Palaver (noun)
Confusing, empty talk.
Chapter 4
(Tall Boy P.O.V)
She swallows looking down left to right, her mitts clutching each other tightly. I need to know how she made it out, who let her out and what's her agenda. Anyone against us shall be eliminated.
"It's okay, we're in this together. I'll help you. If you didn't notice, I have connections here. Trust me, you won't survive out here alone." I tell her to trust me, it's what she needs so she'll listen. She looks up at me, studying my face.
"If you don't wanna come on nice terms, I can also make them take you back from where you came. You better listen and come." I declare impatiently. She rubs her face with both of her mitts letting out a breath.
"I'll take the nice offer, me coming with you since we're in this together? Whatever that means...This is far more interesting than going back." She shrugs giving the police station a quick glance.
Arriving to the flat, she sits down on the bare floor. I waste no time to get information out of her.
"Why are you here? Actually, how did you make it out?" I ask her removing my hat and rubbing my freshly washed hair. Sitting composed she smiles,
"I sneaked out." She offers; her eyes glimmering with excitement.
"Sneaked? How? We both know you can't sneak out of there." I tell her leaning forward. If sneaking was the way, we all would have left the gristly place.
"Wait, how do you even know where I'm from? It's creeping me out." She says in a low voice crossing her hands around her.
(Mako P.O.V)
"What? I know cause we both from there. Me and... I was the one let out this year, how come they let you out the same year as myself?" He rants his voice angry and coarse. I swallow... I'm confused. I don't know what he's saying or talking about. He keeps on glaring at me,
"Look, you're not giving me anything. Tell me what is going on." He presses gritting his teeth. I'm scared, what if anything I say isn't what he wants and kills me as result? Maybe I shouldn't have come with him...as if he was going to let me choose. I don't even know what he wants to hear. I open my mouth to come clean, I can't lie anymore... I don't even know what lies to say at this point. Before a word comes out of my mouth, we both look up at the sound of keys in the door. My heart races, looking over at the boy calms me as his face doesn't show any distress. A tall boy in a hood walks in closing the white thick door behind him. His dark blue tracksuit wet from the rain I hear outside the window. My eyes dart from the boy sitting to the one standing. My mouth drops as he turns around and pulls his hood off.
"Oh... twins. Kind of creeped me out for a second." I smile placing a hand on my chest. The one standing gives me a look of disgust, eyes narrow. They have the same sharp eyes, outlined in pink as if they cried for days; lined with dark circles. Their slim figure giving them sharp cheekbones; loose wavy inky black hair cut long, cascading over their broad shoulders. They look exactly alike, the same scowl on their face. I can only tell them apart now by their outfits, both plant fear in me but strangely enough, I feel my fear whisking away like leaves caught in the wind, replaced by an intense curiosity. I want to know more about these ghouls, about where they came from.
"Who's this?" He asks his sitting twin.
"Uh.. she's from the dot too." He answers his brother who doesn't budge from his place next to the door, ready to throw me out. I nod for a sec,
"Hold on...the dot??" I ask confused... which dot? He can't be talking about the dot...home to the ghouls...where they are imprisoned. I have never seen it but I know it's a small island sister to the big one we're currently on with no means of access to this big city. I'm sure these two ghouls are mistaking me with being from the dot. Father told us every year or so, a ghoul is given the chance to come to the city. And because of those handful given the chance to come, my chances of living outside were cut off. They made it dangerous and unsafe father had told us.
"She's one of us, just let up." The bucket hat boy says to his twin. I hesitate but nod in agreement, for some reason, being one of them means I'm safe for now. He finally takes his shoes off and sits across his brother on the grey dusty floor.
"I found the place where the preem is being kept. We moving tonight." He talks to his brother voice echoing in the empty apartment completely shutting me out of his vision. The way they speak is only getting more and more confusing... fshek... shlek or was it shlak? preem... I tap my hands on my knees feeling awkward and uncomfortable.
"What should we do with this fshek? We don't want her going around ruining everything now do we? Should I just lock her in the room?" The bucket boy offers pointing his thumb behind him, to a white door against the grey wall. The apartment is small, the entrance door next to it a door wide open showing a sad white toilet and one more room to the right with the door closed.
