Episode 3: Fleeing (Dorsa)

The night air drifted under her blanket, tickling Dorsa’s toes and grazing the skin of her legs with cool air. She tried to wrap her toes under the bottom lip of her blanket, but her shoulders became exposed. She had grown too tall for the thin rectangle of fabric. She knew nothing but this life, but fleeing the United Realms and their desire to experiment and control Dorsa’s kind; their creations.

She switched her focus to her mind. With her eyes closed, she imagined the sounds of cicadas and the slight rustling of feathers as creatures moved through the night. With it she replayed the rhythmic sound of hot rain as it poured down onto the leaves. She envisioned herself in a bed, underneath a real ceiling, and the sound of thunder crashing in the background as light flickered in the sky.

Instead of a cool breeze across her shoulders she convinced herself it was a muggy mist, entrapping her in the heat of a summer storm.

Rather than snakes and mice weaving across the brush, she could hear rain falling onto a stone pathway and the plinks of a puddle forming in the grass.

Her body relaxed into the warmth as she read a picture book, like the one she had recently lost, and pictures of monkeys swinging across the pages further drifted her mind away from reality.

As she turned the page in her mind, she saw her dad’s eyes peering down and she felt his cool hand against her cheek.

“We need to go,” he whispered.  His hand caressed her mom; her own cheek was warm from the mind games she had been playing with herself. She had been unaware of the level of connection to her mom and she broke it. Their minds drifted apart and she was once again in the cold forest.

She sat up and rubbed her eyes with her fingers, letting the pads of them press into the sockets as she brushed away the illusions she had been lost herself in. “Dad?”

The sterling silver specks of his eyes turned toward her, glowing in the darkness. They moved in a crouched position to her side.

“Grab your things, Dorsa,” her dad directed.  She felt him nudging her full of energy.  Her body responded and she began rolling her blanket into a small tube.

Her mom mimicked her moves and once again the cool air began to make her fingers hurt and her toes want to hide inside the blanket. She wished she had more than the pants that were only long enough to cover her knees.

She pinned her blanket under her blue tattered backpack, buckling the belts that held it in place.

Her mom sent warmth to her.

“Only what you need,” her mom directed.

Dorsa couldn’t imagine not needing any of her few belongings. Every time they had fled somewhere she had lost things.

Mugly, her brown floppy bear, slid into the backpack alongside her four crayons and two bundles of leaves to treat the nettles that grew rampant in the area. She zipped the bag closed and pulled it onto her back.

Her parents may not agree, but everything she owned was necessary and she could push that belief until they accepted it.

Her mom read the thought and laughed just enough for Dorsa to feel the air vibrate with her amusement.

As soon as she was standing she began to move dirt over her bedpsace. She found pine needles nearby and used them to create a natural looking cover.

She resisted the urge to say goodbye and reminisce.  Instead, she focused on the other bedspaces. As everyone packed their limited belongings, she covered the spaces. Her mom helped those who were last to wake.

After she was done, she felt the wave of comfort as her dad spoke to people. A chain of thoughts rippled through the group like dominos and they all grabbed hands.

She said goodbye to another not-home. Another place that she would never see a roof grow over her in an expanse of permanence. In place of her hopes and dreams, realms flickered past her eyes. Trees, leaves, bushes, sand, and even a group of people around a fire.

And then there was a boy. With tight curly hair and eyes the color of moonlight on a lake at night.  His skin was dark; like he had been rolling around in dirt, except he didn’t look dirty. She had never seen someone with skin as rich as his.

Her mind drifted too far from the group, caught with the boy in the brush, and the entire group fell into the surrounding woods. She reached her hand out to the boy only to be pulled with the group toward a clearing a dozen feet away.

She could still feel him though, and some form of a rope between their psyches stretched between them. She wanted to follow it and ask him who he was and how he had her magic. She wondered how he was able to be there and no one in her group knew about him.

She wanted to know if he was another experiment or if he by chance ended up there.

The group all focused on her dad, with questions ringing in their minds over what had happened. She had never broken the group before. As the first child of their kind her powers had been unknown.

No one had broken a circle like that before. No one had heard her thoughts about the boy; they seemed concerned about her not someone new. She was alone, while they had gone on to another realm.

The minds of the group followed her back and her dad called out, “Dorsa!” He brushed across her thoughts for any sign of what had caused her departure from their group.

She put a wall around the boy and covered their connection like she had the bed spaces, except with mental clutter instead of nature.

Behind the wall she had created against the group, she felt her mom creep in. She noticed the link and followed it with her eyes as though she could see the rope-like connection that stretched between them, feeding something into the boy that had transfixed him to her.

She could feel his uncertainty about the group. Since her mom already knew, she let her defenses slide in favor of learning more about him. He was brave.

“What are we doing?” a group member asked as his mind stretched thinly across her block. She let the boy go again, but she hoped he would stay near long enough for her to explore the woods.

