Chapter Four: Duodenary Chronology

                       Twelve months later...

They sat upon the rooftop together as they stared up at the stars while the city lights glowed below them.

The night sky is why Silla wished to fly as the young girl she was. It is the most beautiful art, alive with in raw energy, a song for the eyes. At times she felt as if she could feel it vibrating somehow, whispering in a way the ears cannot hear.

She guessed it felt friendly when the world of people around her and in the city felt so devoid of love.

The night sky was such a welcome sight, appearing like magic at each sunset, promising to return as she faded in dawn's first light. There were times in the daytime, under skies of blue, Silla would think of those faraway stars and how they'd return after the shadows blended into the dark. Stars lighting the sky like snow-flakes in the night.

The soft city lights glowed throughout the upper and outer ring. Though even the bright lights below didn't impede the phosphorus moonlight that spilled in.

Behind all the inner wall, a majestic view of the skyline appeared with startling beauty. There wasn't a cloud in the star-speckled sky. Rows of towering skyscrapers stretched above her, their windows alight from within. A half-moon hovered at the fringes of the luminous cityscape, where the red blinking lights of distance towers twinkling.

The cityscape was unbelievably urban. There were no trees or city planted blooms, just monoliths of concrete soaring out of the sidewalk in an exact grid pattern. At night it was beautiful in its own way, so many lights.

The city spread below her, and the world suddenly felt so wide and free that she wanted to jump. Lights glittered everywhere just liked stars dropping to the earth, huge and small buildings collided in a mixture of shadow and geometry, tiny holocrafts rushing along tangled lines of streets creating twisting threads of light - they all intertwined together in a magnificent mess of a dream.

A breathtaking, marvellous, almost frightened cyber dream that made her feel like some fake, unlucky living thing.

The city was scrubbed every nightfall by machines, wilting plants replaced and litter removed from the streets in the upper ring.

In that way the upper ring cityscape stayed new, like an architects plan, only with the citizens really living inside. There were hyperelectric trams, holocraft buses and the levitating monorail - hardly any personal vehicles at all.

There were days Silla would look cloud-ward just to see if she could catch a glimpse of the architect in the upper ring over the inner wall. Then she'd feel foolish and stifle a grin.

It was the kind of place where in the moonlight under a shimmer of moon-reflecting aircraft above. Declan's and Silla's favorite spot allowed them to see as far as the ancient walls stood.

A year had passed; Declan was now fifteen and Silla had just turned twelve.

Looking back on it she realized how much everything had changed since then. She was no longer the nervous, low self esteemed, stuttering girl. Silla's body had started changing too; in ways she wasn't too happy about, of course a bonus was that she had grown taller.

Though what had transfixed her the most was Declan.

He was much taller. His face had become more defined and he had lost his baby face. His green eyes got darker and his hair was now longer.

He was just as handsome as ever; she would never say that to his face, though.

Ever since the running away, incident a year ago, Declan and Silla had become inseparable... Well, it was more of him clinging to her, but he secretly knew that she liked his company.

She had figured since then that the reason he took her from the warehouse in the first place was because he was lonely. Seeing as he was kind of a misanthrope and didn't like many people; he didn't have any friends.

Declan had never done anything bad per say. He was simply reserved. He was quiet and closed off. Long ago there was a saying 'some people just want to watch the world burn'; sadly this fit him to a T.

But Silla knew that beyond his devious mind deep down Declan cared and could be kind.

He truly meant well...

Probably.

Sure he did bad things, but he wasn't inherently evil. He was kind to her even though he could be a bit of a nut case at times. There was no reason to fear him, right?

Just as she was in mid thought she, felt something discreetly scoot closer to her and lean into her shoulder; affectionately brushing her hair out of her face. Wait... Not a something, a someone.

Though Disappointing and unsettling Declan had no grounds on personal space. He took too close for comfort to a whole different level. She had just assumed that he didn't know any better because he hadn't been around other people for a long time.

She was convinced that with the language barrier he had a hard time understanding her sometimes. That was what he had told her; he wouldn't lie to her about something like that.

His incessant staring made it hard to do anything; it was like having someone constantly breathing down your neck. Practically all he did was make moon eyes at her. All she could do was ignore it. What else was she supposed do?

Maybe he just didn't notice what he was doing?

Naively that was what she had thought at first.

Until the touches had started happening more frequently; slowly moving closer to certain places and if left unmanaged...

Thankfully never going too far and upsetting her too much.

Most girls would have swooned at his behavior. But to her it was plain annoying. She'd figured that he was just a hormonal teenage boy who would throw his affections at anything with legs. It was the only possible explanation for his strange behavior.

Scooting away from him she sighed and went towards the exit and opened the door. Before she could step out the door was suddenly slammed shut by a hand. Behind her was Declan trapping her between him and the closed door.

"What is it now?" She asked him confused. Though weirdly he looked pissed. Ugh... He was being more persistent than usual.

"Stop ignoring me," he nagged this time getting a bit aggravated and grumpy. Whenever he would try to finesse her, she would instantly start to ignore him and he would almost instantly pout like a small child for a few days before going back at it again.

He was strong willed she would give him that; what would it take to break his spirit?

"Whatever are you talking about?" She asked him dryly which only added fuel to the fire. In response Del frowned pitifully and let out a sigh. He would have a sulking session for a few days.

