Breakthrough

Chapter 5

The next few days passed in a blur for Haedon. He had no recollection of eating, showering or indeed, getting out of bed, although he figured he must have done so. He spent most of his time in tears, reminiscing over the time that he had spent with Aunt Savyla and regretting his defiant behaviour towards her. Why hadn’t he been more filial and polite? Why had he yelled at her time and again when she nagged him to study harder? It was for his good, surely. It was too late now. He would never again hear the firm yet gentle voice encouraging him onwards.

Throughout his funk, Haedon was dimly aware of Kyara, a comforting presence that helped to keep him from tilting over the edge.

After a week of seeing Haedon in tearful mourning, Kyara decided that it was time for Haedon to snap out of it.

Kyara squeezed some toothpaste onto Haedon’s toothbrush and brought it to him in bed, along with a mug of water. She helped him to sit upright and handed him the toothbrush. As Haedon started to brush his teeth half-heartedly, Kyara sat down on his bed.

“I’m more sorry than words can say that Aunt Sav has passed on. She’s as much my aunt as yours, seeing how much time I’ve spent in your house,” Kyara began. “I’m not saying that we should forget about her. I’ll never forget Aunt Sav. But I think we should move on. She would probably be very upset to see you like this. Hasn’t she always taught you to be strong? And look at her life. She brought you up as a single mom. It takes a whole load of strength and guts to do that.”

“You’re right, Kyara,” replied Haedon. “But the thought of going on without Aunt Sav, and coming home to an empty house, it’s hard. It’s like someone ripped a whacking great hole out of here,” he said, placing his palm on his chest.

Kyara leaned forward and gave Haedon a tight hug. “I’m sure she’s looking at you from above and rooting for you, the same way that she has always done,” she said.

Putting her hands on Haedon’s shoulders, Kyara continued, “Why don’t you try to get back into a routine? Go back to school and take the year-end exams, which are in two weeks’ time. After that, it’ll be summer holidays and together, we can plan your next move. Not to scare you, but I’m not sure whether you’ll be allowed to carry on living in this apartment now that Aunt Sav is no longer working for the Authorities. Although I don’t think Mom and Dad will mind if you move in with us.”

Haedon, who had been slumped in despair, looked up at Kyara tearfully, saying, “I’ll give returning to school a try.” Looking into Kyara’s honest brown eyes, Haedon said, “Thank goodness I’ve still got you.”

“You’ll always have me,” promised Kyara.

Haedon was as good as his word and returned to school where he sat for the year-end examinations. He was positive that he flunked most of the subjects, seeing that he had never been much of a consistent student. If only there was an examination for Physical Education; he was sure he would ace that. In any case, I did my best, he thought to himself. The only subject he was confident of passing was English; languages had always been his forte.

A few days into the start of the holidays, Kyara went over to Haedon’s apartment to find Haedon’s belongings spread out on the linoleum floor.

“You were right, Kyara,” said Haedon grimly. “I received a message from the Authorities’ Housing Council this afternoon. I’m expected to vacate this apartment within 30 days, and any delay will be chargeable. It was a cold email devoid of feeling and gratitude for Aunt Savyla’s thirty years of hard work. I’m guessing that since I’m already sixteen, they think that I ought to find my own place to live. I’m starting to loathe the Authorities even more than I already do.”

“Let me ask my mom whether you can move in with us,” said Kyara, turning on her heels in readiness to return to her apartment.

“Stop!” Haedon called out.

Kyara halted and swivelled round to face Haedon.

“Today seems to be a day of news. I’ve received Aunt Savyla’s remains. Look, they’ve pressed it into a stone,” said Haedon, holding out a smooth pebble speckled with grey flecks. The pebble had curved edges and fitted snugly in Haedon’s palm. “The money from Aunt Sav’s account has also been transferred to mine. It’s not much, but it’s more money than I’ve ever had,” he laughed mirthlessly.