Her mom shared her curiosity, and offered to the group, “Why not stay here? There’s no one around.”

Dorsa grinned, pleased that her mom was curious. Too often they had to cover their tracks. She liked whatever he was and she didn’t want to cover him up. She trusted him already; she trusted that the connection he held to her would keep her safe.

“Why have we stopped?” someone reiterated.

“We’ll finish the night here. A team will explore the area. Dorsa was drawn to the lack of people around. I should have assessed it more clearly as we passed through.”

She felt the group stretch their own minds to cover miles and miles of area.

She hid the boy, and all else was silent.

Her mom shook her head in her direction and Dorsa looked down at the dirt. The boy was now almost beside her. He had moved closer by two bushes to one that was coated in red berries.

Her skin tingled and she slowed her breaths until the bumps across her skin smoothed out again. At least the focus of the group had shifted to their situation.

“Is it safe?” one asked.

“I can lead the team if you want to set up the camp,” her mom offered.

Her dad sent out a wave of confidence in the plan, and another of safety and reassurance.

Whatever threat had sent them on the move tonight, her dad had relaxed and they would have at least one night here.

She reached for her mom’s hand as they walked into the trees, toward the boy. “You saw him too? What is he?” she asked eagerly.

“I don’t know. He’s here,” she said as she stopped in front of the berry bush. “Come out and we won’t hurt you.”

The boy peered through the branches then made his way around the bush. His arms were still against his sides as he stared at them. His shoulders held back for a moment until his eyes locked with Dorsa’s.

She smiled, and let his feelings fill her with hope and love. She sent him back joy and more hope, that maybe she could be with someone like her that wasn’t infinitely older.

He brushed her mind again, searching aimlessly through her thoughts.

“He’s like us,” Dorsa said to her mom, pulling at her shirt.

“How did you get away?” her mom asked him.

“Away from what?” His body relaxed as he inched closer to them. She could feel warmth and something salty. Like an entire ocean drifted under his skin. She sent him the sound of waves, partially in question.

She felt raindrops fall across her skin. She could make illusions with her mind, but she knew what those felt like and this was real.

“I live here,” he said to her mom. My parents are close by.”

Dorsa laughed under her breath, she could sense that they were at least an hour of travel away. Still, he felt protected and confident.

He was able to hide why from her, but she could feel her mom probing in a more skilled pattern through his mind and she hoped she would share later. While she waited, she tried to glean what thoughts she could off her mom.

“Stop,” the boy said as he rubbed his head. “What are you doing?”

“Making sure you’re safe,” her mom stated. She was resolved, so Dorsa stopped searching and focused more on the games they were playing with each other. She asked him about the fire, with images of smoky grey trees and ashen ground.

He let a flame flicker across his skin, then trail on the ground to her toes and up onto her arms. It was cool, instead of hot. She knew he must be powerful to be able to confuse her so easily. She loved him.

And he wanted to stay with her, she felt it before he said it.

“Can he come with us?” Dorsa asked.

“No one will miss me,” he added with a weak sensation of confidence and trust that Dorsa knew was a lie.

“Not your parents?” her mom asked.

He shrugged and pulled a fruit out of his pocket. It was brown with light pink peaks. He peeled a chunk off of it then handed it to her, with mental instructions on how to eat it and what parts to throw back into the woods.

It was sweet and savory at the same time. The flavors tingled in her mouth but also made her feel like she was buried underground: earthy and wild.

“You can camp with us tonight,” her mom said. “What is your attachment?”

“It’s a bond,” he replied. You can’t kiss anyone else, he thought.

Dorsa pressed her teeth against her tongue and loosened her knees before they locked themselves straight. “So you’re my boyfriend.”

“Yeah,” he said, as though it wasn’t the most exciting thing to ever happen.

She looked at his skin again, and she wanted to feel the warmth hiding under it with her own fingers.

“We’ll see,” her mom said. Dorsa could feel unease. Her mom just needed time to learn that a newcomer wasn’t dangerous. She could sense how perfect he was for her – attached and with the same magic, skilled at hunting and camping.

“Camp is this way!” Dorsa exclaimed. “I like your name.”

He paused from walking so she stopped too, “I like yours too,” he added. Then he thought of dolphins and she wanted to bump into him because that was a weird connection to make. Dorsa and dorsal were almost the same word though.

She stepped aside and let her thoughts trail around him, creating a small wall so only her mom would hear her. He’s my age, she thought.

Her fingers tingled again and her entire body wanted to jump. They made their way back into camp and she took his hand so no one would worry. The group all brushed her mind again and she let them know who he was: his bond and her love for him and that everything was going to be okay.

She could feel the doubt, and when her dad eyes met hers, steely grey in the darkness of night, she felt the responsibility of who she was – the leader’s daughter – weigh down on her.

She had a good case though. He was like them. Somehow, without being in any danger, he existed.

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