ONE HUNDRED-ONE: Rebuilt

The next few days were very difficult for both Jude and Arous.  She went about her work slopping the pigs in the morning and laying around the hay in the old barn throughout the day. Burton wanted to pretend she wasn’t there so she avoided him. 

Then Jellina came. Arous was hoping to be happy to see her.

“Jude told me he was coming out here a couple of days before the earthquake. Don’t you think it is ironic that we are all here? Desinty maybe.”

“Jellina, you don’t believe in destiny,” Arous reminded her. She was not happy as she had hoped.

“No,” she smiled. “I said I don’t believe in Prince Charming.  Though Jude makes me want to change my mind.”

There was an exchange of awkward silence between the twosome as they stood in the middle of the horse stable.

 “Ricci told me you were leaving to go back home,” Jellina said. “He was heartbroken that you didn’t want to have anything to do with him. After all, he is your real father.”

Arous cringed.

“Just don’t tell him I’m here, okay?” said Arous.

“He’d help you. Make sure you have a nice cabin like I do before we get settled into new digs. You know, they are thinking about not even rebuilding the City there. That would be a shame.”

“Just don’t say anything,” said Arous. She didn’t want to sound like she was pleading.

“Okay. You know your secret is as safe with me. Probably safer than it is with Jude,” her face took a serious tone. “You know, this is not the place for you.”

 “It’s no place for you either.” She paused.”I was looking for my mother.”

“And, did you find her?” Jellina was mocking her now. Maybe she had been mocking her for the whole conversation.

“No,” Arous lied. “And I have absolutely nothing to show for it either, Jellina.”

“If you ask me, seems like a waste of a trip.”

“I think it must have been.”

“Where is it you’re from again?”

“Alippiana, the Bowl,” said Arous.

“That’s funny,” sdaid Jellina. “That’s where Ricci is talking about rebuilding the City. Alippiana. I knew I’d heard of it before.”

“What?”

“Your father is the Diofe, right? If that’s true.” asked Jellina.

“I don’t think I’m welcome back there,” Arous said. She couldn’t look Jellina in the eye anymore.

Something about Jellina seemed to soften.  But Arous didn’t trust it. Every action, every glance seemed to mock Arous.

 “They say, home is where you can go when you can’t stay anywhere else,” said Jellina. “I guess you’ll just have to join us, huh? That’d make Ricci happy.”

Jellina turned to leave.

“I’ll bring you something that will make you feel better,” said Jellina. “We’ve got to get you better.”

Jude caught Jellina as she was walking out of the stable.

 “Stay away from her,” said Jude.

 “Why?”

“I don’t know what you’re up to.”

“I have a job to do,” said Jellina.

“She doesn’t want him to know she’s here,” said Jude.

“Too late.”

 “You’re walking a thin line,” he said.

“Don’t threaten me.”

They stared each other down for a minute.

“You know what I think?” said Jellina pouring on the charm again.

“I don’t care what you think,” he said.

“I think you’re scared,” she said.

“That’s ridiculous.”

“Is it really, Jude?”

“I can do whatever I want. Burton needs me. So does Ricci,” said Jude.

“Who really needs who, Jude? Does Arous need you? What does she know about you and Ricci? You’re little deal. Does she know how talented you are?” She laughed. “I had to die for my power, literally, but all you had to do is be born.”

“You wouldn’t,” said Jude.

“The man you are always struggles with the man you want to be and can’t.  Or, maybe it’s the man you are who tries to break free to be the man you think you can be. You might want Arous, but what you are is Ricci’s,” said Jellina. “Especially after that last botched job.”

“I didn’t botch it,” growled Jude.

“Oh, that’s right, you let her go on purpose. You’re crazy to be walking the line with a man like Ricci. And when Arous finds out what you’re last job was, she’ll hate you for it.”

Jude slapped Jellina.

 “Jude!” Arous yelled from the end of the stable.

The private conversation stopped.

“Arous,” asked Jude. He hadn’t seen her walk up on them.

Arous had heard it all. She didn’t know whether to play dumb or whether to tell him she had heard it all.  She couldn’t trust Jude. She couldn’t trust Jellina. They both worked for the man that made her more afraid than anyone in the world.

“I have to go,” Arous said holding Jude’s gaze, questioning him, forgiving him, apologizing.

            She was distracted from Jude for a moment by Jellina who she was able to see in the sunlight for the very first time since the earthquake.

            Jellina. Jellina.  What’s wrong with Jellina?

