Stories of The Relic: The Book of Keilari - Part 3 - The Boy Nobody Wanted

Gia's short trip through Christopher's mind yields a few things she didn't expect. Could it be she was be wrong about him?

By Alexander Kung

San Francisco 2010 —Chris’ Mind

Mind walking was one of the most dangerous of Keliari skills if the mind was a chaotic one. However, Gia felt the risk was well worth it, if only to prove to herself that Christopher was just as bad as all the others that possessed the book.
Her skills a bit rusty from lack of use, she appeared 4 feet in the air higher than she wanted and promptly landed on her ass on the hard ground below. Dusting herself off, she found herself in a mist filled forest, just before dawn. Making her way through the moss colored trees, she came upon a wide clearing. There she saw her, a pale girl just like her with long fangs sitting on a log , crying inconsolably. She didn’t even try to run or hide as the sun started to rise. As soon as the rays hit the girl,she burst into flames screaming in pain as she combusted into a pile of ash. Her remains were then blown softly away by the morning wind.

“That doesn’t happen!” she thought as the sun’s rays hit her “What kind of idiotic memory is this?”

The morning sun started to turn her blood red eyes back to a purple blue with rounded pupils and caused her fangs to retract leaving her quite human looking. The Sun only weakened her vampiric powers and overall look to blend in with society during the day. Obviously a noble that only came out at night would arouse some sort of suspicion

Still since the sun was only imaginary, she was able to keep her powers and find a door out of this memory. Opening a small rift, she walked though finding herself in a grand hallway with doors that lead on to infinity. Taking a look back at the door she came out of, she noticed a sign that read ‘Dark Fathoms Book 1’

“So, he’s an Author” she thought, glad that she could feel her body changing back, she despised looking human anymore “That explains his stupid ignorance of Keliari or vampires. We burn in the daylight indeed, what utter stupid nonsense.”

As she explored the hallway, she found that his mind was quite tidy as every door had a label and painstakingly organized. Though she wasn’t at all surprised because he seemed the meticulous type. Her eyes narrowed as she finally saw the door she was looking for, marked “Sexual fantasies”.

“Of course” she smiled as she turned the knob “Now I’ll prove that you are no better than the ones before you!”

Whatever horrible thing she was expecting, she was in for a bit of disappointment because it just wasn’t there. There were no dark and damp dungeons, no helpless women tied up and brutalized. No horrible bloody scenes of violence or sadism. If fact there really wasn’t much but a large room filled with a thick purple fog. It had an odd smell, which she recognized as doubt and uncertainty. Taking a deep breath she blew the fog away leaving the area clear.

From the darkness appeared three beds each with a version of Chris very much naked. On the first bed was of Chris making love to a woman she had never seen before. She was so beautiful looking with her hair styled in two red pigtails. The sex was a little rough looking but she saw that the girl was enjoying it immensely, moaning quite loudly as he thrust into her harder and faster while she dug her long nails into his back.

The second bed was him with….herself?!? Humph as if she would ever willingly let a disgusting human touch her in such a way. Still curiosity got the better of her as he looked on, noticing that he wasn’t even close to being brutal with her. Instead he very soft and tender with her, nuzzling her neck and whispering softly in her ears as she giggled shyly while sitting on his lap. As his strong hands massaged her breasts, she gently caressed his cheek, turning her head slightly to kiss him. She noticed that he didn’t seem to be bothered in the least that she was…different.

“Is…this what he dreams about?” she thought in disbelief

The third was all three of them together. She saw the fantasy version of herself and the unknown girl sharing a deep loving tongue kiss before each giving Chris the same kind of kiss. They then pushed him down on his back, cuddling and resting their heads on his chest.