"I've never seen her back there, who is she?" The new twin asks giving me a quizzical look. My chest tightens, I hate how they're talking about me as if I'm not in the room.
"Same... she looks young as well, maybe she was hidden? There were some hidden preems before remember?" They talk between each other, things that don't make sense to me. I'm sure they think I'm one of them, coming from that sad disgusting dot... I'd murder myself if I was like them... maybe I shouldn't say something like that. No one deserves to murder themselves.
"We've never seen you back there, were you hidden?" The bucket boy asks. I swallow, any wrong answer and both ghouls will be at my neck.
"I...I..." My heart is thumping, looking between them as rain pours outside. I was told stories of what ghouls do to humans... eat them obviously. I barely know anything as I wasn't told much, but I know my chances of living with two ghouls across me are slim.
"You boys don't seem as bad as I was told." I let out, not able to hold my tongue anymore. I thought they would look like monsters, pointy teeth and psycho killers. Yet, I've spent more than an hour with a ghoul and I'm still alive. Either they aren't as scary as we were told, or I'm just spectacularly good at surviving.
"I'm not one of you, I'm not a ghoul." I come clean pulling my legs to my side as they start to throb under my weight against the bare floor.
"What?! You brought a shlocking human here?! To our hideout?!" The new twin hisses at his brother his hand forming into a fist. Bucket boy stares at me gritting his teeth,
"You said it's your first day outside... did you lie?!" He accuses his tone scratchy, angry.
"Calm down. I never lied. You misunderstood, I.. I..." I'm ashamed of my life, I can't bring myself to tell them where I'm from. Looking down I pull my camera forgetting this is a moment I never thought I would experience, let alone on my second day out. I place it on my face, squinting I snap a picture of them. Having a picture of ghouls is a pride moment, who knew I could survive this long with them.
"You didn't even bring a normal one, a wacked shlock-head human." The twin hisses glaring at his brother.
"What's your names? I'm... Ma... Mira." I introduce myself, lying. What if they learn who I am with my name? I'm not taking any risks. They ogle at me, looking at me as if I'm crazy. I know I look out of it, I feel like I've been drugged, numb and dizzy. I open my mouth to ask for their names again but remember that maybe they don't have ones. They are not as civilized as humans is what I know and was told, so maybe they don't have names. I don't want to make them feel bad or anything less than anyone else so I close my lips shut.
"Remember, we're in this together. We both came out of a bad place to live free." I remind them smiling. I don't think they would consider where I came from as bad as theirs but it's similar in a way. Being confined in a place all our lives is something we might relate to.
"What do you want? Let you go? Tell everyone we're ghouls so we get killed on the spot? Not gonna happen." Bucket boy says. I didn't come out to solve criminal cases and create justice, I just want to live and have some freedom.
"Well, I don't have anywhere to stay... you can help me and I'll keep my mouth shut?" I offer gesturing to zip my mouth. If I was told I would be sitting with ghouls making offers sometime in my life I would have laughed and assumed it's the joke of history.
"Just lock her in that room for now, we need to get stuff done for tonight." The new twin says firmly stating there's no negotiation. The bucket hat boy stands and walks over to me. I inch away to the wall behind me.
"Lock her in the room? Are you serious?" I ask my voice shaky. I leave a prison and they put me in another?! He grabs my arm and I suppress my groan at his tough hold. He pulls me towards the door and I ski on the wood floor as I struggle beneath him.
"That's illegal, you can't lock me in there!" I say tugging at his arm. He opens the door effortlessly and hauls me in. I hurry at the door as he swings it close. Pulling at the door knob I hear him turn the key on the outside and with one try I learn that it's locked. I take a deep breath brushing my hair out of my face.
"Oh no... no no... I'm locked up with two ghouls. I'm so dead." I skulk back into the corner of the room, folding my arms and shiver as the fear returns. I close my eyes feeling a worrying shudder in my chest, as if my heart want to escape, shoot out of my body. I need to calm down and remove myself from this situation. Closing my eyes I take a deep breath to calm myself. Looking around, the room is empty. Boring walls that can't decide to be grey or white. There's a big window but with a safety cage, remembering the floors we passed on the way up, there's no way I'm jumping out of it even if I could. Pushing myself against the wall, I ski to the floor. Other than the window there's no way out.
"Real smooth... just leave a prison and come to another. Real smooth."