Eralla

  The orange light flickered slowly.

  I rested my head on the table, listening to the soft humming coming from the transmitter. It had been a day since the signal was sent out. The universe was large, yet somehow someone out there received the message within hours. Was it the Guardians of the Unirex? The receiver didn’t come forward with their identity.

  Who could they be?

  “Have at it!”

  That fool Tohthorayn cheered at another man beside him, one I wasn’t familiar with. He had the same pointy hat as Tohthorayn. He even wore the same tettara stems necklace around his neck.

  Were they friends?

  Perhaps lovers?

  Lover… Tigeralla.

  My fingers twitched.

  Why did I think about her again?

  I needed to get over her. Like Donttano said, we weren’t meant to be together. She had her life, and I had my own.

  I closed my eyes, trying to rest them; the fatigue weighed heavily on me after working all night.

  Her coiled brown hair flashed before me.

  You two were never meant to be… together.

  Her yellow-tinted skin pressed against my own.

  You two were never meant to be… together.

  Her warm breath against mine.

  You two were never meant to be… together.

  Her lips against mine…

  Whoosh.

  I sat up straight, forcing my eyes to open wide. She couldn’t seem to get out of my mind, especially after seeing her again. Holding her. Touching her…

  I was losing my mind.

  I needed to control myself; I had a life ahead without her. I needed to…

  Before I knew it, I left the transmitter on the table in the elder’s hut, and walked out. Outside, a crowd from the other two villages had gathered.

  Yet, I could sense Eralla was not among them. My feet moved on their own, pushing people aside without a care to reach her.

  She ran fast; she always had. She was the fastest on Ma-Oktava. I could never catch up with her. I had to try, though — to tell her everything and invite her.

  I was losing my mind over her.

  Eralla.

  I pushed through the crowd, all the way to the other end: the outskirts of Aktoe. Before me was the sight of Rotana, the largest active quatentq* in the entire Ma-Oktava. Thin streams of lava flowed down, glowing even from this distance. Dark like the rest, but with a nutty brown hue at the tip. It differed from its other brothers.

  I wasn’t here for sightseeing.

  Eralla.

  I looked around cautiously.

  Eralla.

  Eralla.

  Where is she?

  I had to tell her.

  Eralla.

  I had to tell her that I would be–

  “When will Eralla return? I am starving.”

  My head snapped to the side where I heard someone speak her name.

  Eralla.

  Eralla.

  Eralla.

  Where has she gone?

  I spotted Motalla braiding a young girl’s hair.

  Eralla…

  Her hair looked exactly like Eralla’s. Brown coiled hair.

  Eralla.

  I rushed over to them; I didn’t know how many siblings she had.

  I remembered Motalla — ten when I left the village. After her, the ages blurred together. There was Koralla. Soralla. After her, the rest melted together — children barely out of infancy, and one more who had still been in her Maa-a’s womb when I left.

  Could it be this girl Motalla was playing with?

  “Motalla!”

  I called out. She snapped her head towards me and her eyes widened from seeing me.

  My feet came to a halt by the rock they were sitting on. The girl turned her head towards me, looking up at me with her black beaded eyes.

  Eralla.

  She had her eyes.

  Eralla.

  “Aourine?”

  Motalla dropped the girl’s long hair and stood up.

  “You remember me?”

  “Faintly. I thought– oh now I get it.”

  “Get what?”

  “I get why Eralla has been acting differently. She is always lost these days. And Ma…”

  “Ma. Your Maa-a.”

  My heart raced. Her Ma.

  Her Ma didn’t like me.

  Memories came rushing back.

  Her laughter echoed throughout the hut. My hands found the side of her waist, tickling her.

  “Stop it, Aourine.”

  Her hands tried to stop my assault, but they failed.

  “You need to try harder, Eralla.”

  My finger teased her skin underneath her shirt, making her laugh even harder.

  “I thought you liked it when I touched you.”

  I whispered, leaning in closer to her.

  “I do but you are tickling me.”

  She whined back.

  “Eralla! Eralla!”

  My head snapped towards the door when I heard her Maa-a calling for her. What a way to ruin the mood.

  She pushed me aside, leaving me startled. It wasn’t harsh, but still. She got off the satta and rushed out of my hut. My parents’ hut… but it belonged to me now. It has been for years. Fa didn’t last long after Ma died.

  I pushed myself off the satta and ran after her.

  My eyes widened when I saw everyone gathered outside my hut. Her Ma holding her wrist.

  What was going on?

  “I told you not to come here.”

  Her Ma yelled at her.

  “But Ma…”

  “I told you yet you disobeyed me.”

  “Ma-”

  She didn’t even have time to put her case up for trial. I closed the door behind me, stepping out in the empty space, which was surrounded by the other villagers.

  These people and their noisy habits.

  “Tigur, say something to your daughter.”

  A-lla said to the Tigur, Eralla’s faa-a. Though, her Faa-a stood silent as if A-lla controlled him.

  “Eralla, we told you to stop hanging out with her.”

  My hands curled up. What was wrong with this woman?

  Why can’t these fools mind their own business and not interfere with my life?

  Fa dying was a curse to me. Everyone treated me differently afterwards. Once they were nice, and now they think of me as a weird freak. An outsider. It was because I had different ideas from these fools.

  “You are backbiting about me right in front of me.”

  I said, taking a step further into the spaced-out semi-circle.

  A-lla turned her face away, pulling Eralla back. She stood there, letting herself become a puppet in her Ma’s hands. I expected better.

  “Stay out of this, Aourine.”

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  “And why should I? You are talking ill about me in front of my hut. I have every right to defend myself and whatever you think of me.”