“I’ve decided to look for Raelon. He’s the only living relative I’ve got left,” continued Haedon. “I want to know whether he’s dead or alive. And if he’s alive, why he abandoned us and never returned to look for us, even when we were suffering.”

“There’s only one thing holding me back here, Kyara,” said Haedon, turning his clear brown eyes onto the girl, who gazed back at him.

Kyara was the first to break eye contact. Clearing her throat, she asked, “How are you planning to get underground? The borders are pretty well guarded.”

“Since Aunt Sav’s job was in ration allocation, she had to travel underground to give regular updates at City Hall. She got me an entry pass too so that I could accompany her on one of her work trips when I was older. She said it was important for me to know what life underground was like,” said Haedon. “When I was looking for my entry pass, I found a temporary entry pass as well. Seems like it’s a spare pass.” He handed the spare pass over to Kyara.

Kyara looked at it, saying, “I wonder who the spare pass was meant for. Wow, this pass doesn’t have a photo, so it can be used by practically anyone. It’s an incredibly valuable item. You’d better keep it safe. Not to scare you but people might kill for this.”

“When are you planning to leave?” asked Kyara.

“At first light tomorrow,” replied Haedon. “Hopefully, the border guards will be half comatose by then. Their shift ends at 7am, so they’ll be raring to leave and won’t want any hassle.”

“Dawn tomorrow, that doesn’t leave me with much time,” muttered Kyara to herself.

Handing the pass back to Haedon, Kyara peered into Haedon’s backpack, which lay sprawled open on the ground.

“I see you’ve got a tent in there,” observed Kyara.

“Hotels are expensive and anyway, I’m trying to keep a low profile, so I thought I’d pitch a tent at night,” explained Haedon.

Seeing Kyara staring at his backpack lost in thought, Haedon grinned. “Why are you quiet all of a sudden? Are you gonna miss me? I know you’ll probably miss me like crazy, but I promise you I’ll be back,” he declared.

“I’m going with you,” said Kyara.

“What? I must be hearing things. I thought I just heard you say that you’re coming with me,” said Haedon in stupefaction.

“You heard right. I did say I’m going with you. You’re impulsive and bound to get into trouble. Someone needs to keep an eye on you,” she said.

“I’ll definitely welcome your company but what would your parents say?” asked Haedon in concern.

“Dad’s just gotten a new job. Fingers crossed that he’ll be able to keep it for more than two seconds. So, my family should be fine for a while without my part-time job,” said Kyara.

“Well, then what would Brolich say?” queried Haedon with a knowing look.

Brolich was the captain of the school basketball team. Tall, athletic, and blessed with rugged good looks, he also possessed the power to create water from the oxygen and hydrogen found in air, all of which made him the swoon-worthy guy who featured prominently in the dreams of girls from Years One to Six.

“Why would he say anything?” asked Kyara.

“Aren’t you and Brolich a thing?” asked Haedon, puzzled. “You’ve been going on non-stop about how wonderful he is ever since the school year started and that you were going to confess to him. I heard that you and Brolich are dating now. Congrats!” said Haedon, giving Kyara a playful punch on her shoulder.

“Let me stop you right there,” scowled Kyara, curling her lips. “Firstly, Brolich and I are not a thing, and from the looks of it, never will be. Secondly, I don’t know where you got your news from, but clearly, you need to fire your source. I did confess to Brolich on the last day of school. Do you know what that narcissistic giraffe’s response was?”

“No, but from your scary face, it can’t be anything good,” said Haedon, wincing.

“He said he wouldn’t go out with me even if it snows in Pangea, and seeing that there hasn’t been any snow in Pangea for the last 500 years, I’ll say the chances of us going out are close to zero. And just in case I was too stupid to understand that, he added that I should take a good look at myself in the nearest mirror and reflect why I think I could be good enough for someone like him.”