Every time he touched the young girl; he felt a jolt as if he had been electrocuted. If only she knew how much he controlled his desire to touch the petite structure of her body to which he considers his intoxicating drug.

The fact that he was starting to become a man didn't help at all either.

Despite that physical contact, he never saw her even give him a glimpse, and it made him wild deep inside.

"Come on let's head back home it's getting late." Silla said as she ruffled his hair and he guided her off of the rooftop.

A while ago Declan and she had stumbled onto a large abandoned hover craft on the outskirts of the inner wall of the city by luck. They ended up turning in into their own little hideout. Declan even managed to pick up some used furniture from junkyards and shoplifted from markets to make it more homey. The craft no longer Levitated on the ground or moved but it was comfy and they managed to patch up any holes in it.

Upon arrival, they quickly ran inside with excitement and jumped onto the large fold out couch; a makeshift bed. Bouncing up and down in child like joy until they became tired. Within the blink of an eye, Silla was suddenly pulled down onto the bed foam.

Staring into bright green eyes. He had an evil smirk on his face as he moved closer to her. "Oh, you're gonna get it now." He rasped out. She quickly backed up into the headboard and put her hands up in surrender.

"Del, please don't do this. Please, I'm begging you!" She scrabbled away as he slowly crawled towards her.

"Too late." He smiled. Finally, he was above her small frame, looking down at her fearful position.

He raised his hands and started his attack. "Del, no! Please don't tickle me!" She laughed as she tried swatting his hands away, but just could keep him from tickling herself.

"You brought z'is upon yourself, Sil." Del continued his tickle attack for a while longer before he stopped.

When he was done, she was red in the face and still laughing. Silla struggled to stop giggling as she tried to catch her breath.

"Ugh, you're so mean!" She playfully pushed him.

"Yeah, I know." He told her smirking evilly.

Eventually settling down for the night, they snuggled into each other and closed their eyes going into sweet deep sleep.

The next morning Sill swung her legs back and forth off the side of a tall building as she looked at the rusty jumbled buildings below her.

Next to her sat Del looking into the clear blue sky. Everything seemed so peaceful. I raced across building tops as her hair whipped in the wind. She made zigzags and slid down roof panels in hopes that Del wouldn't catch her.

They had decided to race each other like they did every morning.

Just as she made eye contact with Denni's bars bright neon sign, she was suddenly lifted up into the air and spun around.

"Aww you caught me," She laughed while Del held me up in the air like a rag doll.

Entering the rowdy bar they were greeted by loudly playing music and bright multi-colored lights.

She and Declan sat in a booth as they watched the clock tick by. She had no idea how he was able to get money for food or anything else in general as he would never tell her what he did to get it. Though deep down a part of her didn't want to know.

A lotta times she wanted to ask Declan about his past but she could never bring herself to. Silla herself had never even mentioned anything about herself either.

She was curious and wanted to know what life was like in the upper ring. It was like a whole another world to her.

Many people in the lower ring would kill to even get a glimpse. The only way to be accepted in is if you are a slave of someone from there, were born there, marriage, and or served someone as an employee.

Many dreamed of just being a slave in the upper ring. It was  considered an honor. It was also a spot highly aimed for by women; as most of them had the possibility of marriage.

Many slave owners often married their slaves. Personally, Silla thought slavery was disgusting and would never partake in such a think. But Declan and herself were an exception; they were friends. It was only in name.

He wasn't her master! She didn't worship the ground he walked on or serve him in any way; more like it was the other way around.

Declan himself was whipped.

"Hey, Umm I have something for you..." Declan suddenly muttered rather nervously as he reached for something in his pocket.

He gently pulled out a beautiful silver necklace with a unique pendant. It had a green jewel elegantly shaped as a serpent on the end. "Wow. It's so beautiful," she told him as he blushed.

"It came with it," her spoke setting a small vintage box on the table. It too was beautiful. It had a deep wood and little silver snake engravings on it. Green gems adorned it for the most part. It was a small yet round almost like an egg but not quite. Music boxes were extremely rare; the kind of artifact you would find in the early twentieth century.

"How do you open it?" Silla asked him curiously. She wanted to hear it play.

"The necklace is the key. Stick the body of the snake in the lock and turn it," he instructed her.

Doing so she saw the lock start to turn by itself and the box slowly opened like a blooming flower would.

On the inside were too tiny glass figures. One a boy and one a girl slowly turning in a circle as if they were dancing themselves. The gems inside give them both a tiny light show as the light hit the glass and gems.

Not long after the figures started turning music also came out in sweet vibrations. The music soared through the air like an eagle on an up-draft, taking with it the very souls of anyone who listened.

It was unlike any sound or type of music she had ever heard.

The gentle lullaby ascended, in a magical flight to the heavens, a breathtaking melody that enraptured pure human emotion. Then after the crescendo they dived back down like ocean waves until all that was left was the silence there was at the beginning. It was a shared journey that held them spellbound in rapt silence.

To her dismay, however, an unexpected cracking of glass was heard. The glass from the window by their booth shattered into a million pieces, reflecting light in every possible direction as a silver blue glare rushed past her, hitting Del in the side of his arm so fast if you blinked you wouldn't have caught it.

To Be Continued...