Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Ian had always hated how long it took to travel between Houston and Noons. It was about a thousand miles by bus constantly interrupted by pit stops, terrible smells, and loud passengers. The windows featured dry brush for hours and once night fell there was nothing to do except attempt to sleep. The shining silver lining to all of it was that the route involved a transfer in Dallas where his best friend Ariya Harlan would be waiting for him. Her company was the only thing that made the trip somewhat bearable.

When he arrived at the Dallas station, the first thing he did was try to find her. She was usually sitting inside with her bags piled on the floor, her long hair partially obstructing a book on her lap. Today though, he was stopped at the entrance and told to please step out of the way. He was made to wait while the rest of the disembarking passengers filed into the building. After the last person disappeared through the doors, the security guard turned to him. “Sorry, Lorna aren’t allowed inside. If you’re catching another bus, you’ll have to wait for it out here. There’s some benches around the corner down that sidewalk if you want to go sit down.”

Ian’s demeanor darkened. He had assumed the ban was specific to the Houston station since it had always been the only location with security measures fit for a prison. The fact that this seemed to be a new widespread rule was both offensive and irritating. “Why? I’ve always been able to go inside. I was just here a few months ago and no one said anything. How do you even know I’m Lorna?”

The man pointed to the bright green identification tag on Ian’s bag. He realized now that they were usually white. “I know because of that. It’s a new policy. There was an incident with a Lorna in Nashville last month, so none of you are allowed inside anymore. Sorry, I don’t make the rules.”



“Okay so what if I take it off my bag? Then you won’t know I’m Lorna, right?”

“Except I do know, so I’m not letting you inside. If you take it off and I see you inside, you’re gonna be in a lot of trouble.”

“It’s a million degrees out here,” he argued. “Why should I have sit outside and sweat my ass off because some crazy person in Nashville couldn’t keep their shit together?”

“You best watch your mouth, kid. Go sit down and wait for your bus unless you wanna get kicked off this property. I don’t have to let you stay here, I can make one phone call and get you removed for disorderly conduct. You can kiss any future rides goodbye if you get blacklisted.”

Ian sighed and stomped away. As he contemplated his next move, it dawned on him that if he wasn’t allowed in, Ariya wouldn’t be in the building anyway. He began a slow trek down the hot sidewalk, alternatively dragging his bag and pausing to let the pain in his ribcage subside. He eventually rounded the corner and melted in relief when he saw her sitting on a metal bench just a few feet away. She was squinting in the sunlight at an open book, dressed for the road in track pants and an old t-shirt. Several other folks were idling nearby, some with green-tagged suitcases and others with lit cigarettes.

He abandoned his bag in the middle of the sidewalk and collapsed onto the bench beside her. She smiled and closed her book. “Hi Ian,” she chimed.

He returned a greeting as he struggled to find a comfortable position on the hard metal seat.

“How are you doing?” Ariya asked. After listening to John’s outbursts all summer, her soft-spoken voice was like music to his soul.

“I’d be better if we didn’t have to sit in the sun until the bus gets here, but you know, we might blow something up so it’s for the best I guess.”

“Yeah, I was surprised to hear what happened. I didn’t know about the new rule until I got here. Someone told me this guy missed his bus connection and he got so mad he shocked everything in the whole building. So like not only did all their equipment and stuff die, but so did everyone’s cell phones and laptops and stuff. They had to close the station for a couple days and a bunch of people missed their buses and everyone was like super mad.”

“Okay but why is that our problem, though? Like we’ve been coming to this station for years, right? And we haven’t done anything and neither has anyone else. So why are the rest of us getting punished for something someone else did? We’re not even in the same state. It’s stupid.”

Ariya nodded in agreement. “Yeah…hopefully it’s not a permanent thing. Like maybe everything will be back to normal by time we’re back here in December, because I don’t want to be out in the cold either. Anyway, how was your summer?”

He wanted to tell her his summer had sucked, but that was such an understatement it wouldn’t do the truth justice. "If it was any worse, I’d be dead. Let’s just put it that way.”