“My two beautiful princesses” said the fantasy Chris while lovingly playing their hair. He smiled warmly as they both closed their eyes and sighed in satisfaction

Typical male fantasy, two girls at once. Still she had to admit prior to her curse that she had entertained the thought of being with a woman but that was before she saw how distasteful humans were. Just as things were starting to get interesting the fog returned, filling the room and causing everything to disappear with as sad sigh echoed in the nothingness

“Yeah like that would ever happen!” said a disembodied but sad sounding voice which she recognized as Christopher’s “I’m not setting myself up for any heart break”

Leaving the room, she shut the door behind her as a slight blush formed on her face at what she saw. Returning to the hallway, she found herself really conflicted. He was a human and while kind of a grouchy one, he was not even close to being cruel. In fact in here in here he seems so sad and distant.

Perhaps delving a bit farther back might shine a light on his nature. Walking deeper down the hall, she ventured back to the memories of his earlier days. Choosing a door, she opened it and stepped inside not sure what she would see…

~O~

Sacramento California- 1999

Christopher Kagawa’s life as a kid wasn’t an easy one. For as long as he could remember he was bounced from foster home to foster home. Some nice and some not so nice. Either way he always got sent back into the system. Good for a paycheck but not quite enough to keep. In time it convinced him that he was somehow damaged goods, something nobody wanted.

He had just got released from the hospital after a vicious beating by his latest foster father. It had been going on for a while until he decided to fight back but a 12 year old had no chance of winning a fight with a 35 year old man. Though the official story is he fell down the stairs, the fist marks on his body said otherwise.

Still due to Christopher’s attitude and demeanor, he was labeled as a trouble maker and gave his social worker massive headaches as she had a hard time finding anyone who was willing to take him in.

“Christopher!” She said “I know you’ve been though a lot but you have to get that attitude of yours in check or you’ll never placed anywhere permanently“

“Oh sure, blame the kid” said a 12 year old Chris with two black eyes “I guess it couldn’t be you placing me with sugar ray redneck who used me as a punching bag or the damn family that felt that I didn’t match their ideal of the American family and promptly sent me back when a nice lighter skinned kid became available. And let’s not forget about Mr touchy Feely, but look on the bright side, he now can pee around corners. ”

“Christopher enough!” said the social worker “I admit I’ve made mistakes….

“Yeah that’s putting it lightly” said Chris

“But you’re getting older and it will be harder to get you placed” said the social worker

“Don’t even act like you give two shits about what happens to me!” Chris spat “I been in the system long enough to know exactly what I am to you”

“And that is?” snorted the social worker

“A file in a folder” said Chris “An 8 hour job and then you go home. Forgive me if my faith in you is bit shaken, seeing as all the “nice places” you sent me to turned out so far”

~O~

Gia’s eyes turned from blood red back to their normal purple blue as she watched on. There were certain things she didn’t quite understand but she got the gist of it. He was an orphan that nobody seemed to have wanted. Maybe it was a human trick to earn her pity..but still she wanted to know a bit more…

Oakland California- 1999

It was a stupid decision but Chris had run away from foster care. Grabbing all the money he could, he packed a bag and headed south. Surviving on the streets was harder than he thought and it wasn’t long before he ran out of money and was in trouble. He was lost, cold, wet, scared and hungry. He sadly trudged though the dark streets as a hard winter storm had hit the city, El Nino they called it.
In an act of pure desperation, hesitantly he broke into a house. It was a nicely furnished house with a lot of nice stuff but Chris didn’t care about any of that. He just wanted get some food as he raced to the kitchen. Pulling open the refrigerator, he stuffed his bag with as much food as he could carry.

Before heading back out into the rain, he quickly scribbled a note and left it on the table. He raced back into the living room to escape out the open window he slipped in… he didn’t make it. He sighed in defeat as a set of flashing red and blue lights reflected in the windows….

“Come out with your hands up!” yelled a voice over a loud speaker

Dropping the bag he opened the front door and walked out with his hands raised above his head, trying hard not to cry

~O~

Never did he feel so alone as when he went to family court. Here he was, all of 12 years old and possibly going to Juvi on a breaking and entering charge. But honestly it didn’t matter anymore, Chris was so broken down that he honestly didn’t even care what they did to him anymore.

