They Called Me FIVE

LANCE

"I'm fine Lance."

I exhale the breath I've been trapping inside of my chest.

"God, you scared me."

I proceed to her other leg. This can't be good. If she stays silent like this. Not moving, not giving indications beneath the pale as dead features I might go nuts and think she's really dead.

I wrack my head for conversation. Anything. I think back on the very few information we have of her. On her past. Who she really is.

She mentions a grandma but after that...nothing.

"Seven? If you don't mind, can you share me some bits of your past?"

"Hmm... Why?"

"One, to affirm myself that you're still with me. You looking so pale and chilly as snow makes me nervous every damn second. Two, I don't remember you talk about it."

In my head her voice chuckles, before me her body is as stiff as a corpse.

"But I told you about Efta right? You're curious about her."

I panic a bit after I sprayed the contents of the disinfectant and her blood started to spill. The cut widens a millimeter, exposing the red fresh flesh.

"Sorry." I pressed cottons to absorb the blood. Wipe the remaining blood off and throw it in the trash. I pinch her long cut together. Stuff another cotton as I wrap her leg with bandages.

"It's not about her I want to hear. It's about you. What were you like as a child? Who's your parents? You mention a grandma before, did she raise you alone? When did you discover your life blessing? The more I think about it, the more I can see you're different from me, Sam and Jesper."

The skin in her forehead crunched up.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"That's a lot of question." She told me. "To be honest, I don't have that much memories of my childhood. I don't know my Mom and my Dad... If you imagine what were your Dad like in trainings with a whip and a bottle of beer you can get a good picture of him."

"Oh, so...did he..um did he hurt you? Is he a bad father?"

She considered the question. "Yes at the same time no. We don't get to know each other properly. And I was immediately taken away from him. In a foreign place where every people living in that city is what my father hate."

I finish her other leg. I proceed to the knees. Scrapes and scratches tainted her milky colored skin.

"Why?"

"They've done something terrible to him. Took away the part of him that he holds precious. And its something he couldn't forgive. I couldn't get to hear it from his mouth. But I know it take a huge toll on him. Made him the man he couldn't imagine he will become."

I almost drop the bottle disinfectant to the ground. The way she describe her father hits me hard. I don't know why. There's nothing in my situation a few months ago that implicate it...but I felt it in my gut.

I see my Dad in her words. Like she chose the right words to describe him. But I know its impossible. There's no way thats true. And even if it is, I won't accept such reason to justify the betrayal he did to me.

"So when you're brought to that place, did he try to take you away from them?"

"Yes," she said, I frown slightly at her cutly short voice. At the controlled rise and fall of her chest. As if this topic is super sensitive and it's eating away her resolve, her wall built with courage and resilience.

I hastily think of another topic. One that won't destroy the little strength she preserve inside.

"So umm... This uhh Grandma that you said, she took you in?"

"Yes," she said, breathless. "I have fun when I spend time with her. She's not your weak old harmless grandma nextdoor with pink sunday dress and a cat on her lap. She's strong, sturdy, can stand against hundreds of men who tried to threaten me. She taught me how to fight. How to wield a weapon and point it at inhuman enemies. She taught me how to control my blessings. Wield it as if it's an extension of my body."

Her expression didn't change. But I detect the change of pace in her breathing. She's relieved. That I change the topic. That I didn't dig deeper.

I want to know who 'these people' she's referring to. But I'm scared I'll drive her on edge. She's already weak. Trying to bring out bitter memories will have a bad effect on her. So I push down the question at the back of my mind.

"She sound amazing. But how did that happen exactly? How did she teach you how to control your blessing? I mean is this grandma not human? Is she from the same world as Magnus?"

I waited in antipacited bottled breaths before I receive confirmation.

"Yes... She belongs to the family of Rank Elders. She said she came here to the human realm to escape. She met me along the way and took me in. She saved me. If only Temptress didn't come and took her life, she'd still be here. With us."

Her knee has grown colder by the second. My sweating hands must have felt too hot for her skin.

I grimace. I'm losing confidence in what I'm doing here. I don't know if I'm making her feel any better. I know her wounds won't close just by bandage alone. Even her life blessing is ineffective against it.

But I got to try. Doing this is better than nothing. At least she won't die immediately. We can bring her with us to where this Mr. Jones is.

"She sounds awesome." I manage to say. I try not to confirm what happened afterwards with her. Because it's too obvious.

The Temptress has sealed her away in a crystal sphere for years. She has no means of escape. She was used for that witch's sake.

I wonder what will happen if we did not found her. Would she still be locked up inside?