“Why? What happened?” she asked. All he had to do was turn to look directly at her, and her eyes grew wide at the sight of his face in all its glory. “Did John do that?” she gasped, trying limit the volume of her concern.

John’s temper and abusive antics were nothing new to her. Despite death threats not to, Ian had been confiding to her about him since the day they first met, back when they were little kids. They had lived in the same apartment building then, and had initially bonded over being friendless, shy, and the sole child of a single father. Lucky for Ariya, hers was at least nice to her.

“This isn’t even that bad. Look,” he said, lifting his shirt for a moment to show her the dark rainbow of bruises all the way down his torso. “My side is killing me, I can barely move.”

Ariya’s face seemed horrified. “Ian, that looks really bad.”

“I know,” he said, rolling his shirt back down. “Do you think you could fix some of it? I dunno, make it look better at least?”

Lorna were most known for being able to interact with the earth’s magnetic field, but a small minority could utilize nature in other ways. Ariya, for instance, had been gifted with the ability to heal living things. Her skills were limited to superficial injuries and made her feel about as useful as a bandaid, but Ian needed those a lot.

“No,” she stated, clearly disturbed. “I can’t fix that, I don’t even know what that is. I think you should see a doctor.”

“Why? It’s just a bruise,“ he said, inspecting it again. Admittedly, it didn’t look like any normal bruise he’d seen before.

“That is not just a bruise, Ian. That looks bad,” she stated again. “Like, I’m not even kidding. What if that’s a sign of internal bleeding or something?”

“It’s not that bad, and whatever it is, I’m not going to a doctor anyway. John almost didn’t let me leave the car this morning, if I go to a doctor he’ll kill me. They have to report this stuff, you know? Even if I tell them it was something else, if they think I’m lying they’ll call the cops or some shit and he will literally fucking kill me.”

“Okay and what if whatever that is kills you first? You know maybe you should tell someone. Let them call. If they arrest him, so what? He can’t do anything to you if he’s in jail, right?”

“What if they don’t arrest him fast enough or he bails out? Or what if nobody gives a shit and nothing changes except he finds out I tried to get him in trouble? He’s insane. I’d rather die from this than from whatever else he’d do. Besides, even if they could make him magically disappear, they moved you all the way to Dallas when your dad went to jail, what are they gonna do to me? What if I end up in Alaska or something? They didn’t let you tell me what happened or say goodbye, what if that happens to me and I never see you again?”

Ariya looked at the ground. They both knew it was only by the grace of god that they found each other at school after she had been placed into foster care when they were eleven. Ian had knocked on her apartment door one summer morning to find no answer, unaware that her dad had been arrested the night before for the bygone murder of his entire nuclear family, sans Ariya.

“Ian, we were kids. Things are different now. You have Elaine’s phone number, you know where we live. You’re not going to lose me. Maybe you could even come stay with us,” she suggested, referring to her foster mother. Ian had thought Ariya was the nicest person in existence until he met Elaine Griffen. She treated Ariya like a princess and was in every way the complete opposite of John. She never yelled, she couldn’t be mean if she tried, and she wholeheartedly devoted herself to every kid who came into her care. She would visit Ariya throughout the school year and spoil her for days straight before heading back to Texas. Sometimes they'd invite Ian to tag along and he got to experience what it was like to be somewhat normal.

“I don’t think she’d want me over there,” he said, shaking his head. “She won’t even let you wear a tank top around me, what makes you think she’d let me live with you?” If Elaine did have a flaw, it was that she was incredibly old-fashioned.

“I don’t know. Even if she won’t let you stay, she’ll help you. You know she will. We could call her right now and tell her what’s going on and I bet you wouldn't ever have to see John again.”

"I dunno…” he droned. “I'll think about it."

Ariya seemed to be getting frustrated. "Why? What is there to think about? Don’t you want to leave? Every time you go back home, everything gets so much worse. You need to tell someone,” she pressed.