  “Fine, then. Stay away from Eralla.”

  “And why should I?”

  “Because you are…”

  “Lost for words…?”

  I crossed my arms, staring up at A-lla without a hint of fear. I wasn’t about to be intimidated by someone else. No matter if they were older than me.

  “Tigur, say something…”

  She urged her husband to speak up, but he stood there timidly, just like Eralla.

  Like father, like daughter.

  “Fine. I will give you a piece of my mind. You stay in your hut, doing those things that have no benefit for us while the others have to provide for your food. My husband and Eralla provide for you.”

  My hands clenched. It wasn’t my fault everyone on Ma-Oktava was foolish. Fools who can’t think for themselves. They have to rely on a bigger fool, Tohthorayn, to think for them. Running and eating, running and eating. Such simple lives they were told to live.

  “So does my husband, Oubural.”

  My head snapped to the right where Giseine spoke up. Holding her eldest son, Ougine, in front of her.

  She was my Ma’s sister, yet she had a problem with feeding her own niktak*.

  “So does my wife.”

  Someone else yelled, followed by many others testifying against me. As if I committed an unjustifiable crime.

  “So does my son.”

  “So does my wife.”

  “Tontuk!”

  Suddenly, all the voices halted when a man dressed in a dark brown robe pushed through the crowd.

  “What is going on?”

  He asked, turning his gaze towards A-lla.

  “I want this girl to stay away from Eralla.”

  My cut claws grew stiff from anger that boiled within me.

  “Child, tell me what you have done.”

  Now that fool was asking me. Putting on trial. I refused to be belittled like this.

  “I have done nothing except love, unlike some of you.”

  His facial expression changed. I hit his soft spot with this comment seeing how his husband left him for another man, due to his anger issues.

  “Don’t play with me, child.”

  His voice boomed. Suddenly, everyone on Ma-Oktava was against me.

  “Stay away from my Eralla.”

  A-lla said, grabbing her husband’s wrist with her free hand and dragging both of them away.

  My pupils dilated as my gaze slowly lowered on the ground. Their eyes watched me. Dissecting me. Sneering down at me.

  Eralla… you didn’t even stand up for our love…

  Eralla.

  Eralla.

  Eralla.

  Eralla.

  Eralla.

  “Where is your Maa-a?”

  “Ma is in the abandoned hut with Giseine.”

  Giseine is still breathing?

  I expected her demise already.

  “Oh… and Eralla. Where is she?”

  Thump. Thump.

  My heart raced as the answer was going to be an unfortunate one.

  “She has gone to Rotana to get tettara.”

  “Rotana!!”

  My pupils dilated.

  She couldn’t go there. It was dangerous.

  “And you didn’t stop her?”

  My voice boomed loudly before I flinched back. She was still young. Eralla would have made this decision on her own. I already knew it. She was doing reckless things just to provide for her family. Just as Ma had done for me and Fa once.

  “She couldn’t have gone there. That place is extremely dangerous.”

  “We all are hungry, and Ma didn’t have enough money to buy tettara from the market.”

  No.

  No.

  No.

  “No… no… no… she could die there.”

  My hand found my hair, gripping my scalp. Why did I work hard for her? I built that transmitter for her, not for those fools.

  Endless nights of staying up to build it for her and at the end… just for her to die?

  No.

  No… no.

  “Motalla…”

  My head snapped over to A-lla. Standing there with her eyes wide open. I stared back at her, heart racing.

  From worries of Eralla to A-lla in front of me again.

  That day mocked me as if my love for Eralla was weak.

  “W-what are you doing here?”

  She asked, running over to me. Pointing fingers.

  “I am just-”

  “NO! You need to leave. You need to leave Eralla alone. She doesn’t need you. You are ruining her future.”

  A-lla yelled at me, taking closer to me. My hands curled into fists.

  What was this woman’s problem?

  “I am not ruining anything of hers! If it weren’t for me, you would all die there in this miserable place.”

  Her face morphed into pure rage when I fought back. She wasn’t the only one who could raise her voice.

  “Motalla, Fattaralla, get inside.”

  My eyes snapped down to the young girl, whose hair was half braided. Fattaralla. Her name was Fattaralla.

  She grabbed their arms, dragging them away.

  Just like when she dragged Eralla away from me that day.

  I couldn’t let it repeat.

  I ran after them, grabbing onto the young girl named Fattaralla.

  “I love Eralla.”

  A-lla snapped her head towards me, tugged at Fattaralla to pull her away from my grip.

  My fingers dug into her arm.

  Boom! Boom!

  My eyes widened when the ground shook. I wrapped both arms around the young girl, who looked so similar to Eralla. Protecting her, whatever was going on.

  A-lla did the same with Motalla. Wrapping her in her embrace.

  “What is going on, Ma?”

  Fattaralla asked, looking towards her Maa-a.

  “I don’t know.”

  “There, Ma!” pointed Motalla. We followed her finger over to Rotana, which had collapsed upon itself. The ashes covered the entire area. Ashes rained down on us before the rumble fell.

  Eralla…

  “Eralla!”

  A-lla yelled.

  Eralla.

  “Eralla!”

  Followed by Motalla.

  Eralla.

  Eralla.

  Eralla.

  She couldn’t. The lava could not take her. Not so easily. Not after I gave up my goal. I went out of my way to help these fools. Just for her to die in this forsaken place.

  Why did she have to go out there? Why did she have to be a provider?

  Why can’t she be selfish like me? Just a little selfishness could have kept her alive.

  Eralla.

  Ma-Oktava had taken her before she could escape.

  ???

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