Girl
SURAYALAYINher bed after the pawang had left and thought for a
long, long time. She thought about the smell, and the nightmares,
and of Jing's pale face and purple bruises. She thought about
whispered conversations under the covers, and warm hugs at
bedtime, and first friendships, and true friendships. She thought
about that strange gleam in the pawang's eyes, the shiver of fear
that hadrun a cold finger down her spine when he spoke. And most
of all, she thought about forever, a word that got colder and harder
and more unforgiving the longer it sat in her head.
The shadows were long by the time she sat up. Sweat made her
long hair stick to the back of her neck, and she gathered it
impatiently up into a sloppy ponytail.
"Pink," she whispered.
It was the first time she'd said his name in days, and it tasted
strange and bittersweet and familiar on her tongue.
The storm was dying out now, and the wind had lost most of its
ferocity; the only answer was its whimpers outside her window.
"Pink," she said again. This time her voice was clearer, surer.
The shadows in the corners of the room started to grow larger
and darker, as if they were gathering themselves together.
"I know you're here, Pink," Suraya said. "You're always here.
Come out and talk to me."
The shadows in the corners flickered for a second, the way they
do when a breeze plays with a candle flame.
Then hewas there, not as his true form, but as a grasshopper on
her windowsill.Behind him, the sky was lit up with the fiery flames of
sunset, and the shadow he cast was huge and vaguely sinister.
"Hello, Pink."
He didn't speak, so she did instead. "You're probably wondering
why I called you."
"I assume it was to say your final goodbye," he said, and she
winced at the unfamiliar harshness in his voice.
"It wasn't my idea," she said.
"Yet I missed the bit where you launched a passionate protest,"
he snapped. "Or perhaps it was smothered by all the betrayal in the
air."
"Betrayal?" She stared at him, mouth agape, eyes filling with
furious tears. "You're the one who's been spending all your time
trying to hurt my friend! Trying to hurt me!"
Beneath her feet, she felt a shudder. The room began to tremble,
the picture frames clattering slightly against the walls upon which
they were hung, the art supplies on her desk clicking and clacking
against each other with every movement.
When he spoke again, Pink's voice was a deep rumble. "You
dropped me as soon as you had another human to be your
companion! Me, who has been by your side since you were barely
old enough to walk! Me, whohas been with you through everything!
Who has . . . who has loved you through everything!" Thelast words
flew out of his mouth in a roar that shook the room so hard that
Suraya grabbed onto her bedstead, sure she was about to be sent
flying across the room. Pens and pencils and books and papers fell
or fluttered to the ground. The sound was deafening.
Pink paused to catch his breath, panting slightly.
On her bed, Suraya sobbed quietly, her face buried in her hands.
With every heave of her little chest, Pink thought his heart would
break—if he had one, that is.
Look at me, he told her.
It took a while for her to obey. When she did, the fear in her eyes
made him tremble.
She'd never looked at him like that before.
Pink letout a long, slow sigh, as if he was releasing all the anger
from his little body. Then he hopped onto the bed beside her and laid
a gentle arm against her leg.
I am sorry,he whispered.Idid not mean to hurt you. I did not like
to do it. But my anger billowed and swelled and grew inside me, and,
like the wild thing it is, it lashed out when it was wounded. I could not
stop it.
"Did you enjoy it?"
He looked down at his feet. He could not help feeling ashamed of
himself. I did.
She nodded. "It felt like you did." There was no note of blame or
anger in her voice, just the tiny tremble of leftover tears.
I will not do it anymore, he told her. Or at least . . . I will try not to.
"It's okay," shesaid. "It's in your nature. It's hard to go against
what you were meant to be."
I was meant to be your friend. His voice was sad.
"You will always be my friend, Pink."
He looked at her intently. Then why does this soundlike a
goodbye?
"It isn't. Not yet." Suraya rubbed the tears from her face and sat
up, scooping Pink up in her palm and bringing him close to her.
"Listen, Pink. In five days, at the full moon, they're going to make you
go away forever, and they won't do it gently, I know it. I could see it
in that man's eyes."
Child.He leaned close and nuzzled her cheek. Child, what can
you do in the face of your elders? How can you stop them? You are
wise, but still so young.
He watched her jaw set, that spark of determination light in her
eyes, and he knew she would not listen.
"Fortune favors the bold," she reminded him.
He had to smile.
All right, he said. What do we do?