“I want to leave, I'm just worried about what’ll happen, and I don’t want to deal with it right now, so I don’t want to say anything to anyone, Not yet.”

“Ian, you’ll be fine!” she exclaimed.

He shook his head. “You don’t know that.” He could almost feel her disappointment but she didn’t understand. She’d only seen the aftermath of what John was capable of, she’d never been there in person and experienced his wrath firsthand. John had murdered his own wife for christ’s sake, Ian wasn’t about to let John take his life too on top of everything else. He had to tread carefully.

“Look, I don’t want to talk about him anymore, okay? I just want to forget everything and not have to think about him. Ask me again before Christmas break. I’m not gonna promise anything but…maybe I’ll be ready to say something then, so I won’t have to go back.”

Ariya didn’t seem too thrilled with this suggestion but she didn’t protest. Instead, she nodded and quietly changed the subject. They talked and baked in the summer sun until an intercom announced the arrival of their bus. Ian didn’t want to upset Ariya again by bringing attention to his injuries, so he grit his teeth and forced himself to drag his bag back down the sidewalk. Their next transfer wouldn’t be until the next day in Denver, so he was relieved to finally hand it to an attendant and be rid of it for a while.

For the second time that day, he winced as he pulled himself upwards and into the bus. The driver shouted a reminder for Lorna to sit towards the back as Ian made his way down the aisle. He and Ariya spent the rest of the day people watching, playing road games, and drawing together. Ariya bought them drinks and snacks every time the bus would stop. After a restless night, a long morning, and another physically challenging transfer in Denver, they finally hopped on a small shuttle bus to Noons. This leg of the trip was the part Ian enjoyed the most. The feeling of driving down the flat plains heading straight towards gargantuan mountains was exciting and surreal.

The city of Noons itself wasn’t as inviting. It was located in a nook at the bottom of the range, in a spot that hardly met the sun due to the shadows cast by rocky peaks nearby. Ian felt that the government had intentionally picked the most depressing location in all of Colorado to build Noons in order to crush everyone’s spirits. Only a handful of official buildings were allowed to have electricity, so every night was nearly pitch black. The only light came from the moon, the stars and the subtle glow of oil lamps behind the closed curtains of Noons’ residents.

The shuttle bus drove through the quiet town, pausing at a few local bus stops before continuing on to Noons National Secondary School. Overcrowded and underfunded, it wasn’t a pleasant place to be, but for Ian anything was better than being at home.

There were several dorms and apartments surrounding the campus, yet not enough for all the people who lived there. The student housing department had started stacking people four to a room in some cases. Ariya had been assigned to one of these tightly-packed accommodations, but in return she enjoyed somewhat modern amenities and a scenic view from the thirteenth floor. Ian lived in one of the older, more dilapidated dormitories that smelled of mold and vinegar, but at least he only had to share his room with two terrible people rather than three.

The bus arrived at Ariya’s stop, so they said their goodbyes and she departed. Ian was dropped off next, down the street at Mossy Hall. If there was one upside to a town populated almost entirely by Lorna, it was that he no longer had to physically carry his belongings. His bag followed him and scraped along the concrete path to the front doors. He checked in with the lady at the front desk and made his way to his assigned room on the second floor.

He unlocked the door and was relieved to find that the room was empty and his roommates weren’t there yet. They usually arrived the next day, on Sunday, giving Ian one glorious evening to himself. He typically met Ariya for dinner at their favorite cafeteria their first day back, but today he had warned her he needed to get some rest and probably wouldn’t be going anywhere for a while.

He collapsed onto his bed and suddenly remembered he had forgotten his blanket and pillow at home. But that didn’t really matter, he’d find one somehow. For now, he sunk into the mattress, his body aching as it relished the chance to finally relax. He wished he could stay in the dead silence of the room forever, but the pessimist in him knew that the peace was only very temporary. With the end of summer came the start of lessons, homework, and insufferable classmates. He was dreading all of it, so he tried to bury the negative thoughts and focus on the fact that for now at least, he was safe.