ONE-HUNDRED: Forgetting

“I was on my way back from the desert when the rumbling started,” Jude continued his story to Arous. “The hoveh-sine trembled and flipped a couple of times.  It was wrecked but I managed to get out.  I thought the tumble had made me unsteady on my feet but it was the ground moving under them.”

Then he saw the ground start to move, small undulations at first, then like big waves on the ocean they came one after another: rolling, rolling. The trees in the distance swayed and followed the earth in which they were rooted.  They followed one another up and down swaying with no wind.  The rumble grew.  In the distance Jude could hear loud thunderous crashes and another strange noise he could not identify.  He crawled out a bit on the sea of earth to get a look around the trees moving beside him that blocked his view of the City.  He saw the old buildings of downtown swaying like trees; one by one he saw them implode and sink or either lean and then topple to the ground. Dust rose in heavy clouds over where they had been, like signals to the distance of their distress.  The odd sounds coming from the buildings grew louder and louder.

“Screaming . . . it’s the sound of people . . . that was the sound . . . wailing . . . “

Confused and a bit shocked from such an abrupt awakening, he first considered how to get back into the City.  He looked around.  He could walk through the main entrance and through the high part of town.  Instead, he just stood in shock as the night enveloped the crumbing City.  He watch fires pop up as buildings continued to crumble and shift.

“How did you get here?” asked Arous.

“Funny enough, this guy in an old wheeled vehicle pulled up behind me.  He stood by me for a moment and watched the City on fire.  He asked me if I need a lift.  Told him where I was going and he said-”

“Sounds like you’re going my way.  I’ll give you a lift.”

“At that point I refused to think about what happened to anyone else.  Simon. You. I just shut everything off and kept going.”

“You couldn’t have done anything,” said Arous.

“Until I saw you, I hadn’t even remembered. Things seemed to have gone so wrong, maybe I didn’t want to remember.”

Jude buried his head in Arous’ lap.  He sobbed and then fell asleep.

NINETY-NINE: How hard could it be?

Jude began his story just hours before the catastrophe.  He had decided to leave to come to Burton’s the next week and told Simon that day.

“What do you mean?  Why are you really leaving?” asked Simon.

“It’s like I already said.”

“But aren’t you supposed to -” asked Simon.

“I know what I ought to do but I haven’t promised Ricci anything. I got his permission to go to Burton’s ranch. Okay. I need some time,” said Jude.

“I can’t believe this you’re telling me this, and then leaving. Are you going to tell her before you walk out?” said Simon.

Simon stared at Jude in disbelief and simmering rage.

“You yell at me for lying to her and you’re just going to leave,” said Simon. “What a dashing Prince Charming you’ve turned out to be.”

“Let’s not lie to each other, anymore,” said Jude. “I know you’re only pretending not to like her. I know what Ricci has told you to do to keep me on his payroll.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Simon.

“You know what’s pitiful, Simon, is do you even know how you feel about her?” said Jude.

Simon opened his mouth and shut it. He looked dead at Jude.

“I sometimes think it’s a spell Ricci has me under,” he whispered. “I have to do what he says, it’s like a compulsion.  I can’t stay away from her.  But I have to lie to her to obey Ricci.”

“I know,” said Jude putting a hand on his shoulder. “Ricci can have that effect on people.”

Jude continued to pack his back. Simon stood there shifting from foot to foot.

“Jude,” said Simon. His voice trembled. “I really need you to stay.”

“No you don’t.  You and Arous will live happily ever after without me.”

“No, Jude, you don’t understand,” said Simon. “I need you to stay to keep her safe.”

“You’re more than capable of doing that yourself,” said Jude.

“No, you don’t understand,” Simon grabbed onto Jude’s arm. “I don’t know what Ricci is going to ask me to do.  I can’t tell him know. You may be the only person who stands between me and -”

“Whoah,” said Jude sitting Simon down. “She’s his daughter.  He’s got plans for her.  He’s not going to hurt her.”

Jude pulled Simon to him and embraced him.

“Try to relax.  Ricci has big plans for Arous and he thinks she’s weak enough to fall for them.  Including falling for you.”

Jude laughed and Simon relaxed.

“We’ve all been part of his scheming,” said Jude.  “You know, I never was good at doing what I was told. I can’t hang around here being manipulated by Ricci. If I stay any longer, I might get us all killed.”

They leaned back on the couch with their arms around one another for a moment of silence. Jude got up and grabbed his back-pack off the table.

“I’ve got one last job for Ricci.  That was the deal. One last job.”

“What is it?” asked Simon.

“All I know is that it doesn’t involve Arous.  How hard could it be?”