Haedon grimaced. What a horrible thing for Brolich to say. Sure, he might not like Kyara (she was an acquired taste, although Haedon would never in a million years have dared to say that to her face, even if he was prodded with red hot spears) but did Brolich have to be so harsh in his rejection?

“Anyway,” said Kyara, her voice deceptively bright, “there is no Brolich and me. So, I’m free to go with you. Besides, it’ll be boring without you around during the summer holidays.”

“What do you mean summer holidays? It’s summer all year round!”

Laughing uproariously, they went downstairs to Kyara’s apartment for dinner.

Over dinner, Kyara told her parents of her plan to accompany Haedon on the search for his older brother.

Kyara’s parents listened to the announcement in silence.

Then Kyara’s mother spoke up. “As a mother, I worry about your safety,” she said. “Yours too, Haedon,” she added, turning to Haedon. “I watched you grow up. You’re as much my child as Kyara is. But you’re adults now and I can understand that you want to search for your family. It’s good that the two of you are travelling together and can watch out for each other.”

“Come back safely,” she exhorted.

She then busied herself with clearing the table so that they would not see the tears that had sprung to her eyes.

Kyara’s father glared at Haedon, saying, “You had better take good care of my little girl. If anything happens to her, I’ll chop you into little pieces and scatter you in the Commons.”

“Dad! I’m hardly a little girl,” protested Kyara.

Haedon swallowed nervously, saying, “I’ll take good care of Kyara, Mr Amo.”

“Good, just so that we’re clear,” said Kyara’s father, his eyes boring like gimlets into Haedon’s. Turning to look at Kyara, he patted her head. “In my eyes, you’ll always by my little girl.”

“Oh daddy,” cried Kyara, giving her father a fierce hug.

Stepping back, Kyara said, “I have to say though. What’s with this old-fashioned nonsense about men taking care of women? We can take care of ourselves, thank you very much.”

“Just wait till you are capable of getting rid of rats and snakes from your tent, then you can tell me you’re able to take care of yourself,” Kyara’s father chortled.

The sun had hardly made an appearance over the horizon the next day when Haedon showed up at Kyara’s apartment, a full backpack on his back. In addition to a backpack, Kyara was carrying a string bag containing provisions which her mother had prepared. Bleary-eyed, Kyara’s parents and siblings bade them farewell.

The nearest border crossing was eight kilometres away and it took the two of them almost two hours to get there on foot. Haedon would have preferred to drive there, but the Authorities had very efficiently retrieved the car the day after Aunt Savyla’s return from Lystrashire.

From a distance, they scoped out the area and guards. There seemed to be only two guards on duty, and one of them was yawning so hard that Haedon feared that his jaw would dislocate.

Haedon and Kyara looked at each other and nodded in determination.

Projecting an aura of confidence, as if they did this everyday (although inwardly, they were quaking), they presented their passes to the border guards.

The guards scanned the two passes, and then looked intently at their screen for a minute. Haedon realised that he was holding his breath and forced himself to breathe normally.

Haedon’s pass presented no issues but there was a moment of concern when the border guard started taking an inordinate amount of interest in Kyara’s temporary pass. The two guards conferred in low tones and seemed to be on the verge of forbidding Kyara’s entry. One of the guards tapped on his keyboard, presumably verifying the temporary pass against their system records. Everything seemed to check out eventually, and the two guards waved Haedon and Kyara on their way. The two of them walked briskly to the lift that would take them underground. At this hour of the day, they were the only passengers.

The lift ride took 10 minutes, during which Haedon and Kyara did not dare to speak to each other, for fear that their conversation would be recorded. Instead, they contented themselves with looking through the glass walls of the lift, where with each passing minute, they were able to see more and more of the underground city that many Surface dwellers had been barred access to.

All too soon, the lift came to a soundless stop at street level.

“Here goes nothing,” murmured Haedon as he and Kyara took the first step on their quest to find Raelon.