“Whatever” he mumbled to himself

“Your honor, the owner of the house in question is declining to press charges” said the prosecuting attorney “However, he would like to speak with you in chambers”

“What?” asked Chris to his legal aid “Why would he drop the charges?”

“I don’t know” smiled his pro bono attorney ”But this is good news for you”

Inside the judge’s chambers was the judge the prosecutor and a big chubby bald older black man with a trimmed white beard.

“Mr. Jackson are you fully understanding what you’re asking?” asked the Judge

“I’m positive” said Mr Jackson with a smile “There not going to be a problem, is it?

“What going on?” asked Chris

“Well, Mr Jackson is dropping the charges and is asking to foster you for a while”

“And why would you do that for someone that broke into your house, Mr. Jackson?” asked Chris not believing his ears

“Well I got my reasons” said Mr. Jackson “ And enough with that Mr Jackson stuff , just call me Moedie, everyone does. Can I ask you question kid?”

“Yeah?” asked Chris

“You want to go get something to eat?” smiled Mr. Jackson

~O~

It was strange at first but Chris forced himself not to get attached. You get attached you get hurt, that’s what life has always taught him. It was just so much safer to keep distant, people were so unreliable. Feed you a line, build up your hopes and then cut you down.
It had been two weeks since he had moved into the house he had broken into. Moedie seemed like an okay guy, kind of a big kid who had just a very contagious joyful personality but Chris knew that people could flip flop real quick.

“Hey Chris can I talk to you on the porch for a minute?” said Moedie popping his head into his room “It’s nothing bad, I just wanted talk to you for a sec”

“Chris followed him to the back porch that had a nice view of the San Francisco bay. Moedie leaned on on the railing as he looked out at the sparkling busy bay as the boats went by.

“You know whenever the world seems to slap me down” said Moedie “I can always come out here and be at some sort of peace ”

“Just by watching some boats on the bay?” asked Chris “How does that help with anything?”

“Eh, I don’t know really” smiled Moedie “It just does…”

“So um…what did you need to talk to me about?” asked Chris sort of expecting the answer

“Straight to the point aren’t you, kid?” said Moedie “Well I wanted to know why you haven’t unpacked yet? Is there something wrong?”

“I appreciate everything you’ve done, Mr Jackson” said Chris truthfully “ But I don’t what to have to pack again when you get tired of me and send me back to foster care”

“So that is what this is all about..” said Moedie walking back to Christopher’s room and unpacking all his stuff

“What are you doing?” asked Chris

“What does it look like I’m doing, boy?” said the older man “Now are you going to help or stand there looking stupid? Come on help me unpack”

“Okay” said Chris with a bit of apprehension

“Look Chris, I know you’ve had it hard” said Moedie “but I’m not like everyone else,if you can believe that. You’re not a broken toaster or a sweater that I don’t like. It's not like I’m gonna take you back to the store and exchange you or get my money back ”

“I heard that before” said Chris flatly

“I’m sure you’ve had” said Moedie holding out his outstretched pinkie “ and I don’t expect you to outright trust me yet but i swear to you I’m not sending you back to the foster system. Pinkie promise?

“What do I have to lose?” said Chris locking pinkies with Moedie

“Not much” smiled Moedie mussing Chris’ hair “You’re stuck with me and I’m stuck with you. Now that we have that out of the way, let’s go get something to eat”

Chris tried to be hopeful but he knew how people could change, still there was a small part of him that hope that Moedie was a bit different than the others….

~O~

Gia appeared at the foot of Christopher’s bed no knowing what to think. She still didn’t quite trust him yet but she breathed a slight bit easier knowing that he was truly unlike her former cruel masters, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't become one. Turning into a mist she slid underneath the door as he slept soundly and the returned to the couch.

Getting comfortable she quickly fell back asleep with a slight smile on her face, Christopher was quite intriguing. It seemed that he was a lot like her, well maybe….

Before she came to any sort conclusion, she needed to do a few more mind walks, just to make sure.

However if she found something she didn’t like…