “I had an older brother who left to another city. We haven’t filled his room yet, so… I have an open room.”
Deshael laughed, as Spirius once again tried to refuse, “No, really, it’s okay. Look…” He laid down on the grass, yellow and dry, and said, “Perfectly comfortable!”
Lumina then said, “It’s okay… really. I don’t want to see you sleeping outside because of this incident either.”
Spirius sighed and resigned. “Fine. Thanks, Lumina. Thank you so much.” He got up, and had broken pieces of grass stuck in his shirt and hair. Then he laughed, “Besides, that grass wasn’t as comfortable as I had hoped.”
Alexis laughed as she helped Spirius pull grass fragments out of his clothing. Oakley, however, was still confused. “So, you really don’t care about all this? I mean, I’m glad you’re still happy and everything, but isn’t the burning down of your house something to be concerned about?”
Spirius replied, “Not to me. I had nothing really important to me… Everything in that house pretty much was a painful memory.” He turned back to the pile of rubble and spotted three pieces of paper. Two of them were pictures of him and his parents. The third was the note that said, “Hello and Goodbye, January 7th.” He pulled out a quill and walked over and picked up the three pieces of paper, and wrote on the note, “Once again, January 8th.”
He stuffed the papers into his pocket, and walked back to the others. “Well… what now?” He asked.
“Hmm… I’m going back home soon, because it’s getting a bit dark.” Deshael remarked.
Oakley nodded along with Alexis, who, with Deshael, walked their separate ways. Lumina looked at Spirius, and said, “Well, I guess you’re coming with me… This way.”
They walked along the dirt path, and discussed today’s incident. Lumina asked, “So… What happened three years ago? Do you know any reason why your family would be killed like that?”
“I don’t know much, but… I know that my dad… somehow… was important in the empire’s workings. The day before, the king of the empire died, I think.” Spirius put his hand on his chin, in a thoughtful pose. “Yeah… Jan. 6th, 196.”
“Do you think that has anything to do with it?”
“It might. I was just thinking. But, I don’t know why they’d want to kill me, or my mom and siblings, for that matter.”
“That’s… terrible. I feel so sorry for you.”
Spirius laughed, “Don’t worry. I’ve grown way too used to things like this. I’ve almost stopped caring. But… I’d be really mad if somebody took my friends away from me. That… I’d care about. Because, to be honest, my friends are the only thing that keep me in this world. Everybody… Deshael, Oakley, you… and maybe Alexis. Without any of you… I don’t think I’d have been able to make it through those three years… I’d have lost my mind long before now. So… Thank you.”
Lumina blushed, and said, smiling, “It’s what a friend is for. We care.”
Spirius once again said, “I know, and I thank you so much for that. I guess being cared for helps a lot. It’s nice to know people are here to help me.”
Lumina blushed again, and looked at Spirius. “It still must be painful… especially the memories.”
Spirius commented, “It is. The loss of my house… not as much. But remembering everything that I lost, everything that meant something to me at that time… the friends I saw in my siblings and parents… When I think of those memories… I start to lose my mind. But… when my mind wanders back to the present… I remember my friends now, and how much they care.” He stared at the ground.
“I live in the present… because of these memories. I try not to mention them, or live with those in my mind. I’d go crazy if I did. So… I… I think of my friends now. Like… you.”
He held Lumina’s hand as they walked past the pink-flowered tree. He turned to look at Lumina’s face, who was blushing deeply. Pink petals fell to the ground, as a soft wind blew around the couple.
~~~~~
“Okay… this room is my room, and… that room will be yours.” Lumina said, as she showed Spirius around her house.
“Oh… wow. It’s so organized. It’s not like my room… Well… yeah. My old room. So messy…” Spirius laughed.
“Don’t worry, my brother that was in that room was messy too. We just cleaned it up. You’ll be here for a while, so… It’d be okay if you made it messy again.” Lumina said, smiling.
“I’ll try to keep it clean.” He said, as he walked into his new room.
~~~~~
As the windows began to reveal only darkness, Spirius felt happier than he ever did in his life. He truly had people who cared for his safety, and wanted him to stay. He dozed off to sleep with this thought in mind. He always forced himself to block those painful memories out to the most obscure corners of his mind. Normally, in his dreams, they would manifest themselves in a hazy story. But, tonight, he would have happy dreams, in celebration for realizing all he had in the world.
