Experiment Zero

33. Dark Pasts and Zero's Confession

Becky is allowing Max to touch her.

Becky....who looks at Max most of the time and everyone else like we are a living disease.

I must have made a shocked sound in the back of my throat, because Max jerks his head around to see me, and Becky instantly tanks her hand away like it was on fire. They both stand there, Max looking disappointed and Becky looking more embarrassed than angry.

I slide the door open, knowing Max must have had some really good heading to have heard me through the glass.

"Hey, guys." I say awkwardly. I look over my shoulder for backup, but Kay has dissapeared.

I clear my throat. "I need to talk to Becky."

Max glances at Becky, before hesitantly taking a step forward.

"That's fine, I was just leaving." He says, looking at Becky one last time, but she won't meet his eyes, so instead he turns and strides past me. Poor Max, I almost feel sorry for the guy.

The door slides closed behind me, and Becky turns around again to face the sunset. I slowly walk up to the railing, standing two feet away incase she lashes out at me. But that doesn't happen, instead she just keeps watching the sunset with her huge brown eyes which almost look sad.

"So.....you're a Halfling." I start off, and wince. I've always hated starting conversations. I can never do it smoothly.

She exhaled, glancing at me from the corner of her eyes.

"I'm assuming Lager told you?" For once her words aren't laced with fire, and I almost miss feeling the burn and sting from her usually sharp words.

"He told me a few things, like how you used to live here, but not everything." I say softly, looking out at the jungle which is colored orange by the sun.

"So let me guess, you're here to get the whole story huh?"

I flinch, even though she said exactly what I came here for. She didn't have to make it sound like such a bad thing though.

"Only if you want to tell me." I finally respond.

"There's not much to tell." Her shoulders slump.

A few moments pass in silence, when she breaks it.

"My dad was  a Darkling solider." She begins. "My mother was a Lightling healer. They met when my father was on patrol and got separated from his squadron. A Lyncher from the Lightling territory found him and nearly killed him, but luckily my mother was looking for some medicinal plants found only in these jungles, and he stumbled upon her when running. She made the Lyncher back down, and then tended to him, and like any other sappy story, fell in love. Before you know it, the birds are flying, the bee's are buzzing, and I was born."

She takes a deep breath and  I could tell that what seemed like a great story was probably about to take  a turn for the worse.

"My father had to leave once healed, because a clan of Kinlings were starting to be really disruptive, and he was called back incase a battle broke out. The Kinling clan only grew more furious when Darkling guards were sent to monitor them, and one night even staged an attack on them. The Kinlings outnumbered the group of soldiers there, and easily took over and killed them. My father......was one of those unlucky souls. The Kinlings paid though." She says with a sort of viciousness that sent shivers down my spine. Her hands curling into fists against the rail. "Reinforcments were sent and justice was taken as well as those Kinlings lives."

She stops speaking for a moment, breathing in deeply and then let's out a short laugh. One filled with dark amusement.

"My father died and didn't even know my mother was pregnant. Once my mother heard of what happened to my father, she refused to care for me, and instead walked  a great distance just to reach Darkling territory. She left me as a infant, swaddled in blankets, in a nest of roots of a huge jungle tree. That's where Lager found me."